Need advice about home inspection (1 Viewer)

[bubbawilson]

I purchased a new construction in July 07. Someone told me that I should get a quality home inspection before the year warranty is up and give the builder a list of things that are wrong, if any.

Will the builder be responsible to fix anything that is found to be wrong?

 

[FullMonte]

I would assume that if something was found wrong within the one year warranty period, the builder would be responsible.

Personally, I've always had the home inspection done before we closed on the house, that way the builder is very motivated to fix whatever we find wrong...

 

[taygolf]

Yeah we had our home inspection done before our closing and then we got a home warranty and you might have done the same thing I don't know but if you get a good inspection and whatever the inspector finds is covered by the warranty then I would say yes the builder should come out and fix it although they will probably take their sweet time.

T

 

[BigRonJon]

IF your builder is like most, you will likely have to resort to threatening him by reporting him to the warranty company for him to fix anything, all this should have been done prior to signing.

 

[efil4stnias]

I purchased a new construction in July 07. Someone told me that I should get a quality home inspection before the year warranty is up and give the builder a list of things that are wrong, if any.

Will the builder be responsible to fix anything that is found to be wrong?

When we built, after the construction we found several deficencies. It was like pulling teeth to get my builder back out. At one point he said "I cant fix all these little things, or you will be calling me for every little thing"...and continued to say " i thought you were a bit more handy with the tools " implying that I could fix them. I responded even if that were the case, i paid you to build, not me. Long story short....he fixed a few things but the rest I did. I hope your builder is more of a "stand behind his work" type of guy than mine was.

couple of things to look for on your own.

cabinets and doors- are the cabinet doors flush/mismatched? Doors- they sometimes deliver the doors and the sit before installed and painted and the result is warping. Or your door frame isnt plumb
Tile (if you have any ) - make sure the grout is sealed.
hardwood floors-there may be an issue ( if glued down ) when the home settles of separation.
Moulding- same thig...when the home settles, you may start to see gaps at the joints.

just a few things we noticed when we got into our home. Never will we do "engineered wood" for flooring again. A few extra bucks and we should have gone nail down w/ a polyeurathane coating ( Dont know why i didnt think of that with 2 Golden Retrievers!!!!! )

good luck

 

[Paul]

Honestly, when our home was being built, we hired an inspector to check the progress every two weeks to ensure that the builder was doing things properly, and he was very thorough. He didn't communicate with the builder, but he reported to us, and it was up to us to get on the builder when things weren't done correctly. Anything from studs with splitting wood being used to areas that were just crooked - stairs not being built properly, etc. So, we were constantly requesting a meeting with the builder, and basically telling him to pull this out and redo it, or unscrew that, and redo it, or rewire this, etc, etc, and by the 4th month of building, they realized that we were going to make their lives miserable as long as they were not doing it right. So, they started doing everything right the first time. We didn't close on the home until it was complete, and we did two walk throughs with the builder and our inspector.

It was tedious and time-consuming, but it's an investment that needs to be taken seriously.

 

[taygolf]

Honestly, when our home was being built, we hired an inspector to check the progress every two weeks to ensure that the builder was doing things properly, and he was very thorough. He didn't communicate with the builder, but he reported to us, and it was up to us to get on the builder when things weren't done correctly. Anything from studs with splitting wood being used to areas that were just crooked - stairs not being built properly, etc. So, we were constantly requesting a meeting with the builder, and basically telling him to pull this out and redo it, or unscrew that, and redo it, or rewire this, etc, etc, and by the 4th month of building, they realized that we were going to make their lives miserable as long as they were not doing it right. So, they started doing everything right the first time. We didn't close on the home until it was complete, and we did two walk throughs with the builder and our inspector.

It was tedious and time-consuming, but it's an investment that needs to be taken seriously.

good lord how much did that cost you??? It is a great idea and I would love to do it but I would think it would be very costly

T

 

[CT Saints Fan]

good lord how much did that cost you??? It is a great idea and I would love to do it but I would think it would be very costly

T

Probably not more costly than paying for poor workmanship and then having to repair things constantly in the very near future. Or worse, have some catastrophic system or structural failure.

 

[robsmith32]

that's one way to look at it CT.. but a home inspector every couple weeks is a bit overdoing don't you think?

if was having to have to be redone that often, i'd been asking the builder.. look you either do it right, Or i don't want it.. and find another.
granted, when mine was built, i was in it every week or so.. and made sure it was right.. then when was done made sure..
NEVER CLOSE on it prior to it being corrected..
that 1 yr warranty is for things that break, or bad, not just oh i'ts not quite square.

 

[CT Saints Fan]

My last home inspector cost me $175. I'm guessing that it's easier and faster for them to inspect a house under construction than a 10-year-old house. So let's say they charge you $100 per visit. If it takes a year to finish the house, that's 26 visits (he said every two weeks), so that's $2,600. That sounds like a good bargain - 1% extra to make sure that your $260,000 home is built correctly.

 

[4saintspirit]

Well -- if its a decent home builder they have a walk through with you around the year time period --- at that time you list what needs to be repaired and unless its obviously a situation where the homeowner is at fault they will repair it. As for getting a nhome inspection prior to that -- not a bad idea - but as others have said it will cost money and will not guarantee that the builder fixes anything

 

[Pure Energy]

Honestly, when our home was being built, we hired an inspector to check the progress every two weeks to ensure that the builder was doing things properly, and he was very thorough. He didn't communicate with the builder, but he reported to us, and it was up to us to get on the builder when things weren't done correctly. Anything from studs with splitting wood being used to areas that were just crooked - stairs not being built properly, etc. So, we were constantly requesting a meeting with the builder, and basically telling him to pull this out and redo it, or unscrew that, and redo it, or rewire this, etc, etc, and by the 4th month of building, they realized that we were going to make their lives miserable as long as they were not doing it right. So, they started doing everything right the first time. We didn't close on the home until it was complete, and we did two walk throughs with the builder and our inspector.

It was tedious and time-consuming, but it's an investment that needs to be taken seriously.

Great approach....I'll keep this in mind if I ever have a custom home built.

 

[inetnawlins]

Well -- if its a decent home builder they have a walk through with you around the year time period --- at that time you list what needs to be repaired and unless its obviously a situation where the homeowner is at fault they will repair it. As for getting a nhome inspection prior to that -- not a bad idea - but as others have said it will cost money and will not guarantee that the builder fixes anything

The problem is after the walls are closed and everything is together you won't know what's been messed up until it is too late. Inspect the progress of the house yourself at least every other day if not daily and make them do things right the first time.

 

[BaltimoreTiger]

The New Home Warranty Act would likely apply, as well. The law is pretty specific about what is covered and what isn't.