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Originally Posted by Craig-D
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Bump for John Moss! He's a little out of your area (he covers mostly Jersey City) but if he'll come out, he'll be great.
A key point about new construction is to get the inspector out after framing, before the drywall goes up! Optimally, your inspector would come out three times, after foundation, after framing, after construction completes. Because with new construction, corner cutting will be mostly hidden once the drywall/finishes go up and you won't know about issues until 5-10 years down the line.
I saw a house that I loved, it was perfect location, size, layout for me. It was completely framed but not finished. Just walking through, even I could spot issues. Had an inspector out, he showed me how the foundation was problematic, patch work in framing joists (something about when the pieces weren't fitting right, the builder notched them or just put extra nails instead of actually making sure the pieces were tight). Once the ceilings went up, there was no way anyone could see that. The inspector told me if it were his house, he would walk because "if the bones of the house is good, you could always replace fixtures and tiles later. If the bones are bad, no amount of lipstick can make the prized pig"
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