The house is brand new, why should I have a home inspection?
The belief that any new product is free
of defects and necessarily flawless runs contrary to common sense and experience. The return counter at any department store
provides ample evidence of this fact. When applied to new homes, the belief that new means perfect can lead to costly mistakes.
Many homebuyers feel that they do not need
to employ a professional home inspector because municipal building inspectors regularly inspect new homes. Let me personally
tell you that a municipal inspection is definitely not enough. Home buyers need to understand that many building inspectors
are seeing over 10 homes a day and are normally only inspecting to see that the builder meets the minimum code requirements.
The municipal inspector is not looking at specific construction practices that tend to determine if a home is going to be
a trouble-free investment or one that will require significant modification and repair in the future. As I previously mentioned,
they are primarily code inspectors. In the past, I've picked up on many building or safety infractions that municipal building
officials had totally missed.
Another interesting fact is, anyone who
has worked in the construction field can tell stories of the shortcuts and human errors that routinely occur, even on the
best built of homes. Workmen have bad days, materials can have defects, details can be overlooked, components can be omitted,
and municipal building inspectors can have too little time to check every nook and cranny within the house.
The choice, however, is yours to make.
