New Construction Home Inspection

When buying a new construction home, you may wonder, do I need a home inspection? Clearly, if this were an existing home, you would do your due diligence on its condition before you commit to purchasing it at a given price. However, this may not be an obvious choice when buying a brand-new home. What’s the point, the home is brand-new and may have been built to your specifications?

Most sales contracts for new construction homes include a final walkthrough. The average homebuyer may think that an inspection is also included, but many times it isn’t. Even so, it is wise to order an independent home inspection. When buyers purchase a new construction home it is an expectation that it will be free from issues that are found in aging home-like outdated plumbing or electrical, inadequate installation methods of roof covering materials, or even cosmetic flaws. Even though a home is brand new, it can still have deficiencies. Some of the issues are a direct result of its status as a brand-new home. 

Typically, contractors have deadlines to meet so they work fast- and sometimes too fast. In some cases, they’re building to the bare minimum of code requirements. The work is frequently subcontracted out to a wide array of vendors, whose competence and knowledge range significantly. Even though new construction projects are approved by engineers and have their own inspection process, the inspectors are looking for major things and conducting safety inspections, not the trivial details. If not for any of these reasons, to err is human. That said, I always suggest clients have the new construction home inspection and not assume their new home will be flawless.

When buying a new construction home, you may wonder, do I need a home inspection? Clearly, if this were an existing home, you would do your due diligence on its condition before you commit to purchasing it at a given price. However, this may not be an obvious choice when buying a brand-new home. What’s the point, the home is brand-new and may have been built to your specifications?

Most sales contracts for new construction homes include a final walkthrough. The average homebuyer may think that an inspection is also included, but many times it isn’t. Even so, it is wise to order an independent home inspection. When buyers purchase a new construction home it is an expectation that it will be free from issues that are found in aging home-like outdated plumbing or electrical, inadequate installation methods of roof covering materials, or even cosmetic flaws. Even though a home is brand new, it can still have deficiencies. Some of the issues are a direct result of its status as a brand-new home. 

Typically, contractors have deadlines to meet so they work fast- and sometimes too fast. In some cases, they’re building to the bare minimum of code requirements. The work is frequently subcontracted out to a wide array of vendors, whose competence and knowledge range significantly. Even though new construction projects are approved by engineers and have their own inspection process, the inspectors are looking for major things and conducting safety inspections, not the trivial details. If not for any of these reasons, to err is human. That said, I always suggest clients have the new construction home inspection and not assume their new home will be flawless.

Our new construction home inspections follow the same TREC Standards of Practice. It is a very detailed process. Some common issues that we find are:

• Cracks in drywall.
• Door sticks.
• Grading and drainage issues.
• Improper material installation.
• Inadequately sized condensing unit.
• Nail pops.Siding applied incorrectly.
• Truss uplifts.

While this is not an exhaustive list, it gives you a general idea of how imperfect new construction homes can be. One of the common issues I see in new construction homes is exhaust terminations venting directly into the attic. A deficiency like this has the capability of causing significant problems in the future and can easily be missed by an untrained eye.

You don’t want to cheat yourself out of a new construction home inspection to avoid an added expense and hurry the buying process- just to find out later that a deficiency that could have been corrected is costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars after the builder’s warranty expires. While most new homes do come with a builder’s warranty, a buyer shouldn’t rely solely on the warranty for protection against costly repairs. Not to mention, if the property has safety issues you would definitely want to know before you and your family occupying the home.