How does a Permit Process works in California?

[Mary Jay]

Hi guys,

I have a property in  Santa Barbara county and I am trying to convert a room into a 4th bedroom. In order for it to be officially called a bedroom I need to get the county building department to issue a permit.

I know I cant start work without a permit. But once I get the permit and do the work, after the work is done, does the building department representative comes to look at the work to give a final approval? So in that case, even though we got a permit and did the work, the building department may still not approve it to be an official bedroom?

Or :

once you got the permit they do not check and basically its guaranteed to be a 4th bedroom?

Thank you!