In This Article
The one test a new home hasn’t passed
“Everything’s new, so nothing’s broken.”
That’s the most common hesitation I hear when someone’s deciding whether to inspect a new construction home. It makes sense on its face. Nobody’s lived in it. Nothing’s worn out. The paint is barely cured.
But older homes have one big leg up on new construction, and it isn’t the one people expect. An older home has already passed a test a brand new home hasn’t taken yet — the test of time.
Houses get built by people. Even with the best builders, poor materials, workmanship problems, and missed quality control steps make it through the process. One thing reveals all the others, and that’s time.
That nail that got missed on a framing element might work loose, and a year later you start to notice a sag. That one pipe that wasn’t properly protected gets punctured the first time a picture frame goes up. An outlet box that didn’t get proper fire blocking lets air move through the wall cavity, and once you’ve got a temperature differential inside a wall in south Louisiana, you’ve got condensation — and condensation around building materials leads to mold.
Sometimes it’s bigger than that. I’ve seen a water line that never got run to a sink at all. Caught at pre-drywall, that’s a quick fix. Caught at the final walkthrough, or at eleven months, it’s a much longer conversation and a lot more headache.
We inspect new construction at four stages: pre-pour, pre-drywall, final walkthrough, and the 11-month warranty inspection. Each one sees things the later ones can’t. Once drywall goes up, most of what we’d want to look at is behind it.
One thing reveals all the other problems, and that’s time.
Did You Know?
Inspector Insight
Finding defects is only half of what a pre-drywall inspection gives you. The other half is documentation. You get a photographic record of where every stud, wire, and pipe actually sits — which matters the day you want to hang something heavy, run a new circuit, or plan an addition. Once the walls close in, that information is gone.
Surprise 1: You have a warranty you didn’t know about — and a clock on it
By far the biggest surprise I run into is that buyers don’t realize Louisiana law already gives them a new home warranty. It’s not something you buy, and it’s not a third-party enrollment you sign up for. Under the Louisiana New Home Warranty Act, it’s a minimum your builder has to honor, and it can’t be waived by you or reduced by the builder.
Why it matters
There are three warranty periods, and they cover different things:
- •One year — workmanship and materials. This is everything the builder built. Drywall, finishes, electrical installation, a piece of trim that wasn’t installed right. If it’s install-and-build related, this is the window.
- •Two years — systems. Plumbing, electrical, heating, cooling, and ventilating. If your HVAC system was undersized when it went in, this is the warranty that covers it. If a supply line develops a leak because the pipe was cracked, this is your timeline.
- •Five years — major structural defects. People call this the foundation warranty, and foundations are the most common example, but the law is broader. It covers load-bearing portions of the home — footings, beams, girders, columns, walls, floor systems, roof framing — where the failure makes the home unsafe, unsanitary, or unlivable.
What to check
Three things trip people up. First, the clock starts when the home is conveyed to you or when you first occupy it, whichever comes first — not when construction finished. Second, the law requires you to notify the builder in writing by registered or certified mail. A text to your site super doesn’t preserve the claim. Third, the Act has an exclusion list, and mold and condensation damage are on it. That last one is worth sitting with, because mold is one of the more expensive things that can go wrong behind a wall in this climate, and the statutory warranty is not built to catch you on it.
Pro tip
Ask your builder directly who handles a warranty claim in year four. Structural work is usually performed by a subcontractor, and knowing who actually picks up the phone — before you need them — saves you weeks.
Common Inspection Concern
Rock Solid Recommendation
We schedule the 11-month warranty inspection deliberately, so you have a written report in hand before the one-year workmanship window closes. Waiting until month twelve means you’re trying to document defects and give proper notice at the same time. Build yourself a buffer.
Surprise 2: Your builder won’t fix everything
The second surprise is that builders don’t fix every single thing you point at, and that’s not them being difficult. It’s imperative to know what’s worth fixing and what’s just normal in a world full of imperfections.
Why it matters
Builders work to tolerances. Knowing those tolerances helps you decide what genuinely needs fixing and what’s ordinary construction variation. Walking a house with a roll of blue tape and flagging every mark on every wall doesn’t get you a better house — it burns goodwill you’re going to want later, when something real comes up.
What to check
Two rules do most of the work:
The six-foot rule. Stand back from the wall about six feet — if you spread both arms out, that’s roughly six feet. Look at the spot. If you can still see it from there, that’s usually something you can bring to your builder, and most are more than happy to take care of it. If it disappears at six feet, it’s probably not worth spending your relationship capital on.
The level rule. It’s normal for drywall and flooring components to have a little variation as they’re installed. Lay a four-foot or six-foot level flat against whatever you’re checking. A four-foot level is a great way to tap things into place, but it’s also an excellent measuring tool. If there’s a substantial gap between the level and the material, that points you to something not being as straight as it should be.
Pro tip
Ask your builder what their published tolerances are before you start walking the house. Tolerances vary from builder to builder, and having their standard in hand turns a subjective argument into a straightforward comparison.
Surprise 3: Your inspector isn’t there to fight your builder
The third surprise is the inspection process itself — specifically, how it’s supposed to feel.
Why it matters
As with anything, there are good and bad inspectors. There are people looking to cause problems and people looking to find solutions. At Rock Solid Inspections, we’re on the solution side of things. An inspector serves one purpose here, and it isn’t to be an extra hassle or another hoop for anyone to jump through. It’s to be an additional quality control specialist on the project that the builder doesn’t have to pay for.
The incentives genuinely line up. You want a good, safe house. The builder wants a good, safe house built without wasted material and without callbacks eating their schedule six months from now. Every defect caught at pre-drywall is one the builder isn’t paying to fix twice. The more people on a job who are focused on that outcome, the better the house gets.
What to check
When you’re choosing someone, listen to how they talk about builders. An inspector who frames the job as catching the builder out is going to cost you the working relationship you need for the next five years of warranty claims. You want someone who reports what they find plainly and lets the facts do the work.
Pro tip
Introduce your inspector to your builder or site super before the first inspection, not on the day. A two-minute conversation up front changes the tone of every report that follows.
What to do with all this
New construction isn’t a free pass, but it isn’t something to be afraid of either. A well-built house from a good builder is a great thing to buy. The point isn’t that something’s wrong — it’s that nobody has had the chance to find out yet.
So use the stages. Inspect before the pour, before the drywall, before you close, and before your first year runs out. Know what your warranty actually covers and when the clock started. Learn the two tolerance rules so you spend your builder’s goodwill on the things that matter. And pick an inspector who’s trying to get you a good house, not a long list.
We’re not builders, and we’re not here to sell you a repair. We’re here so that when you sit down with your builder, you know exactly what you’re looking at.