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Builders and Home Inspectors

By
Home Inspector with Sherlock Home Inspections
Ok...you've built the house.  You have a buyer.  Everything is falling into place...but wait!  The buyers want a home inspection.  I have been curious to know how builders in general feel about home inspections.  I should point out that in Mississippi, in order to inspect new homes one also has to have a builder's license, so the animosity that may be present elsewhere is generally not felt so deeply here, since the only inspectors inspecting new construction tend to be knowledgeable.  Mostly what I see, at least in areas with somewhat adequate local authority oversight, are honest mistakes or boners committed by subcontractors, for whatever reason.  Builders can't be every where at once, and are usually both as surprised as anyone when defects are revealed, and anxious to make any corrections necessary.  What are your thoughts or feelings?
Robert Cramer
Five Star Property Inspections - Belleville, IL

Jimmy,

In the St. Louis area, New Construction Home Builders are mostly open to having the home inspected.  It is the tract builders that have a problem.  It boils down to just a few builders, but of the tract homes I inspect, they are the ones who need to hire some real craftsman.  Its sad that they just slap a house up, just to keep prices down, hoping the house will stand untill the warranty has expired.  I guess the saying is true....You get what you pay for!

May 24, 2007 02:32 AM
Jimmy Breazeale
Sherlock Home Inspections - Coldwater, MS
Yes, I agree with that statement.  I do see lots of poorly constructed hip framing, mostly where immigrant crews are prevalent.  Of course, there is only one way to correct a situation where hip rafters, after having been cut both at the wrong angle and too short, are simply pushed over to a point at which they will "fit".  This, of course, results in some cases in the decking not even lining up over the rafters, which in turn results in the decking nails nailed into thin air, which in turn leaves a section of loose decking that, if it doesn't bow inward almost immediately, will be sucked right off in the first tornado that comes anywhere close.
May 24, 2007 02:30 PM