New Home Warranties: A Good Idea?

New homes are perfect, right?

The county and city building inspector has signed off on everything, so it's fine, right? You shouldn’t have any problems with your new home for many years.

Well, not always.

Typically, most builders offer one-year warranties to buyers for structural and major building components. Many times, buyers fail to obtain an independent home inspection prior to closing on their new home from the builder, because it's new!

It is becoming more common place for home owner's opting to obtain a professional's opinion regarding "how the property is measuring-up." Many times, small details are overlooked by the builder during construction that can affect the "building structure." Make sure you are getting the home you paid for with a warranty inspection before your warranty expires.  

A brand new home is impressive and is something many people squander money away for entire lives. There is something special about watching your home being built from the ground up and seeing the finishing touches being put on to bring it all together. However, buyers are becoming unsure about the performance of the general contractor and their subcontractors or are not satisfied with the quality of their home. A client has a right to look forward to excellence in a new home and a new construction inspection addresses things that can be expected in previously occupied homes but should not be present in a newly built home.

While many builders are extremely competent and do their job well, for others the lack of quality in their work is surprising. Mistakes and oversights are normal in new home construction, even with the best of builders. It makes sense when you consider that a new house is not built in a factory by robots in controlled situations; it is built and put together at each unique place by humans who blunder on occasion. Dozens of individual workers and groups of specialists like framers, electricians, plumbers and roofers each bring their part into the equation. Often, builders will be constructing several houses simultaneously, and crews will float from one house to the next to perform their forte. It is simple to see how things overlooked, forgotten, or not properly checked by the builder.

There are numerous reasons why new homes have mistakes, which I've listed below:

1. With many separate homes being built at different sites and the plethora of activities going on at the same time at each site, it’s nearly impossible for the general contractor to personally monitor all phases of the home construction. Quality control will certainly be inconsistent from one builder to another and can even be inconsistent among homes built by the same contractor in one development.
2. The majority of construction tasks (foundation, framing, plumbing, electrical, etc.) are usually subcontracted out. Consideration as to how fast and how cheap the job can get done may rank above quality for the builder.
3. The explosion of growth has created a great need for affordable housing. When there is such a large demand and such a small supply, it is significantly easier for less experienced builders to sell their services when time and money overtake quality and reputation as the deciding factors for new home buyers.
4. Few, if any, municipal code inspectors spend anywhere near enough time in each home to fully check it out. Further, there could be issues with the home that are not necessarily code violations, yet could still have serious consequences for the new home owner. These deficiencies may not be discovered until it is too late.

We have yet to inspect a brand new home with no reportable conditions.

Make sure you have a Buyer’s Choice home inspector look at your home before your new home warranty expires. A Buyer’s Choice inspector will examine your home’s structure, mechanical and electrical systems to identify defects and other problems before they become your problems.

Jeff Christy, A Buyer’s Choice. www.lutz.abuyerschoice.com