New Home Build Inspection(s)

[Doug B]

Hi,

My wife and I are relocating to the Nashville, TN area and decided to build a house instead of buying.

What are the general guidelines for having inspections done as a new home is being built? Is it worth it to have the home inspected during the build process?

Thanks for any advice.
Doug

[John Arnold]

...Is it worth it to have the home inspected during the build process? ...

Absolutely. You want an inspector who specializes in or is at least very experienced in phase inspections.
You might want proof that the inspector's insurance covers this type of inspection. Mine does not.

[Bob Spermo]

Doug,

Having an inspector that specializes in new construction phase inspections is a good way to go. These type of inspections are very much code related and different from inspecting an existing home.

[Garry Sorrells]

Unless you are well versed in construction you need someone on your side.

Make sure that you write into the contract with the builder that you and your agents (not Realtor) have unlimited access to the site during construction and that you retain leverage to force the builder to conform to the building specifications of the contract. When things start going wrong you need to be able to halt progress and have it corrected.

[Billy Stephens]

Doug,

Having an inspector that specializes in new construction phase inspections is a good way to go. These type of inspections are very much code related and different from inspecting an existing home.


My wife and I are relocating to the Nashville, TN area and decided to build a house instead of buying.
.
This Gentleman Scott Patterson Nashville Home and Commercial Inspector (http://traceinspections.com/CV%20for%20Scott%20Patterson.htm) is who I would contact. ;)
.

[BridgeMan]

Doug,

For what it's worth, over the last 45 years I've either inspected or just casually observed more than several hundred new homes while they were being built. During that time, it's been extremely rare to not find construction errors. Sometimes just minor stuff, but often very serious mistakes that will affect the house's future performance. And far too often, local building inspectors don't seem to get concerned. I was told by one county inspector in southwestern Colorado a few years ago (who I had shown a few pix of misaligned bearing columns and faulty footings at a spec home being built down the street from mine) that quality control was the responsibility of the future buyer, and responded with "that's not my problem" when I said the future buyer hasn't been brought into the picture yet.

You would do well to hire someone with adequate background to perform frequent quality control inspections at your new house. Several site visits per week, minimum.