How a Building Permit Works: Final Inspection, Expiry and Owner-Builders

A building permit runs from the application to a final inspection, and it can lapse on the way. Under the model residential code, work that needs a permit waits for it, each stage waits for the inspector’s approval before it is covered, and the final inspection comes after the work is complete and before anyone moves in. A permit becomes invalid if work does not start within 180 days of issue, or if more than 180 days pass between inspections. Austin’s code uses the same 180 days; Los Angeles gives 12 months to start and 2 years in all unless extended. An extension is asked for in writing under the model code, before the permit expires in Austin, and no later than 90 days after it expires in Los Angeles. A homeowner can register as the contractor on an Austin permit, and can take out a Los Angeles permit as an owner-builder under California law, both within limits. Work done without a permit can bring a stop work order and a fee on top of the permit fees under the model code, and Austin warns it can affect insurance claims, refinancing or a sale.

Before any of that, the application goes in with its plans. In Austin, Phoenix and San Diego a residential application includes a site plan or plot plan, the drawing of the lot that shows where the work goes; the site plan guide lists what each city wants on it.

Inspections, through the final inspection

The model code lists a foundation inspection before concrete is placed, rough plumbing, mechanical, gas and electrical inspections before anything is covered, a frame inspection once the framing and roof are in, and a final inspection after the permitted work is complete and before occupancy. Work does not go past each inspection point until the building official approves it. Austin’s code has the owner or the owner’s general contractor get each inspection; only the contractor on an electrical, plumbing or mechanical permit may request that trade’s inspections; and the building official may require final inspections of the building, the trades, energy, concrete, fire, health, landscape and drainage before a certificate of occupancy. Los Angeles has the permit holder call, the day before, for the inspections its code lists: foundation, wood framing and ventilation, wall covering, reinforced concrete, reinforced masonry, structural steel and final. The inspector records each approval on the permit card posted on the job, and the department makes a final inspection of all permitted work before a certificate of occupancy.

Under the model code, a certificate of occupancy is not needed for work exempt from a permit or for accessory buildings and structures, so there a permitted shed ends with its final inspection. The sections read for Austin and Los Angeles do not say whether a shed or other accessory structure needs one; ask the building department.

When a permit expires

In Austin, a building permit expires if work does not begin before day 181 after it is issued, or if work begins and is then abandoned or suspended for more than 180 days; the building official may grant one 180-day extension if it is asked for before the permit expires, for good cause, and after it expires no one may do the work it covered. The city’s homeowner page adds that an activated permit expires on day 181 if no inspection has been scheduled or made, that an inspection marked Canceled or Failed/No Work Performed does not extend it, and that a passing inspection extends it 180 days. It also says the property owner is responsible for addressing every expired permit on the property, including ones left by previous owners, and that an expired permit may have to be addressed before new permits are issued; the contractor on the permit may be able to reactivate it.

In Los Angeles, a permit is valid for 2 years, but expires 12 months after issue if the work has not started, or whenever the Department of Building and Safety finds the work suspended, discontinued or abandoned for 12 months in a row. If unusual construction difficulties kept the work from starting, continuing or finishing in time, the department or its board may extend it, and the request has to come no later than 90 days after the permit expires. The department can also revoke a permit granted on a false statement, in error or in violation of the code.

Being your own contractor (owner-builder)

Austin’s homeowner page says that in Texas anyone can be a general contractor without a state license, so an owner can register as the general contractor on a building permit and take on activating and paying for it, scheduling its inspections through the final, getting the certificate of occupancy where one applies, and managing the trade permits. Electrical, plumbing and mechanical work is another matter: Austin’s code has it done by a licensed contractor unless state law or the technical codes exempt it, and the city’s homeowner page describes a homestead permit for an unlicensed owner doing that trade work in the home they own and live in. The owner needs a homestead exemption on file with the county appraisal district, must not have had a homestead permit for another home in the past 12 months, and must get the permit and pay for it before starting. It does not cover the main electric service, reclaiming or charging refrigerant in a ducted heating and air-conditioning system, or liquefied petroleum or auxiliary water piping. The permit can be suspended or revoked if anyone else does the work, and it cannot be transferred. Elsewhere in Texas, ask the city or county building department.

California’s contractors law does not apply to an owner who builds or improves a structure on their own property and does the work personally, or through employees paid only wages, if the improvements are not intended or offered for sale; to an owner who contracts directly with contractors licensed for each trade, provided that, for single-family homes, no more than four are intended or offered for sale in a calendar year; or to a homeowner improving their principal residence, if the work is done before any sale, they lived there for the 12 months before it was finished, and they have not used this exemption on more than two structures more than once in any 3-year period. A sale within a year of completion is presumed to mean the work was done for sale. State law requires every California city or county that requires a building permit, Los Angeles included, to use an application in substantially one form and to have an owner-builder present documents that identify the owner and verify the signature. On it the owner declares under penalty of perjury which exemption applies, and acknowledges that they cannot sell a structure they built as an owner-builder unless licensed contractors built all of it, their own home of at least a year aside. The same form has a workers’ compensation declaration.

What happens if you build without a permit

The model code makes it unlawful to build or alter anything it regulates in violation of its provisions, lets the building official serve a notice of violation and issue a written stop work order that halts the cited work at once, and makes anyone who starts work before getting its permit pay a fee, set by the local government, on top of the permit fees. Austin’s homeowner resources warn that some insurers will not cover claims for work done without permits, and that unpermitted work can affect refinancing, a loan or a sale. Neither city’s code sections or pages read for this guide set out a retroactive, after-the-fact permit for work already done. In Austin, ask Development Services; in Los Angeles, the Department of Building and Safety; elsewhere, your local building department. Austin’s public search shows a property’s permits and their inspections.

Whether a project needs a permit at all is the first question; the permit checker and the before-you-dig guide start there.