Inspection for Utah New Construction: Phases, Code Standards

Being part of a new home construction process is exciting and invigorating, but also one where you’ll need professionals on your team to assist you. There are a few important areas here, and one you should be sure not to overlook if you’re in this situation: The home inspection, which remains just as important during new home construction as for any other home you’re considering buying.

At Aerolite Consulting, we’re happy to offer not only the very best home inspection services in Utah for a variety of home types, including new construction, but also environmental inspection for contaminants like mold, radon, methamphetamine and others. Why is an inspection still vital for a new home that’s being built from the ground up? This two-part blog will go over several important factors here, plus some basics on when such an inspection should be done if you’re in the process of building a new home.

Phases for Inspection

For starters, a new home construction inspection might be possible at a few different phases of the project. You might consider partial inspection of certain areas, for instance, when various construction components are still visible and easy to access, such as plumbing connections, foundation supports or similar areas.

However, the most common time for this inspection will be when the house is complete or nearly complete. It’s vital at this point to get the unbiased opinion of a third-party home inspector at this point, not one who is hired by the builder (these might have biases). You reach out to an inspector like us and contract us to perform a fully objective inspection of the entire premises.

Our next several sections will go over why this process is important.

New Homes Are Not Perfect

While many take part in the new home construction to build the home of their dreams, this does not mean the finished product will be 100% perfect. Your home is built from numerous different parts and components that interact – over 10,000 such parts, in fact.

Unfortunately, we’ve seen a variety of issues on new home builds before, even before a single person lived in them for a single day. We’ve seen missing roof shingles, missing siding, improper vent or duct systems for HVAC, fire hazards, and many issues with plumbing setups. Getting these checked beforehand allows you to remedy them with the builder before finalizing the build.

Municipal Standards Are Different

At some point during your inspection, your city or county may order their own inspection to ensure you are meeting construction or renovation codes. However, these standards are nowhere near the same as those for an actual home inspection – they are not as thorough and are only to make sure you’re complying. You should not count on this kind of inspection for your needs, and should instead arrange your own.

For more on why a home inspection is vital for a new construction home, or to learn about any of our home inspections or environmental inspection services, speak to the staff at Aerolite Consulting today.