Guide building process

When the building committee has granted your building permit, or as soon as possible after your registration has been received, the committee most often holds a technical consultation. Then, you go through how you will plan and organise the work, the proposal on an inspection plan and other relevant documents.

An inspection plan is a document for the inspection of the measure that is to be carried out. As the developer, you shall ensure that there is an inspection plan that shows what inspections are to be made, what is to be inspected and who is to conduct the inspection. It shall be clear if the inspection is to be made through documented self-inspection or if it is to be done by a certified expert. If the inspection plan concerns demolition measures, there shall be information on what hazardous waste the measure can give rise to and how both hazardous waste and other waste will be taken care of.

The building committee holds a technical consultation if:

• the measure requires an inspection manager
• a technical consultation is not clearly unnecessary
• you, as the developer, have requested a technical consultation.

If no technical consultation is needed, the building committee shall provide a starting clearance already in the permit decision, or as soon as possible thereafter, or after the notification has been submitted and it contains all necessary information that is needed to issue a starting clearance.

To obtain a starting clearance, you must show the building committee that the measure you are planning can be assumed to meet the requirements in the planning and building legislation. In the starting clearance, the building committee establishes the inspection plan. It may also provide information on any requirements that may exist in other legislation.

Once you have received your starting clearance, you may begin the measure for which you have received a building permit or that is covered by your notification. If you begin the measure without a starting clearance, you may be forced to pay a construction sanction fee.

The starting clearance for a measure subject to permit shall apply at the same time as the permit, meaning that if the measure is not begun within two years and completed within five years from the date the permit gained legal force. The starting clearance for a measure requiring notification ceases to apply two years after it was issued.

In most cases, the building committee shall visit the work site at least once in the course of the work. The need for the building committee to make work site visits is reviewed at the technical consultation. What work site visits should be made and when they should take place is presented in the inspection plan. The building committee shall document the work site visits.

The local building committee usually holds a final consultation when the project is completed. This shall take place if a technical consultation was held previously during the project and if a final consultation is not clearly unnecessary.

The final consultation is normally held on the work site. During the final consultation, you go through how the inspection plan was followed and how conditions in the starting clearance were followed. The local building committee also assesses if they will be able to issue a completion decision.

A final clearance is required for all measures covered by a starting clearance. In order to obtain a final clearance, you must show that all requirements that apply under the permit, inspection plan, starting clearance or decision on supplemental conditions are met and that the building committee has not found reason to intervene with an inspection.

You may normally not put the construction works into use before the building committee has issued a final clearance. This means that there is an automatic prohibition on use until a final clearance has been issued. However, in the starting clearance, the building committee may decide that the construction works may be brought into use in part or in whole without a final clearance or interim final clearance. If the building committee decides that the construction works may be brought into use without a final clearance, it does not mean that the requirement on a final clearance disappears. Once the measures have been completed, the building committee shall as soon as possible review if a final clearance can be issued.

The building committee may issue a final clearance if there are minor deviations. The building committee shall in the final clearance make the remarks necessary due to the deviations.

If a final clearance cannot be issued because a major deviation needs to be remedied, or because an inspection needs to be made in a later phase, the building committee may issue an interim final clearance. An interim final clearance applies until the deviation is remedied or the inspection is done. Once the deviation is remedied or the inspection is done, the committee shall review the issue of a final clearance.

If the building committee in its final review concludes that the requirements and conditions for issuing a final clearance are not met, and it is not possible to issue a final clearance with remarks, the building committee must decide not to issue a final clearance. The structure may then not be used. The building committee's decision not to issue a final clearance may be appealed.