What does a building/alteration permit cover?

[Alex T.]

I am working on a full renovation. I have a GC, and he's gotten the following permits: Interior Demolition, Alteration/Building, HVAC, Plumbing, and Electric. Initially, I didn't have a lot of exterior work scoped out, so my GC wasn't doing a whole lot outside the house. Since Winter, I've run into some leak issues, and I need to hire contractors to replace a roof, add downspouts, and repair a rear fence. My GC is willing to do it, but I'd rather save some money and source the work myself. Plus, it'll allow him to focus 100% on the interior. I have spoken to lots of fully licensed/insured sub-contractors in my area who specialize in roofs, fences, etc. I've gotten into the contract phase with some of them, and I have found that no one is planning to pull permits. They have all indicated that they definitely can pull permits if I want, but usually for "self-contained, small projects" such as adding a new layer of rolled roofing, they typically do not bother. I asked my GC if this would be a problem for him during future inspections, and he told me it won't be because we already have a building/alteration permit, and it typically covers a lot more than is actually written into the 2-3 sentences that are in the permit. I've also looked up permit records for lots of renovations in my area. I have never come across a specific permit for something like a new fence, new layer of rolled roofing, etc. Everyone who completed a major renovation seems to only have the building/alteration permit along with MEP, demo, etc. Admittedly, the city does have specific permit forms for everything that I'm trying to do, I've just never seen them used when someone also has a Building/Alteration permit.

What do you think? Will a building/alteration permit cover some of these exterior projects, or is my contractor wrong, and I would be taking on lots of risk by not applying for the specific permits? Thanks for the input.