Many people buying a new construction home have a false sense of security when it comes to the complete and proper construction of that home.
It has been my experience, after many years of inspecting both new construction and resale properties, that most people only obtain an inspection when purchasing a resale home.
Their thinking might be like this; It’s new construction, what could be wrong or they might think this, the home was designed by someone (architect), the town, city, or county reviewed the plans, a licensed contractor built it, and the Municipal Building Official inspected it so why would I need to get it inspected? Well, here’s the problem; many parts of the country do not require plans or plan reviews. Many more parts of the country do not require contractors to be licensed. Lastly, many areas, especially rural areas, do not have any type of Building Inspection at all!
A friend of mine lives in the San Antonio area and had his home built by a large national builder, whose name you would recognize if I mentioned it, but I won’t. During the course of 11 months of construction, he said they literally built the home about 2 ½ times. They had installed many things incorrectly, removed them and reinstalled them correctly, sometimes after two attempts. He said these things were not minor issues; things like plumbing and electrical within the concrete slab, reinstalling all 33 windows, adding insulation 3 times, and the biggie…installing the drywall twice. Wow!
One of the things he mentioned to me was after about 18 months of living in his home, he called the builder and asked if them if they noticed that he hadn’t called since he moved in. They said yes, they had noticed the he hadn’t called since moving into his new home. He then asked how many times his neighbors had called the builder in that same 18 month period. The answer was about 8 times on average.
The moral of the story is, if you have the opportunity, watch them while they’re building your new home, have each phase inspected and be sure to get the final inspection before closing. If you do this, you will have a virtually problem-free home once you move in! Be sure to use only a Licensed or Certified Home Inspector!
Phases of New Construction where you should have an inspection done if you have the opportunity:
- After the foundation has been poured
- When the home is dried in and the framing is up but before the insulation has been installed
- The Final Inspection should be done before your final walk through with your builder right before closing
Also, you should consider a Radon test be done before closing on your new home or put in some type of amendment that the builder agrees to fix Radon issues if, after you move in and have a Radon test done and the levels are elevated above ? You decide on the level. Any levels 4.0 picocuries per liter, or pCi/L, or higher, the EPA recommends a Radon mitigation system be installed. But I wouldn’t live in a home without a mitigation system if my levels were 2.0 picocuries per liter, or pCi/L, or higher. Check out How To Protect Your Family From Radon When Buying a Newly Built Home.
Does New Construction Need A Home Inspection?
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