What Building Permits Are
A building permit is official authorization from your local government (usually the city or county building department) to perform construction, renovation, or major repair work on a property. The permit process ensures that planned work complies with local building codes, zoning regulations, and safety standards. When you pull a permit, the building department reviews the proposed work, and a code inspector visits the site at key stages to verify the work meets standards.
Permits are typically required for structural changes (walls, roofing, foundations), electrical work, plumbing, HVAC installation, window and door replacements that change the opening size, deck construction, additions, and major renovations. Cosmetic work like painting, replacing flooring with the same material, or swapping out fixtures usually doesn't require a permit, but the line varies by jurisdiction. When in doubt, call your local building department — they'll tell you what requires a permit for your specific project.
Why Permits Exist
Permits serve three purposes: safety, documentation, and accountability. Safety is the most obvious — electrical work done wrong can cause fires, plumbing done wrong can cause water damage and mold, and structural work done wrong can cause collapse. Code inspections catch these problems before the walls are closed up and the issues become invisible.
Documentation matters because the permit creates a public record of what was done to the property. Future buyers, insurers, and appraisers can verify that major work was done to code. And accountability matters because the permit ties the work to a specific licensed contractor who is responsible for meeting code requirements. Without a permit, there's no accountability chain.
Who Should Pull the Permit: Homeowner vs. Contractor
In most jurisdictions, either the homeowner or the licensed contractor can pull the permit. However, the best practice is to have the contractor pull the permit in their name. Here's why: when the contractor pulls the permit, they are the "permit holder" and are legally responsible for the work meeting code. If they pull the permit and the work fails inspection, it's their problem to fix. If you pull the permit as the homeowner, that legal responsibility shifts to you — even though the contractor did the work.
Some contractors will ask the homeowner to pull the permit to avoid being on record or because they aren't licensed (and therefore can't pull permits in many jurisdictions). This is a major red flag. If a contractor can't or won't pull permits, they may be unlicensed, uninsured, or trying to avoid regulatory oversight. Confirm permit responsibility in writing as part of your contract and verify their insurance covers the work being performed.
Consequences of Unpermitted Work
Unpermitted work creates cascading problems that may not surface until months or years later:
- Insurance denial: If unpermitted electrical work causes a fire, your homeowner's insurance may deny the claim. The insurer's argument: the work wasn't to code, wasn't inspected, and you assumed the risk by not permitting it.
- Resale complications: When you sell your home, the buyer's inspector or appraiser may flag unpermitted work. At minimum, this reduces your sale price. At worst, it kills the deal entirely. Some lenders won't finance properties with known unpermitted structural or mechanical work.
- Safety hazards: The whole point of inspections is to catch dangerous work before someone gets hurt. Unpermitted work skips that safety check. Faulty wiring, improper load-bearing modifications, and wrong-size gas lines are invisible behind drywall but can have catastrophic consequences.
- Legal liability: If unpermitted work injures someone (a family member, a guest, a future occupant), you can be held liable. In some jurisdictions, you can also face fines from the building department for unpermitted work, and they can require you to open walls for retroactive inspection at your expense.
- Forced removal: In extreme cases, the building department can order unpermitted work to be torn out and redone to code — with permits — at the homeowner's cost.
How to Check Permit Status
Most cities and counties maintain online permit databases where you can search by address. These databases show open permits, closed permits, inspection results, and the name of the contractor who pulled the permit. If your contractor says they've pulled the permit, verify it independently through the building department's website or by calling their office. The permit number should match the scope of work in your contract.
During the project, the building permit should be posted visibly at the job site — this is a legal requirement in most jurisdictions. If you don't see a permit posted and the work requires one, ask the contractor to show it to you and verify it through the building department.
What Happens During Inspections
Depending on the scope of work, there are typically multiple inspections throughout a project. A common sequence for a major renovation includes: foundation inspection, framing inspection, rough-in inspection (electrical, plumbing, mechanical), insulation inspection, and final inspection. The inspector verifies that each phase meets the applicable building code before the next phase can proceed.
If work fails inspection, the contractor is responsible for correcting the deficiency and scheduling a re-inspection. This is one of the strongest protections the permit system provides: an independent, trained third party is checking the contractor's work against objective standards. Without permits, you're relying entirely on the contractor's word that the work is done correctly.
What to Do Next
Make permit responsibility a non-negotiable part of your contractor selection process. Include it in the written scope, confirm who pulls the permit and whose name it's in, and verify the permit through your building department after it's pulled. Pair this with a safe payment schedule that ties milestone payments to passed inspections, not just completed work. Use the full verification checklist to cover licensing, insurance, scope, and references alongside permits. If you encounter a contractor who pressures you to skip permits, report it through our verification system — unpermitted work is one of the most common and preventable risks in home improvement. Download the complete checklist from the Trust Library.
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