Should I have an inspector look at new home??

[FADEC]

Title pretty much tells it all. Having a new house built currently. Should be done in late March or April. It is being built by Ryland in a subdivision that is about 75% complete. FWIW I have looked at many of the houses currently under construction and they seem pretty well built. Also talked to several owners and they seem happy with their house's. Should I spend the money and get a inspector to look at the house during the building?? Tom

 

[ctc]

Yes. Had one at our new home in 2004. He found:

-The dishwasher wasn't connected properly and leaked
-The heat wasn't connected properly and was running on emergency heat
-A floor support hanger was missing

The first 2 are fairly obvious but I probably wouldn't have noticed either for a few days after move-in.

 

[bepperb]

During, no, but after might not be a bad idea.

A home inspector can really only get them to fix code violations, but he can also point out potential problems and things that aren't a violation but the builder may be willing to address.

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: daddi
Also talked to several owners and they seem happy with their house's.


The worst problems with the houses in my neighborhood took several years to show up.

 

[labman]

How much would it be? I wish somebody, that knew something and cared, would have been around when my house was being thrown together. There are a lot of things nobody will see after the drywall is on. They may come back to bite you eventually.

 

[FADEC]

Originally Posted By: labman
How much would it be? I wish somebody, that knew something and cared, would have been around when my house was being thrown together. There are a lot of things nobody will see after the drywall is on. They may come back to bite you eventually.


I'm thinking around $400-500 not real sure on the price though..just what I have been reading.

 

[bigmike]

Short answer: Yes, I would have an inspector look at it during and after. You'd be surprised what gets overlooked or ignored by builders.

 

[chad8]

read the fine print
Home inspectors are not liable for anything they miss. Read the contract. This may flame some people , but for the most part ,they are worthless. Yes , I have seen some very thorough inspections that uncovered major defects and excluded some houses from being bought , but for every of those , there are many missed problems which are found later and the inspector has no liability.
I have been brought in after inspections to check out homes for friends and relatives and uncovered many missed items. This was from some very highly advertised and recognized names in the buisness. This was after 4 to 5 hour inspections and I found things in 15 minutes. The 27 page report was a sham.
As stated before . Hire another builder, contractor, or several good tradesmen to do the inspection if you are serious or better yet, get money in escrow(at least $10000) from the home sale to cover the potential defects for 90 to 120 days. Plus write it into the home sale contract or buy an insurance policy for major systems. That way you are covered financially .It sure beats some inspectors word.Builders are desperate for sales and will accommodate you more than you think.
__________________

 

[Kaboomba]

Originally Posted By: labman
How much would it be? I wish somebody, that knew something and cared, would have been around when my house was being thrown together. There are a lot of things nobody will see after the drywall is on. They may come back to bite you eventually.


An experienced inspector with the right tools (and there are some AWESOME tools available for this) can find problems as though he were doing a Vulcan mind meld with the house. Take your time choosing one, and ask around--reputation is key.

Best

K

 

[robshelton]

Congratulations on the new home! If concerned about the construction talk to an inspector and see if he will make you a package deal where he does a couple of walking inspections and a final one. And yes, I think it's a good idea. An experienced inspector can suggest better ways to do things here and there. True, it may cost you more money up front if you want to change something, but I believe it's worth it in the long term. Not to mention a little peace o' mind.

I agree with brianl703 in that most problems don't manifest themselves until long after a builder has forgotten your name (and how to use a phone to call you back.)

My neighborhood is 10-13 years old and I've seen a disgustingly large amount of repair work going on. HVAC replacements, new roofs, water heaters, appliances, screen/storm doors, vinyl siding failures, etc.

In fact, I'm in the midst of replacing the nails in the kitchen floor with construction screws. The crew that installed the sub-floor missed the joist with about every other nail and used smooth shank nails. Should have been ring nails. So I ended up with an unbelievably noisy floor. Squeaks and pops everywhere all the time. And as we replace the carpets, I will be replacing every nail I can get to. And what's worse? Same crew apparently put the OSB on the roof, again missing the trusses with about 1/2 of the nails. There are a few hurricane straps visible but when the wind blows strongly I get a little nervous...

 

[Pesca]

When I made built my house, I went to the construction site every other day. My wife was doing the same thing so every day we had someone looking at the construction progress.

It may be a little bit overkill but after they start building a door where we planned to put our bed, we lost a little bit confidence in them (they did not look at the construction plans, and some were not up to date).

If you cannot go often, follow others' opinion and by ear-to-mouth find a reputable inspector.
A good thing is to inspect the house before they install the walls, because after that, you won't be able to see what is behind.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Pesca
When I made built my house, I went to the construction site every other day. My wife was doing the same thing so every day we had someone looking at the construction progress.

It may be a little bit overkill but after they start building a door where we planned to put our bed, we lost a little bit confidence in them (they did not look at the construction plans, and some were not up to date).

If you cannot go often, follow others' opinion and by ear-to-mouth find a reputable inspector.
A good thing is to inspect the house before they install the walls, because after that, you won't be able to see what is behind.

+1 It wouldn't hurt to have an inspector have a look at the house a few time during construction before the insulation and drywall go up. I had parts of my house built and the contractor took a few short cuts that I now recognize as small problems atleast. A few hundred bucks is only getting one small issue taken care after the fact.

 

[FADEC]

Thanks for all the replies. I go out to the house at least once a week and check on it. Speaking of noisy floors. The framing supervisor was showing me how they install the floor's. They are all put down with an adhesive made just for floors then screwed down with screws with an odd head design that I have never seen. I paid attention to that as our old house had very noisy floors that were probably poorly installed.

 

[mrsilv04]

Is there any form of municipal inspection process, to make sure that the house is being built to local code standards?

???

When the contractor knows that you have someone watching, the quality may go up right there.

And those words are from a contractor.

Yes. This is likely the biggest investment in your life. It is worth a fraction of 1% of the overall cost to make sure everything is done right? Again, yes.

If the contractor (and the subcontractors) are doing everything in the proper way, then there shouldn't be any problems.

Just make sure that the contractor and the inspector don't play golf together on the weekends, or you're just throwing money into the wind.

 

[FADEC]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Is there any form of municipal inspection process, to make sure that the house is being built to local code standards?

???

When the contractor knows that you have someone watching, the quality may go up right there.

And those words are from a contractor.

Yes. This is likely the biggest investment in your life. It is worth a fraction of 1% of the overall cost to make sure everything is done right? Again, yes.

If the contractor (and the subcontractors) are doing everything in the proper way, then there shouldn't be any problems.

Just make sure that the contractor and the inspector don't play golf together on the weekends, or you're just throwing money into the wind.

Yes the county housing code inspector comes out several times during the building process. Supposedly he is a real hard@@@ and pretty through. The framing supervisor claims that many areas of the house are built well over and above what the code minimums are.

 

[dwendt44]

the 'official' city/county building inspector is looking for code violations, general good construction practices, proper materiala, etc...
The building inspector YOU need is one you hire to insure that the building is up to your standards and completeness.
Once (at least) before the insulation goes in and before you sign the final closing papers.

 

[Augustus]

Originally Posted By: daddi
I go out to the house at least once a week and check on it.


And take photographs, videos, etc! Get as much record of the build before it's dry walled, etc.

Question, question, question. If being polite is ignored, and the supervisor gets in your face and questions your questions, get in his face! This is your home for you and your family. You're the customer. The supervisor will be long gone in the months and years to come.

An inspector is also good to use before the 1-year Warranty comes up. At least here we had that. The builder contacted me asking for any defects to be corrected at the 1-year mark. An inspector back then helped in finding problems - problems that manifested themselves later.

(One of the most innocuous was the builder using non-metallic toilet hoses with plastic screw caps. Neighbors with older homes [same builder] had these caps drying out about a year later, cracking and water flooding their homes, both floors. An inspector may miss this, but ask your new neighbors for problems they may have had.)

 

[Carbon]

If you could plan for coax and ethernet cable use, it would be nice to get large plastic conduit (Smurf tubing) or cables installed before the walls are closed up.

Also think about extra buried 4x4s to screw into in case you ever want to put in a bathtub grab bar.

 

[mechtech2]

Yes.
But they are outrageously priced for what they actually do.

What you really want is to keep an eye on things WHILE it is being built. You see the hidden stuff . Plus the subliminal pressure to do a better job because someone is watching carefully.

I also am involved in the trades as a painter, and while I am proud of my work, I can factually say that on any big job with a bunch of tradesmen, there is always waste and marginal work, here and there.

 

[Beachboy]

During the recession in the early '90's, I found myself out of work and offered the job of building inspector in my small midwest city. Before I accepted the job, I talked with the former building inspector, in addition to a friend who used to be the building inspector in three similar sized towns. What I heard made me turn down the job offer and stay on unemployment a few months longer. In small cities around this area, the building inspector is expected to rubber stamp anything the local "good old boy" contractors build. If the inspector starts nitpicking too much, the contractors will go to the city commissioners and complain that they're being harassed. The city commissioners will always side with local businessmen and against a city employee.

My city (in 1991) offered me a salary of $16,000/annually to be their building inspector/city engineer. It didn't take long to figure out why the building/code inspection department (one man operation) was a virtual revolving door. Anybody with any talent could find a job elsewhere for two or three times the salary. Most residents here have figured out the building inspection department is just a joke and don't even bother with getting a building permit. The last building inspector was an alcoholic who was fired from his job as a wastewater plant operator and would "pass" any job if he was slipped a bottle of Jack Daniels.