One Year Home Warranty Inspections
In 1923, H. Vandervoort Walsh published a booked titled "The Construction of the Small House". Mr Walsh described his book as "A Simple and useful source of information of the methods of building small American homes, for anyone planning to build".
Amazingly, some 90 plus years later, some things just never seem to change.
Chapter VII of Mr Walsh's book is titled: "Poor Methods of Construction Employed by Unscrupulous Builders".
Here is a small passage from that chapter
QUOTE
It would be an endless task to list and describe all of the possible faults
of construction which an unscrupulous builder might use in the erection of
a small house, and, indeed, it would result largely in rehearsing all of the
details of good construction, and then reversing them, showing that instead
of doing the correct thing it was done quite the opposite way. But there
are certain obvious and glaring faults of construction which are employed
by speculative builders with one purpose in mind, namely, to reduce the cost
but maintain a good appearance.
An intentional and clever disguise of poor construction is, at heart, the dishonest thing against which this is written. The defects of construction which are either the result of ignorance or unskilled labor, while they are bad enough, are not malicious, but those defects which are intentionally planned are simply systems of stealing, and they are usually found in the so-call speculative house, which the unwary public buys in preference to securing an honest house, designed by an architect. And it is this system of dishonest construction that makes the speculative house seem on the face, cheaper than the honest house.
Indeed, it is the whole intention of such dishonest methods of building to
make the house seem, on the face of it, substantial, good-looking, and honest,
but to hide, beneath the glamour of its exterior, weaknesses of structure
which will cause all kinds of failures after a few years of standing. So long
as the house stands together until the builder has sold it to some unsuspecting
buyer, that is all that interests him.
UNQUOTE
Although most contractors/builders are honorable, most of the work is sub-contacted to various trades' people and they have one thing in mind . . . Just as they did when Mr Walsh wrote his book way back in 1923...Doing the work as cheap as possible and making money.
As the home owner of a newly constructed home you may be aware that traditionally, home builders offer a new construction one-year home warranty which covers many aspects of repair and replacement throughout your house.
Although they may offer a home warranty, getting them to fix any of the conditions that occurred during construction or have occurred since you moved into your new home is another thing!
Many home owners fail to have a "new construction phase inspection" while their home is being built, thinking that the contractor/builder will have their best interests in mind. Many home owners may also be under the impression that their local jurisdiction has a building inspector that inspected the building during the construction phases.
Does your city/county have a building inspector? If not, then NO ONE was checking to ensure that it was built in accordance with present day industry practices.
Homeowners of newly construction homes are now taking the high road and are utilizing the services of Tennessee Licensed Professional Home Inspectors.
A One-Year Home Warranty Inspection by Homeland Home Inspectors, (usually performed a 1-2 months prior to the 1-Year warranty expiration) will provide the documentation, with photographs, needed to ensure that your builder honors the 1-year home warranty agreement.
That "funky" smell that has been
lingering around the house since
your moved in . . .
Could it be that your builder /
contractor forgot to terminate the
sewer waste vents to the exterior
and the sewer gasses are escaping
into the attic area?
This home owner didn't know that
their "gas" water heater fumes
where going straight into
their attic
The following is a select list of the conditions we have encountered during one year home warranty inspections:
Bathroom venting into the attic space
Improper grading of the property (slopes toward the building)
No or improper hand rails / railings on the stairway and balconies
"Nail pops" in walls
Missing Insulation
Water Heaters missing TPR drainage pipes
Non working Ground Fault Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) Outlets
JUST TO NAME A FEW. . .
The manufacture installation label was pretty clear on this air conditioning/heating unit but was still not installed correctly!
While there is no Tennessee law that requires home builders to provide an express warranty on a new home, it is the overwhelming practice to do so.
Most home builders offer at least a one year limited warranty, and some offer warranties of greater length. The Tennessee Supreme Court, in the case of Dixon v. Mountain City Construction Company, held that all new homes are covered under what is called an "implied warranty of good workmanship and materials". This implied warranty, which is a warranty implied by the law as opposed to a written or oral warranty agreed upon by the home buyer and builder, has no express terms and the only way to find out what it covers is to ask a court. The Supreme Court allows a home builder and a buyer to agree to have the home covered by an express warranty instead of the implied warranty. An express warranty is an agreement made between the builder and buyer that all or parts of the home will be warranted under agreed upon terms for an agreed upon time. The Court also allows the builder and buyer to supplant the implied warranty with this express warranty. The best warranties are those that are in writing, that are in force for a definite period of time, and that are specific about what items of the home they do and do not cover.