From what I've seen, policies regarding the length of open building permits really varies according to location. We completed our retirement house a little over a year ago- after 4 long complicated years of building, and our contractor managed to keep our building permit open for the entire 4 years. In that county ( in southwest Florida), a building permit was good for six months, but it could be renewed either by scheduling and going through an inspection, or by paying the county for another six month extension. At the time, there was no limit on the length of time the permit was open ( I think they may have changed things and there is a one year limit now). As long as the building permit was open, the building codes in effect when it was first issued applied to the building. If the permit was allowed to expire, the builder had to apply for a new one, resubmit the plans for approval one more time, and the codes in effect at this later time would apply. I think it's pretty standard policy that any item approved by the county under an existing permit cannot be "unapproved" later on in the event of building code changes. So I'd imagine an evaporation pond approved under a previous permit is safe regardless of how much current inspectors might hate it or how environmentally "unfriendly" county bureaucrats might regard such a device, LOL. That is, hopefully, if there was a final inspection to "close out" the permit for that project. The final inspection "closes out" the permit, ie, the inspector/county signing off that the work has been completed in a workmanship-like manner, meets current standards and codes, etc. Without that final inspection, the permit remains open, expires sooner or later, and the work done under this permit is considered uncompleted. THIS type of scenario is what subjects a homeowner to problems sooner or later, ie, fines, additional inspections and the possibility to being required to tear down the construction, and rebuild according to building codes in effect that the time the open permit is discovered. This situation has occurred in our area where county building and zoning employees discovered that several townhouse and condo developments built after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 were built without the additional hurricane protection ( no hurricane straps on trusses, rebar reinforcement in the outside walls, attachment of tie beam to outside walls) required by more stringent building codes put into effect after 1992. Apparently these dwellings also had open permits that had never been completed, this was discovered about 10 years after the building was finished. The homeowners living in these places at the time this was discovered had no idea these problems existed, but they were still held responsible by the county to make the required fixes. Most of these folks didn't have the money to make these fixes, had their homeowners' insurance policies canceled, couldn't get new insurance and couldn't sell their homes either. The last I heard, they were suing the builder ( well known mass production builder I won't name), the owners at the time of said company ( a large theme park whose name I won't mention either), and maybe the county for not catching these deficiencies during the building process. The builder and theme park both disavowed responsibility for these problems, but I don't know what the outcome finally was. I wouldn't skip a final inspection, and getting that CEO....

Thanks for the good vibes people. I made pancakes for DD and her sleepover friends just to distract myself. The inspector came in the afternoon and walked around for a good hour with my GC. A couple of electrical misses - smoke alarm in the family room outside the bedroom door, some 220 circuits not having an arc (I think this is something for preventing short circuits I think). He was not too thrilled with us reusing vintage windows to keep the look uniform. He would have preferred to have seen tempered glass etc.. But did not cite that. Re-inspection for the missing pieces on Monday and hopefully occupancy permit then. I did breathe a tiny sigh of relief. I was very worried about my creativity in the Kitchen. My GC had felt several things there had a potential to be an issue including toe kick drawers, jumper cables for UCL led bars, drawers under cooktop and DW under sink. None of that seem to have caused an issue. Honestly with all the trouble we have been having with the GC, I am looking forward to getting him to close on the punch list and get out of our lives. All I want to do is move in, unpack and stay and home for a few days and let the happiness sink in. Hopefully just a couple more weekends I hope. I am shopping for hand soap to connect to the NeverMT.. that is a sign of confidence right!

Let's see. For the most part, it went well. We had one sub at the beginning of the process that slowed us down. Kept overpromising and underdelivering. Frustrating! I learned that it's very important to design a house to fit the land instead of the other way around. I think that's what caused more frustration for us in the beginning. We had a house we wanted but the land wasn't cooperating. I learned that EVERYTHING is negotiable if you're willing to ask. I learned that it's important to ask lots of questions. I learned that 9/10 of having a successful build is being able to manage time and multitask. I learned that you should ALWAYS have a contingency fund . . . 10% ideally. I learned that some subcontractors require the "bad cop" approach (that's not my nature so DH handled those situations). I learned it's so important to be on site as much as possible. I learned that EVERYONE has an opinion but at the end of the day, our satisfaction with the house was really the most important thing. I learned how grateful I am for my parents allowing us to squat at their house for several months since our house sold quickly. It's been a great adventure. DH and I really learned a lot being the owner builder. It was fun most of the time and very fullfilling. When I look at the finished product, I'm still in awe that we made all this happen. Bost most importantly I learned to slow down and enjoy the process . . . not get so caught up in the little things . . . be flexible . . and be grateful.

Dishwasher probably will not be an issue on the final... as the range hood goes, depending on how the inspector will look at it and if it's a safety issue or not. If it's not a safety issue, some will want to come back to make sure it was completed, some will just pass if you a homeowner thinking you will not leave it like this... If a contractor is present during the inspection, and even if it's not a safety issue, the inspector might want to return to make sure it will be done for the homeowner.