Hello all,
We are close to the one-year mark in our home. How necessary have others found an independent whole-house inspection?

Thanks so much!
Lorene
David Weekley (Antone)

We got one and so did our neighbors and both of us found it to be totally worth it. I think our neighbors had some problem with their roof and, although I can't remember exactly what was wrong with our house, I know some problems were found that made it worth the cost of the inspection. We are in StanPacs though.

We were very satisfied with our builder and still found the one year inspection valuable. Found a few small items that were overlooked - attic stairs in garage were not fire-rated/insulated, couple of other items. We used Glen Davis of Eagle Inspections. Well worth the money

Hi Lorene!

We too are in a DW Antone. We opted against doing a 3rd party inspection prior to closing and then hemmed and hawed about doing a 1 year. In the end we did the 1 year inspection (Richard Craycroft did it....highly recommend!)...but honestly he found really minor stuff. ALL of which DW jumped on and had either a response or a fix within a week. Stan was our builder...and I am happy to shout from the rooftops how awesome he was. I'd say it's entirely up to you. I probably could have lived without having paid it. But...it was awesome to get confirmation of what I'd believed all along...that Stan had done an excellent job of managing his subcontractors.

Your mileage may vary,

Robyn (at the opposite end of your block)

If you didn't have a pre-close 3rd party inspection then I would say it's crucial to get a 1 or 2 year inspection.

If you did, then I personally feel it's worth getting a second.

I had my DW home inspected before closing and again at the one year mark. Each inspector found different things. DW took care of them all. A $350 stitch in time saves nine and all that.

I found both inspectors to be well worth the cost. Feel free to contact me for a few inspectors I trust to get the job done thoroughly.

cheers

Garreth (I'm a Realtor, I'm biased, and I see troubling things in inspection reports all the time, even with new construction. I have to say our neighborhood has had some great builders, but still...)

Hi Lorene,
I would recommend it. We're in the DW Mansfield and found out a few months ago that one of the ducts had never been connected. We got an independent inspection and I had to really insist in order to get DW to follow-up on the problems we were having with temperature differences between floors (occasionally as much as 10 degrees). They finally took out a section of the wall and found the ductwork that had never been connected. So the attic was getting plenty of air-conditioning...

While I think that a one year inspection is helpful, I think I should also point out that the builder may not fix the problems. In my case, David Weekley refused to fix the major problems that inspectors found.

One case was egregious - during the winter months, the second floor of my my home is 6-8 degrees warmer than the first floor. During the first year, Weekley's HVAC contractor Christian came out 3-4 times, but were unable to fix it.

My inspector, Glen Davis, did thorough measurements (all documented in pictures) and found that the dampers in the system were not working. Weekley, however, refused to even have their contractor come out to look at the system and Glen's report. What made this really aggravating was that I had spent $$$$ upgrading my HVAC package precisely so this wouldn't occur.

So don't assume that the builder will necessarily fix any problems that the inspector finds, but it's still helpful to know what problems exist.

Doug

Doug, it may be worth pressing DW again on the damper issue. It seems that this has been a common problem. We diagnosed the problem ourselves during our first winter in the house - it was obvious that heat was pouring out of the upstairs vents when only downstairs should have been running. DW replaced the damper under warranty.

Has anyone installed a gas (ventless) fireplace into a home that did not have one originally??

We just uncovered the same issue in our DW home. We were told the dampers were missed wired and that the downstairs damper was broken (stuck in the closed position). The wiring and damper were fixed under warranty but Christian told us even when our upstairs zone is turned off expect the upstairs to be 4-6 deg warmer than the downstairs (when the downstairs zone is on)...
kind of defeats having a dual zone system for me.