Have a New Home Inspection or Find a Great Builder

Some homebuyers have discovered to their disgust that there are lots of newly-built homes out there that can not pass even a casual new home inspection.

Common Defects

Some of the blatant defects that have been discovered in new home inspections are the following:

• use of mulch and dirt to fill up the foundation
• absence of flashings under window sills and doors
• sloping of the ground towards the house
• water seepage in the basement floor

City or County Home Inspection

Homebuyers might question why there are defective new homes when there are building permits and home inspections to surmount. In reality, it is impractical for cities or counties to monitor home construction every day. The building fees can not be increased realistically to a level that could pay for daily inspection.

Mass-Market Home Building

Not all mass-market homes are blatantly defective. There are mass-market homes that easily pass standard home inspections. Even so, mass-market builders suffer the constant pressure to cut costs to be able to offer attractive prices to buyers. And as most people know, there are builders that cut costs not to make home prices affordable, but to increase their money in the bank.

Finding Great Home Builders

If you have been discouraged by a lot of home inspection results, and you want to consider building your own home, here are some ways to find an excellent builder:

• Ask around. Usually you can not find great builders in ads because they do not need to advertise. Sometimes they have a backlog of up to six months of work.
• Good builders follow building plans and specifications.
• Great builders do not only pass the building code requirements. They surpass them.
• Find a traditional but large building materials company in your town and talk with the manager. He surely knows builders that do not cut costs on materials and that strive to build the best home a client can afford.
• Contact some residential architects. They know the home builders in the area that require quality architectural work and that treat home building as a craft.