Hire home inspector or not?

[Diana Robayo]

Hello,

I am a first time home owner and I have my buyer walk scheduled for the end of October.  

Although my home is a new construction home, should I hire a home inspector?

If so, what is the average costs for a home inspector on a new build? 

Since this is all new to me, I do not want to miss any small detail that may costs me money in the long run.

Thank you in advance, 

Diana

[Patrick Drury]

@Diana Robayo
Can't hurt to have a home inspector take a look at the house and make sure it's in good shape. 

[Jaron Walling]

@Diana Robayo As a first time buyer I strongly recommend an inspection. After owning a few properties, remodeling, and getting your hands dirty inspections become less important because you can spot bigger problems. 

Most SFH inspections are about $300-450. Depends on size and age of the property.

[Michael Dumler]

@Diana Robayo, you need an inspection performed during due diligence. The buyer walkthrough a day or two before closing is not when an inspection should be conducted. New builds still need to be inspected in my opinion. Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions. 

[Diana Robayo]

Thank you @Jaron Walling and @Patrick Drury I appreciate your feedback.

[Diana Robayo]

Quote from @Michael Dumler:

@Diana Robayo, you need an inspection performed during due diligence. The buyer walkthrough a day or two before closing is not when an inspection should be conducted. New builds still need to be inspected in my opinion. Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions. 

 Yes this helps. Thank you!

[Stephen Hale]

If you are local to Kern County - Don Martin of Preferred Home Inspections is great.  I've used him on a number of projects.

Definitely the best idea to get a home inspection done even on the new build as the above replies have stated.  If you'd like his info feel free to shoot me a message and I can pass it along

[Adam Bartling]

$400 investment to maybe save you $1,000 or more..... Yes Ma'am all day.

[Lee Bell]

New does not mean perfect. Pay for the inspection.

[Bryce Ray]

New build companies miss the mark on several things. I would forsure have an inspector go out and take a look.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Absolutely. Why try to save $500 when they could turn up all kinds of little stuff you'll want to know about - and have the builder fix....

[Eliott Elias]

I don't anymore. Too expensive and they know as much as i do, and that's to hire the experts if they detect anything wrong. I only like inspectors for negotiation tactics on a traditional sale 

[Charlie MacPherson]

Absolutely yes.  3 years ago, we relocated to Maine and bought a fairly new (2004) and very nice colonial.  I walked through did my own "inspection" and was impressed enough to forego a real inspection.

Big mistake.

We just discovered that there has been long term water intrusion where the entry way to the basement (dog house) meets the back wall of the living room.  There was no flashing or any effort to direct water away.  Water has been running into the back wall for a very long time.

A big portion (10 sq ft?) of the chip board sheathing has rotted away, along with studs and the sill plate.  We have opened an insurance claim for hidden rot.  The wall is opened with dehumidifiers / HEPA running 24/7.  Large parts of the area are tented off due to mold.

I had years of experience as a Realtor and had personally attended a ton of home inspections.  I thought I knew what I was doing, but missed one small, but VERY important detail.

So should you get a home inspection?  As others have said, YES.

[Sean Delisle]

You mentioned it was new construction.  In my state (NH), builders are required to provide a 1 yr warranty.  The building inspectors are supposed to review the work before they start the next step.  That being said, my builder did make mistakes that I didn't find out until much later, but I don't think a home inspector would have caught those mistakes, because they were behind closed walls.  

It can't hurt to have a home inspection, but it's less common with new construction.  Last year I sold 19 homes and every buyer had a home inspection.  This year to date, I'm at 25 closed and every buyer had a home inspection.  Clearly, I'm a fan of home inspections.  

[Bruce Woodruff]

A good Home Inspector will find things even in a new house. It's just silly to not use one when they are so inexpensive....

People trying to save $400 on a $400k purchase, cracks me up.......duh....

[Andrew Syrios]

I almost always recommend a home inspector for new investors. For new construction it probably isn't necessary, but it's just a few hundred bucks and can't hurt. There are times when developers try to cut corners too so if that happened, the inspector can hopefully spot it.

[David Vanlandingham]

I would recommend 2 inspections. The first one before you close and the second one before the builders warranty expires. Just because it’s a new build certainly does not preclude it from shoddy workmanship or overlooked issues. Often on a walkthrough they distract you to seek out the cosmetic blemishes by handing you a roll of painters tape. Trust me if there are blemishes, what else are you not seeing?  Spend the money and get a set of professional eyes on the build. 

[Sasha Fukuda]

I think everyone who says to get the inspection is probably right. That said, i have a low opinion of inspectors. If your house has a problem, they'll probably miss it. That's my jaded opinion. They can't move anything, or look behind closed walls, or open furnaces. They often don't have a background in construction. Many don't actually explain anything to the homeowner while they're doing the inspection. Search for an inspector that actually has a background in construction and has a reputation for communicating, not some random person who was hired by a bigger company.  

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Sasha Fukuda:

I think everyone who says to get the inspection is probably right. That said, i have a low opinion of inspectors. If your house has a problem, they'll probably miss it. That's my jaded opinion. They can't move anything, or look behind closed walls, or open furnaces. 

I've done home inspections under my GC license so maybe I was one of the better ones, but I would still say that most Home Inspectors are pretty decent.

You must have picked out the worst inspectors on purpose. How dare they not move furniture and look behind walls.....? Lol.....

[Sasha Fukuda]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Sasha Fukuda:

I think everyone who says to get the inspection is probably right. That said, i have a low opinion of inspectors. If your house has a problem, they'll probably miss it. That's my jaded opinion. They can't move anything, or look behind closed walls, or open furnaces. 

I've done home inspections under my GC license so maybe I was one of the better ones, but I would still say that most Home Inspectors are pretty decent.

You must have picked out the worst inspectors on purpose. How dare they not move furniture and look behind walls.....? Lol.....

My point in saying that they can't look behind walls, or move stuff, or look inside things like stoves is that even the best inspectors are very limited in the problems that they can catch. I've employed  several inspectors. 

There was that time a large tree was growing right up alongside the house i had under contract. I had an inspection, and then later found out from a tenant that the tree roots had pierced the foundation and water flooded into the house every spring. I ended up pulling out of the deal. The inspector hadn't mentioned that the large tree that was practically touching the house might be a problem. I've had several such experiences where some feature of the property should have set off warning bells, leading to a more competent inspector either catching a problem outright or warning me to look into it further. Instead, my knowledge about houses has grown (starting from scratch) mostly from learning things the hard way.

I think there are several problems with inspectors. The first is that they sort of have perverse incentives. Banks and realtors aren't going to recommend them if they often find problems that cause buyers to back out of deals. The second is that the guy who starts the inspection business might be knowledgable about houses, but he'll employ people who are good enough to go thru the motions, but maybe not much else. The third problem is that a lot of them don't view communicating with and educating the homebuyer during the inspection as being part of the job (there's a reason i'm spending the day following you around as you go about your inspection). Buying a house is the biggest purchase of most people's life and most inspectors don't take it seriously enough in my opinion. My advice if you're a buyer who doesn't know much about houses is to look for an inspector who has a background in the trades, works alone (difficult for large buildings), and who has a reputation for communicating well during inspections. It's even better if you have a relative in the trades who can look it over as well, since they have a bigger incentive to make sure you're not screwed. I learned far more from looking at houses with my uncles then i ever did from looking at them with home inspectors. 

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Sasha Fukuda:

I think there are several problems with inspectors. The first is that they sort of have perverse incentives. Banks and realtors aren't going to recommend them if they often find problems that cause buyers to back out of deals.

The second is that the guy who starts the inspection business might be knowledgable about houses, but he'll employ people who are good enough to go thru the motions, but maybe not much else.

The third problem is that a lot of them don't view communicating with and educating the homebuyer during the inspection as being part of the job (there's a reason i'm spending the day following you around as you go about your inspection).

Wow - you're just wrong on so much....
1) The majority of Inspectors are talented and honest and a good Realtor (that's who recommends them) would much rather know about all issues up front rather than have them pop up later
2) Another erroneous assumption...
3) No decent Inspector will allow a homeowner to follow them around for the inspection. It disturbs their focus and can allow them to miss things. That's why there is a meeting afterwards to discuss findings and make recommendations.

You were probably following that poor guy around when he missed the tree...🤣