I am sometimes approached by those buying brand new homes who ask me if they should get an inspection on their new home. ‘Surely,’ they tell me, ‘there couldn’t be anything wrong with a brand new, warrantied home, could there?’
My answer?
YES!
And should you get an inspection?
YES!
Now for the why-
It’s not that your builder isn’t doing a good job. It’s not that they are lackluster or unskilled. It’s that a new home is a complicated project with many different moving parts from many different contractors and employees. Things get missed.
My favorite example is for someone who had built a brand new home and got an inspection before closing. This home had shutters on the outside. During inspection, it was discovered that the shutters didn’t have stucco behind them. The city had missed it, the builder had missed it, and the homeowners themselves didn’t notice. But without that stucco, two to five years later (after the warranty had expired) water would have eventually gotten to the wood and ruined the drywall, becoming a huge and expensive mess. However, their inspector caught it and it was easily fixed.
The $500 you spend on an inspection is worth the peace of mind that nothing was overlooked in your new home!
