I am in the process of buying a home. We requested that the gas be turned on for the inspection but the gas company would not turn on the gas due to the line being run through the cold air return (to an addition). Is this something that can be easily fixed, a DIY kind of job or licenced plumber? Please let me know what you think. Thank you.

Ask your gas company if they require a licensed company to do the work or if the homeowner can do it. And see what they require for piping. If they allow copper pipe, a homeowner can do it. If they require steel or the new TRAC piping, then its better to have a pro come do it. Each company(and state) has their own policies.

Keeping in mind that the gas line was probably run through there because there wasn't anywhere else to run it, without tearing out and replacing things. So my guess would be that a fix isn't going to be easy nor cheap. I sincerely hope I'm wrong though.

Thanks. I think the problem occured because the previous owner thought he knew what he was doing. It does beg the question as to how they passed a final inspection (for the addtion) and used the gas with the code violation. The seller had an estimate of $1800 but our home inspector seemed to think that was crazy. Any ideas on what this might cost?

Time and material (and desire to do the job).

About $100 bucks an hour is alot for labor.
About $25 to $300 for material depending on how much they need to redo.

Add the cost of repairing damaged finishes such as walls or cabinets. Red tag on inspection indicates gas company was able to see the line, meaning it probably is not buried deep in the walls and should be less to replace, unless they ran it through the duct as some kind of "chase". $1800 sounds high though.

Add any reinspection costs (about $50 in our area).

Add 1000 bucks if the guy thinks he can make that kind of money off you.