How to Check a Contractor’s Permit History and Why It Matters

Most homeowners spend more time researching a restaurant than they spend vetting the contractor who’s about to cut holes in their roof. That’s not a judgment — it’s just how the system is set up. Contractors don’t advertise their permit history, and the government doesn’t send alerts when an unlicensed operator is working in your neighborhood. The risks of unpermitted work don’t surface until something goes wrong — which often isn’t until years later, when you’re trying to sell the house.

This article will walk you through everything you need to know about contractor permit history: what it is, why it matters, how to find it, and how to use it to make smarter hiring decisions. This is part of our broader resource, The Complete Guide to Hiring a Contractor: How to Protect Your Home and Your Money.

What Building Permits Are — and Why They Actually Protect You

Is a Building Permit Just Government Red Tape?

Building permits often get dismissed as bureaucratic busywork — another government hoop to jump through before you can do anything to your own house. That framing is completely wrong, and believing it can cost you dearly. A building permit is, at its core, a formal notice to your local government that work is being done on a structure — and that an independent, third-party inspector will verify the work meets minimum safety standards before it’s closed up inside your walls.

The permit system exists because homes are complex systems where a single bad installation can cause serious harm. An improperly wired circuit doesn’t just trip a breaker — it can start a fire in the middle of the night while your family is asleep. A roof installed without proper flashing lets water into your walls and attic, rotting the structure silently for years before you see a stain on the ceiling. Permits force a professional set of eyes onto work that most homeowners aren’t equipped to inspect themselves.

The permit process typically works like this: a contractor applies for a permit before work begins, pays a fee, and receives an approved permit number. Work proceeds in stages, and at key milestones — such as before drywall is hung — an inspector from the building department visits to verify the work complies with local building codes. Once all inspections are passed, the permit is marked “closed” or “finaled” in the system. That final record becomes part of the permanent history of the property.

What Codes Are Permits Based On?

Most jurisdictions in the United States base their building codes on the International Building Code (IBC) or the International Residential Code (IRC), which are updated every three years. States and counties then adopt those codes — sometimes with local amendments — and those adopted standards become the legal floor for all construction work in that area. When an inspector checks permitted work, they’re verifying compliance with these standards, which have been developed and refined by engineers, safety experts, and tradespeople over many decades.

The point isn’t that codes are perfect — every code cycle brings revisions, and there’s always debate about what’s practical versus what’s overly prescriptive. The point is that code compliance represents a minimum level of competence and safety. Work that bypasses the permit system bypasses that floor entirely, and there’s no independent verification that anything was done correctly.

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Why Pulling Permits Is a Sign of a Trustworthy Contractor

What Does It Mean When a Contractor Pulls a Permit?

When a contractor pulls a permit, they are putting their name and license number on a public record and inviting government oversight of their work. That’s a significant act of professional accountability. It means they’re confident their work will meet code, that they’re willing to have an inspector verify it, and that they’re operating as a legitimate business entity in your jurisdiction.

Pulling permits also requires a valid contractor’s license in most states. Without a license, you can’t legally pull a permit in your name. This creates a built-in filter: a contractor with an active permit history has, by definition, been operating under a licensed credential. That doesn’t make them perfect, but it’s a meaningful baseline signal that they’re not a fly-by-night operation running entirely off the books.

Think of permit history the way you’d think about a job candidate’s employment record. A long, consistent history of permits pulled across multiple projects, with records showing inspections passed and permits finaled, tells you this contractor has been doing this work in a documented, verifiable way. Gaps, irregularities, or an absence of permits in a market where permits are clearly required tell a different story.

Why Do Some Contractors Skip Permits?

Contractors skip permits for one or more of the following reasons: they’re operating without a valid license, they want to avoid inspection scrutiny because they know their work won’t pass, they’re trying to cut costs by skipping permit fees (which range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars depending on project scope), or they’re trying to complete a job faster by avoiding inspection scheduling delays. None of these reasons benefit you as the homeowner. Every one of them shifts risk onto your shoulders.

A contractor who avoids permits because they know the work won’t pass inspection is the most dangerous scenario. That means they’re aware they’re delivering substandard work — and they’re counting on you not finding out until after they’ve been paid and moved on. This is not hypothetical; it’s a documented pattern in consumer protection complaints across every state that tracks contractor fraud.

Some contractors frame the permit conversation as doing you a favor. They’ll say something like, “If we pull a permit, the county might require you to upgrade your panel — let’s skip it and save you that hassle.” That’s a manipulation tactic, not a courtesy. If a code-compliant installation would trigger a required upgrade, that upgrade exists because your current system is genuinely unsafe or outdated. Bypassing it doesn’t make the hazard go away — it just hides it.

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The Real Risks of Unpermitted Work

What Happens When You Try to Sell a Home With Unpermitted Work?

Unpermitted work is one of the most common deal-killers in residential real estate transactions. A competent home inspector will flag work that shows signs of not having been permitted — unusual wiring configurations, structural additions that don’t appear in county records, HVAC systems that don’t match any permit on file. Once that flag appears in an inspection report, your buyer’s lender may refuse to fund the loan until the unpermitted work is either permitted retroactively or removed entirely.

Retroactive permitting — sometimes called “permit after the fact” — is expensive and uncertain. You typically have to open up walls so an inspector can see the work, pay for any corrections required to bring it up to current code (not the code that was current when the work was done), and pay inspection and permit fees on top of that. In a worst-case scenario, you’re asked to demolish and redo work that was done years ago. Many homeowners have faced $10,000 to $30,000 in retroactive correction costs for a job that originally cost $5,000 to $8,000.

There’s also a disclosure obligation. In most states, sellers are legally required to disclose known unpermitted work to buyers. Failing to disclose can expose you to post-sale litigation, particularly if the unpermitted work causes damage or injury after the sale. That liability doesn’t disappear once the deed is transferred — it follows you.

Can Unpermitted Work Void Your Homeowner’s Insurance?

Yes — and this is one of the least-understood risks of unpermitted work. Most homeowner’s insurance policies contain a clause that allows the insurer to deny claims for losses caused by code violations or unlicensed work. If a fire starts in an unpermitted electrical panel addition and your insurer determines the work was done without permits, they have a legal basis to deny your claim. The same principle applies to water damage from an improperly installed roof or plumbing system.

Insurance companies aren’t looking for reasons to pay you — they’re looking for reasons to limit their liability. An unpermitted work finding gives them that reason on a silver platter. The burden of proving that your loss was not caused or exacerbated by the unpermitted work can fall entirely on you, and that burden is hard to meet when the work was never inspected and there’s no third-party verification that it was done correctly.

Who Is Liable If Someone Is Injured Due to Unpermitted Work?

If a guest is injured in your home due to a structural failure, electrical fault, or other defect tied to unpermitted work, you as the property owner may be the one held liable — not the contractor who did the work, especially if years have passed and the contractor is no longer in business or has no insurance. Homeowners are responsible for maintaining a safe premises, and courts have found that knowingly maintaining unpermitted work can constitute negligence.

This risk is particularly acute for structural work — additions, deck construction, load-bearing wall modifications. A deck collapse is a catastrophic injury scenario that generates significant litigation. If that deck was built without a permit, you’re facing both a personal injury lawsuit and a potential insurance denial simultaneously, while the contractor who built it may have been gone for years.

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How to Look Up Permit Records for Any Contractor

Where Do You Find Contractor Permit Records?

Permit records are maintained by the local building department — which may be a city building department, a county building department, or in some jurisdictions a regional authority. In most metro areas and many smaller counties, these records are now available online through a public portal. The name of the portal varies by jurisdiction — common names include “permit search,” “online permit portal,” “public records search,” or similar. A good starting point is to search your county name plus “building permit search” in any search engine.

Many jurisdictions allow you to search permits by contractor name or license number — not just by address. This is the search you want when vetting a contractor before hiring them. If you search the contractor’s name and see dozens of active and closed permits spread across multiple addresses over several years, that’s a healthy sign. If you search their name and find nothing, or only find permits that were opened but never finaled, that warrants a direct conversation.

Some jurisdictions are ahead of the curve and publish highly detailed permit data — including permit type, project value, inspection dates, inspection results, and final status. Others provide only basic data like permit number, address, and issue date. The depth of what you’ll find varies widely, but even basic data is useful: a contractor name appearing on dozens of permits in your area is meaningfully different from one appearing on none.

What If Your County Doesn’t Have an Online Portal?

Rural and smaller counties may not yet have online permit portals. In those cases, you have two options: call the building department directly and ask to do a verbal or in-person permit search by contractor name, or submit a public records request. Public records requests are a legal right in every state — the information is public, the government is simply not obligated to hand it to you instantly via a website. Most departments respond to straightforward permit lookup requests within a few business days.

Another resource worth checking is your state contractor licensing board. In states that require contractor licensing — which is most states for electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and general contracting — the licensing board may maintain a public database that includes disciplinary history, license status, and sometimes permit or complaint data. Check your state’s Department of Commerce, Department of Consumer Protection, or equivalent agency for the contractor licensing lookup tool.

Are There National Databases for Contractor Permit Records?

There is no single national database that aggregates permit records for all jurisdictions in the United States — building permits are issued and recorded at the local level, and there’s no federal clearinghouse. However, several commercial data providers aggregate permit data from thousands of jurisdictions and make it searchable through subscription or pay-per-report services. These include BuildZoom, DataTree, and various contractor verification services.

The KKS Echelon Homeowner Contractor Intel Report takes a similar approach — aggregating permit records along with license status, insurance verification, and complaint data into a single plain-English summary. Rather than navigating multiple government portals, homeowners get a consolidated picture of who they’re dealing with before they sign anything. We cover more on that below.

What Information Do You Need to Search Permits?

To search by contractor, you’ll typically need the contractor’s legal business name or their license number. Their license number is the most reliable search key, since business names can vary between what’s on a truck, what’s in a permit system, and what appears on a state license. Ask the contractor for their license number before you begin any research — a legitimate contractor will provide this without hesitation. If they’re reluctant to share their license number, that itself is a signal worth noting.

You can also search permits by property address if you want to know the permit history of your own home — or a home you’re thinking of purchasing. This can reveal unpermitted additions, renovations, or system replacements that don’t appear in any permit record. Cross-referencing what a home looks like (finished basement, added bathroom, new HVAC system) with what’s in the permit record is a useful due diligence step for any home buyer.

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What a Healthy Permit History Looks Like — and What Raises Questions

What Should You Expect to See in a Legitimate Contractor’s Permit Record?

A healthy permit record for an established contractor typically shows a steady volume of permits pulled over time — consistent with the type of work they do and the size of their operation. A roofing contractor who has operated for ten years in a metro area might have hundreds of closed permits on file. An HVAC contractor with a smaller residential focus might have fifty to a hundred. The key attributes to look for are: permits pulled before work began (not after), inspections completed (not just permits opened), and permits finaled or closed (not abandoned mid-process).

Finaled permits are the gold standard — a finaled permit means the work was inspected at all required stages and the inspector confirmed everything met code before signing off. That’s the chain of accountability you want to see. Open permits — permits that were pulled but never taken through inspection and final — are worth asking about. Sometimes they’re in process; sometimes they represent work that was done, never inspected, and quietly forgotten.

What Red Flags Should You Watch for in Permit Records?

The most significant red flag is no permit history at all for a contractor who claims to have been in business for several years doing work that requires permits. If an HVAC contractor tells you they’ve been doing residential replacements for ten years in your county and you can’t find a single permit in their name, one of two things is true: they’ve been operating under a different business name (which is worth clarifying), or they’ve been doing permitted work without permits. The second option is a hard stop — walk away.

A pattern of expired or abandoned permits is another red flag. A permit that’s opened and then abandoned — with no inspections completed and no final recorded — may mean the contractor collected payment and didn’t complete the work to code, or completed work without calling for inspections because they knew it wouldn’t pass. Occasional abandoned permits aren’t necessarily damning (sometimes a job gets cancelled), but a pattern of them is a serious concern.

Failed inspections are not automatically disqualifying, but they warrant investigation. Inspections fail for a variety of reasons, and a first-time fail followed by a successful reinspection is normal in the trades. What you don’t want to see is multiple consecutive failed inspections on the same project, or a pattern of failed inspections across multiple projects — that suggests systematic quality problems, not a one-time oversight.

Does a New Contractor Without Much Permit History Automatically Fail the Check?

Not necessarily. Newer contractors won’t have long permit histories, and that’s expected. What matters for a newer contractor is that the permits they do have are finaled, that they can explain their background (previous employer, apprenticeship, journeyman history), and that they’re committed to pulling permits on your job. A newer contractor who is serious about operating legitimately will often be more diligent about permits than a veteran who has become complacent — because they’re still building the professional reputation that permits represent.

If you’re considering a newer contractor, ask about the projects they completed before going independent. In many trades, apprentices and journeymen work under a master contractor’s license — the permits would appear under that company, not their own name. That work history is still worth asking about and can often be verified through their former employer or through the trade union or licensing board records.

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How to Ask a Contractor About Permits Before the Project Starts

When Should You Bring Up Permits with a Contractor?

The permit conversation should happen before you sign any contract — ideally during the bidding or estimate stage when you’re still evaluating multiple contractors. Raising permits early also serves as an immediate screening tool: the way a contractor responds to a direct permit question tells you a lot about how they operate. Defensiveness, evasion, or an immediate push to “handle it quietly” are all warning signs. Confidence and transparency are what you’re looking for.

You don’t need to approach this as an interrogation. A natural, conversational way to raise it is to say: “For a job like this, what permits will you be pulling, and who handles getting them?” That phrasing establishes that you expect permits to be pulled — it’s not a question of whether, it’s a question of who and what. Most legitimate contractors will walk you through their standard process without any prompting.

What Specific Questions Should You Ask About Permits?

Here are the specific questions worth asking every contractor before you sign: Which permits are required for this project? Who is responsible for pulling them, and is the permit fee included in the bid? Who will be the licensed contractor of record on the permit, and can you share your license number so I can verify your credentials?

One more question worth adding: how long does the permit process take in this jurisdiction, and how does that affect the project timeline? A contractor who is regularly pulling permits will know the answer immediately — because they deal with their local building department routinely. Vagueness about permit timing from an “experienced” contractor is worth noting.

The question about who pulls the permit matters because some contractors will ask homeowners to pull their own permits — which can absolve the contractor of certain liability and may even invalidate warranty claims. Unless you have a specific reason to pull your own permit (such as owner-builder projects where you are personally doing the work), the contractor should be pulling the permit in their name under their license. That’s how accountability is maintained.

Should Permit Obligations Be in the Contract?

Absolutely — and this is non-negotiable. Any contractor agreement you sign should explicitly state which permits are required for the project, who is responsible for obtaining them, and that all work will be performed in compliance with applicable building codes. If a contractor’s standard contract is silent on permits, ask them to add a clause. If they resist adding a permit clause to the contract, treat that resistance as a serious warning sign.

A permit clause in a contract also gives you legal standing if the contractor fails to pull permits as agreed. Without a contractual commitment, proving they were obligated to permit the work can become a he-said-she-said dispute. With a clear contract clause, you have written documentation of what was promised. If they don’t deliver on that promise, you have grounds for remedies including dispute resolution and potential licensing board complaints.

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What to Do If a Contractor Refuses to Pull Permits

Why Would a Contractor Flat-Out Refuse to Pull a Permit?

A contractor who flatly refuses to pull permits for work that legally requires them is either unlicensed, operating under a suspended or expired license, or is knowingly planning to do work they don’t believe will pass inspection. There is no legitimate business reason to refuse to permit required work. Any explanation they offer — “it’ll take too long,” “it’ll raise your taxes,” “it’ll complicate things,” “the building department is backed up” — is either false or irrelevant. None of those reasons eliminate your legal exposure as the homeowner.

The “it’ll raise your property taxes” objection deserves special attention because it sounds plausible. In some jurisdictions, a completed addition or improvement can affect assessed value and therefore property taxes. But that’s a legal consequence of improving your property — not a justification for bypassing the permit system, and any contractor who presents it as a reason to skip permits is manipulating you. Your correct response is simply: permits are required, and you expect them to be pulled — full stop.

What Should You Do If a Contractor Already Did Unpermitted Work?

If you discover mid-project or after completion that a contractor did not pull required permits, you have several options. First, you can contact the building department yourself and report the unpermitted work — this often triggers a stop-work order and an inspection, which protects you from further liability even if it creates a short-term disruption. Second, you can demand in writing that the contractor pull a retroactive permit and schedule all required inspections before final payment is released. Third, if the contractor is unresponsive or has abandoned the project, you can file a complaint with the state contractor licensing board.

Do not accept a discount or cash payment as a substitute for permitted work. A contractor who offers you money to stay quiet about unpermitted work is asking you to absorb enormous long-term risk in exchange for short-term savings. The dollar amount they’re offering is almost certainly far less than what you’d pay in retroactive permitting costs, correction costs, or insurance and real estate consequences down the road.

Can You Report an Unlicensed or Unpermitted Contractor?

Yes — and doing so is a service to other homeowners in your community. Every state has a contractor licensing board or similar regulatory agency that accepts complaints against unlicensed contractors and licensed contractors who have violated code. You can also report to your county building department, the Better Business Bureau, and your state Attorney General’s consumer protection division. Reports don’t always result in immediate action, but they create a documented record that can be used in future enforcement actions and can help other homeowners who are researching the same contractor.

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Permit Requirements by Project Type

The question of what requires a permit varies by jurisdiction — some counties are more stringent than others, and local amendments to state codes can change specific thresholds. That said, there are categories of work that almost universally require permits across the United States, and categories that almost universally don’t. Knowing which side of that line your project falls on is essential before you sign anything.

Does a Roof Replacement Require a Permit?

In most jurisdictions, yes — a full roof replacement requires a permit. The reason is structural: a roof is part of the building envelope, and its installation affects both weatherproofing and structural load distribution. An inspector reviewing a roofed permit will look at deck condition, flashing installation, underlayment type, and ventilation — all things that affect the longevity of the roof and the health of the structure beneath it. A roofing contractor who tells you permits aren’t required for a tear-off and reroof should be asked to put that claim in writing; in most counties, they won’t be able to.

Cosmetic repairs — patching a few shingles, replacing flashing around a vent pipe — generally don’t require permits. The line is typically drawn at replacement of the entire roof covering or significant structural work on the decking. When in doubt, a two-minute call to your building department will give you a definitive answer for your specific jurisdiction.

Does an HVAC Replacement Require a Permit?

HVAC work almost universally requires permits, particularly for equipment replacement (air handler, condenser, furnace, heat pump), new duct installation, and any refrigerant work beyond minor servicing. The permit process for HVAC is important because improper installations can cause carbon monoxide hazards (combustion equipment), refrigerant leaks (environmental and safety concerns), and severely reduced equipment efficiency and lifespan. An inspector checking an HVAC permit will verify equipment sizing, refrigerant charge, combustion air provisions, and duct connections.

In Ohio and many other states, HVAC contractors must hold a specific contractor’s license — separate from a general contractor license — to legally pull permits for mechanical work. A general contractor who subcontracts HVAC work but pulls the permit themselves may not be legally authorized to do so. The permit should reflect the licensed HVAC contractor’s credentials, not a general contractor acting as an intermediary.

Does Electrical Work Require a Permit?

Nearly all electrical work beyond simple device replacement (swapping an outlet or light fixture) requires a permit. Panel upgrades, circuit additions, rewiring, subpanel installations, EV charger installations, generator hookups — all of these universally require permits. Electrical work is one of the highest-risk categories from a life-safety standpoint: improper wiring is a leading cause of residential fires, and arc faults and overloaded circuits can cause fires months or years after the work is done. The inspection process for electrical permits is specifically designed to catch the installation errors that lead to those outcomes.

Electrical contractors must typically hold a master electrician license to pull permits. A handyman or general contractor cannot legally pull an electrical permit in most states — even if they’re capable of doing the physical work. If someone offers to do your panel upgrade without a permit, they’re almost certainly not a licensed master electrician.

Does Plumbing Work Require a Permit?

Yes — any plumbing work that involves new pipe runs, drain line modifications, fixture additions, water heater replacements, or sewer line work requires a permit in virtually every U.S. jurisdiction. Plumbing inspections verify proper venting (to prevent sewer gas infiltration), correct pipe slopes for drainage, pressure testing of new supply lines, and water heater safety features including temperature and pressure relief valves. Improperly vented drains are one of the most common sources of indoor sewer gas — a health hazard that’s invisible and odorless in some forms.

Simple repairs — fixing a leaking faucet, replacing a toilet flapper, unclogging a drain — don’t require permits. The threshold is generally when you’re opening walls or floors to access pipe systems, adding new fixtures or drain lines, or replacing major components like water heaters or main shutoffs.

Do Room Additions and Structural Changes Require Permits?

Without exception — yes. Any addition to a home’s footprint, any structural modification (removing or adding load-bearing walls, modifying floor or roof framing), and any conversion of non-living space (garage, basement, attic) into living space requires permits. These projects involve engineering principles that directly affect the safety of the structure, and they must be reviewed by a building official who can verify that the plans comply with load, egress, insulation, and fire code requirements.

Unpermitted additions are among the most common and costly discoveries in real estate transactions. An addition that’s not on the county’s records doesn’t count toward the legal square footage of the home — which can affect your appraisal value, your insurance coverage limit, and your ability to sell at your asking price. Lenders won’t count unpermitted square footage toward the value they’re willing to loan against.

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The Difference Between a Permit and an Inspection — and Why Both Matter

Is a Pulled Permit Enough, or Does the Inspection Matter Too?

A pulled permit that is never inspected offers almost no protection. The permit is the authorization to do the work — it tells the government that work is planned, but the inspection is the verification that the work was actually done correctly. Without an inspection, you have paperwork but no third-party confirmation that anything was built to code. A contractor who pulls permits but avoids scheduling inspections is gaming the system in a way that still leaves you fully exposed.

Inspections typically happen at multiple stages of a project — not just at the end. For electrical work, there’s often a rough-in inspection before the wiring is covered by drywall, and a final inspection after everything is connected and the panel is energized. For plumbing, there may be a pressure test inspection before pipes are covered, and for framing, an inspection before the walls are closed. Each stage is a specific checkpoint designed to catch problems before they’re buried inside your walls.

How Do You Confirm That Inspections Were Actually Completed?

The permit record in your building department’s database will typically show inspection history — each scheduled inspection, the date it occurred, and whether it passed or failed. A finaled permit should show a complete inspection history with a final approval date. If a permit shows as “issued” but has no inspection records, that’s a permit that was pulled but never taken through the inspection process. You can ask your contractor to show you the permit card (a physical document sometimes posted at job sites) or pull the inspection history from the online portal yourself.

For work currently in progress, it’s entirely appropriate to ask the contractor when their next inspection is scheduled. A contractor who’s pulling permits properly will know exactly when inspections are due and will have a direct line to the building department’s inspection scheduling system. If they seem vague or uncertain about inspection timing on an active project, that warrants follow-up.

What Happens to a Permit That Is Never Finaled?

A permit that is opened and never finaled remains as an open record in the building department’s database — sometimes indefinitely, sometimes until it’s flagged and expired. When you or a future buyer looks up the property’s permit history, that open permit appears as an outstanding item. It signals that work was started but never verified complete. Some jurisdictions have processes to close out stale permits, but many don’t — the record simply sits there as a permanent indicator that something was left unresolved.

If you’re buying a home and you see open permits from years ago, contact the building department to understand their status. In some cases, the work was actually completed and inspected, but the paperwork was never properly closed — a clerical issue that can often be resolved with documentation. In other cases, the work genuinely was never inspected, and you’re looking at a liability you’d be buying along with the house.

For more context on vetting contractors beyond permits, see our related resources on how to check if a contractor is licensed and insured, how to read a contractor BBB report before you hire, and what contractor reviews really tell you — and what they don’t.

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Putting It All Together: Your Permit Verification Checklist

Checking a contractor’s permit history isn’t complicated — but it does require that you know what to look for and what to do with what you find. The following checklist summarizes the key steps covered in this article into a practical sequence you can use before signing any contractor agreement.

What Should You Do Before Signing Any Contractor Agreement?

Step 1 — Get their license number. Ask every contractor for their state contractor license number before doing any other research. This is the key you need to search permit records, verify license status, and check for disciplinary history. Any hesitation in providing it is a red flag.

Step 2 — Search the local building department portal. Use the contractor’s name or license number to search permit records in the county or counties where they primarily work. Look for permit volume consistent with their claimed years in business, finaled permits rather than just open ones, and no pattern of abandoned or repeatedly failed permits.

Step 3 — Ask the permit question directly. In your bidding conversation, ask which permits they’ll pull for your specific project, who is responsible for obtaining them, and whether permit fees are included in the estimate. The directness and clarity of their answer tells you a lot about how they operate.

Step 4 — Include permit obligations in the contract. Any work you authorize should include a written clause specifying which permits will be pulled, who is responsible for pulling them, and that all work will comply with applicable codes. This protects you legally and gives you recourse if the contractor fails to deliver.

Step 5 — Verify inspections during the project. Don’t just assume inspections are happening — ask when the next one is scheduled and whether the rough-in passed. These questions signal that you’re an engaged homeowner, and engaged homeowners get better work from contractors who know someone is paying attention.

Step 6 — Confirm the final permit closure before making the last payment. Before you write the final check, verify through the building department’s portal or directly with the inspector that the permit has been finaled. Payment tied to permit final is a legitimate and widely accepted practice — any trustworthy contractor will understand and respect it.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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