BLUE  HORIZON                  HOME INSPECTIONS

New Construction Inspections are Critical!!

 

NOTE:  A Virginia Home Inspector must have the NRS Certification (New Residential Structures) to legally perform any new construction inspections.

 

The absolutely best and most unique opportunity to inspect your new home is during the construction phase.  Your inspector can see potential issues, and even point out excellent workmanship, that would be impossible to see otherwise.  It is very unfortunate that many home buyers assume that their newly constructed home will be perfect, and that it will be thoroughly inspected by the local government code inspectors.  If that were true, then our new construction inspection reports would not consistently be over 20 pages long.  Every NRS inspection we've done thus far has had multiple major issues that should have been caught by the local code authority having jurisdiction.
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The most common inspection approach for new construction is a three-phase inspection:  Pre-Drywall, Final Inspection, and 1-year Warranty Inspection.

 

The Pre-Drywall Inspection may be the most important inspection you can have performed.  Up to 50% of the structural issues we find in existing homes were present from the time of build.  The primary focus of this inspection is on the structure.  To that end, conducting the inspection is best done before the insulation is installed.  Our Pre-drywall inspections are second to none.  Tim has had extensive training on various structural issues by the foremost leaders in the field of Building Science.  Unfortunately, many home inspectors will spend about an hour looking at your home's framing and say "looks good".  The sad truth is that they really don't know what to look for.

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Your new home should be perfect, but that is rarely the case.  The Final NRS Inspection will verify all systems and appliances are in working order, inspect all visible insulation, assess the lot grading, and check to see if all finish work was performed in a "workman-like manner".  That phrase will undoubtedly be in your builder's contract.  And your local government code inspectors do not inspect for that.

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Your builder is required to provide you a 1-year warranty in Virginia (unless specifically excluded in your contract) - see the law here.  It is always a good idea to perform a Warranty Inspection before the 1-year anniversary to make sure all issues are addressed, and that nothing is missed.  At the end of the day, Blue Horizon is your advocate to make sure you get everything you deserve from the builder.

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