The Expert Podcast

Do you need a home inspection for a new home? In fact, a lot of times, people look at a home inspector as something you hire when you're purchasing a resale or a pre-owned home. But a new home might actually be more applicable and even easier to inspect than a resale home. How would it work? Well, if you're contracting with a builder to build you a new home, you may want to have that inspector visit the build site two or three times during the construction process—maybe once when the concrete is poured for the foundation, once after the framing is done, once after roughing is done (meaning that electrical wires and plumbing are put into the walls, and maybe insulation), and maybe once when the finish work is starting to be done (the drywall, the dry-in of the roof, soffits, eaves).

The reason for this is that many defects of a house, or not even defects but substandard work, might be hidden behind drywall. If you have an inspector look at the process as it's being done, you can make sure that it's being done properly. Now, certainly the government is going to inspect that house as it's being built to sign off on permits and approvals. However, there are some things which may not be picked up on by the government that may be legal, but not part of your contract. For example, if there's supposed to be a certain number of stud bays in the wall or a certain size header above windows, even though what’s being put in might be legal, it may not match what the contract says on your build sheet. You may also find that building procedures technically conform to the builder’s requirements of your county but are not best practices for quality builds.

Also, your inspector might be able to take photos of behind-the-wall construction, so later on, if you're looking to add, say, something to hang on the wall, you know where the studs are, where the openings are that could open up a room, and where the wires are. An inspector can document all this. Could you do it yourself? Certainly, you could take the pictures as you go, and you probably want to do that anyways. But an inspector not only takes passive photos, they may have active suggestions on how to improve the build so that your home is either higher quality or higher usability. For example, when you're putting up a wall, you have vertical studs inside the wall. If you put up different types of mounting brackets behind the wall, called ledger boards or cleats (depending on what part of the country you're in), you may be able to have some horizontal facing boards that you can nail into. Maybe you put them there to hang your kitchen cabinets, or maybe behind a wall where you plan to add custom-built materials later, like a bookcase.

Your inspector might suggest this, and it might cost you a little more money with the builder, but while they’re working on the house is a cheap time to do it. They may also find technical violations that, if caught early, might prevent the inspector from rejecting the work. You might have the ability to avoid delays on the delivery of your home if your inspector finds them early, and the builder can fix the problem before the county building inspector sees it. You might have to wait two or three weeks for another inspection. We’ve seen a lot with plumbing where the wrong types of transitions from a vent, for example, were put in place, and the private inspector caught it. The builder fixed it, so when the city inspector came, it sailed through without needing to fix anything and without delays.

So, consider that. Will it cost you a little more money? Sure. It might cost you a few hundred bucks every time they come out. If they come out three times, you're talking about $700-$800. But you're talking about a home that could be worth a half a million dollars, and you're going to live in it for 10, 20, or 30 years. Spending a few hundred bucks an hour or close to a thousand might be a good investment to ensure peace of mind and a higher-quality build.

An inspector can also suggest things that may not even cost more money but could be really good tricks to make your house more usable, safer, higher quality, and in line with best practices for that build.