Private inspector? (attorney, houses, buying)

[kcrossley]

We're getting ready to settle on our new construction home in JCC and I'm trying to decide if it would make sense for us to hire a private building inspector to check out the home prior to us writing the big check.

I spoke to an official from JCC and he wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not. His main concern was to what standard should the builder be held accountable? For example, if the builder is building $300K homes, is it reasonable to expect them to have the quality standards of another builder building $2 million dollar homes? Probably not, but I understand the problem with doing this.

My main concern is that all of the major stuff is installed and working correctly (foundation, insulation, HVAC equipment and ducts, gas lines, electrical circuits, etc.)

What do you think?

[whereto]

Go w/ your gut instincts. Your profession is not in construction nor is it in property code enforcement. The JCC official is jerking you around.

[kcrossley]

How can I find a seasoned private inspector in my area? What are they called?

[seanpecor]

I hope this is not considered an advertisement but you might try:

http://www.inspectionzone.com/page/h....507.g.45.html

It's a national directory of home inspectors browseable by state and city. There might be someone listed in your area. Disclaimer: this is one of my resource directory sites. I have no direct affiliation with this industry; when I was selecting an industry to build my next directory around, this was essentially picked out of a hat Of course, I know alot more about the industry now. If I need to delete this message and PM this then just let me know.

BTW, you'd google for terms including "property inspection" and "home inspection". If you google for "building inspection" you might get more commercial oriented vendors. The fee ranges from about $300-$500. Get someone who is really detail oriented. Ask them how they collect information during the inspection. Ask them how they provide their report and many pages the report is. If they say the report is one or two pages than don't hire them, this is a way to filter out the people who aren't going to be thorough. For example, when we were horse farm shopping in '05, I was looking at a property with a 4,900 sq ft house built in 1981, I had a young-ish inspector go through the property. He let me know when he was going to be arriving and coordinated with me so I could be present. To record his notes he had a headset hooked into a computer-friendly dictaphone on his belt and he spoke his notes into the headset while he went through the house. The report indicated the structural condition and gave estimates on the lifespan remaining on all major components of the home. He even found evidence of slight water damage in the attic and noted where the roof had been breached. He spent about two hours at the house. We opted out of that property for various reasons, and for the next property on our list our realtor had opted for a different inspector. This inspector was about 2 years away from retirement and had a clipboard with two sheets of paper on it. He went through the 7,000 sq ft house built in '78 in about 45 minutes. He had a simple condition list with a multiple choice format and never wrote more than a short sentence to describe the condition of each home component and described everything as in good condition. We bought this property knowing that - despite his report - there were "older house" issues that would requie repair work. We were right; the multi-zone HVAC system had to be entirely replaced, etc. So the key is talking with someone on the phone and getting that "thin slice" impression of their thoroughness. If they seem shabby on the phone they'll probably be shabby on the job.

I don't understand the JCC person's assessment of your intention. County building inspectors should have covered all of these things for you to ensure that the property was built to code. Ultimately, that's the standard by which all builders are measured. $100K houses and $1M houses all have to be built to that high standard for safety and structural integrity. What separates the $100K house from the $1M house are size, location and quality of discretionary materials (drywall vs plaster, vinyl vs brick or wood, linoleum vs marble tile, plastic flexible shower vs ceramic tile, laminate vs exotic wood flooring, zero trim vs base and chair and crown mouldings, etc).

Another thing to keep in mind is that the foundation issues that may come back to bite you in the **** are usually not evident until the house has had time to settle. Every house has to settle a little and will require some filling of small joint gaps here and there. I've never heard of a builder NOT coming to fix those issues so it's nothing to lose sleep over unless the gaps are like 2"

Sean

[williamsburgfan]

go to the yellow pages. Pillar to Post is highly regarded in the area.

[businessperson]

Hate to ask a dumb question, but what is JCC?

[Apple Annie]

Whether you are buying a $300K home or a $2million home, you have a right to expect workmanlike quality and quality as represented by the builder. In NC the state law requires a builder to provide a one-year builder's warranty. Of course, getting them to come back to fix things may be an issue, but that is a reputation issue. Check the VA law on builder's warranty.

I would have a private inspector, but it may not do you any good if you did not specify it up front in your contract, such as "subject to private inspection prior to closing". It would only be good for your own purposes. You could try to hold money in escrow for any blatant defects, but again, that would be a legal issue ... and not until you get to the closing table.

If you are that concerned, speak with your closing attorney prior to closing.

[DavidS827]

You should absolutely hire a home inspector. There are minimum performance standards for almost every aspect of a properly functioning house and your home inspector is probably going to be the only person who can tell you whether or not your home meets them. Just because your home passed the county code inspection doesn't mean that the builder installed everything the way they should have.

[kcrossley]

Originally Posted by businessperson

Hate to ask a dumb question, but what is JCC?

JCC = James City County, VA

[kcrossley]

Originally Posted by DavidS827

You should absolutely hire a home inspector. There are minimum performance standards for almost every aspect of a properly functioning house and your home inspector is probably going to be the only person who can tell you whether or not your home meets them. Just because your home passed the county code inspection doesn't mean that the builder installed everything the way they should have.

This is exactly why I'm considering hiring a home inspector.