Last week I had the fortune of inspecting a new home. My clients were one of the few people who elected to hire their own professional building consultant (inspector) on a recently built home. Most buyers have a number of ideas on why they don't need an inspection such as: The county building inspectors look
ed at it throughout the building phases, the builder has been building homes for 20 years plus, and the first year builder warranty will cover any issues. These arguments are not bad ideas but after squeezing through as many crawlspaces as I have, they just seem kind of naïve. But that's ok because it's my job to educate!
Most county building inspectors have around 15 minutes, (or less!) per home. They have many homes all across the county to look at and sometimes they must hurry. I don't think the county inspector meant to not look at the attic of a finished home I recently inspected. If he/she had, they would have seen that the insulators forgot something! This was an easy fix and no big deal at the time but it might have been if the missing insulation would have been discovered after my clients had all their furniture in place.
Many builders are very good and know that they can turn a good product faster than I poor one. I personally know many contentious builders who have been building for a long time. All of them strive to produce the best that they can with in budget. I always remind my clients that the experienced builder is not the person who installs the components that go into a home. Components are usually installed by a young kid fresh out of school who will install flashings, framework, drywall, ect..... I know this because I was once that kid and I had no idea how the flashing worked or why it should be installed in a specific manner.
This is one reason why the first year warranty is a great thing, many cracks and doors that start to fit weird and other items can be noticed and repaired. The main problems with this idea are things the new home owner can't see, such as a hot electrical wire. This wire apparently was nicked with a dry waller's screw.
Many other issues can lurk under the
surface and without a skilled building c
onsultant expertise potentially dangerous conditions can exsist.
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