Cave Creek Building Inspections for New Homes: The Sequence Through Final and CO

Building a home in Cave Creek means the Town watches the work at fixed points, and every point has to clear before the next trade buries its work behind concrete, drywall, or stucco. The chain ends with a final inspection that releases your Certificate of Occupancy, the paper that legally lets you move in. This page walks the order, how Cave Creek wants each inspection requested, and how the final ties to the CO.

The inspection sequence

Inspections track the build from the dirt up, and the inspector calls each one while the work is still in plain view. For a new house the order runs:

1. Foundation. After the footing trench is dug and the steel reinforcement is tied, before any concrete is poured.
2. Under-slab. When the plumbing, electrical, and mechanical lines under the floor are set, before the slab covers them.
3. Roof and framing. When sheathing, tie-downs, walls, fire blocking, and the rough plumbing, electrical, and mechanical are all in, before anything gets closed up.
4. Insulation. Before drywall goes on.
5. Lath. Before stucco or plaster is applied.
6. Final. When the house is finished and every fixture is set, before anyone occupies it.

This order exists because an inspector cannot sign off on what is already hidden. Say a framer wraps a 2,900 square foot Cave Creek house and the drywall crew hangs board before the framing inspection is called. The inspector cannot see the wiring, the plumbing rough-in, or the fire blocking, so the inspection fails. The crew cuts out fresh drywall to expose the framing, then re-inspects and re-patches, which can cost a week and real labor dollars. The Town of Cave Creek is the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) , so its Building and Fire Code Compliance Division sets and enforces this sequence. The Town's adopted codes are the 2024 I-codes, so these inspection points follow the 2024 IRC.

How scheduling and the final tie to your CO

You request every inspection through the Town's online portal. Cave Creek moved all of this to SmartGov, and the page is plain that the portal is the only door:

All access to permits, including inspection requests, plan reviews, payments, etc., must go through the Town's permitting portal.

You log in at the SmartGov public site (twn-cavecreek-az.smartgovcommunity.com), open your permit, and request the inspection type you need. There is also a recorded inspection request line at 480-488-7092, and the Building Safety office answers at 480-488-6622 during Monday through Thursday hours. Have your permit number ready either way.

Everything funnels toward the final inspection. A passing final on a new home is what lets the Town issue the Certificate of Occupancy, the document that says the house meets code and may be lived in. Do not let a crew conceal wiring, plumbing, or framing before its inspection passes, because a failed inspection means cutting the cover back open.

When this comes into play

This runs across the whole build, not just the end:

• Pour days. You cannot pour a footing or slab until the foundation or under-slab inspection passes, so the inspection calendar drives the concrete schedule.
• Close-in. Framing, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical all get checked before insulation and drywall. A failure here halts the cover-up.
• Move-in. The final inspection and Certificate of Occupancy are what legally clear you to occupy. A sale closing or a mortgage often needs the CO in hand.

What this means for you

Treat the inspection calendar as the backbone of your schedule. Each phase has to pass before the next trade covers its work, so one missed or failed inspection slides everything after it. Set up your SmartGov account early, request inspections through the portal, and keep your permit number handy. Never bury wiring, plumbing, or framing before it is signed off. Do not move family or furniture in before the Certificate of Occupancy issues, because occupying without it is a code violation.

This entry closes the Cave Creek module loop. The codes your work is measured against are in Cave Creek Adopted Building Codes , and the permit that authorizes the build is covered in Cave Creek Residential Building Permit Requirements . To see where inspections sit in the larger build, walk the steps to building a custom home in Arizona .

Source

The inspection process and portal-only scheduling rule are published by the Town of Cave Creek: Building and Fire Code Compliance on cavecreekaz.gov . For portal access and the inspection request details, see Online Permitting and Inspection Service .

Treat this as a plain-language overview, not an official code reading. Cave Creek can revise its inspection steps and CO rules, so verify the current process with the Town's Building and Fire Code Compliance Division before you book.