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Hi, I'm building a new home and wanted to put a contingency on the contract to satisfactory home inspection. But the builder says that's too subjective so he wants to put contingent to home inspection that doesn't violate building codes.
I was looking for inspectors and noticed that a lot of them state their inspections exclude checking for code violations.
Should I have the contingency changed? And to what?
There should be footing/slab, waterproofing/termite, framing, electrical, plumbing, concealment, and final inspections that are performed by the local government during the course of construction.
If there are code infractions, they local building inspectors should catch that. Keep in mind though, local building inspectors do not check for workmanship.
I'd say about 80-90% of the stuff found on home inspection reports are cosmetic. Many builders will allow home inspections to occur but they (the builder) makes the call on what will and won't be fixed.
I bought a new home with a one year, unconditional warranty. I am fortunate as anything I have asked to be done (all minor), I just called the builder and they were promptly done. We have an 11 month walk though scheduled and even though I watched this house being built, I know how things work, how things are built, etc. I am still going to pay a professional home inspector to inspect the home before I have my 11 month walk through.
New homes are built by humans and as we all know, humans aren't perfect. You generally don't see code inspectors with ladders and Code inspectors typically won't walk on a roof or call out quality issues. Many problems on new homes are cosmetic, however, some problems were designed into the home which can create serious problems down the road. I have found electrical issues in a few new houses and even had the builder follow me around making corrections as I identified them. Many builders take pride in their work and do an excellent quality job, others, not so much. It's always in the best interest of a buyer to have a home inspection on a newly constructed home.
i am in the process of having a new house built (next door) so i am over there every single day when i get off work. I also have several friends in construction who come over weekly and double check what theyve done. i must say we got lucky with our builder as there have been really no issues with our construction any minor issues were immediately corrected when i spoke to the builder or were corrected before i even got a chance to tell him. The owner of the company is there every single day his guys are double checking everything. We also get a walk through an 12 month unconditional warranty as mentioned. they are working with wood though which can never be perfect as its constantly changing or inperfect as is so i am amazed they are able to get it as perfect as they do.
Hi, I'm building a new home and wanted to put a contingency on the contract to satisfactory home inspection. But the builder says that's too subjective so he wants to put contingent to home inspection that doesn't violate building codes.
I was looking for inspectors and noticed that a lot of them state their inspections exclude checking for code violations.
Should I have the contingency changed? And to what?
I would have to agree with Brandon Hoffman on this. The building codes are a minimum set of standards for the safe construction of a home. However they do not completely, and sometimes clearly, cover all aspects of a home's construction. Another concern with this request is that the building codes do allow the local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ, local Building Inspections Department) the ability to approve methods, materials, or other changes not specifically called for in the building codes. The AHJ making the call could be right that these differences are acceptable, or they could be wrong.
The biggest concern with this request though is what we as Inspectors frequently hear from builders when we do make a call on an issue found. A common builder response is "But the local AHJ approved it during their inspection so it must be right!". We hear this even when we point out the obvious issues that are even specifically prohibited in the building codes. The Inspectors for the AHJ are only human and could easily have missed the item in their brief periods on site performing the inspection. Or something could have changed from the time the AHJ inspected and the change was not caught in subsequent inspections.
Yet another possibility that the AHJ might have erred as a result of the building codes themselves. The building codes can not cover everything and will defer to the manufacturers recommend and approved usage and installation requirements. If the codes took all manufacturers requirements into account the code manuals would be so large it would literally take a large truck to haul them around in. As a result the Inspector might be aware of a specific manufacturers requirements that the AHJ was not aware of. However whatever the AHJ approves is usually what stands even if contrary to the manufacturers requirements.
What the builder's required change to your inspections means to you is that if there is a disagreement due to the inspection you are in for a fun ride! It will now be up to you to contact the AHJ and have the deficiency re-inspected by them and a determination made if it is allowed or not by them. Quite frankly the AHJ's are not equipped to handle this potential huge increase in inspection requirements. Even if they do agree to do this they might not be able to make the builder's, and your, time schedules for completions and closing. Obviously that would make for a very problematic situation for you.
With your verbiage it would basically fall on the builder to demonstrate to you that the Inspector did not make a proper call. In other words it is now all on the builder and not you. All you have to worry about is whether you will accept the builders explanation or decision.
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