Sell an Unfinished or Half-Built House in Florida for Cash

Home › Seller Situations › Unfinished & Half-Built Homes · Updated October 25, 2026

Few situations in Florida real estate feel as stuck as a house that was supposed to be finished months or years ago. Maybe the block walls went up and the trusses never arrived. Maybe the builder took your draws, stopped answering the phone and then showed up on the state licensing board’s discipline list. Maybe you were your own owner-builder, the budget ran dry after the roof, and now the permit has lapsed, the grass is chest-high and a code enforcement notice is taped to the plywood. Or maybe you inherited a project someone else started and you have no idea what was inspected, what was paid or who might still file a lien.

Every one of those stories has the same core problem: a partially built home is hard to finance, hard to insure, hard to list and expensive to finish, and it keeps costing money while it sits. Traditional buyers need a mortgage, and most lenders will not write a standard purchase loan on a house with no certificate of occupancy. That leaves a short list of realistic exits, and selling to a direct cash buyer who understands construction is often the cleanest one.

This guide explains how Florida’s permit, lien, lis pendens, contractor licensing and code enforcement rules affect an unfinished home, what your options are, how a buyer like us arrives at a price, and how a closing actually clears the mess. It is general information, not legal advice. For decisions about your specific project, confirm details with a Florida real estate or construction attorney, your title company, your county or city building department and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR).

Why owners of stalled projects sell to Libera Capital Group

What counts as an unfinished or half-built home?

“Unfinished” covers far more than a skeleton of studs. In Florida we see projects stall at every stage of the build sequence, and each stage carries its own costs, risks and paperwork. Here are the situations we buy most often.

Permit-ready lots with approved plans

Some owners never broke ground. They bought a lot, paid for a survey, soil tests, architectural and engineering drawings, energy calculations and sometimes impact fees or utility connection charges, and the building department approved the plans or issued the permit. Then construction prices jumped, a loan fell through or life changed. A lot with an approved or issued permit and a buildable plan set is a construction project, not just land, and we evaluate it that way. (Plain vacant land with no plans or permits is handled by our land division, SWFLLand.com.)

Slab or foundation only

The site was cleared, filled and compacted, the plumbing rough-in was set under the slab, and the foundation was poured, sometimes with the first inspections passed. Exposed rebar dowels, ponding water and an overgrown pad are common. The key questions are whether the slab inspections were approved, whether the under-slab plumbing can be verified and whether the current code edition requires changes.

Block or CBS shell, with or without a roof

Concrete block walls with a tie beam are the classic Florida “shell.” If trusses and sheathing are installed and the roof is dried in, the structure is far better protected than an open shell that has been rained into for months. Open shells raise questions about corroded strapping, wet framing, and whether an engineer must inspect and certify the work before a new permit holder can continue.

Dried-in, roughed-in or mid-finish

Windows and doors installed, mechanical, electrical and plumbing roughed in, maybe insulation and drywall. These homes are closer to the finish line but often have the trickiest paperwork: partial inspections under one contractor, change orders, unpaid subcontractors and suppliers who served Notices to Owner, and materials that were ordered but never delivered.

Nearly complete but no certificate of occupancy

Cabinets are in and the paint is fresh, but final inspections never happened, a blower-door or energy test failed, a driveway or sidewalk was not poured, the elevation certificate is missing, or the builder walked away before the final survey. Without a certificate of occupancy (CO), the home generally cannot be legally occupied, conventionally financed or insured under a normal homeowners policy.

Projects with a legal cloud attached

Any of the stages above can come with an expired or abandoned permit, a code enforcement case, a construction lien, a lender foreclosure, a contractor lawsuit with a recorded lis pendens, or a mowing and nuisance-abatement lien from the city or county. We buy all of them. The cloud affects the price and the closing steps, not whether a sale is possible.

Unfinished commercial shells and small multifamily

Duplexes, small apartment buildings, storefronts and flex buildings stall for the same reasons houses do. If yours is a commercial or income-property shell, see how we buy commercial property for cash and multifamily buildings; the permit and lien mechanics on this page apply there too.

Expired, inactive and abandoned building permits in Florida

The single most common question we hear from owners of stalled projects is “Is my permit still good?” The answer depends on the Florida Building Code and on how your local building department administers it.

The 180-day rule in the Florida Building Code

The administrative chapter of the Florida Building Code (Section 105.4.1 in recent editions) generally provides that a permit becomes invalid if the authorized work is not commenced within 180 days after the permit is issued, or if the work is suspended or abandoned for 180 days after it starts. In practice, most departments treat a job as active only while required inspections keep passing; a project with no approved inspection for roughly six months is typically flagged as inactive or expired. Local jurisdictions are allowed to set their own procedures for extensions, renewals and fees, so the exact wording and timelines differ from county to county and city to city. Always confirm your permit’s status directly with the department that issued it.

What “inactive,” “expired” and “abandoned” usually mean

• Inactive often describes a permit that has gone a long stretch without an approved inspection but has not yet been formally closed out. Some portals show a warning before the permit actually expires.
• Expired generally means the permit is no longer valid. Work cannot legally continue under it, and anything not yet inspected may need to be inspected or re-permitted.
• Abandoned is often used when the permit holder, usually the contractor, has stopped work and walked away, or when the department administratively closes the file. An abandoned permit can still show up on a municipal permit search and must be dealt with before a CO can issue.

Reactivating, renewing or re-permitting

Depending on the jurisdiction and how long the permit has been dead, the path forward can be a simple renewal with a fee, a reactivation request with a new inspection schedule, or a brand-new permit application. A new application may need updated plans if the Florida Building Code edition changed since the original approval; Florida updates its code on a regular multi-year cycle, so a project permitted under an older edition can face new wind, energy, flood or product-approval requirements when it is re-permitted. That can mean revised truss drawings, updated window and door product approvals, new energy calculations or an engineer’s redesign.

Work that was covered up without an inspection

When framing, strapping, electrical or plumbing was concealed before an inspection passed, or when an open shell has been weathering for months, the department may require an engineer’s evaluation letter, a special inspector’s report, destructive investigation (opening walls) or corrective work before anything else is approved. This is one of the biggest unknowns in pricing a half-built home, and it is one of the reasons owners prefer to hand that uncertainty to a buyer.

Changing contractors mid-project

If the original contractor quit, went out of business or lost a license, a new licensed contractor usually has to file a change-of-contractor form (sometimes called a contractor substitution) and accept responsibility for the work already done. Many contractors are reluctant to take over another builder’s half-finished, partially inspected job, and the ones who will often price that risk into their bid. Departments generally also want a new Notice of Commencement if the old one has expired.

Owner-builder permits and selling

Florida’s owner-builder exemption in Section 489.103(7), Florida Statutes, lets property owners act as their own contractor for a home they intend to occupy, not for sale or lease. The statute creates a presumption that a home sold or leased within one year after completion was built for sale or lease, which can be treated as unlicensed contracting. Selling an unfinished owner-builder project, before completion, is a different situation, and it is commonly done, but the new owner will need to obtain their own permit or bring in a licensed contractor to finish. If you pulled an owner-builder permit and are thinking about selling, ask a Florida construction attorney how the rule applies to your facts. When we buy, we take on the re-permitting and completion ourselves through licensed professionals.

Open permits show up at closing

Title companies and buyers routinely order a municipal lien and permit search. Expired and open permits appear on that search, and while an open permit is not usually a recorded lien, it is a disclosure item and often a negotiation item. We expect them on a half-built house, and we include closing them out in our own budget. For more on permits attached to finished homes, see our guide to code violations and unpermitted work.

Notice of Commencement, construction liens and lis pendens

Florida’s Construction Lien Law, Part I of Chapter 713, Florida Statutes, gives contractors, subcontractors, laborers and suppliers who improve real property a way to secure payment against that property. On a stalled project, it is the source of most title problems.

The Notice of Commencement

Under Section 713.13, before the first inspection on most jobs over a modest dollar threshold, the owner records a Notice of Commencement (NOC) in the county’s official records and posts a copy at the job site. The NOC identifies the owner, the contractor, any construction lender and the surety, if there is a payment bond. By statute an NOC generally expires one year after recording unless a later date is stated in it. An expired NOC does not erase liens that were properly perfected, but an active one on a stalled job can complicate a sale, and owners can record a Notice of Termination under the statute once certain conditions are met. Title companies look closely at both.

Notices to Owner and claims of lien

Subcontractors and suppliers who do not contract directly with you usually must serve a Notice to Owner, generally within 45 days of first furnishing labor or materials, to preserve lien rights. A claim of lien generally must be recorded within 90 days after the claimant’s final furnishing. If you received Notices to Owner while the job was running, keep them. They are a roadmap to who might still be owed money, even if your contractor told you everyone was paid.

How long a construction lien lasts

Under Section 713.22, a claim of lien generally expires one year after recording unless the lienor files a lawsuit to foreclose it within that year, and an owner can shorten that window by recording a Notice of Contest of Lien, which gives the lienor 60 days to sue. Contractors in direct privity with the owner must also serve a final contractor’s affidavit before they can sue to foreclose. These deadlines are technical, and missing them or misreading them is expensive on both sides, so involve a Florida construction attorney before you contest, bond off or negotiate a lien.

What a lis pendens means for an unfinished house

A lis pendens, governed by Section 48.23, Florida Statutes, is a recorded notice that a lawsuit affecting title to the property is pending. On unfinished construction we typically see three kinds: a contractor or supplier suing to foreclose a construction lien, a construction lender foreclosing its mortgage, and contract disputes where a party claims an interest in the property. Under the statute, a lis pendens that is not founded on a duly recorded instrument or a Chapter 713 lien generally is not effective beyond one year from the start of the action unless the court extends it, but lien and mortgage foreclosures fall within the exceptions, so those notices can stay in force for the life of the case.

A lis pendens does not make a property unsellable. It means any buyer takes subject to the outcome of the lawsuit unless the case is resolved. In a typical sale, the title company identifies the case, the parties negotiate a payoff or settlement, the plaintiff records a release or voluntary dismissal, and the purchase closes with clear title. If your situation involves a mortgage foreclosure, our foreclosure guide covers Florida’s judicial foreclosure timeline in more depth, and our page on back taxes and liens explains how payoffs come out of sale proceeds.

Paying twice: the risk many owners discover too late

Florida’s lien law can put a homeowner in the painful position of having paid the general contractor in full while subcontractors or suppliers who were not paid still hold valid lien rights against the house. That is why owners are told to collect lien releases with every draw. If it already happened, the liens are real debts against the property, but they are often negotiable, especially when the lienor’s paperwork or deadlines are weak or when a sale offers a fast, certain payoff.

When the builder fails, quits or loses a license

A large share of the stalled homes we see were not abandoned by their owners at all. They were abandoned by the people building them. The reasons vary: a spec builder overextended across too many lots, material and labor costs outran fixed-price contracts, a small general contractor ran out of cash between draws, a builder filed bankruptcy, or the state disciplined the contractor’s license.

Check the contractor’s license status

Certified and registered contractors in Florida are licensed through DBPR and the Construction Industry Licensing Board. You can look up any license, its status (current, delinquent, suspended, revoked, null and void) and public discipline records on the state’s DBPR license search at MyFloridaLicense.com. If your contractor’s license was suspended or revoked, they generally cannot keep pulling permits or performing contracting work until the status is restored, which is often exactly why a job stopped. You can also file a complaint with DBPR about unlicensed activity, abandonment or financial misconduct.

The Florida Homeowners’ Construction Recovery Fund

Florida maintains the Homeowners’ Construction Recovery Fund under Sections 489.140 through 489.144, Florida Statutes, to compensate certain homeowners who suffer financial harm from specified misconduct by a licensed contractor, such as financial mismanagement, abandonment or fraud, on a residential project. Eligibility rules are strict: the contract generally had to be with a contractor licensed in the relevant category, the homeowner usually must first obtain a judgment, arbitration award or restitution order and pursue collection, claims must be filed within statutory deadlines, and payouts are capped per claim and per contractor. Claims involving unlicensed contractors are generally not eligible. If you think you qualify, talk with a Florida attorney and DBPR promptly, because the deadlines run whether or not you are paying attention. Selling the house and pursuing the fund are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but get advice before you close so you do not unintentionally affect a claim.

Builder bankruptcy and buyers who lost a deposit

If a builder files bankruptcy, the automatic stay can freeze lawsuits against the builder, and deposits held by the builder may become claims in the bankruptcy estate. Florida law imposes deposit-handling rules on certain residential contracts, but recovering money from an insolvent builder is often slow. If you own the lot and the partially built house, the property itself is usually still yours to sell, subject to any liens. If you were a buyer under contract and never took title, your rights depend on your contract and the bankruptcy court. Either way, you need a bankruptcy or construction attorney, and you may want a buyer who can move as soon as the legal path is clear.

When the general contractor simply ran out of money

Many stalled jobs involve a contractor who is still licensed and still answering occasionally, but who cannot finish without more money than the contract allows. Owners face a choice between paying more, firing the contractor (which raises abandonment, lien and contract issues), or stepping back entirely. Selling to a buyer who will bring in a new licensed contractor and absorb the transition cost is one way to step back.

Code violations, unsafe structures and tall-grass liens

An inactive construction site attracts code enforcement attention quickly: neighbors complain, inspectors drive by, and the violations stack up.

Typical violations on stalled projects

• Expired or abandoned permit and work without an active permit
• Unsafe structure findings for open shells, unbraced walls or damaged trusses
• Exposed rebar, open trenches, uncovered pool excavations or unfenced pool shells
• Unsecured buildings with open window and door openings
• Construction debris, dumpsters left on site and stagnant water
• Tall grass, weeds and overgrowth beyond local height limits
• Silt fence and erosion-control failures, especially on lots near canals

How Florida code enforcement fines turn into liens

Chapter 162, Florida Statutes, lets counties and cities enforce their codes through code enforcement boards or special magistrates. Under Section 162.09, after notice and a hearing a board can impose daily fines, generally up to $250 per day for a first violation and up to $500 per day for a repeat violation, with higher limits available to larger local governments that adopt them by ordinance. A certified copy of the order imposing the fine can be recorded in the public records, where it becomes a lien against the property. The statute restricts foreclosure of those liens on homestead property, but many unfinished homes are not anyone’s homestead, so that protection often does not apply. Daily fines can grow quickly on a shell nobody is visiting.

Unsafe-structure and demolition orders

Local building officials can declare a structure unsafe and order it secured, repaired or demolished. If the owner does not act, the government may do the work and assess the cost as a lien or special assessment. An unfinished home under a demolition order still has value to the right buyer, but timing matters: tell us about any order and its deadlines right away so we can plan around them.

Tall grass, overgrowth and mowing liens

Most Florida cities and counties have lot-maintenance or nuisance ordinances that set a maximum grass and weed height and allow the government to mow or clear the property after notice, then bill the owner and record a lien or assessment if the bill goes unpaid. On scattered-lot subdivisions where a half-built house sits among vacant lots, these mowing charges recur every growing season and quietly accumulate. They show up on municipal lien searches and are paid or negotiated at closing.

Can fines be reduced?

Many local governments have a process to request mitigation or reduction of fines once a violation is cured or the property is sold to a buyer who will cure it. Policies vary and nothing is promised. As part of a purchase we can pursue that process ourselves after closing or negotiate payoff figures before closing, depending on the jurisdiction. See also our page on selling a vacant property.

Insurance, flood rules and the certificate of occupancy

Builder’s risk versus homeowners insurance

A house under construction is usually insured, if at all, with a builder’s risk (course-of-construction) policy, not a standard homeowners policy. Those policies are often written for a set term and may lapse or exclude vacancy and work stoppage. Many owners discover the house has had no coverage for months. Most carriers will not issue a standard homeowners policy until the home is complete and has a CO. If your shell has had no coverage through hurricane season, assume any buyer will inspect for water intrusion, corrosion and wind damage.

Flood zones and elevation certificates

New construction in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area must meet local floodplain management rules, including the required lowest-floor elevation, which is typically verified with elevation certificates at the form-board or foundation stage and again at completion. If the foundation was set too low, or an elevation certificate is missing, the path to a CO can require significant changes. After Hurricane Ian in 2022 and Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, many Gulf-coast communities paid closer attention to floodplain compliance, and some adopted higher freeboard standards. Your building department or floodplain administrator can tell you which rules apply to your lot.

The certificate of occupancy and fees already paid

The CO is issued only after all required final inspections pass. Until then the home generally cannot be legally occupied. On the positive side, many stalled projects have already paid significant costs that carry real value to a buyer: impact fees, water and sewer connection or capacity fees, utility assessments, surveys, soil compaction tests and engineering. Bring us receipts and the permit history; prepaid items are part of the value we credit in our math.

How a cash buyer values a half-built house

There is no rule-of-thumb percentage that fits unfinished construction, and you should be wary of anyone who quotes one before seeing the permit history. A credible offer is built from the finish line backward. Here is the framework we use and put in writing for you.

1. Value when finished

We estimate what the completed home would be worth based on recent sales of comparable finished homes nearby, adjusted for size, lot, flood zone, water access and the specification level shown on the plans.

2. Estimated cost to complete

This is the largest and most uncertain line. We break it into categories so you can check each one:

• Permitting and design: renewal or new permit fees, revised plans if the code edition changed, engineering letters, special inspections, updated product approvals and energy calculations.
• Corrective work: opening concealed work for inspection, replacing water-damaged framing or sheathing, re-strapping, treating corroded steel, fixing anything that would not pass under the current code.
• Remaining construction: roofing, windows and doors, mechanical, electrical and plumbing, insulation, drywall, finishes, cabinets, flooring, driveway, landscaping and utility connections, based on current local labor and material pricing.
• Inspections and close-out: final surveys, elevation certificates, blower-door or duct tests where required, and the CO.
• Contingency: a reserve for what we cannot see until walls are open. The more unknowns, the larger this reserve, which is why documentation from you can raise your number.

3. Liens, fines and payoffs

Mortgage or construction loan payoff, recorded construction liens, code enforcement liens, mowing assessments, delinquent property taxes and any settlement needed to release a lis pendens. Some of these are paid from your proceeds; some can be negotiated down; some we take on and resolve after closing. The written offer shows which is which.

4. Holding, insurance and sale costs

The months it takes to permit and finish, builder’s risk insurance, property taxes, financing costs, utilities, site security, and the eventual cost to sell the finished home.

5. Risk and margin

A buyer of a stalled project is taking on construction risk, permitting risk, market risk and schedule risk. A reasonable margin compensates for that. The difference between our offer and the “finished value” is not hidden profit; it is mostly the four lines above, and we show you each one.

Finish it yourself, hire a new GC, list it as-is or sell to us?

Every path below can be the right one for a particular owner. The table compares them qualitatively; actual costs depend entirely on your project, your market and your jurisdiction.

For a broader look at the trade-offs, read cash offer vs. listing with an agent. If an all-cash price does not fit, ask about creative financing structures such as a partial cash payment plus a note.

What happens at closing on an unfinished home

Closing on a stalled project looks like any other Florida cash closing, with extra work on the title side. Here is the typical sequence.

• Title search and lien search. An independent title company searches the official records for mortgages, construction liens, judgments, a lis pendens, code enforcement liens and tax issues, and orders a municipal lien and permit search showing open or expired permits, open code cases and utility or mowing balances.
• Payoffs and releases. The title company requests payoff letters from lenders and lienors. Where amounts are disputed, the parties negotiate. Lienors sign releases, plaintiffs dismiss or release a lis pendens, and code liens are paid or reduced according to the local government’s process.
• Expired NOC and permits. The title company addresses an active Notice of Commencement as needed. Open or expired permits typically transfer with the property as our responsibility.
• Disclosures. You tell us what you know about the project; Florida law requires sellers of residential property to disclose known facts that materially affect value and are not readily observable. Because we are buying a construction project as-is, our due diligence assumes there are unknowns.
• What you do not have to do. You do not need to finish the house, close out permits, cure code violations, mow the lot, remove debris or clear materials before closing. We handle those items after we own the property.
• Funding. Proceeds are disbursed by the title company. Florida’s documentary stamp tax on deeds is $0.70 per $100 of the price in every county except Miami-Dade, and who pays it is set by the contract.

Our four-step process

1. Tell us about the project. Share the address, the stage of construction, permit numbers if you have them, and anything you know about liens, lawsuits or code cases. A short call or the form above is enough to start.
2. We review the record. We pull the permit and inspection history, the recorded documents and the code enforcement file, and we walk the site with you or on our own.
3. You get a written offer with the math. Finished value, cost to complete, payoffs, carrying costs and our price, typically within 24–48 hours after we have the information we need.
4. Close on your date. A Florida title company clears what it can before closing and pays off the rest from proceeds. After closing, we take it from there.

See how our process works in more detail.

Owners, investors, lenders and heirs we help

Homeowners who got stuck

You planned to live there. The builder disappeared or the budget ran out, and now you are paying rent somewhere else plus a construction loan. We can buy the project so you can stop paying for two homes.

Investors and spec builders

You built on speculation across several lots and need to exit one or more before they drain the rest of the portfolio. We buy single shells or groups, residential or single-family and small multifamily.

Lenders with construction loans in default

Banks, credit unions and private lenders holding a defaulted construction loan or a completed foreclosure on an unfinished home can sell the note, accept a short payoff, or sell REO directly. Our lender and bank partner page explains how we work with institutions.

Heirs who inherited a half-built house

An estate holding a partly finished home faces probate timelines, unpaid contractors and a property nobody can insure. We can buy from the personal representative once they have authority to sell. See our guide to inherited and probate property.

Storm-damaged projects

If a hurricane damaged the structure before it was finished, our guide to major repairs and fire damage and our main seller situations hub cover related scenarios.

Where half-built homes are most common in Florida

Unfinished homes turn up in every county, but they cluster in a particular kind of place: large pre-platted subdivisions that were laid out decades ago as thousands of individual lots and are still being filled in one house at a time. In those communities there is no master developer building a whole street at once. Instead, small builders, owner-builders and out-of-state investors each build on a scattered lot, often with a construction loan and a thin cash cushion. When costs rise, credit tightens or a storm interrupts the schedule, those projects are the first to stall.

Several other patterns make stalled builds more common in specific areas:

• Rapid infill growth. Places like Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, North Port, Port St. Lucie and Palm Bay saw heavy single-lot building in recent years, which brought in many new and thinly capitalized builders.
• Well, septic and utility expansion. In areas transitioning from wells and septic tanks to city water and sewer, utility assessments and connection fees can catch owners mid-build.
• Storm interruptions. Hurricane Ian in 2022 hit Southwest Florida construction sites hard, and Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 disrupted builds along the Gulf coast and inland, damaging open shells and pushing labor toward repair work.
• Rural owner-builder projects. In inland counties with larger lots and fewer building restrictions, owner-builders start homes over years and sometimes cannot finish.

Southwest Florida is our home market and where we are based, but we buy statewide. Each local guide below explains how that area’s building department handles expired permits, what code enforcement and lot mowing look like there, and what kinds of unfinished homes are typical:

• Cape Coral unfinished homes
• Lehigh Acres half-built houses
• Fort Myers & North Fort Myers
• Naples & Golden Gate Estates
• North Port stalled builds
• Port Charlotte shells
• Punta Gorda unfinished homes
• LaBelle & Hendry County
• Palm Bay half-built homes
• Port St. Lucie stalled construction
• Ocala & Marion Oaks
• Citrus Springs unfinished homes
• Spring Hill shells
• Palm Coast stalled builds
• Deltona unfinished homes
• Poinciana half-built houses

Not listed? We still buy there. Start with our Southwest Florida page or the statewide Florida locations hub, or just send the address.

Related situations and property types

• Code violations & unpermitted work
• Facing foreclosure
• Back taxes & liens
• Vacant property
• Inherited & probate homes
• Major repairs & fire damage
• Single-family homes
• Multifamily & apartments
• Unfinished commercial buildings
• Lenders & banks

Frequently Asked Questions about selling unfinished construction in Florida