What do you do with a person who never quite finishes a building project? Recently I had an inquiry from a building inspector regarding a situation where the person has obtained building permits on and off for years but has never finished the job. The neighbors are tired of looking at the unfinished builidng. It’s not unusual for the excuse in court to be, “I’m busy and can only work at it on the weekends.” If a reasonable amount of time has gone by without the completion of the work and the permit is due to expire, the building official may wish to add conditions if he or she is going to extend the permit. If the work still isn’t completed, maybe the permit shouldn’t be extended. If the permit expires and there are code violations on the property, they are subject to a notice of violation and an order for compliance. A court might order completion over a specific period of time as a condition of any sentence. The longer the buiding official allows this type of a situation to continue, the more difficult it will be to obtain compliance.