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We're on our third home that we have built over the years and never had an inspection. All the builders gave us a one year warranty on everything, plus 10 year structural and 5 years on the roof. Never had an issue with a builder honoring a warranty and standing by their work. I suggest doing your homework on the builder. Look at reviews, etc.
If you look at the list of things in my earlier post, they were all houses that had completed all their municipal inspections and were ostensibly ready for move in. Some items, such as the plugged plumbing vent might never be noticed, people would just assume their drains were supposed to run slowly, unless maybe the trap got sucked dry and then they’d be wondering what that stink in the bathroom was. They’d probably be those people with Glade plug-ins all over the house.
I don’t know Texas laws regarding new hime warranry (I do know Minnesota laws, which provide consumer protection with required warranties for whole bouse/ electrical and foundatuin at various poits in time).
When we built eight years ago, closing -taking possession of the house - did not occur until a final walk-through by new owners to sign off. THAT is when you bring YOUR inspector, to walk through with you (and your spuse, yiur realatir, your parents, whomever YOU wish) and check and double-check every outlet, every surface, everything. And note what is not correct. It may take three hours, it may take eight hours. From that, a fix it sheet is created for the builder.
If the builder does not agree to the items to be in proper condition to your satisfaction, you simply DO NOT CLOSE on the house. Good. builders do this as standard practice. If your builder does not, DO NOT CLOSE and start to negotiate and perhaps get a lawyer.
Buyer should always have a inspection conducted. Especially on a new construction, as these builders do cut corners hoping to get away with things and increase their profit margin.
ABSOLUTELY hire your own inspector! We had a house built by a national builder in 20019 in a subdivision.... pretty much all cookie-cutter houses. We were the only ones to have an independent inspector, all others just trusted the builders. Guess what? The builders didn't put ANY insulation in the attic past the front couple of feet. You know, the couple of feet a regular buyer just might eyeball if they were really checking the house and decided to pop open the attic access and get on a ladder. The houses were supposed to be super-insulated, far exceeding the minimums, and it was a big selling point of the builder. They tried to deny they did it, but my inspector had pictures because he got into the attic and went all the way back and had a photo with a ruler clearly showing NO INSULATION in the back 3/4ths of the house. There were some other cosmetic issues but just that one problem made the inspection totally worth it. We would have had frozen bathroom pipes within two months of closing on the house, with thousands of dollars in repair bills the builder would have forced us to mediation with.
I threw an absolute fit and told them to fix it or I would flag down every potential new buyer and show them the inspection report and pictures. I now have the most insulated home in the neighborhood! They might not "deal" with outside inspectors but if you know the problems before you close, you are in a position to have them fixed.
My clients always have an inspection on a new build - I can't tell you the number of things that pop up. In fact, if they are building from the ground up, I advise an inspection at slab, at framing (MUCH easier to see and fix problems then than when the sheetrock is up hiding everything!) and before closing. Not sure what your builder means by they don't "honor" 3rd party inspections - builders have their own "independent" inspectors, but those work for the builder, not the buyer. Perhaps they mean they won't fix problems found by anyone but their own inspector, which would send up all sorts of red flags for me as to what they think about the quality of their own work.
Yes, it's worth getting a home inspection so you know what you're buying. Your agent should be telling you this (and a lot of other things - the builder rep may or may not be licensed, and in any case is bound to represent the builder's, not your, interests).
I agree. In my last two new builds I had an inspector walk with me several times during construction. I paid him $75 per tour. I did not want a written report, just his comments which I wrote down and went to the builder with.
There will be a punch list (items not complete or done properly) for the builder to fix. Who knows where your punch list came from.
I’m assuming this house is being built in an area where a permit is required and the construction has to conform to local codes? If that is the case, there will be a bunch of insoections for all of the various aspections of construction including all of the mechanical and electrical trades.
Being in this industry for 40 years, I can somewhat understand the builders reluctance to having someone other than the local officials comment on the construction.if I were inspecting, I’m sure I could offer improvements on most all aspects of the work, however they would be more costly and over and beyond the local code or plan design. Would you be willing to pay for extras as the process continues or pay for an inspector to be there every day as a baby sitter just watching?
As others have commented, there are critical aspections that could cause water leaking into the foundation/ basement, etc if it’s not done properly or if the builder does not know any better however. Not even sure if this housewill have a full basement or not but the related work and backfill for this aspect is Critical! This is probably one of the most common areas that builders sometimes fall short on and would be one of the most expansive to correct at a later date.
I've encountered builders and even Build Supervisors who welcome the reports. After all it's an extra set of eyes on the house to help ensure a quality build and hey the buyer paid for it too! That's the mark of a good builder.
Yes we have some JA's here as well that are not doing their clients' any favors.
I've likewise had inspections where the Building Superintendent follows the inspector around with a notepad taking notes on exactly what the problem is (and with one inspector who used to be a builder, discussing the best way to fix the issue). They want to make sure that everything is right from the beginning and WELCOME third party inspections.
I guess this has been discussed here before- a few times eh, but, for anyone buying a new house- having your right to have third party inspections should be stipulated in your initial YES you might have to negotiate it into the builder's standard contact, but, it needs to be formally addressed before you proceed.. You must also see in writing (understand and agree to) HOW any issues found prior to, and directly after, the final walk through are to be remediated.
There is typically some warranty-type wording in the contract- read and understand that of course,but, that should not supplant the value inherent in getting as many issues as possible identified and properly addressed before you move in.
I would not have an inspector discuss how any issues might be corrected- that's a huge possible liability and possible loss of standing unless your inspector is licensed in the field they are discussing about possible rectification ( I still would leave the onus for repair technique on the builder- your inspector or other licensed trades person can verify if need be). Its hard to prepare for every eventuality,but- the rest of the posts in this thread should be a wake-up call to any new home buyers that feel like a smile and a handshake are adequate legal protection and/or recourse if things go wrong with a new house -expensive or not.
Get your new home inspected by third party inspectors and/or contractors.
I guess this has been discussed here before- a few times eh, but, for anyone buying a new house- having your right to have third party inspections should be stipulated in your initial YES you might have to negotiate it into the builder's standard contact, but, it needs to be formally addressed before you proceed.. You must also see in writing (understand and agree to) HOW any issues found prior to, and directly after, the final walk through are to be remediated.
There is typically some warranty-type wording in the contract- read and understand that of course,but, that should not supplant the value inherent in getting as many issues as possible identified and properly addressed before you move in.
I would not have an inspector discuss how any issues might be corrected- that's a huge possible liability and possible loss of standing unless your inspector is licensed in the field they are discussing about possible rectification ( I still would leave the onus for repair technique on the builder- your inspector or other licensed trades person can verify if need be). Its hard to prepare for every eventuality,but- the rest of the posts in this thread should be a wake-up call to any new home buyers that feel like a smile and a handshake are adequate legal protection and/or recourse if things go wrong with a new house -expensive or not.
Get your new home inspected by third party inspectors and/or contractors.
This post is about new construction inspection rather than new house inspection. Very different from each other because this is more for a phased approach rather than just an overall general inspection.
I've encountered builders and even Build Supervisors who welcome the reports. After all it's an extra set of eyes on the house to help ensure a quality build and hey the buyer paid for it too! That's the mark of a good builder.
Yes we have some JA's here as well that are not doing their clients' any favors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady
I've likewise had inspections where the Building Superintendent follows the inspector around with a notepad taking notes on exactly what the problem is (and with one inspector who used to be a builder, discussing the best way to fix the issue). They want to make sure that everything is right from the beginning and WELCOME third party inspections.
I built 4 years ago with a national tract builder. They took my inspector's report and turned it into a 27 item punch list, plus all of the other things the super and I noted separately when we did our walk through.
Every item but one was completed prior to closing, and the pending item was a new cabinet door that had to be ordered but hadn't arrived yet. They came back a week or so later to replace that door.
I had a pre-drywall inspection (no issues noted by my inspector, although she did discuss a few things at length with the superintendent while she was there) and then a final inspection about a week before the scheduled closing. The closing ended up getting pushed back about a week - I didn't care because we were staying with family for free, and it also gave an extra week to complete all the punch list items before we closed and moved in.
I don't even know what "not accepting" an inspection would mean - you have the right to look at the property before closing on it and point out any deficiencies. The fact that you want to bring along someone else (who happens to be a professional home inspector) for guidance should be irrelevant to the builder.
Now, I could see them saying they won't accept a third party appraisal - and many new construction contracts don't have an appraisal contingency anyway, you pay the agreed upon contract price even if it doesn't appraise. So they'd be entitled to say that they wouldn't the appraisal.
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