New Construction Home Inspections

When purchasing a newly constructed home, the typical buyer makes many assumptions about the condition home and quality of the construction. They can see the quality of the model home and this reinforces trust with the builder. The builders hire engineers, architects and inspectors to advise them along the way.  Cities have building code departments that checks on the construction. The sales agent is friendly and helpful, always speaking glowingly about the quality of construction and strength of the builder. There is a one year warranty on everything in the house and 10 year warranty on structural items. Why would any one ever worry enough to hire an independent inspector when purchasing a newly constructed home?

The truth is your house is built by a committee made up of the Builders Super attendant who may have just gotten out of college, the lowest bid framing contractor and his crew from Mexico, lowest bid Electricians, Plumbers and other contractors. No one was ever in the same location at the same time and sometimes even have flagrant disregard for other contractors work. Your new house was inspected perhaps 8-10 times during drive by inspections that may last about 5 minutes while he or she is no the way to inspect 40 other houses on any given day. That means during the months of construction, a city inspector probably spent less than 1 hour looking at everything that went into building your house. The company architects and engineers have probably never seen your house, and if they ever did, it was to specify a repair because someone screwed up while building your house. The sales agent is probably not licensed by the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) or adheres to the Texas Association of Realtors (TAR) ethics and standards. Basically they can say anything they want and you waive all of the verbal statements when you sign the contract. The Builder probably does not hold a Builders license with the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC). The warranty is possibly farmed out to a third party warranty company that you have never heard of based on a warranty document that you have never seen before closing.

A licensed TREC home inspector that is an International Code Council (ICC) member and trained to perform code inspections is the only person who is qualified to look at the house and protect your interest. Most people are not aware of the code requirements so they would not see little safety issues like pull down stairs that are not properly attached to the ceiling. Not a single person has tested every outlet, light, faucet, window, door, A/C system, water heater and appliance in your new home. Each was installed by one contractor and perhaps tested by someone else when checking that contractors work. The home inspector will look closely at your home before you close and lose all the power in the real estate transaction. Once you sign the papers, you are forced to accept their promise to fix or address something.

Jim Hemsell

New construction Dallas Home Inspector

TREC #129    ICC #5242295-79