I'm located in Montgomery County, MD and am going to be doing some work in the basement. When is a permit required when working on plumbing? I plan on moving the shower drain and vent about a foot, and the toilet drain and vent about 4 inches. Do I even need a permit?

It is best to check with your own city building inspector - he ( or she) is the most informed on city code and whether you need a permit.

What happens if I don't get a permit when one is needed? Will this cause me headache down the road?

You betcha! One entity you do not want to tick off is your city and their ordinances. If they find out, and many times they do, you can face fines at the very least. If they do not find out, who is to say? Hard call as I see this is a small home project.

It is always best to check first and remodel later. It is possible that a permit is not required - but you will never know until you check.

For the basement work, I was told a building permit is required if I build, or take down ANY wall. So basically I need a permit for that. Then, any electrical work, I need an electrical permit... that sucks. I need to take some exam that's open book... seems like a waste of time. Lastly, for the plumbing, I need a permit for that too I think... but I'm not positive since I waited 20 minutes on the phone to talk someone and gave up waiting. So techincally I don't know if I need that yet. I was told what can happen if I don't get a permit is someone can report me (maybe a neighbor), and then an inspector would look into it. If found guilty, I'd get a fine, and pay for the permit. It's someone tempting to just skip the whole permit thing... I don't know what to do!

How much would it cost you to get all the permits necessary versus not getting any permits, taking a chance on getting reported, paying the fines plus the costs of the permits?

How much would it cost to hire someone to do all this for you? They would get the permits, of which would be covered in the costs.

It is definitely your choice.