New Home Reality Check

A lot has changed in our world in the last century. Communication, transportation, and advancements in technologies mean our lives are faster now than they have ever been. Advancements in the way residential housing is constructed has lead this industry to produce homes that operate more efficiently, use more diverse building materials and designs, and can be built faster than ever before. As a result of rapid growth in residential construction, standards and codes were put in place to ensure that the public was protected from poor quality in materials and building practices. These standards govern the construction of new residential homes and renovations to existing homes among other things.

Ontario builders are required to meet or exceed these standards and have also developed their own guidelines through Tarion for minimum requirements to ensure the satisfaction of consumers and government. The enforcement of these standards is the responsibility of the government through provincial and municipal building officials. Even with guidelines, supervision, and enforcement in place the building industry is faced with an overwhelming challenge. They must produce homes to a minimum standard, as cost effectively as possible, using a large workforce, under tight deadlines, and they must do it on multiple homes at the same time.

Tarion Warranty Corporation provides protection for home owners against defects in workmanship, but that protection is only as good as the information supplied to builders. In order to benefit from the protection you pay for when you purchase a new home, homeowners are required to inspect and complete Pre-delivery, 30 day, 1 year, and 2 year reports. The reality is that consumers tend to look only for cosmetic defects that they notice and often miss crucial problems that can lead to significant costly problems in the future.

Most large scale builders rely on sub-trades to complete the work on mass produced homes. As many as 30 different trades are likely involved in the building of a single home and cannot all be adequately supervised during the building process. It’s just not physically possible. Municipal building inspectors are responsible for checking every aspect of a home as it is being built. Most municipalities don’t have enough inspectors and with limited manpower, there just isn’t enough time to do this effectively without holding up builder production.

The reality is that even though mechanisms are in place to ensure that all residential buildings meet these standards, things are often missed. Despite their best efforts, builders do make mistakes and new homes may not always meet minimum requirements. Just as it is with most manufactured products, human error plays a large role in common defects in new home construction. It is rarely ever the intent of a new home builder to produce substandard product. Builders who accept the fact that defects can happen and are responsive to their customers concerns rather than debate and delay fixing them will score the highest in customer satisfaction.

There is a lot at stack if major defects are not reported and it has become common for homeowners to engage a professional to help them identify defects and poor quality in workmanship. Within the first year of living in a new home, you notice different problems like hard to heat rooms, high levels of moisture, nail pops, squeaky floors and bad smells. The key is to know and report on the root causes of these problems. Usually the cost of using a professional trained in recognising defects in new home construction is greatly offset by the potential cost of major errors or omission. A professional inspector will go beyond the things normally reported by homeowners. Using a professional inspector is your insurance of a thorough, unbiased assessment of your home. They will investigate every aspect of a building including exterior walls, doors, windows, roof, drainage and surface grade. The interior attic space will be checked for adequate insulation, ventilation, and structure. All exposed foundation walls beams, joists, and support structures are carefully examined to ensure the long term stability of the building. Finally a room by room inspection of finishes, materials, electrical, plumbing, heating, windows, stairs and safety violations is done. The inspector will produce a report detailing all finding including those you have found and assist you in filling out your warranty forms.

This is by no means a quick scan but a detailed investigation done to professional standards. It is common for the inspection and reporting process to take 3-4 hours. Choose your inspector carefully. They should be a member on the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (Ontario Chapter) CAHPI and be full time Registered Home Inspectors carrying the RHI designation. This is you assurance of current education, defect recognition, and reporting sills.

Don’t take for granted that just because your new home is new, that it is defect free. The reality is that mistakes happen and not every component of every new home built in Ontario is checked for compliance. Quality builders are more receptive to inspection reports backed up by reputable, professional, inspection companies because they know that in the long run it means their customers’ needs are met.

For more Information go to http://www.bookahomeinspection.com/ or call Brian at 1-866-242-5906

Elfie's Notes: This article is provided by a valued resource of mine Brian Daley of Associated Group of Home Inspectors.  I just had to share it with you. It could save new home owners thousands in the years to come.  Enjoy it!