New Home Inspections
Look out for these common problems.

“It’s a new home. Why do I need a home inspection?”
This is a question I frequently hear from those purchasing a recently built or under construction home. After 24 years inspecting thousands of homes of all ages and specializing in new construction inspections for the last few years, I almost laugh when I hear it.
While it may seem reasonable to assume a newly constructed home is built to code and without problems resulting in homebuyer expense down the road, that would be a false assumption—and an unrealistic expectation.
The Issues
Even the best builders with best intentions make mistakes, fail to follow acceptable construction practices, or consistently adhere to manufacturer-recommended installation specifications. There are also many variables in construction projects that can result in oversight or errors in new home construction.
One of these is subcontractors—each working on different components and systems in the home, and typically under the pressure of tight timelines.
Material selection or availability is another issue. Whether attributed to the recent supply chain disruption or simple oversight, I frequently discover that imperfect, or sometimes damaged, materials are used. These include those that don’t meet the minimum quality standards or that would typically be “culled out” and discarded.
Finally, the shortage of skilled labor cannot be overlooked. Fewer people enter the construction industry as a career and, consequently, whether through oversight or lack of experience in the trade, many errors result simply from poor workmanship.
Best Practices vs. Building Code
There is also a variance between what the municipal building code inspectors are checking and, in many cases, not checking and the acceptable construction practice. Building code inspectors only have the authority to enforce what the building code states, which doesn’t always align with best practices. Consumers frequently do not realize that a building code inspector is not responsible for identifying or notifying the buyer of potential issues that may not be realized until years down the road.
Regarding a manufacturer’s installation instructions, a building code inspector recently told me, “We enforce requirements, not recommendations.” These recommendations are made to prevent issues down the road. Building code inspectors are, in most cases, “trusting” the contractors to follow codes and manufacturer’s instructions which doesn’t always happen.
For example, most building code inspectors don’t carry ladders and would never walk on a roof or lift a shingle to confirm underlayment or nailing, and never crawl under a house to ensure a floor joist has not been mistakenly cut during construction. This is not intended to say building inspectors are negligent; it’s simply to say that the expectation and scope of responsibility between the profession of building inspectors and home inspectors is important for the consumer to understand. It is always important to include an experienced home inspector during the construction project or prior to closing on a newly constructed home, which for most, is the greatest investment in their lifetime.
An experienced home inspector who has inspected thousands of homes of all ages knows what to look for and can provide the homebuyer with valuable insight and information on the overall quality and design of the new home as well as helpful tips on maintenance items. The process typically assists with developing a punch list of small repair items in addition to identifying any significant problems that could save the home buyer as well as the builder thousands of dollars resulting from litigation and repairs.



High Costs
Several of the litigation cases I have been involved with involved new home construction. The longest running litigation case I have had in my career involved a newly constructed home. It lingered on for almost three years before I finally testified in court. In that case, a poorly installed roof led to leaking that resulted in an $80,000 price tag. Other defects included a $30,000 special order stone mantel that was broken during installation (the contractor attempted to glue it back together); a cracked foundation that the homebuyer received an expensive quote for repair; a sunken garage floor that sloped back toward the house; and other substandard construction issues.
Common Mistakes
On several occasions I have heard builders or project managers say they always try to leave something for home inspectors to find so they won’t identify non-defect items simply to justify their fee. I suspect most experienced inspectors discover more than they care or wish to document. I find exterior envelope issues (including roofing, siding, and windows) are all too common in new home construction.
The building envelope system of the home keeps the weather elements out, and I commonly find installation errors like:
- Roofing and flashing not installed properly
- A flawed architectural configuration of the roof, damming water and/or not allowing the roof to shed water
- Sidings and flashings improperly installed or missing.
Manufactured Stone Veneer
Most homes made using manufactured stone veneer that I inspect have numerous visible deficiencies that are not in compliance with manufacturers’ installation guidelines. These include:
- Improper clearances such as four inches above soft grade
- Missing the required 3/8-inch gap, sealant, or bond breaker at stone intersection with windows and trim. Mortar is not an acceptable alternative to sealant and does not provide a watertight seal. There should be a closed-cell backer rod (or an EZ bead) and sealant at any intersection with windows or trim.
- Exposed metal lath
- Missing flashing. A stone wall system is susceptible to moisture intrusion when these required details are not followed.
Because I rarely find the visible details to be correct, I can only assume the concealed details are also not in compliance with the manufacturer’s installation guidelines. I believe home inspectors should be disclaiming stone veneer for liability reasons.




Windows
Proper flashing is a big deal. It is nearly impossible to verify after the siding is installed, but inspectors should look for signs of water infiltration.
Another big issue is when the built-in weep hole orientation is improperly located on the sides or top instead of along the bottom of the windows. The manufacturer of some windows have weep holes designed into the window, relying on gravity and, if not installed in the correct orientation as I find periodically, the window will likely leak water into the home or wall. Missing this can be a costly issue to the inspector.
Commonly I discover broken off pieces, cracked glass, tightly installed and hard to open and close or the opposite issue when I can see daylight around the sashes. Or I find that windows won’t lock with normal effort. Finally, leaking windows is a common issue that may not be discovered during an inspection.
Windows installed in a brick home commonly do not have the 1/4- to 3/8-inch manufacturer-required gap around them, which usually leads to a bowing sill a few years down the road.


HVAC
Keep in mind: Building code inspectors only verify installation. They do not inspect operation. Building code inspectors also “trust” that the HVAC system is sized properly.
Often the refrigerant isn’t correct, which means the air conditioning isn’t cooling efficiently. I commonly find very low airflow in certain rooms, usually due to distance away from the air handler, but sometimes the flex duct is kinked or disconnected or the design of the duct system is poorly configured.
Many times I have discovered low or no airflow because a section of duct is full of water because a window was left open during construction on a rainy day.
More times than I can count, I discover PVC flue pipes not glued together, and too many times I find that the flue completion has been overlooked. I once consulted with a client who had discovered that the gas furnace flue had never been completed, and he and his family had lived in a newly built home for a year. He had a desire to file suit against his real estate agent and the builder who he claimed convinced him not to get a home inspection. He felt his family was put at risk.
Along those same lines, I was once hired to investigate a “fume smell” for the owner of a newly constructed townhouse. To my surprise, the gas water heater flue penetrated the ceiling of the utility room and was never completed through the attic and out over roof.

Electrical
There are more electrical problems in new construction than can be covered in this single article. I discover an occasional receptacle with reversed polarity and outlets with no power. I still surprisingly find missing GFCI protection in bathrooms, and they’re often missing in the laundry. I’ve also seen inadequate clearance issues, measuring 27 inches between the garage wall and step railing when the minimum is 30 inches.

Plumbing
Again, this could be an article unto itself. I find periodic leaks under sinks and while crawling around under the house. I also find occasional hot and cold water reversed. I find improperly supported fiberglass tubs and showers, which lead to cracks in the future. Improperly sloped drainpipes or missing supports on the plumbing system are also problems. Lastly, I commonly measure elevated water pressure above 80 psi, which requires a pressure-reducing valve to bring it down to a safe range.

Stairs
Handrails and the rise and run of stairs on both interior and exterior steps are a focus of mine because of their potential safety issues.
I most often find unsafe steps on the exterior or between the house and garage, but I have found many interior stairs with safety deficiencies, too. I have discovered as much as a 1-inch difference between risers on a newly constructed house; this is a trip hazard. No more than a 3/8-inch difference between steps’ risers, treads, and nosing is considered acceptable construction practice.
When the exterior has manufactured adhered stone on the porch steps, I commonly discover the nosing on the step treads is incorrect—either the nosing is less than minimum 3/4-inch, or it exceeds the maximum 1¼-inch.

Structure
The structural defects I’ve discovered in new construction would keep any logical person from considering waiving an inspection on a new home. I have way too many memories to include in this article, including countless damaged trusses and I-Joists, point load errors or the commonly left out squash blocks, and missing joists or missing joist hardware, especially under decks and porches.
I once observed larger than normal cracks in the drywall of a new home. I later discovered from the underfloor crawl space that the whole masonry pier that supported the point load beam (the one that supports the house) had been broken out in the process of installing the HVAC supply plenum. As a result, the structure had dropped at least an inch, causing the cracks above.
On another occasion while crawling under a house, I observed a section of subfloor running a different direction and not perpendicular to the I-Joists, which made me notice the I-Joists top flanges were cut. I learned that a crane load was accidentally dropped in this spot; they had to cut out subfloor for a repair and, in doing so, structurally damaged the I-Joist by cutting through the top flange and placed the subfloor patch in the wrong direction.


I commonly find significantly unlevel floors and out of plumb walls. The worst I have ever seen was a newly assembled modular home. The kitchen was so out of plumb that the drawers opened on their own. This was one that ended up in litigation. It was later revealed that the flatbed truck that delivered the modular components had an accident on the way to the job site that racked the whole home. My client won the case, and the builder had to buy the home back and remove it because the waterfront land was owned by the client.
Grading, Drainage, and Water Control
These are issues common to houses of all ages, and new homes are not immune. In fact, wet crawl spaces and basements found in older homes could often be eliminated if a little more effort was made during construction. I find that the bare minimum is done and, after a year or so, the bare minimum is no longer functioning.
A commonly found terrible idea is to discharge the enormous amount of roof drainage into a mulch bed surrounded by concrete walkway and driveway, which dams surface water and restricts drainage. This dammed water often makes a U-turn back toward the foundation and/or more commonly washes out of the base under the concrete flat work over time, causing settlement and/or frost heave. This can be easily resolved by burying a PVC drainpipe for the gutter downspout to discharge into, having the PVC under the concrete, and daylighting it somewhere away from the house.

While inspecting a house that had been under construction for more than two years without controlling water around it, I discovered that water had washed out the foundation footing to where I could stick my arm under the footing and out the other side. A mold-like growth was thick on the floor structure due to the lack of water control.
Many home inspectors believe new houses are easy to inspect, but are they? In a way they are, but unlike houses that have been occupied and subjected to the test of time, closer attention must be given during a new home construction inspection to identify items with potential to result in time-related defects. Inspecting new construction requires a high level of knowledge and wisdom only by gained from experience.
Opinions or statements of authors are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the opinions or positions of ASHI, its agents, or editors. Always check with your local governmental agency and independently verify for accuracy, completeness, and reliability.
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In this Issue
Radon Monitors: Selecting the Right Device to Safeguard Your Clients
Bath Fan Venting Issues
Kitchen Sink: Why the Extra Faucet?
The Challenges of Stone Veneer
Using Your Senses for Better Home Inspections
Electrical Codes: Be On the Lookout
Postcards from the Field
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