Home Inspector for a newly constructed home? (Riverview: insurance, home builder)

[mmmccc]

Will I require a home inspector for a new home or should I just trust the builder? I'm leaning towards hiring an inspector but I'd like some feedback. What were your experiences?

[wiltznucs]

Originally Posted by mmmccc

Will I require a home inspector for a new home or should I just trust the builder? I'm leaning towards hiring an inspector but I'd like some feedback. What were your experiences?

I always use a home inspector and in the three times I've used them they've identified problems to be remedied by the builder. Some of the issues were quite serious and I'm still amazed they werent caught by the County Code enforcement.

I advise using one at the time of purchase and usually most inspectors will come back near the end of the first year for a small fee and identify other potential problems to be remedied before the home warranty expires.

[mmmccc]

Thank you, wiltznucs! I guess I shouldn't trust anyone when it comes to such a huge purchase.

[MortonR]

Absolutely! Builders can be just as guilty when it comes to cutting corners or missing things their subcontractors fail to do.

It is really cheap insurance when you consider the cost of a home inspection (less than $200 usually) and what it might cost to resolve any issues in the future that might have been caused by a mistake or oversight on the builder's part.

We went so far as to hire a structural engineer to look at a home we were building because the masons did what we thought was a lousy job on one of the garage walls. The engineer confirmed this and a letter from him to the builder forced the builder to have the wall repaired (to the engineer's satisfaction) before we completed construction.

The defects weren't significant enough that the wall would have fallen down or anything that bad, but the engineer basically caused the builder to do what should have been the right thing up front. We tried to talk to them about it but they pretty much blew us off.

That cost us $300, but again, what if the house failed an inspection when we went to sell it? The repairs being done at that time would have been more than $300, and we would have had to foot the bill.

RM

[steve76]

Originally Posted by mmmccc

Will I require a home inspector for a new home or should I just trust the builder? I'm leaning towards hiring an inspector but I'd like some feedback. What were your experiences?

I would not trust the builder however I would hire another home inspector just be careful.

[bentlebee]

I never used a home inspector for a new home...is it smart, maybe not but I never had any issues. In the end I save a lot of money and in one case when I flipped te new build home in 2005 the buyer had a home inspector and only one tiny cosmetic thing came up.

I'm only talking about new build homes...in a resale and in certain cases I would have an inspector check it out.

In my profession we advise all people to get a home inspection done since we can't be held responsible if new owers have no clue what to look for and later regret it...

In the end it is the buyers decision.

[EngGirl]

Do the inspection!!! We recently learned that our place was not build accoring to building codes and we have major issues now... Our place passed 5 year mark when the issues started... Settlement with the builder is a long process... we are at the end of second year now and not even close to anything...
Do yourself a favor, hire an inspector for new constraction code and take a much as pictures during construction is possible!!!

[bentlebee]

In our case the home builder is in our community without any disputes taking the stucco off many homes and applying new plywood, new stucco, etc, which is approx. a $ 20K - $ 25K job per house since our house is approx. 3500 sqft.

The house is 7 years old and the builder informed home owners to inform others so now many homes are getting a free stucco job, which we applaud te builder for.

I guess they want to avoid legal actions and nobody sued or threaten to sue them in our community as far as I know even though the same builder got a very bad rap in Riverview...so far we had a very good experience over the years.

[EngGirl]

Was it a KB Homes builder?
I would strongly advise to control stucco re-do process with your inspector otherwise these houses might end up with the same problem after another 5-7 years. 20K-25K seems too cheap for 3500 sq. ft. house... we've got a few quots from different contractors who specialize in stucco, and an it was a higher price (almost double).
IMO this builder is trying to get some attention being on the news, not actually to fix issues.
In our case we don't want our builder to fix our place temporary, we want then to pay for well done job by qualified contractors.

[mmmccc]

Thanks everyone! I have made up my mind to hire an inspector.

EngGirl - are you having an issue with KB Homes? Thankfully, they are not my builder!