Final Walkthrough for new house.

S

Silver_fox

New member
Hello Folks, We have our final walk through in couple of days.
Wondering what to check, can anyone share their experience please.
 
Open and close every cabinet drawer/door to make sure they don't bind. Turn every light on/off.  Test every outlet
 
Silver_fox said:
Thank you. not sure for new home if it is a good idea to take professional home inspector with you?
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It's great piece of mind.  Steve from Bilt-Rite is your man if you are looking for a new home inspector. 
 
If it's a new house, you generally have a 1 year warranty from the builder.  No need to try to find everything wrong right now. 
 
woodburyowner said:
If it's a new house, you generally have a 1 year warranty from the builder.  No need to try to find everything wrong right now. 
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Yea I agree with this. For the final walk through, you want to focus on the big things that you want fixed before close of escrow. Minor things can wait. I call my service ppl out all the time to fix minor items.  And they respond pretty much ASAP so don't stress out about the minor stuff. Just focus on the big items during the walk.
 
I'll post this to sum up what bones said...  keep calm and think positive worry about the major things

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Silver_fox said:
Hello Folks, We have our final walk through in couple of days.
Wondering what to check, can anyone share their experience please.
Click to expand...

just be as picky as you can be.  Who is your builder?  They are pretty thorough with inspections these days on the major stuff.. but all the little stuff can be missed.  Dry walls, etc.  Also make sure it's easy to open each and every window.  If there is a slight issue.. tell thenm about it. 
 
jmoney74 said:
Silver_fox said:
Hello Folks, We have our final walk through in couple of days.
Wondering what to check, can anyone share their experience please.
Click to expand...

just be as picky as you can be.  Who is your builder?  They are pretty thorough with inspections these days on the major stuff.. but all the little stuff can be missed.  Dry walls, etc.  Also make sure it's easy to open each and every window.  If there is a slight issue.. tell thenm about it. 
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But as picky as you can be to what end?  If your windows have a major issue (like all of them have problems) then sure, but if one or two catch, you can always get them to fix it at the 1 month or at random. I guess my point is, as you move in and get settled, you'll find all sorts of new minor things. For my walk, I focused on major things I knew they wouldn't necessarily fix after COE and "major" things that my inspector found. As an example, one of my wood planks had a big dent/scratch in it - so I insisted it get fixed before COE bc after close, they can blame it on movers, etc. I also made them rip out and redo my kitchen backsplash BC it was not installed up to "standard". Again, insisted this be done before COE. They most likely won't do it after.
 
Silver_fox said:
Thank you. not sure for new home if it is a good idea to take professional home inspector with you?
Click to expand...
bones said:
But as picky as you can be to what end?  If your windows have a major issue (like all of them have problems) then sure, but if one or two catch, you can always get them to fix it at the 1 month or at random. I guess my point is, as you move in and get settled, you'll find all sorts of new minor things. For my walk, I focused on major things I knew they wouldn't necessarily fix after COE and "major" things that my inspector found. As an example, one of my wood planks had a big dent/scratch in it - so I insisted it get fixed before COE bc after close, they can blame it on movers, etc. I also made them rip out and redo my kitchen backsplash BC it was not installed up to "standard". Again, insisted this be done before COE. They most likely won't do it after.
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@bones:

Not sure by how you posted this but did you hire a 3rd party inspector or are you talking about the builder's inspector?
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Silver_fox said:
Thank you. not sure for new home if it is a good idea to take professional home inspector with you?
Click to expand...
bones said:
But as picky as you can be to what end?  If your windows have a major issue (like all of them have problems) then sure, but if one or two catch, you can always get them to fix it at the 1 month or at random. I guess my point is, as you move in and get settled, you'll find all sorts of new minor things. For my walk, I focused on major things I knew they wouldn't necessarily fix after COE and "major" things that my inspector found. As an example, one of my wood planks had a big dent/scratch in it - so I insisted it get fixed before COE bc after close, they can blame it on movers, etc. I also made them rip out and redo my kitchen backsplash BC it was not installed up to "standard". Again, insisted this be done before COE. They most likely won't do it after.
Click to expand...
@bones:

Not sure by how you posted this but did you hire a 3rd party inspector or are you talking about the builder's inspector?
Click to expand...

I did hire one. He didn't find anything major but worth spending the money for peace of mind. He did find a slew of minor things (scuff marks, uneven paint, small scratch in a mirror, missing cabinet divider holder things, etc, etc) which I gave to the builder.  The inspector also didn't find a bunch of minor things that i found since moving in. Builder also fixed a bunch of minor things after COE that wasn't their fault (for ex: my electrician did a poor patch job on drywall - they fixed it).  Bottom line: hire an inspector for peace of mind. And don't worry if you don't get every square inch of minor stuff fixed at close.
 
bones said:
woodburyowner said:
If it's a new house, you generally have a 1 year warranty from the builder.  No need to try to find everything wrong right now. 
Click to expand...

Yea I agree with this. For the final walk through, you want to focus on the big things that you want fixed before close of escrow. Minor things can wait. I call my service ppl out all the time to fix minor items.  And they respond pretty much ASAP so don't stress out about the minor stuff. Just focus on the big items during the walk.
Click to expand...

I somewhat disagree.  We had minor/moderate issues in the house, some we caught at the walkthrough, some we didn't.  Our builder was very responsive and timely but it was a big hassle having subcontractors come in after movein to do repairs. 

Personally, the things I would look out for are the windows (scratches/manufacturer defects), lights, paint, drawers, and faucets/hot water.  Run each faucet for like 30 seconds and test if the hot water comes on.  Everything can wait but it's not all that fun to have no hot water on the day you move in.
 
Irvinecommuter said:
bones said:
woodburyowner said:
If it's a new house, you generally have a 1 year warranty from the builder.  No need to try to find everything wrong right now. 
Click to expand...

Yea I agree with this. For the final walk through, you want to focus on the big things that you want fixed before close of escrow. Minor things can wait. I call my service ppl out all the time to fix minor items.  And they respond pretty much ASAP so don't stress out about the minor stuff. Just focus on the big items during the walk.
Click to expand...

I somewhat disagree.  We had minor/moderate issues in the house, some we caught at the walkthrough, some we didn't.  Our builder was very responsive and timely but it was a big hassle having subcontractors come in after movein to do repairs. 

Personally, the things I would look out for are the windows (scratches/manufacturer defects), lights, paint, drawers, and faucets/hot water.  Run each faucet for like 30 seconds and test if the hot water comes on.  Everything can wait but it's not all that fun to have no hot water on the day you move in.
Click to expand...

Fair point about the time hassle. That's why for minor things that can wait, I just waited for the milestone month walks to bring them up. At my X month walk through, I had 10 minor things involving 4 or 5 trades. We scheduled them to come all in the same morning.  All were taken care of in a 3 hour span.
 
bones said:
We scheduled them to come all in the same morning.  All were taken care of in a 3 hour span.
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but lucking out like this is not always the case. most of the time you will have to be home for several days.
 
bones said:
I focused on major things I knew they wouldn't necessarily fix after COE and "major" things that my inspector found.
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this is why i would request everything possible before the close of escrow while you still have some leverage. you think they would fix everything and in general they probably will, but you never know.
 
qwerty said:
bones said:
We scheduled them to come all in the same morning.  All were taken care of in a 3 hour span.
Click to expand...

but lucking out like this is not always the case. most of the time you will have to be home for several days.
Click to expand...

Yea. Another reason to buy early or mid phases in new construction. Chances are, during most of that 1 year warranty period, the builders are still on-site finishing up the last phases. It's really easy for them to pull a dry wall guy, an electrician, a plumber, etc off the job down the street to come take a look at your issue.
 
or you can be like me: ask to see the place during construction and when it's almost finish

I came up with a list for them to fix, before the walk through. (Some builder agents let you check out the place before the walk through)
 
bones said:
qwerty said:
bones said:
We scheduled them to come all in the same morning.  All were taken care of in a 3 hour span.
Click to expand...

but lucking out like this is not always the case. most of the time you will have to be home for several days.
Click to expand...

Yea. Another reason to buy early or mid phases in new construction. Chances are, during most of that 1 year warranty period, the builders are still on-site finishing up the last phases. It's really easy for them to pull a dry wall guy, an electrician, a plumber, etc off the job down the street to come take a look at your issue.
Click to expand...

this is very true. my wife scuffed some walls shortly after we moved in, didnt do a request since it was our fault, just went a couple of houses down, offered one of the painters $20 and he came over to touch up the scuffs.
 
Is it typical to have a final walkthrough the day before the projected close of escrow date?  I don't want to close escrow if I find stuff that needs repair.  Is this typical process for newly constructed homes?  Thanks for your help.   
 
AA said:
Is it typical to have a final walkthrough the day before the projected close of escrow date?  I don't want to close escrow if I find stuff that needs repair.  Is this typical process for newly constructed homes?  Thanks for your help.   
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don't let them push COE if you find issues with the home.  make sure EVERYTHING is to your satisfaction before you close.  honestly final walkthrough should probably be some time like
a few days or a week before COE because you want to give them time to resolve all the issues.

it might be too late now, but i'd honestly recommend a third party home inspection because they would be looking for things you have no idea to look for.  after our final walk and inspection, we had about 50 line items for the builder to address before we were willing to close, they did all of it, and FAST.

after you close, you still have warranty, but many builders will take their damned time to fix anything because they already got their money.

 
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