This page is intended to inform and educate some of you that are either thinking about building a new home or that are in the process of building your dream home. Professional Real Estate Inspectors see the good and the bad of the building industry. This industry is just like many others out there today, it exists to make money. There is nothing wrong with that, until the industry starts to short change the consumer in favor of the dollar. Very often customer care is compromised when it begins to interfere with the bottom line.

With the population boom in the Tampa Bay Area, subdivisions have been busting at the seams with the new home construction. Builders are hard pressed for sub-contractors; subs are short on skilled workers. Unskilled day laborers are hired to fill the ranks of sub-contracting companies so that builders can get these homes built and closed on!

There are some reputable home builder in the area. You cannot solely pick your building company on name alone for the simple fact that it is usually the site superintendent and the sub-contractors who build a home and not the office staff at your builder's office! Below are some common myths that we hear frequently about building companies. Maybe this will help you put things into perspective.

Myth #1: You can't go wrong with a Nationally named builder!

Fact: News shows like "48 Hours", "60 Minutes" and "Dateline" have segments every year about nationally known builders involved in class action lawsuits over cutting corners (sometimes literally) and other poor building practices. Hiring a well-known builder is not a guarantee against anything! You must research the builder in the exact neighborhood you are going to build. Go to the other homeowners and ask them how well a job the builder did. If they were smart and hired an independent inspector during construction, ask to see the report! Always be on your guard! Do your research! Don't think it can't happen to you!

Myth #2: I'm having a new home built, so I won't run into problems with it down the road.

Fact: Just because your buying or building a new home does not mean you won't have problems with it. We hear from people all the time with 2, 3 and 4 year old homes that have had or are having major problems with their new homes. With the scores and scores of unskilled laborers and the workload of the site superintendents, many things can and do go wrong on the work site. We can manufacture many items on an assembly line with unskilled workers putting the nuts and bolts in hole A and slot B and tightening. That process has not worked and never will work with a quality site-built home. It takes attention to detail and true craftsmanship to build a home that will last for the ages. Sadly, there are very few craftsmen left! You will see homes built back in the '70's and '80s that are better built homes than some of the ones being built today at 3 to 5 times the money!

Myth #3: My home was built in the city limits so it had city inspectors inspecting it as it was built.

Fact: That's one of the biggest myths out there. The city inspectors in the Bay area and the surrounding areas are snowed under by all the new construction going up. Recent reports say they are doing around 15 to 22 inspections in a day to keep out of hot water back at the city hall. With workloads like that, about the maximum amount of time a city inspector can be in a home is 15 to 20 minutes. We've seen more than a few homes get "green tagged" without there ever having been a city inspector in the house. You had better believe the superintendents and sub-contractors know this also!

Myth #4: My builder showed me where they hired a company to inspect the home while it was being built and that I shouldn't go out and hire an independent inspector myself.

Fact: If a builder builds a superior home day in and day out, they're never afraid of you hiring an independent inspector. We hear it all the time from clients that their builder did everything but cut the phone line to prevent them from calling an inspector on their own! The "builders" inspector is a company they hire to do code inspections (see Myth #3) on their new homes. These inspectors do many of the builder's homes every day. They also are there only a short while before they head off to another home. Are you beginning to see why some builders and superintendents don't want independent inspectors looking at their homes? The simple fact is that a builder that builds a good home doesn't fear an independent inspection of their homes and will actually encourage you to hire an inspector. It's like a badge of honor to them if their homes come through an independent inspection in fine shape.

Myth #5: My builder said they couldn't allow my Home Inspector on the property because of insurance reasons.

Fact: This should be a red flag for you right away. If a builder says something like this, you had better get someone out there to look over your home quick! Whenever you hear something that doesn't make sense to you, call someone who knows something about builders and ask them! Always get a second or third opinion if it sounds suspicious to you!

Myth #6: My builder said I was being too picky about wanting some items fixed in my home. Am I being too picky?

Fact: Just how picky does your money allow you to be? While it is true no home is perfect, you wouldn't go out and pay full price for a new car that had dings and scratches in the paint with an engine that knocked and the radiator located where the gas tank should be would you? It's your home. They are supposed to be hiring professional craftsmen to do the work (but we know that's not always the case). True craftsmen will make very few mistakes while building your home. Unskilled day laborers will make many obvious mistakes that anyone can find. You can bet that many of the defects and flaws that you're seeing don't exist in the building company's owner's house or any of the management's homes. So why should they be allowed in yours? Whether your spending $70,000 or $700,000 to have a home built, you deserve the very best workmanship on your home. It's your money, demand quality!

Myth #7: My builder said I didn't need an independent home inspection because I had a 1 year warranty and that if anything was going to go wrong, it would happen inside a year.

Fact: It is extremely rare to have a newly constructed home where a professional inspector didn't find errors that the builder needed to fix or repair. They always miss something. There are just two many components on a house to make sure they are all okay! Can you imagine what a pain and inconvenience it would be to have a work crew to come back into your house to fix minor defects and flaws within a year? Now imagine what would happen if you had a major repair to be made! It's as simple as this, most builders know your not going to have an inspection on your new home before the warranty runs out, so, they'll be off the hook unless something major goes wrong, and that is what they bet against! It's a lot easier on you to have major and minor items fixed, repaired or replaced during construction than after you have lived there a year.

Many more examples could be made to prove the benefit of an independent home inspection on new home construction, but buy now you should finally see how this industry works. If the builder has to pull the drywall sub-contractors off of a job down the road to come back to your house, he's losing money. Now the other house is going to get behind and he runs the risk of that house not closing on time. If he can talk you out of fixing all that drywall damage, then he is money ahead. You need to insure some amount of quality control in your home and you're not likely to get it from someone who stands to lose money by having extra work performed!

As you have read, there are many "excuses" for not hiring a Professional Real Estate Inspector. The fact remains that if you will hire an experienced and qualified home inspector before you even pour your foundation, you will go a long way in making sure your dream home doesn't end up a nightmare! Look at it this way, for less than the price of 2 top of the line Moen faucets, you can have a professional to watch out for your interest and make sure things are done right during the construction on your home.

Read what others say!

Here's a story from Absolute Remodeling titled "New homes often need as many fixes as older ones."

Another story about the need for inspections on a new home...Why get your new home inspected?

Built to sue, a Boston builder lives the good life while his homes fall in around the homeowners who bought them.

One part of a series by the San Antonio Express-News about the lack of municipal code enforcement.

NBC's "Dateline" story about one nationally known homebuilder who doesn't stand behind their homes.

Read this story about one of many couples that can't get their home fixed by their builder.