The important issue is whether or not the furnace was installed properly. You could hire another plumber to review the work and tell you what needs to be done.

It's a bit late for the warning, but permits should be posted on the job site in plain view. There should never be question about whether a permit was pulled.

At this point, yes, you can call in the city and they will inspect. There probably will be a fine. The plumber could face all sorts of sanctions for doing non-permitted work. That is why he doesn't want you to call.

He certainly could rat you out in retaliation. If you have done non-permitted work, there may be more fines and possibly costly rework. If some prior owner did non-permitted work, you are generally exempt from fines, but you might still have to rework anything not up to code.

IMHO your assumption that you need the city inspector to tell you if the work was done properly is not a good one. Hire a plumber who is responsible to you alone to do that and then make the original plumber correct his work or ask the second one to correct it.

The permit is an independent issue. The second plumber can advise you about getting a permit and possibly get one for you. It's never too late to get a permit if the work is visible; I've filed for one a decade late with no trouble.

Would city inspector check my whole house for other things if he is solely responsible for this plumbing inspection? There are some noticeable kitchen stuffs (new counter-top, cabinet, ect.) but will he raise those questions?

Having a second plumber to come in is an interest thing to think about. I am not sure how he is willing to request a permit for other's work.

-L

Something's wrong or he wouldn't be trying to blackmail you not to have his work inspected. An honest trade would simply get the permit--it's your cost, not his--then proceed.

It's important that you have his work inspected, either by a licenced installer or the municipality. Furnaces, whether they're oil, propane, gas or electricity, are potentially dangerous pieces of equipment and must be properly installed.

Well, there are 2 separate issues here.

Was the work done properly? There are numerous ways to determine this.

Was the work permitted properly? There is only one way to fix this.

"Would city inspector check my whole house for other things if he is solely responsible for this plumbing inspection? "

This really depends a lot on the inspector and where you live. In most areas, a plumbing inspector is only going to look at plumbing and only what is visible from the areas they are supposed to inspect. If you live in a town where the building department consists of 1 guy and his pickup truck, all bets are off.

I would trust a reputable trades person to inspect the install over a building inspector, but you should consider getting your building official involved and right the permitting issues as it will only come back to bite you on future projects as well as resale if you plan to sell your home.

I believe another contractor's opinion won't impact the current work unless I have 'fix' job done by the new contractor and eat all the cost. Using building inspector has more legal influence to the current project. My town has few building inspectors and each of them has different responsibility. I wish he won't look around and my newly remodeling was not so crazy - no major layout changes and just cosmetic.

Major concern is if the current contractor is punished and he will be mad at me (somewhat now) and 'turn me in' to cause any trouble among us.

I will check with town to see if there any any severe penalty on his side.

-L

What people are telling you is to fix the installation, then worry about the permit.

Renovator8, I see your point. Sounds like a smart idea.

Your town requires a permit to change countertops???

What are the odds that an inspector would even know if they're different from what was put in originally?

As a rule, most places do not require permits for cosmetic changes to a home such as replacing kitchen counters or even cabinets. Some places require permits for cosmetic changes that involve major systems, though, such as replacing one lavatory faucet for another or one toilet for another. Those places are relatively rare.

Most places will require permits for any type of work to any of the major home systems. You need to add under cabinet lighting to the kitchen? That involved working with the electrical system and in most places would require a permit. You want to change out your shower and add in a rainshower in addition to the wall outlet? That would most likely require a permit, or several, depending on how your muncipality structures things.

When in doubt, ask your local codes officer. They are there to clarify and to help homeowners. Their intended purpose is to help keep a home safe to occupy and most are well on board with that intent.

Take a visit down to your local codes place and ask the admin assistants who can explain some needed aspects of a project the easiest to a DIYer. Then talk to that guy and explain what is going on with this guy trying to blackmail you and hold you hostage. That would make most human code guys see pretty red. Then let him explain to you what the next step in the process will be.

This is a big FLAG for those lurkers out there considering doing projects without permits. It just about ALWAYS comes back to bite you.

Building inspectors are not policemen and it is not their job to seek out old unpermitted construction; that would require a much larger and more expensive department and they would need a very good reason to enter a house. In my city the building department will not investigate a house without a signed complaint from another resident.

I would not worry about the plumber's threat or the building department but focus on getting the furnace installed correctly.

i bet your plumber is not licensed in your town, or maybe not at all. call another plumber to go over the work to be safest.

I would also add that inspectors look for legal compliance to the code and do not judge workmanship. I suspect most would not want to be brought in just to arbitrate your dispute. I would look for another tradesman or home inspector type to judge the workmanship.

The building inspector will come in and seek out other repairs that were done in the house. These days city inspectors are making contractors jump through all kinds of hoops just for kicks. Its annoying, i have yet to meet one inspector who has passed an inspection without throwinf his two cents in. Negative comments all the time, if you need reassurance call in another plumber but be careful, there are plumbers that will come in and say everything is wrong and its not, then offer their services for a fee, lovely world we live in.

"If he has to pull the permit both of us will be fined. "

Unless he is unlicensed the fines will be on his head.

If he is unlicensed all bets are off.
He may be 'suite proof' leaving you holding the bag.

Having the work checked bu a person you KNOW is licensed in your jurisdiction is likely as good as you can do at this point.
It also open up a reporting can of worms, but it beats getting killed by poor work.

Selling your home in the future could be hard without all the work being inspected by the city; if you are going with the average medium price for your home or higher. Most home that lack full permits usually get discounted to be sold in normal times.