New Home Inspection

 

Is it really necessary to have a home inspection on a new house, when there are county and city inspections and builder's warranties?

The answer: yes!

Neither county or city inspectors or builder's warranties can take the place of a thorough professional home inspection done prior to settlement.   County or city inspectors make a brief site visit to look for very specific things.  They are not there to do a comprehensive inspection of the property.

Building a new home is a tremendously complex endeavor. It involves many people, usually split up into sub-contractor groups, each working on different parts and systems of the house. Even for the best builders, it�s nearly impossible to complete this process without missing something. Maybe it�s a plumbing fixture that didn�t get tested for leaks, maybe it�s an electrical box that isn�t working, or any one of dozens of minor problems that can easily be overlooked in such a major undertaking.

There is no substitute for a competent home inspector spending several hours with you to discover any problems that might exist.  Issues a home inspector willusually identify fall into two categories:

Things that were not completed.

Things that were completed, but were not installed, finished, or built correctly, or were damaged after installation.

The home inspection report takes a slighly different form for a new house. It is more of  a "thing to do list" for the builder, or what is often called a "punch list."

This punch list serves everybody's interest.  The builder has a list of items to be finished, so they can finish the job and not get call-backs from an unhappy buyer. The buyer can have more confidence that work is on track and that there will not be any big surprises at the final walk-through. Most importantly, the buyer gets a truly finished house on settlement day.

There a three critical stages when inspecting a house under construction:

After the foundations are completed, but before they are back-filled with earth. At this point, the inspector can look for conditions that indicate that the foundations are built on fill dirt or poorly compacted soil.  The inspector will check to see if the foundations and footings are properly sized and if the foundation walls have been properly waterproofed.

After the framing and mechanical rough-in work are complete, but before the drywall is installed. At this stage of construction, the size, quality of wood and fasteners used in constructing the frame can be evaluated.  Plumbing, electrical, and ductwork systems that are located inside the wall can be evaluated to discover problems before they are hidden behind walls and ceilings.

The final inspection is the comprehensive home inspection of the house, as described earlier, where a punch list is prepared.

Having inspections done at these critical points during construction can find problems early when solutions are less costly and settlement is not hours away.

We know your expectations are high when you are building a brand new home, things should be just about perfect.  We can help you realize your expectations and get you to settlement on time.