Ongoing vs completed improvement, and why a deed decides the windstorm route

A certificate of compliance can be sought for an ongoing improvement or for a completed one, and section 2210.2515 of the Insurance Code sends each down a different route. Most people assume the difference is whether the builders have left. The statute defines it another way.

The definitions, word for word in substance

Subsection (a) defines an improvement as the construction of, or repair, alteration, remodeling, or enlargement of, a structure to which the plan of operation applies. A re-roof is a repair or an alteration, so it is an improvement in exactly the same sense as a new house.

A completed improvement is one in which the original transfer of title from the builder to the initial owner has occurred. If no such transfer is contemplated, it is one that is substantially completed.

An ongoing improvement is the mirror image: the original transfer of title from the builder to the initial owner has not occurred, or, where no transfer is contemplated, the improvement is not substantially completed.

Two kinds of project, two tests

Where a builder is building to sell, the test is the deed. Until the original transfer of title to the first owner happens, the statute calls the work ongoing, and after it happens the statute calls it completed.

Where an owner is improving property they already hold, no builder to initial owner transfer is contemplated, so the fallback test applies and the question becomes whether the improvement is substantially completed. A homeowner's addition, a replacement window package, and a storm repair all fall under that second test.

What the ongoing route requires

Subsection (d) issues the certificate for an ongoing improvement on the affirmation of a qualified inspector who inspects in accordance with commissioner rule. The department's own process page is explicit about what inspection means in practice: all inspectors must see the work in progress, during and not before or after the construction or repair.

So the definition does not rescue concealed work. A spec house that is finished and still unsold may be an ongoing improvement on the statute's definition, but an inspection that has to see the work in progress cannot see framing connections already behind drywall. The label decides which application is available. It does not change what an inspector is able to observe.

What the completed route requires

Subsection (c) issues the certificate for a completed improvement through a licensed professional engineer in one of two ways: an engineer who designed and sealed the improvement affirms on the department's form that the design complies and that the work was built to it, or an engineer submits a sealed post-construction evaluation report with supporting documentation. The department's completed construction page describes the application as a WPI-2E and the resulting certificate as a WPI-8E. What the report demands of the engineer is on the post-construction evaluation report page, and the practical difficulty of evidence hidden inside a finished building is on the completed construction page.

Why a first buyer should care

The moment the deed passes from builder to first owner, the statute's category for any work that was never certified changes from ongoing to completed. A buyer who closes on a new coastal house without a certificate on file has taken title at the moment the statute's category for that uncertified work changed.

On the Coastal Bend, where Nueces, San Patricio, and Aransas are all first tier coastal counties under section 2210.003, the time to ask for the certificate on new construction is before closing. The windstorm record is searchable, and what to look for in it is set out on the coastal closing page.