Home Inspectors (San Antonio, Alamo, West: how much, home builder, buyer)

[wellguy]

Good Morning,

Our 1st year Warranty wiill expire at the end of December. We will still have the 2 and 10 year warranties.
I am looking for a Home Inspector before our 1st year warranty expires. Does anyone know of one who will go over our home with a fine tooth comb? I have heard of many Folks who have selected to use one at the end verses prior to closing or soon thereafter. Everything has remained the same (inside the home) with the exception of the Float Type Toilet Refill Mechanism which I will soon replace with a FluidMaster and the installation of three Hunter Fans (which did not void the Electrical Warranty).
As you may know Lennar has already committed (with documentation and emails) to repour the lower section of the driveway due to an early crack.
I have done a little on line reseach to see if an Inspector has to have Cetification and also if they have to be licensed by the Teas Department of Licensing and Reglation and so far nothing.
Does anyone know of one and an approx. cost? I know that cost shoud not be the factor as long as the home is inspected from top to bottom and side to side.

Thank You All.

*I hope that there is not already a Thread requesting the same.

[TrapperL]

You're mot going to like this answer but at least it's a right one. Finding a home inspector in San Antonio that has a clue is pretty much impossible. I don't know of any that have ever built a house SUCCESSFULLY and don't know of any that has ever been in the building or remodeling business that would have the experience to know if something was wrong. They will know code violations as that's pretty much what is on the State test for their license but you're looking for someone that can find any warrantable issues-that's not the same thing. If you think you have issues, hire an engineer. Otherwise, just go over the house yourself- does the A/C cool, water get hot, any plumbing leaks, any rain water leaks, doors close, windows open, etc. Other than code issues, that's about all a home inspector is going to do and any code issues are covered in perpetuity as mandated by the State of Texas as well as any builder defects. Builder defects would be defined as the slab design wrong for the PI in you area (which sucks in Kallison), defects in plans that are non cosmetic, structural defects, etc. A bad commode, window, door,etc are not things covered. If you have any issues, either take it up with the customer service rep at Lennar and make sure to get paperwork documenting your concerns. That document can save you a lot of grief later should an issue come up that you addressed with them before the 1 year warranty expired. Or you can also PM me if you like and I can try to help you thru it. Considering I handled houses in litigation for a national home builder, I've seen just about all the ways possible for the subs to screw up a house.

FWIW, while you didn't explain the float valve in the commode, have you asked the Customer Service rep to put a gauge on your house to tell how much water line pressure you have? If you have high pressure, those valves don't last long. The max allowable is 80lbs and minimum is 35lbs. If it's higher, the builder should have installed a PRV at the meter to control the pressure. PRVs are a homeowner maintenance item and normally have to be replaced about every 5 years. The water pressure is regulated by your water company, not the builder. If you're on Bexar Met, best of luck. They run high line pressures to keep the lines tight in the ground so they actually have fewer breaks- keeps their costs down but yours go up.

[wellguy]

Thanks for the response. I met a man several moths ago in the Del Webb Community in Alamo Ranch who lived in a beautiful Pulte Home. I can't remember his name or address to get the name of the Inspector he used. The warranty was about to expire and he informed me that the Inspector found many things wrong with the home that the average Homeowner wouldn't have noticed. Anyway he ended up with one heck of a list for Pulte.

Concerning the Toilets.....In all my years of not being a Plumber I have found that FluidMaster makes the best guts for a toilet. We did have Lennar replace the original guts with new ones and they had to adjust the float several times. The Flapper Valves also passed water. I elected to forego their Builder Quality parts and install the FluidMaster's. I have some dye tablets which I get from SAWS Conservation Department and conduct the toilet leak tests usually on a monthly basis. I have found the blue tablets are much more pleasing than the red ones. I don't want my Wife to think I'm peeing blood as she once did
As you stated we do have a PRV and I check the pressure (Oil Filled Pressure Gauge) on a periodic bases. The front bibb maintains a pressure of 78 psi as do the neighbors + - on both sides.

For the time being we do have Bexar Met which I'm certain will dissolve when the ratepayers are able to vote in November. We have had Bexar Met twice in the past 21 years. SAWS was our purveyor in Westcreek which was 11 of the 21 years. I loved those SAWS Water / Sewer Bills...Bexar Met's are to damn high and then we have to pay SAWS for the Sewer. From what I've heard our rates will not change and in time we will get one bill instaed of two.

[SanAntone08]

We used Chris Jackson. He was INCREDIBLE and seeing as how you asked for someone to go through your home with a fine tooth comb, he does exactly that. He takes pictures of everything, good and bad. By the end of our inspection (which lasted 3.5 hours by the way!), he had changed memory cards because he had 200+ pictures. He has many "gadgets" for lack of a better word to test things and really go in depth. He was $375 for us, and it was a large 2 story house. Hope this helps!

[theeddie]

depends if you are the buyer or the seller :P

[Penquin927]

We had a home inspection before our 1 year warranty was up with our home builder. I don't recall the name of the guy but he did go through everything in our home and found things we would have never known about. We then had a punch list to go to the builder to have them fix the items. The cost was about $350 for a two story 3000sf home.

[kevcrawford]

Originally Posted by wellguy

Thanks for the response. I met a man several moths ago in the Del Webb Community in Alamo Ranch who lived in a beautiful Pulte Home. I can't remember his name or address to get the name of the Inspector he used. The warranty was about to expire and he informed me that the Inspector found many things wrong with the home that the average Homeowner wouldn't have noticed. Anyway he ended up with one heck of a list for Pulte.

Concerning the Toilets.....In all my years of not being a Plumber I have found that FluidMaster makes the best guts for a toilet. We did have Lennar replace the original guts with new ones and they had to adjust the float several times. The Flapper Valves also passed water. I elected to forego their Builder Quality parts and install the FluidMaster's. I have some dye tablets which I get from SAWS Conservation Department and conduct the toilet leak tests usually on a monthly basis. I have found the blue tablets are much more pleasing than the red ones. I don't want my Wife to think I'm peeing blood as she once did
As you stated we do have a PRV and I check the pressure (Oil Filled Pressure Gauge) on a periodic bases. The front bibb maintains a pressure of 78 psi as do the neighbors + - on both sides.

For the time being we do have Bexar Met which I'm certain will dissolve when the ratepayers are able to vote in November. We have had Bexar Met twice in the past 21 years. SAWS was our purveyor in Westcreek which was 11 of the 21 years. I loved those SAWS Water / Sewer Bills...Bexar Met's are to damn high and then we have to pay SAWS for the Sewer. From what I've heard our rates will not change and in time we will get one bill instaed of two.

Now this isn't true at all. There are a ton of great inspectors out there. Just like any profession, there are bad ones, but there are a lot of great ones. Will DM you one.

[LastStraw]

Originally Posted by kevcrawford

Now this isn't true at all. There are a ton of great inspectors out there. Just like any profession, there are bad ones, but there are a lot of great ones. Will DM you one.

* would really appreciate if you will please DM me with the name of one too
TIA

[helendha]

Originally Posted by wellguy

Good Morning,

Our 1st year Warranty wiill expire at the end of December. We will still have the 2 and 10 year warranties.
I am looking for a Home Inspector before our 1st year warranty expires. Does anyone know of one who will go over our home with a fine tooth comb? .

We hired an inspector to do a total of 3 inspections during the build and before we closed on our new house, and then we hired the same guy again to do another inspection before the 1-year warranty expired.

We were very happy with him - he noticed a couple of fairly major problems during the build (they 'forgot' to put rebar in a large section of the house during the foundation pour, and during framing he noticed one of our inside walls was actually put in the wrong place and was several feet away from where it was supposed to be) and came back a week or so after these faults were noticed, at no extra cost, to ensure they were corrected. During the inspection he did immediately prior to closing he found several more issues which we would never have known to even look for, but were able to hold out until they were fixed to our satisfaction (-a couple of notable ones: the tiler had used the central vacuum system to hoover up wet grout and cement, so it had seized up and was useless: and when he got up on the roof to look around he found two areas of missing roof tile and a large gap down the side of the chimney stack that should have been weatherproofed, but wasn't).

When he came back for the 1-year review he also came up with a list of around 20 items that needed to be fixed. Some of them we knew about, but others, again, we would have missed without his help.

I'll try to figure out how to DM you his details. The one-year review cost (I think) $300 for a 2-storey 2300 sq ft house, and it took him about 2 hours or so to go over the place. He did say that his inspections usually take longer, but as he was so familiar with the house, he knew exactly where to look. He emailed us a detailed report, with photos, and (with his permission) we just forwarded the whole thing to the builder's and told them to come fix the items. We were more than happy with the inspector's work!

[wellguy]

I'm sorry to ask but......Can any of you who
sent me a DM for an Inspector do the same again?? My computer went on the blink for a while and I lost them.

THANK YOU