Home inspectors can do more than just prepurchase home inspections. Although pre-purchase home inspections generally make up the bulk of business for NJ home inspectors there are other types of home inspections that can be performed for clients.
One such home inspection is the new home inspection. A new home inspection is performed on a property that has been recently constructed. The new home inspection is generally done for a client who has purchased a brand-new home. The reason that these home inspections are important is because often problems are found even in newly constructed homes. In the construction process today, homes are built in a very fast manner. As soon as you blink or turnaround a new structure can be built. Mega builders put up the entire development in a matter of months. What used to take a year or more now only takes a couple of months. What sometimes is sacrificed is quality of workmanship and pride of workmanship. This is not necessarily the fault of the contractors it is the fault of where we are now as a society and where the homebuilding business has gone. Faster is better for the builder but not necessarily for the consumer. We often find significant defects and rushed an unfinished work, and corners cut on newly constructed homes and townhouses. Just because a structure is new does not mean that the structure is problem free. I can almost guarantee that if a professional home inspector performs a thorough and comprehensive inspection of your newly built home that he or she will uncover problems that you did not know about, and that the builder neglected. As a piece of good due diligence perform a home inspection on your newly constructed home to make sure there are no problems. Having a newly built home inspection will allow you to have the builder address any of these concerns before you close on the structure. This will give you an extra added peace of mind because it is likely you are spending a great deal of money on this newly built home that you are purchasing.
The next type of inspection goes together with the newly constructed home inspection. This is the warrantee inspection. After a home is constructed and closed on you, the owner of the home has a builder’s warrantee. The builder’s warrantee will be in effect from 12 months from the date of closing and cover any issues that were to come up or become present in that time. Of course, you will have a more significant and longer warrantee on the structure itself and this structural warrantee is for a 10-year period. For this discussion we are talking about the 12-month warranty from the builder. A home inspector can perform a warrantee inspection on a home that you already own provided that is owned less than 12 months from the date of the closing. A warrantee inspection is a very similar inspection to a prepurchase or newly constructed home inspection. New Jersey Home inspectors will treat the warrantee inspection just as a traditional home inspection and do a comprehensive inspection of the home and produce a detailed home inspection report with pictures and details of the issues that are present so you can have them addressed by the builder. Without having a warrantee inspection, you are on your own to find any potential problems. Home inspectors are trained to identify defects in homes, most homeowners are not. A home inspector is going to find so many additional problems or defects in your less than one-year-old home then you would find yourself. Often home inspectors will provide a discount for this type of warrantee inspection. It is also important to have a warrantee inspection if the builder or the contractor indicated that you could not perform a new home inspection before you close on the home. A warrantee inspection will also give you the ability to take any problems and possibly have those issues corrected by the builder of the home. Do not forgo the warrantee inspection on a newer home. It is another piece of good due diligence that will help protect you in the long run from any issues that were to develop and allow the builder to correct those issues.
Another type of home inspection is to do a pre-listing inspection. A pre-listing inspection is performed when an owner of a home hires a home inspector to perform a home inspection before the home is listed for sale. Having a pre-listing inspection gives you the owner of the home an idea of what a home inspector is going to find when they come in and do a comprehensive inspection of the home for your buyer. Having a pre-listing inspection can help you get ahead of the competition in the marketplace and be proactive in fixing some of the things that are found during the home inspection. It is crucially advantageous to correct some of the issues found so that when your buyer does their home inspection their home inspector will have a very limited number of items found. This will provide more confidence for your buyers because they will understand that you care about the home, have done the proper maintenance of the home, and have been proactive in correcting some of the issues that were required. Having a pre-listing inspection also helps you and your real estate agent determine a fair market price for the house. If you don’t understand what the defects are that a home inspector is going to report on, then you can’t effectively determine a listing price for the house. It is not advantageous to list the home in perfect condition if it is not. Having a home with multiple important defects will hold up the sale and discourage potential buyers. Having a pre-listing inspection is a way to get in front of these problems. Why not understand what the issues are in your home before you put it on the market? You can also take that pre-listing inspection and provide it to your potential buyers as another means of protection. It is likely that the buyer will have their own home inspection but having that may give them more peace of mind. Two inspections are better than one. So don’t forgo your pre-listing inspection when you’re thinking about selling your home. It is worth spending the money on this type of inspection because it allows you to understand the problems that exist in your house before you list it.
It is also advantageous to have a home inspection performed on a home that you own that you are not considering listing on the market. Let’s face it, people are busy today with work, family and activity. Not everyone keeps up with maintenance or understands the problems that exist in their home. Having an inspection of a home that you own will help you understand the problems and also help you develop a maintenance plan and schedule for your house. When was the last time you had a termite inspection? When was the last time you had your heating and air inspected? Having a comprehensive and complete NJ home inspection in a home that you already own can be an invaluable tool. This is especially true if you hire a home inspector who does a very comprehensive report. This report can be used for years to come as a roadmap for future repairs and maintenance. A home inspector would be able to identify issues that have to be corrected immediately and problems that must be corrected, for example in one to three years. Also, a home inspector can teach you how to properly maintain these systems in your home. If you didn’t have a comprehensive and thorough home inspection when you purchased the home, it is advisable that you have a home inspection performed so you are properly educated as to the functionality of the systems that exist in your house. Not everyone understands these systems in the home. Having a home inspection by a home inspector who is patient and has an educational slant on the home inspection would be a valuable tool to have as someone who lives in a home. If you live in a home and want to understand the maintenance and the systems and the issues that exist, you should consider having a home inspection on a home that you already own.
Home inspectors can also perform small commercial building inspections. Many home inspectors perform multi use commercial inspections. A multi-use building is a building that has residential units coupled with commercial units on the same site. You may have a store or restaurant on the first floor or ground level and then have a couple of residential units on the upper floors. Home inspectors can provide inspections of these buildings also. Inspecting a small commercial multi use building is approached the same as a general home inspection on a single-family or multi family home. The process is essentially the same. The only difference is the home inspector would be evaluating for example a restaurant space or an office space as opposed to a residential living space. Often these smaller commercial buildings have the same systems that are found in a single-family home. If you’re buying an investment property you should consider having a commercial home inspection. Don’t forgo the inspection thinking that home inspectors don’t perform this service because most home inspectors can perform this type of inspection. It is advisable that you protect yourself even though this is a commercial building. Knowing the defects or problems that exist in the building before you purchase it may give you the opportunity to negotiate the pricing or ask for correction or remediation of some of the problems that were found in the building inspection.
A NJ Home inspector just doesn’t perform prepurchase home inspections. Home inspectors have a vast amount of knowledge and education that they are willing to share with customers who are purchasing different types of properties. Consider having a new home inspection, a warranty inspection, a home inspection on a home that you own, and possibly a home inspection on an investment property or small commercial building that you’re thinking about purchasing. It is useful to understand that home inspectors can provide different types of inspections. No matter what type of inspection the home inspector provides, if you hire the right, well-trained, well experienced home inspector he or she will protect you in that purchase.