A permit is more than a piece of paper. It has everything to do with safety and a job done right- it is the law.

The HVAC industry reports that 90% of heating and cooling systems are installed improperly. Many offenders are minor but some can be downright deadly.

These installations involve high voltage electricity, natural gas and vent gases (which could contain carbon monoxide).

All cities in the metropolitan Kansas City area have adopted national mechanical codes. This code explicitly states…

[A] 101.3 Intent. The purpose of this code is to provide minimum standards to safeguard life
or limb, health, property and public welfare by regulating and controlling the design, construction, installation, quality of materials, location, operation and maintenance or use of mechanical systems.

[A] 101.6 Permits when required. An owner, authorized agent or contractor who desires to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert, or replace a mechanical system, the installation of which is regulated by code, or to cause such work to be done, shall first make application to the code official and obtain the required permit for work.

Many contractors in the Kansas City metro area skip the permit to save costs. The three costs involved include (1) each city requires an occupation or business license (Anthony has 56 city licenses which covers all the cities in the greater Kansas City area), (2) the actual permit cost which ranges from $30 to $150 depending on the city and the scope of work, (3) and the cost of noncompliance – sometimes inspectors catch items that do not meet code requiring some of the work to be redone. Only a licensed and insured contractor can obtain a permit. If a contractor fails to pull a permit or tells you it is not important then this is a big red flag.

On March 8, 2014, the Kansas City Star ran a full page article (Permits are Lacking on Many Home Furnace Replacement Jobs in Area) on the lack of replacement heating and cooling system permits. The article stated that just two companies accounted for half the permits pulled in 2013. Anthony was one of those companies and that statistic has not changed with 2016 data. Still just two companies account for more than half the permits pulled with Anthony accounting for 22% of the total.

The total list of permits pulled by all contractors in 2016 is available upon request.

Permits are a public record and when you sell your home the buyer can always call the city and find out what permits were pulled for the residence. Home inspectors often discover work that does not meet code since permits were not pulled. Sellers are not happy that hundreds if not thousands of dollars of work is needed that should have been done by their contractors.