A Larimer occupancy certificate follows final checks

The last contractor driving away is not the finish line on a permitted project. The real ending is a piece of paper, and you have to ask for it.

A final inspection has to be requested and approved before the occupancy certificate is released. Smaller structures often close out a step lighter, with a completion letter instead: cabins, barns, sheds, garages, storage buildings, stand-alone structures, and other small permit types fall into that group. So a house, an outbuilding, and a remodel may not all carry the same final document.

That gap is easy to overlook until you go to buy, refinance, or close out a file and find a project that looks done but never received its final sign-off. A space can be lived in, even handsome, and still be unfinished in the county’s eyes.

Ask the seller or contractor for the permit number and the final document, then confirm it through the county portal or the Building Division. It takes a few minutes and tells you whether a project is finished-looking or actually final on the record.