Three Cheers for Finally Getting Our Certificate of Occupancy

Written by Jaqui Lividini

All new buildings and all buildings that undergo extensive changes must obtain a certificate of occupancy, and we finally got ours! I was under the impression that we would have gotten ours about two years ago, but as with many things during this project, it came right down to the wire—as in, “we got the C of O the day we moved out of our apartment in the city” down to the wire. In fact, John was driving the cats and the gerbils to their new shoreline home while the inspectors were giving their final stamp of approval!

Thank goodness that the town of Branford building department and inspectors were helpful, knowledgeable and fair from the get-go because it has made a world of difference in our renovation. They made sure that we stayed up to code every step of the way and even alerted me directly when they felt something wasn’t right—like our house lift, which, in turn led to us firing our project manager. 

So, my strong advice to you is to get to know your building inspectors and town officials when undergoing any type of renovation; it’s a key component to a successful project.