Weld final approval comes before occupancy paperwork

A finished-looking house can still be unfinished on paper. Fresh paint and a working kitchen say nothing about whether the permit ever closed, and that gap is where trouble hides on a build or remodel.

The sequence is strict. Rough inspections and the other required checks have to be approved before a final inspection can happen, and final approval plus a Certificate of Occupancy depend on every permit condition being completed. Skip a step and the file simply stays open, no matter how move-in ready the rooms look.

An open permit follows the property, not the contractor who left it behind. A buyer, lender, insurer, or owner closing out a project can run into it months later, when a house that has been lived in for a season turns out to carry unmet conditions or a missing final approval still sitting in the county record.

Buying a newer home, a finished addition, a shop, or a manufactured structure is the moment to ask for the permit number and confirm final approval landed. Building it yourself means keeping the permit card and the final signoff tucked into the house file. That county record is the piece that outlasts everyone who swung a hammer, and it is what proves the work was truly signed off.