Who could believe a brand new home might be wrecked in under a year? Not from a tornado or flood but from unforeseen mistakes made during construction. Sad to say, some brand new homes have serious hidden defects that cost time and money to repair. According to Consumer Reports 15% of new homes have serious problems. Many problems do not show up until months or years after moving in. Fortunately, there is an answer to this problem.
In general, a buyer puts his trust in a General Contractor to oversee the entire project and keep to good standards and quality workmanship. The home buyer also trusts that the county and city inspections will ensure good construction. However, some local counties do not require code inspections. (These counties are also trusting that builders are building to standards.) Code inspections are targeted to specific items, for the purpose of quality and standards compliance. Home inspections cover hundreds of items with an emphasis on safety and function. Code Inspectors and Home Inspectors have different job descriptions and serve different purposes. Both deal with hidden problems – problems that are unknown until they are looked for. If hidden problems are not found and fixed they can be the recipe for wrecking a beautiful new home.