PLANT CITY, Fla. (WFLA) — Jamie Fox and her husband replaced their roof in August 2018. When the job was finished, they made their final payment and never thought about the roof again.

“The quality was there and still is there,” Jamie Fox said. “It went through Hurricane Ian just fine.”

Then this year, trouble. As they prepared to sell the house, the buyer’s agent discovered the roof work, done by PDG Roofing LLC, had never been approved by Plant City government, and the permit had expired.

“My husband contacted the roofer and talked to him and he was more than willing to take care of it,” Fox said.

Then, Fox says the owner of PDG stopped returning calls. The Better Business Bureau shows the business is no longer in business and state records show “inactive.” However, a message on the business phone indicates it’s open.

“We just assumed when we wrote the check that everything had cleared, we’re good,” Fox said. “We should have asked for proof on paper.”

In order to sell their house, Fox and her husband had to hire another contractor to open a new permit, ask for a final inspection and then close the permit. That cost $1,000.

Plant City’s building official tells Investigator Shannon Behnken that he has seen an uptick in contractors failing to seek a final inspection, although he’s not sure why. He says his recommendation to consumers is to hold off on making the final payment until they see proof that the job has passed a final inspection and the permit was closed properly.