Newly built houses need inspections, too

By Frank Ross

Home inspections aren’t just for buyers of old houses. A lot of buyers of newly built homes get inspections, too.

The bread and butter of the inspection business remain the examination of houses that have been lived in. The inspection report then is a narrative of an aging house: leaky roof, crumbling mortar in the chimney, wheezy furnace, and so on. In contrast, the inspector of a newly built home focuses on finding the inevitable errors and omissions that occur during months of construction by laborers of varying experience and language.

Sometimes an inspection of a new house turns up a major problem. One inspector discovered that a heating contractor made space for ducts by cutting large notches into the cantilevered beams of a deck.

"I had visions in my mind of a housewarming party, with 20 people on the deck having beer, and the deck just going," says Frank Ross, the Southwest Utah franchisee for Pillar To Post, a company that franchises home inspection services in the United States and Canada.

Inspectors seldom find life-threatening mistakes in new homes.  Frank Ross, says he mainly looks for problems with fit and finish (such as walls that aren't straight), potential for leaks (such as a poorly connected hookup for the dishwasher), mismatched electrical breakers (often found in the connection to the air conditioning compressor), and hot and cold water lines that are reversed.

A distinction needs to be made here between an independent inspection and one by a county or municipal inspector. The government employee enforces code compliance, not workmanship. A county inspector won't note a missing baseboard, but an independent inspector will. The lender requires progress reports as it releases construction money in draws, but those aren't full-fledged inspections, either.

New houses get independent inspections in one or more of three phases: while they're being built, after work is completed, but before the buyer moves in, and 10 or 11 months after the buyer takes possession. Why so late? Because most builders offer one-year warranties on cosmetic items. The inspector can provide a list of repairs to be made under warranty.

Not everyone can have the house inspected while it's being built. Many tract-house builders won't allow outsiders on site. Custom builders usually are more flexible.  "The best time with a custom home is when it's dried in and all the walls are up and the electrical is in, prior to Sheetrocking the house," Ross says. "Then you can see if you have your outlets and light fixtures in the right place."

At this point, the inspector looks for faults such as crooked walls, missing handrails, trip hazards caused by floors that aren't on the same level from room to room, and bathroom vents that exhaust moisture into the attic instead of outside.

A few people hire inspectors to examine houses in the month or two before the one-year warranty ends on their home. This inspection isn't as common because owners have lived there almost a year and they already know what's wrong with the house.

Naturally, inspectors insist that it can't hurt to have another set of eyes take another look before the warranty expires. "We would go back and check that things that were brought to their attention (at the pre-delivery inspection) were done," Ross says. They check for nail pops, missing handrails and baseboards, and moisture and staining in the attic. They take another look at the electrical systems.

They rarely find anything major. But for anxious owners, the peace of mind is worth the price.

Frank Ross is a Certified Utah Home Inspector for Pillar to Post Professional Home Inspection and a full member of the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors.  Readers may contact Mr. Ross at (435) 867-6400 or frank.ross@pillartopost.com.  You can learn more about Pillar To Post Professional Home Inspection at www.pillarposthomeinspection.com