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Permits and Inspections
Permit and inspection requirements follow the property address, scope, use, and enforcing authority. Confirm them before work begins. A contractor's general experience, an old permit from another project, or a directory profile cannot establish what the current project requires.
Platform inventory
Connect permits to the responsible trade
Keep permit guidance beside How We Vet, city hubs, and the contractor directory.01
Identify the enforcing authority for the address
Begin with the exact property address and municipality. Detroit's Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department publishes building, trade, zoning, inspection, and compliance resources. A Metro Detroit mailing address does not necessarily place a property under Detroit authority, and county, state, utility, environmental, or other approvals may also apply to a project.
Describe the existing use, proposed use, complete work scope, structure type, and any known violations when asking for guidance. Do not divide a project into smaller descriptions to avoid review. Request the current application path and document who answered, because web pages, forms, fees, code editions, and submission systems can change.
02
Assign the applicant and document responsibilities
Ask who is eligible to apply for each permit and whose license or registration must appear. The owner, contractor, design professional, or another responsible party may have different roles. Put the applicant, plan preparation, fees, resubmissions, inspection requests, correction work, and final closeout in the written contract.
Verify issued permits through the authority when a lookup is available. A receipt, proposal line, or contractor screenshot may not show the approved scope, conditions, expiration, or inspection status. Keep approved plans and permit documents available at the site as required, and do not authorize work that materially departs from them without resolving the change.
03
Plan inspections into the sequence
Inspections often occur before work is concealed and at defined stages. Ask the authority and contractor which work must remain exposed, who requests each inspection, how much scheduling time is needed, and what happens after a failed or partial inspection. Covering work too early can require removal and create avoidable delay or cost.
An inspection is limited to the authority and scope under review; it is not a general guarantee of workmanship or property condition. Record results, correction notices, approvals, and the final status. If the project involves several permits, verify that every required permit reaches its proper closeout state rather than assuming one final visit closes all records.
04
Account for zoning, occupancy, and regulated hazards
Construction approval does not automatically approve a use, occupancy, rental operation, business activity, utility change, right-of-way impact, or environmental condition. Ask whether zoning, plan review, certificates, utility coordination, or other approvals must precede or follow construction. Existing violations can affect the sequence and should be disclosed to the project team.
For pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities, paid work that disturbs painted surfaces can trigger EPA lead-safe renovation requirements. Other hazards require their own qualified assessment. Rebuild Detroit does not decide jurisdiction, issue permits, perform inspections, interpret code for a project, or certify that work is lawful or complete.
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