Why New Builds Still Need Inspections

A builder tells a buyer, “If an outside inspection finds something that isn’t a code violation, we probably won’t fix it.” That single sentence reveals a lot, and we break down exactly why. Code is not a gold standard, it is the lowest legal bar, and a brand-new house can still hide expensive defects the moment drywall goes up. We talk candidly about what a new construction home inspection is really for: clarity, leverage, and protecting yourself before you are stuck owning someone else’s shortcuts. 

We get specific about what we see on site, from sloppy “temporary” decks with missing flashing and wood touching soil, to the bigger risks that keep us up at night, like cracked trusses and compromised framing where plumbing or HVAC cuts through structural members. We also dig into the practical side of inspections: why manufacturer installation instructions matter, how ventilation and ridge vent length can turn an attic into a moisture trap, and how early condensation stains can become mold if nobody corrects the root cause. If you care about durability, indoor air quality, and long-term maintenance costs, these details matter. 

We also cover buyer strategy. Builder reps have incentives to close the sale, so we share how to read contracts carefully, avoid signing away inspection rights, keep earnest money manageable, and treat any attempt to block inspections or mold testing as a serious warning sign. Finally, we talk warranties and timing, including when waiting out a builder warranty may be smarter than “fixing it yourself” too soon. If you find this helpful, subscribe, share it with a friend building a home, and leave a review with the biggest red flag you think buyers should watch for.

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Transcript

Builder Pushback On Inspections

SPEAKER_02 0:00

This then.

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Alright, Laura, you have something to read. No names, of course, but this is regarding an inspection on a new build.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

It was a pre-drywall. Okay. So the text that the builder sent to the client said that they had talked to the construction manager when they met him and they wanted to go over things in regards to getting an inspection. So he said that oftentimes the only things that someone finds in an outside inspection are things that are not a violation of code, in which case they will not fix it or that they had already planned to fix. They wanted to be up front. How nice of them with us that if it isn't something they legally have to fix, they probably won't. So is it worth it to have a second set of eyes or just a waste of money if the builder is already meeting their legal standards? Well, how do you know they're meeting their legal standards? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

I would say it is 100% worth having it because they there's an issue and it's all right.

Code Is Minimum Not Quality

SPEAKER_01 1:06

First of all, code is minimum standard. That is the lowest quality allowed by law.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

And actually, as I recall, doesn't code default to warranty manufacturer to the manufacturer's installation? Yes. So we don't inspect to code, but we do inspect to manufacturer's installation instructions.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Well, we we can, but here's the difficult that we have to know who's the manufacturer of that, we'll say siding. Who's the manufacturer of that siding? And do we have the manual?

SPEAKER_02 1:40

And we have called and gotten that several times on a couple of different houses we've done because there have been issues.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

We have that done that done that before when we're able to get the information.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Yeah, so we can see see the stuff on it.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

So, but my first thought was when you're reading that, if it's not it's not a violation of code, they're not gonna fix it. What shady customer service that that is from the builder? I'm gonna ignore your concerns because legally I don't have to be. I don't have to care. That is terrible customer service, and I would never buy a house from any any builder that that had something like that.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Or that told me that I couldn't go to the house until they told me I could. I've heard that lately too.

Jobsite Habits And Buyer Access

SPEAKER_02 2:30

That like people are building houses, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a house, and they're not allowed to go and watch it be built. Nope.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yeah, that's I would want to know. In fact, where was I at the other day? And there are beer cans up in the attic.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Oh, that's encouraging.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

And it is not an old house. Like old house, okay. Dude, me worksight. Work site, it's a worksight. If I'm drinking a beer Sunday and I just want to toss it somewhere, knowing I'm gonna clean up later on.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Work site.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

That's my prerogative. It's a worksite. That's that's my prerogative. And you and when I was building the sauna, worksite. I build a wood-fired sauna. Ask him how square it is when you see him. It is it is well the base is square. I cut two pieces of wood too short, so now there's like a really subtle curve, and I know it's there. But worksight, worksight. So, all right, whole a homeowner drinking a beer and decides just to leave it somewhere. That's one thing. That's one thing.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Then how many homeowners go up and just chug a beer and toss it?

unknown 3:36

No.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

How many homeowners actually tend to go up in the attic in the first place? Not many.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Not many, not many. And it's a new house, so it was a worker putting the beer up there. But anyway, hopefully they were already done working with the day and they're they were just finishing that off. Finishing it off, put a lot of salt on the on the beer. I like put side note, I like putting salt on the on the top of the beer can so I get the electrolytes.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Because that's what Jimmy's crave.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

That's what Jimmy's crave. Everybody's appreciated that uh idiocracy reference there, I'm sure. But the the builders saying they're only going to fix it as a violation of you know of code or legally, they don't need it, only if they legally need to do it, that's a really that's a bad reflection on that company. They're gonna they're only gonna do the minimum standards and I'll give a shit about you. Home inspectors. Now listen, even

Common New Build Defects

SPEAKER_01 4:30

though you can't make the builder fix something, that doesn't mean you should not be aware of it.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

And that you can't walk.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

There are so many times I see the builders put these little decks on the back back stairs, okay? There's no flashing. The wood is directly on the dirt. Sometimes they're they're they're just kind of suspended there because there's no dirt underneath it, and they're they're bouncing, they're gonna flex, they're gonna move, they're gonna become disconnected from the house. Are they legally supposed to do it? Build you know, build it better. I really don't know. But I'm but I yeah, why wouldn't you take pride in your work in the first place? Well, here's the thing the building say, hey, this is a temporary deck, so we don't have to do it permanent quality.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

But at what point does it become permanent then? Well if that stays there after you're done, that becomes a permanent deck and you should do it right.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

It should, but the builders, and and I don't know if that's true or not, the builders are like, hey, this is a we'll put up a temporary deck for you to replace in a year or so, and that's how they're getting with it.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

And people don't don't replace it because you know life happens.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

They either didn't read that little clause in the agreement or they forgot about it, or like, eh, it's still up, I don't need to worry about it. But very seldom do I see the little builder builders, little decks they put on the back, the little stairs in the back, they're not flashed right, they're not connected right. Soil is touching the dirt. Usually Negro grading underneath that thing as well, because by the time they started the guy started putting in the rough grading, they didn't really throw dirt up underneath there. So you got a low spot to bring water.

Why Awareness Still Matters

SPEAKER_01 6:06

The home inspection is still worth doing on a new build, whether or not the builder's gonna fix it or not.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

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Hidden Structural Damage Before Drywall

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Well, how many times have we gone in and seen huge cracks and trusses or seen where an HVAC company drilled out a huge frickin' hole in a support in the truss and completely compromised its integrity? Would the builder not fix that? I mean, you put it up to code initially, but then somebody else came in and messed it up. So are you just gonna let it sit like that? And the because I believe that the one I'm thinking of, the upstairs floor had already started sagging because that area was so unstable.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

We think it was the plumber cut away the middle section of the bit of a beam for his for the plumbing vent. Total stupid movement, makes no no sense.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

So would the builder not fix that based upon this text? It it it they installed it to code.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

If it was it was probably put in correctly, right? Some other tradesmen messed it up, screwed it up. The next stage of this thing was drywall, it would have been completely covered up in the four or five days. It would probably be completely covered, and then they'd be scratching their head a year later, wondering why the whole house is cracking and that.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

And the floor is sagging.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

So no, you it's always worth to get the home inspection, not not only for what for the buyer's awareness to on what to fix, what to maintain, what to improve, also for their peace of mind.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Right. You don't know what you don't know.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Many times we have heard people not happy with their builder.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

And that's getting more frequent.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

It's getting more frequent. Well, I feel bad for builders in some way because they're they have trouble getting hold of contractors or anybody who's gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

But that is no excuse for this statement. I understand that things are difficult. I mean, look how long it's taken us to hire people. I I mean, I get it, but at the same token, you don't treat your clients like that. You do a good job. You be proud of what you're putting out.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

That home buyer is the client, right? And they're going like, no, we're not gonna fix it unless we don't care about it.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Unless legally you've you force us into this, there's unless there's a way that you force us into this.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Well, it reminds me though a couple weeks ago, I was in a court case. I was an expert witness regarding a roofer who once again this is a ventilation issue because we're gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

They don't understand ventilation.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Roofers are they they decide not to learn about proper ventilation, or they don't care. But anyway, this thing has lots of rot to it. And mold. This this this roofer, instead of getting sued, could have gone, yeah, let me let me let me fix this. No, no, they anyway. So we'll we'll wait on that court case, see how that one settles out. I'm certainly like the roofers gonna lose on that one.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

They should.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

I don't see any reason. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't lose that case. So anyway, builders, new builds, always getting expected, just because the builders are not gonna do anything.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Does not mean you should not know. It also gives you the ability to walk out. It may be

Sales Pressure And Contract Traps

SPEAKER_02 9:40

harder because I'm sure you've put earnest money down, I'm sure you've done all of that stuff. But isn't it better to walk with just a little bit of money lost as opposed to actually buying the house and then being trapped in it?

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Well, remember the builders and the builders' reps all have incentive to sell you a house.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Yes, they get paid on commission.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

There was this one house I did, I did mold testing. They want me doing it was a pre-dry wall. They want me doing the inspection, but they were really concerned about moisture and mold.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Oh, I went and I did the mold testing for you.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Maybe this I this has been a couple times we've done something like this. So I get there and the buyer, she was not in contract for the place.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

Oh, no, I'm thinking of it.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

And the and the sales rep comes saying, No, no, you don't want to spend money on a home inspection. You got you want something on contract for us, or so go ahead, give us your sign the contract here and give us the earnest money or whatever, the down payment, and then you go get inspection. And the girl's like, No, I'm done. I'm getting this looked at first, and moisture, and there was actually more what looked like mold growing in the place. So she canceled, but the sales rep not happy often sadly often enough, yeah. They have incentive to sell you and and not really taking too much into account whether it's the best thing for you.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

So always first of all, be careful what you sign. You make sure you read over every freaking contract, over every word of it. Do not sign away your rights for inspections. I have heard people that have done that. You do not want to do that. So make make sure that you're reading what you're signing. Put down minimal amounts of money if you can do that, so that you know, if it comes down to it and you have to walk, it's a livable walk.

When A Builder Blocks Testing

SPEAKER_01 11:34

To me, that's a big red flag. If the uh builder is telling you, no, you you can't have anybody come in and do inspections. Now, the the company, the builder says, Listen, you can have me inspect, but I don't want anybody climbing the roof. Okay, I get it. They still own the site, they don't want anybody getting hurt, and it's probably like their liability, perhaps, if somebody fell off. I get that. I get that's I don't mind that.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Well, that's why we have workarounds for that, so we don't have to get on the roof.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

That's right. We have we have multiple ways to look at the roof. So that I don't mind. But when they say no, you can't have any inspections or you can't come to this house until we tell you. Tell the buyer, I'm like, Yeah, you can't look at you can't look at our processor show up. I'm like, no, no, no, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

You need to walk. No, you need to run from that builder. If any builder tells you you can't get inspections or you can't be there at the property while it's being built, you need to just walk, find another one.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

So actually, that'd be a good thing for builders advertised. Listen, we want you to have home inspectors here because it's listen, Laura's laugh at that one. No, seriously. If I was a builder, so am I if I was a builder, I would say, yes, I want you to hire a home inspector because I'm proud of the work we do and I'm gonna showcase how well we do, how well we do things, and also that we have nothing to hide. That's a builder who'd get recommendations from everybody.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Or here you go. If you're a builder and you're not afraid of your work because you do a good job, contact us and we'll do quality control for you.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Yeah, contact habitation investigation. We've done that before. Yeah, we have for a couple builders. They they they kind of overall, they want to know where the plumbing's at and all that. That's fine. Um, but a builder tells you you can't have somebody. Did we have a builder one time when we a client tell us that the builder said they could not do air quality testing, could not do mold testing at their new builds?

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Yeah, that's been a bit. I can't remember who that was.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

I mean some apartment buildings. If you're renting an apartment building in the contract, you cannot do mold testing.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Or air quality. Which that's don't run. If they have that in their contract, run too.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

There's a history reason as to why they're doing that. So anyway, I think that's it for this one. Always get it inspected. Doesn't matter if somebody's gonna fix the stuff or not immediately for you. It's stuff you need to know. Like one thing we come across. Oh, Laura, you got one, you got something.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Do you remember those little um the those after show things when we were kids? Knowledge is power.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

After school specials.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Knowledge is power was one of those songs, I think.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Are you talking about schoolhouse rock?

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Yeah, schoolhouse rock. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

That looks nice.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

Knowledge is power. If you don't know, you can't protect yourself. You can't fix it, you can't do anything, and you're stuck figuring it out down the road. If you know going in what's going on, you can protect

Attic Ventilation That Breeds Mold

SPEAKER_02 14:29

yourself.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Well, here's another one we come across for new builds is the the attic ventilation is not good. What's good, it's attic ventilation. We will find a house, uh, solvent vent, ridge vent, great combination. But the ridge vent is stupidly short on that ridge. It's not long enough. But here's what's going on. They go, and we report that they go, yeah, we had our engineer looked at it, and and this this meets the one square foot of ventilation per uh per 300 square feet of attic floor space. Like floor, not air. That or roof surface, the steeper roof, the more roof surface you have um that's point upward to heat up by the sun. But we've been in attics that are the general guideline is 30 degrees, and the air inside the attic is like 30 degrees higher than the outside air, there's not enough ventilation to it. We have found attic spaces that were like 160 degrees, 140 degrees, and it's like 90 degrees outside. Obviously, it's way over that 30 degree threshold. So, like today, it's gonna be 80, 80 degrees day. So you get 110, that's pushing it. That that's right there that 30, and it variations a little bit on the roof surface, which is why we don't measure the underside of the roof. I mean, we measure halfway up the the wood, so we're getting the center air temperature.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

That that's how we do that. But we've had new bills that were too hot in there because that 30 degree range, and then the builder says, now we this is built to the one for every 300. Well, you know what? You may be meeting and minimum standards, that doesn't mean it's best practice.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Well, I remember a couple that had really short ridge vents, and so we called it out in the pre-drywall, go in during the final walkthrough, and there's already condensation stains and mold forming because the ridge vent was too short and they wouldn't fix it. And so called out again with more damage at this point. So, what do you think's gonna happen in a few years?

SPEAKER_01 16:38

The builder, here's here's what here's what probably should happen is the builders well, the builder should fix it. Most likely the builder's not gonna do it because they met their minimum legal you know standard, which I bet they really didn't if you if you read the manufacturer's instructions on those things. But so after the builder's one-year warranty, this is the owner should then on his own dime at this point increase the ventilation, increase the length of that ridge vent so now it does have proper ventilation. This is one of the things where I builders not gonna fix it, but you as a homeowner now know that so you know what to fix to keep your roof working well for you.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

I I will say one thing about that, one caveat. If you have a warranty from your builder, I would let that warranty expire before I fix that because any work done on that roof is going to void that warranty. So wait for the year and then have someone come out and replace that ridge vent and make it right because otherwise you're gonna void your whole warranty and you don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yeah. So anyway, buying home that's you know, have one constructed, always get it inspected.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

And they're trying to put them up so fast.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

And I They're trying to, but they can't find quality people.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Well, and and that's why we're seeing so many problems, and that's why they don't want people to come and inspect. So make sure, get it inspected. Knowledge is power.

Final Walkthrough Surprises And Close

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Well, the house I inspected yesterday, final walk through inspection, it was good. There's some issues, of course. Like some things I had to wander with. What were they thinking? They're like they're installing a uh they added another sump pump to this place.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

So like the one is not enough. So I'm like, something there's a history of some water going into this place. So whether they let the grading be bad for way too long before they fixed it, I don't know what what the issue is. But anyway, there's two sump pumps in this place now.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

So there's always something gonna pop up that you need to be aware of to help maintain the value in your house. All right, that's it. Thanks, everybody.