Guides

Permits, registration, and the paper on a job

Four short guides on the parts of a remodel that happen before anything comes apart: the city, the registration, the contract, and the sheet.

Four guides, one process each

Contractor registration in the eastern Cleveland suburbs

Ohio issues no statewide license for a residential general contractor. The city where the house stands does the registering, and twelve cities keep twelve registers with twelve sets of paperwork.

How to read an itemized estimate line by line

A remodeling estimate is read in six places: trade lines, allowances against fixed prices, exclusions, change orders, the start window that follows the permit, and the down payment.

What Ohio Revised Code 4722 puts on your contract

Ohio Revised Code 4722 governs home-construction contracts over $25,000: a written contract, a down payment capped at ten percent, and notice before extras pass $5,000. This is where each of those lands on the paper you sign.

What residential work needs a permit in these twelve cities

A permit is not paperwork anyone catches up on later. The drawing gets stamped, the board sits, the inspector is booked, and then a demolition date goes on the calendar.