pre-cover inspection

eafhtx

We are buying our first home (new construction) & are trying decide whether or not to have a pre-cover inspection ? 

Did you have a pre-cover inspection ?

What are the benefits/advantages ?

thanks in advance!

- completely confused first time homebuyer !

audubonbride2013

Is a pre-cover inspection the same as a pre-drywall inspection?  

We are currently in the process of buying a new construction home, and we're planning to have a pre-drywall inspection.  

Everyone that I know that has bought new construction strongly recommended a pre-drywall inspection.  Most of them even said it was more important than having an inspection at the final walk through.  

Pre-drywall inspection allows your home inspector to catch a lot of things that will be covered up by the time of the final walkthrough (wiring, framing issues, etc).  The main advantage of the pre-drywall from what I understand is that it is easier to fix any issues your inspector may find before the drywall is up.

I'm not sure who you're building with, but I've found it really helpful to search blogs for people building their home (or who already built their home) with the builder.  This gave me tons of ideas about what to ask about and what to look for at the different stages of the building process.

MommyLiberty5013

Well, our first home was new construction and DH and I did an inspection before taking possession of the property from the builder, and we are SO glad we did.

It cost us $500 out of pocket and we hired a ASHI-certified, BBB highly-rated inspector who spent about 4 hours there and took pictures to go along with his report. Any decent inspector will be on the property for multiple hours and will write a report with photos. He should also go on the roof.

The 2 main things he found (even on new construction) were that a part of our roof was missing flashing. Had this been left, we would have had a leaking roof and the costs to fix it! He also noted the poor drainage and water flow issues in the back yard and due to his notes, the builder had to re-grade our back yard and solve the drainage issues. It would have been another costly thing to fix had we not had the inspection.

You should ALWAYS get an inspection on a home no matter its age. ALWAYS. It's worth the cost.

Edited to add: Your inspector should also be a neutral third party and not affiliated with the builder, developer, or your real estate agent.

As another note of interest, for our second and current home, DH and I also had it inspected (it was built in 1993), but our REA didn't want us too and I'm so glad we disregarded him. The major thing our inspector caught was a crack in the heat exchanger of the furnace, which means the furnace was leaking carbon monoxide...the odorless, colorless gas that kills people. He also found a leak in the main water line and holes in the siding!

eafhtx

Thank you both for sharing your personal experiences! I really do appreciate the feedback ! We decided to go ahead & get a pre-cover/pre-drywall-sheetrock?- i think it's the same thing- inspection. 

The inspector was there for about 3 hours he found a few things we did not notice on our walkthrough w/ the builder. I mean honestly we had no idea what to even look for ! The inspection was Friday afternoon and he sent us a full report with pictures Sunday morning. It was definitely worth the expense.