Should I hire my own Home Inspector on a New Construction Build? (Houston: real estate, buying a home)

[Melz222]

Hey Guys,

I'm in the process of purchasing my first home. I'm very excited. Closing is expected to happen around the first week of August. I've read so much and I read articles saying you should get your own home inspection. However, I've literally watch my home get build from the ground up. Because of COVID, I've been working from home and not in the office. So I've had the liberty of being on the site during the entire process and have been on the site 2 to 3 times a week. I have my construction manager on text. I can literally call or text him at anytime, even on weekends. He always respond. He's been really good at keeping me updated and letting me know every detail and every step. The home go through inspections almost every week. Every stage has to pass an inspection for them to move on to the next. I feel like I've seen everything and me and my construction manager have great rapport. At the same time, I don't want to be naive. I know even with new construction, things can happen, but do I really need to hire my own home inspector on a new construction home?

What are your thoughts? Have anyone been in my position and can offer some guidance, that'll be great.

For the records, I'm very happy with the new home build process so far. Communication has been excellent.

[Dopo]

There's technical details about building a house that you are not going to know
Specially, whether or not is being built up to code

[kwr]

I would hire your own inspector unaffiliated with the builder. I wish I would have had the foresight to do this when I built my first home.

[haudi]

Absolutely 100% you should. Highly suggest pre-drywall and pre-close inspections. Foundation inspections will have mixed opinions because they won't have the technical data they truly need to do a proper inspection. Even the best builders will need to have a second set of eyes on them. Any good builder will amicable to you bringing a 3rd party in and will work with them.

[Gn21]

I just backed out on a house a couple weeks ago and lost my option money because I hired an inspector.

I did not go with the ones my real estate agent recommended. I found and hired an inspection company on my own and asked them not to communicate with the seller and both agents.

Back to the house: It looks perfectly fine to me and I do know a little bit about construction. But of course I hired an inspector anyways because it’s what you’re supposed to do when buying a home. I dont mind buying a house with defects. I do wanna know what I get myself into though.

The house I wanted to buy has stucco exterior. I’ve never owned or lived in a stucco home before. Turned out the inspector I hired used to work for a Stucco company for 20yrs before becoming a home inspector. Basically he said this house will have water penetration into the interior walls because the stucco was installed incorrectly. He went into details but I didn’t understand much bc of the technical terms. In order to fix that alone would cost thousands of dollars and create a big mess. Plus a dozen other problems that I already knew and a couple more problems that I didn’t know before hiring him.

I did not buy the house. It went under contract 2 days later with another buyer.

Hmmmm. I do feel regret a little bit not be able to buy that house since it was close to our jobs.
But really, I’m glad that I did not buy it. I don’t know anything about stucco so I chose to believe what my inspector said since he seemed so passionate about that particular topic.

I would 100% recommend you to hire an Inspector. It’s always good to know what’s wrong with the house before buying it. Don’t wait until it’s too late

Another client of my agent was buying a new construction home around the same time. I overheard them over the phone lol that buyer was freaking out bc they found black mold all over the attic. It was a new built. My agent said it’s not the first time something like this happens in new construction houses so always hire your own inspector.

[Melz222]

Originally Posted by Gn21

I just backed out on a house a couple weeks ago and lost my option money because I hired an inspector.

I did not go with the ones my real estate agent recommended. I found and hired an inspection company on my own and asked them not to communicate with the seller and both agents.

Back to the house: It looks perfectly fine to me and I do know a little bit about construction. But of course I hired an inspector anyways because it’s what you’re supposed to do when buying a home. I dont mind buying a house with defects. I do wanna know what I get myself into though.

The house I wanted to buy has stucco exterior. I’ve never owned or lived in a stucco home before. Turned out the inspector I hired used to work for a Stucco company for 20yrs before becoming a home inspector. Basically he said this house will have water penetration into the interior walls because the stucco was installed incorrectly. He went into details but I didn’t understand much bc of the technical terms. In order to fix that alone would cost thousands of dollars and create a big mess. Plus a dozen other problems that I already knew and a couple more problems that I didn’t know before hiring him.

I did not buy the house. It went under contract 2 days later with another buyer.

Hmmmm. I do feel regret a little bit not be able to buy that house since it was close to our jobs.
But really, I’m glad that I did not buy it. I don’t know anything about stucco so I chose to believe what my inspector said since he seemed so passionate about that particular topic.

I would 100% recommend you to hire an Inspector. It’s always good to know what’s wrong with the house before buying it. Don’t wait until it’s too late

Another client of my agent was buying a new construction home around the same time. I overheard them over the phone lol that buyer was freaking out bc they found black mold all over the attic. It was a new built. My agent said it’s not the first time something like this happens in new construction houses so always hire your own inspector.

Thanks. I will hire an inspector.

[Melz222]

Originally Posted by haudi

Absolutely 100% you should. Highly suggest pre-drywall and pre-close inspections. Foundation inspections will have mixed opinions because they won't have the technical data they truly need to do a proper inspection. Even the best builders will need to have a second set of eyes on them. Any good builder will amicable to you bringing a 3rd party in and will work with them.

Ok, will do. Thank you.

[WRM20]

Another aspect of hiring an inspector is they will tell you that something you think is an issue is actually acceptable at the price you are paying. That way you don't stress over a less than perfect finish, or similar.

[snackdog]

There are two types of stucco homes in Houston - those which have already had major issues and those which will have major issues. It is just not compatible with the climate here and about 70% of the construction companies do not know how to design with it or install it properly. Avoid it like the plague.

[auntpittypat]

Hire a former city inspector and definitely do not go with your realtor recommendations. We were buying a new house in Pearland 15 years ago that had 7 pages of problems. It was being built by a reputable well know builder. We were able to get out of deal because of the inspectors findings. Fast forward 15 years later and almost everyone in the subdivision has had the same problems he found.