Permit Work: Fill & Download for Free

Could be a long flipping time.There are only a handful of ships capable of laying that line. Owned by a handful of companies who specialize in construction.Once you have a cable built, you also contract for repair capacity. You typically block out a couple of months at some point in the year. You either buy an option on the time (which keeps the contractor from selling it to someone else) or pre-buy the time (which means you actually own the time outright) depending on the extent of your subsea empire.The lack of ships in general and the fact that the top ships are pre-booked “just in case” means that the line is really, really long for getting access to ships to construct your new cable.Which is probably OK, as you’re going to have to do a ton of survey and permitting work to be able to actually lay the cable. You may think “eh, middle of the ocean who cares?” and while that’s true to some extent as you get close to shore on either side, there is a nearly impossibly large amount of permitting you have to address, varying from environmental impact studies (pro tip: do not cross anything that looks like a “traditional fish hatching ground”) to just the simple logistics of being able to drag your cable ashore someplace where you own enough real estate for a landing station (or have access to a landing station owned by someone else)It’s been about ten years since I last navigated this on a full system upgrade (overbuild of existing cable) but as I recall we spent about two years in planning and permitting, another year waiting for a ship (actually waiting for a good enough break in maintenance on the existing cable on which we had contracted capacity) and then the actual cable laying was about 40 days.Some of the new ships which can hold up to 9000KM of cable at once may shorten that time as you can potentially do it all in one shot, depending on route.

In my area at least, when a new house is constructed you need a final inspection to get a Certificate of Occupancy, and without that you can't move in.When you buy an existing house, it may contain non-permitted construction. You can usually find this out by going to city hall and pulling a list of all permits granted on the house. In the house I am in, for example, the basement was renovated without a permit. I knew that when I made the offer, and took it into account.In every jurisdiction I am aware of, you are responsible for ensuring your house is code-compliant. Now, the good news is that inspectors can't just walk in. However... if you ever need to do any other work, there's a good chance that the inspector will pull prior permits and take a look around. If the non-permitted work looks OK, they will probably let you skate. But if not, they can and will force you to bring the non-permitted work up to current code. Yes, this means that you have upgrade kitchen outlets to 20 amps, add vapour seal, upgrade the sink drains, etc. etc. etc.All in all, your mileage may vary. Be aware.

Oh this one….Full disclosure - I don’t flip homes anymore, but i used to.The big “oh sh*t” items where I live are usually roof, AC, Electrical Panels, Sewer mains, and un-permitted previous work done.Roof - not too tough, just look at it, and see if it leaks. The material will affect the cost a lot. We have lots of foam roofs in AZ, and the deferred maintenance on them can really add up. Other types are less money.Electrical panel - look where the wires come off the power pole to the house, then open the panel - if the main breaker doesn’t say “200” on it, then factor in $3k to replace. Its usually less than that, but hope for the best, plan for the worst is my mottoSewer mains - I just got done digging one of these up and replacing it. What a sh*tty job, pun intended. Get a plumber to camera-inspect your lines before you buy anything, its $150 or so and will give you massive negotiation power on the deal. It also has to be dealt with, or you’ll be wading around in sewage. Eww. $8–15k out the door.AC - I live in the desert. it is hot AF here. AC’s last about 15 years with maintenance, but the last 5 years of that is expensive. Just factor in a new or refurb unit (Appx $4k) and call it good.Non-permitted work. Ugh, I could write a book about the dumb sh*t people do to their houses. May the Great Pumpkin in the sky bless you with benevolence if you have to straighten this out with the city. I’d recommend a combination of strong drink, hair restoration, and float spa therapy, along with a water-cooled checkbook.Namaste and all that jazz.