It’s long been considered a best practice to get a home inspection when buying a home from another homeowner, but what about when buying a new home? Even if you are buying a new home, you will want to get it professionally inspected for a number of reasons.
To start, while the home may be new, there is no guarantee that it is perfect. New homes can often come with all sorts of problems, mainly because building a home is incredibly complex. Many sub-contractors and items can get dropped from lists of things to do. You will want to make sure you can enjoy the home the first day you move in without anything big still being an issue. I have found up to 26 items on a new construction house with most of the items being minor, but I have also had hot water connected to toilets, a drain not connected on 2nd floor spa tub, and shingles and siding not installed.
You must also understand that municipal inspections are different than home inspections. Municipal inspections look at the house during multiple stages of the building process, but only look at a subset of the items a home inspector reviews when the house is completed. Since you are paying for a new home, you should make sure everything works the way you want before moving in.
Having the home inspected before you sign also helps you get problems corrected before you move in. If there is something discovered during your inspection, you can take the report back to the builder to have them fix it before making the sale official. That can save you a lot of money and hassle, and will also help you if you ever choose to sell.
While it may seem counter-intuitive to inspect a new home, there are a lot of benefits to it. Don’t think because it’s new it must be perfect – let a professional inspector confirm your home is everything you expect it to be. To schedule an inspection, give Pristine Inspections and Testing a call today at 217-352-3743.