Home warranty inspection (Phoenix: appliances, house, contractor)

[Kate2345]

I have my one year home warranty builder inspection soon, what should I look for or ask or be aware of? Are there any things Phoenix climate specific I might not think of, in terms of physical vulnerability of the house during the first year? Any good advice?

[veritased]

Any recalls on appliances might be one good thing, but your question depends on which warranty you got, or upgraded to.
Having no idea about that, one can't really answer your question?

[Ponderosa]

I would check that all the shutoff valves work including the ones at the entrance, washer, under all the sinks and toilets. The water here is so hard that these tend to gunk up in a hurry. It is a good idea to operate them once in a while anyway to keep them moving freely. If you find any that are hard/impossible to turn, drip when you turn them off, or have green/white deposits on them make the builder replace them.

[Kate2345]

Thank you Ponderosa.

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by Kate2345

I have my one year home warranty builder inspection soon, what should I look for or ask or be aware of? Are there any things Phoenix climate specific I might not think of, in terms of physical vulnerability of the house during the first year? Any good advice?

Talk to your neighbors and see if your particular builder did anything unique. For example, I was told by the project manager for my house that if I told them at the end of the first year that my insulation had settled, that they wouldn't even check it, they'd just blow in an extra layer. And they did.


Settlement cracks inside and out are also good to look for. But be careful of any patch jobs because painting might not match.


Make sure lights, switches, fixtures, etc. are all working and hung properly.


If you do have anything repaired, try and get extra paint from them (I got a gallon of matching paint and a bucket of dry grout for my floors just by asking).


I forget how I asked but I got the builder's contractor to inspect my AC/heating systems.


I blue taped a ton of crap, because I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. Some stuff we agreed to repair/replace, other stuff we let slide because the solution was worse than the problem.

[Kate2345]

Thank you, Madoff.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by Kate2345

I have my one year home warranty builder inspection soon, what should I look for or ask or be aware of? Are there any things Phoenix climate specific I might not think of, in terms of physical vulnerability of the house during the first year? Any good advice?

Did you have any inspections by your own Inspector during the build and at the final?

[Kate2345]

Yes, I had two independent inspections before closing. Thanks

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by Kate2345

Yes, I had two independent inspections before closing. Thanks

I would recommend that you contact your previous Inspector(s) and ask this question.