Building Progress Inspections – Are They Really Necessary?

That all depends on whether Congratulations or Condolences are in order!

A new home construction may prove to be the biggest and most expensive investment of your lifetime. Being brand new, one might feel comfortable in assuming that the new home will be better than many existing properties. This assumption often proves wrong as many new home buyers find that their “Dream Home” turns out to be a “House of Horrors”. Home buyers often discover the stress and frustration associated with new home construction is more than they bargained for.

New home buyers often end up throwing their arms up in disgust and total frustration and adopting the attitude that they will simply have to accept inferior quality of construction. This should not be the case!

Many builders are not interested in hearing complaints that their clients voice in respect to the construction process. They feel that their clients are not versed in construction practices  and therefore “unqualified” to comment on the process.

Many new home purchasers, while extremely diligent with visiting their new home site, are not always aware of the severity of their concerns nor are they trained in defect recognition, so many items that should be of concern, are often missed or overlooked. This is why you need professional assistance. The services of an ipi professional home inspector, acting as a watchdog over your new home construction, may save you money in the long run.

We are specifically trained in defect recognition and will be able to provide you with detailed information as to any deficiencies found, in order that you may converse with your builder with a certain amount of credibility. Having a “qualified” home inspector guiding you will also send a clear message that you mean business and are not willing to accept substandard quality.

Any builder who flatly refuses to let a home inspector represent a client during the construction period and pre-delivery inspection should perhaps raise red flags in the client’s mind.

Our best advice to clients is, unless you are willing to live with major deficiencies found in a pre-delivery inspection (PDI) – don’t close until such concerns have been addressed to your satisfaction.

WHAT WE CAN DO FOR OUR CLIENTS

• We are prepared to oversee the construction process of your new home for the four distinct phases of construction.
• We will do our best to advise you if the quality of home construction that you paid for, isn’t what you are actually receiving.
• We will advise you of our findings after each visitation by E-mail. Interim reporting will advise clients of any major areas of concern (structural issues, missing components, poor quality craftsmanship etc…).
• Generally our complete service involves 6-8 site visitations. Clients may also engage our photographic services to provide them with a gallery of progress on a weekly basis or when the client requires such service.

WHAT OUR SERVICES DO NOT COVER

Our clients engage our services and we have their interests at heart. We report and are accountable to them alone.

• We will not, in any way negotiate nor communicate with any real estate firms or sales agents, on behalf of our client. We have a strict code of ethics and standards of practice with our professional association (InterNACHI) that we must follow.
• We will not deal with builders directly under any circumstances.
• We will not withhold from our clients, any written material or information required (photographic evidence, written report etc.…) to state their case clearly, should any dispute arise.
• We will not be held responsible for a builder not responding to any client’s request.
• We also will not be held responsible for ensuring that the builder carries out any suggestions for corrections or alterations to the building. Should a builder comply with our client’s requests for alterations or repairs, we will inspect such alterations and repairs for quality and correctness.

The 4 Phases of New Home Construction

PHASE 1 An initial inspection is generally completed with the client present in order to explain the process, it’s scope and limitations.

PHASE 2 Inspection of the excavation, foundation and damp-proofing membrane and findings will be communicated to the client. This is  followed by an inspection on completion of the exterior and interior walls, floors, rafters and sheathing and roofing of the home.

PHASE 3 An inspection is completed of the roughed-in plumbing, electrical components, pre-wiring, mechanical systems, insulation and vapour barrier of the home.

At the end of each of the above phase inspections, a written report, backed up by photos, will be sent to the client.

PHASE 4  (Snag) pre-delivery inspection. This is a thorough inspection of the finished home and generally takes  4-5 hours. A comprehensive, written report, backed up with photos, is provided to the client at the end of this inspection process.