New homes still need to be inspected, separately
By Justin Hunter
Obviously, when you are about to buy
a home you should have the property inspected. For
a variety of reasons, the home inspection will provide
you a sense of security that will allow you to rest
easier during the moving process.
Now, when you purchase a newly-built home, an inspection
has already been conducted by a city appointed professional.
So, most people think this is efficient enough and do
not need to hire an outside inspector. Why waste the
money?
Barry Stone explains why you may want to change your
thought process about not hiring an inspector for your
new home, in his article,
“New Homes Aren't Perfect,” which was published
October 21, 2006 in The Washington Post.
“Experienced home inspectors have learned that
all new homes have defects of one kind or another, regardless
of the quality of construction or the integrity of the
builder. This is because human imperfection prevents
anything as large and as complex as a home from being
constructed flawlessly.”
Most home buyers then think that any defects in the
house will be detected by municipal building inspectors.
It is only natural to think that. But this is far from
the truth and not due to the professional
competency of the inspector. Home inspectors appointed
by the city have a different time allotment and standards
of what to search for than other personally appointed
inspectors that work for the buyer.
“Municipal inspectors inspect primarily for code
compliance, not for quality of workmanship. They can
cite a builder for improper structural framing or for
non-complying drain connections, but a poorly fitted
door, an uneven tile countertop and slipshod finish
work are not on their list of concerns.”
A municipal inspector has to make sure that everything
is up to code and that the buyer can not legally back
out of the contract after closing. This is not to say
that this inspector will go out of the way not to notice
imperfections but it is not important to the specified
agenda. After all, municipal inspectors usually inspect
a much higher amount of properties
in a given day than a buyer’s inspector.
“Municipal inspectors rarely inspect an attic
or a sub-area crawlspace. They come to the job site
with a clipboard and a codebook, not with a ladder and
overalls. Construction defects in such areas can escape
discovery.”
A municipal inspector sometimes will not even inspect
the roof and will rather view it from the ground or
the builder’s ladder.
“Final inspections are performed before the utilities
are turned on, so municipal inspectors cannot determine
if the appliances and fixtures work. They don't test
outlets for ground and polarity because this can be
done only after the power is turned on.
Nor, without power, can they test the performance of
GFCI or AFCI safety breakers.”
So basically, municipal and traditional home inspectors
are quite different from one another. All the above
mentioned things a municipal inspector does not check,
your inspector will.
Oh yeah, it is also good to know that all plumbing,
and gas fixtures will not be tested by municipal inspectors
either.
If you are moving into any home you will want to make
sure everything is in proper working order. You would
be a fool not to hire a home inspector prior to moving
into any property.
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