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We're in the process of building a home. We have our frame walkthrough next week. I'm just wondering, what sort of things should I be looking for? What questions should I ask?
Also, does anyone have any idea how far into the building process a frame walkthrough happens? Are we half way through? Or does a frame walkthrough happen in the very beginning of the building process? They've only been working on the house for about a month and I'm amazed at how much they've done already.
Well if you have no idea what you will be looking at during a frame walkthrough then you might want to hire yourself an inspector who works for you and knows what to look for and what questions to ask.
It's going to appear to slow down once sheetrock goes in, but it'll still be moving along.
PLEASE hire an outside inspector to go in before your walkthrough, because once the sheetrock goes up, you're S.O.L. on a lot of things. You'll probably be looking at your electrical and plumbing too. There are a lot of bracing things that you need to pay attention to, as well as making sure your walls are all plumb, which they're often not. And again, once sheetrock is up, good luck getting it fixed.
The builder shouldn't have a problem with you having a third party inspection, but if they do, you REALLY need one. It's a very cheap insurance policy for the biggest inspection of your life.
It's going to appear to slow down once sheetrock goes in, but it'll still be moving along.
PLEASE hire an outside inspector to go in before your walkthrough, because once the sheetrock goes up, you're S.O.L. on a lot of things. You'll probably be looking at your electrical and plumbing too. There are a lot of bracing things that you need to pay attention to, as well as making sure your walls are all plumb, which they're often not. And again, once sheetrock is up, good luck getting it fixed.
The builder shouldn't have a problem with you having a third party inspection, but if they do, you REALLY need one. It's a very cheap insurance policy for the biggest inspection of your life.
I agree completely, hire an inspector and let him report his findings to you. It will be the best few hundred bucks you've ever spent.
We're in the process of building a home. We have our frame walkthrough next week. I'm just wondering, what sort of things should I be looking for? What questions should I ask?
Also, does anyone have any idea how far into the building process a frame walkthrough happens? Are we half way through? Or does a frame walkthrough happen in the very beginning of the building process? They've only been working on the house for about a month and I'm amazed at how much they've done already.
Just looked at my pics to tell you what my timeframe was - pre-drywall inspection was around Dec 10 and I closed the end of Feb, so about 2 1/2 to 3 months perhaps (a bigger house may take longer). Definitely get an inspector!
In addition to hiring an inspector to look at "building" issues, things you should look at are if the doors/windows/closets are in all the correct place. Are the ceiling heights correct? If they've already did the rough plumbing and electrical, check if the switches are in the correct place and also any light/celing fan boxes. Also check if your phone/cable boxes are in the correct place. For plumbing, make sure they ran pipes to all of your sinks/toilets/showers and everything is in the correct place.
A good thing to do is to take pictures of all of the walls before they drywall, so that you know where everything is located (plumbing/electrical) once you're living in your home in case you need to find something in a wall.
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