You should make sure you've already completed all the quests from previous levels. So, if you are now in level 46 and you say you have not been able to build new levels' stuff since level 40-41, you should make sure you've completed every quest from previous levels until level 40-41.
Check The Following Pages and see if you've missed any quest:
*Tapped Out Expansion Quests
*Tapped Out Level Quests (Level 1 to Lv. 38)
*Tapped Out Level 39 Quests
*Tapped Out Level 40 Quests