It may not show up right away. It may be obvious to anyone. But if you don’t rule it out, chances are very good it will ruin your perfect new home, whether it’s brand new, a gently-lived-in home, or a real fixer-upper. Building defects go far beyond poorly-placed glass in windows and bad spackling.
Case 1: A family man trusts the wrong homebuilder, a family friend, and buys the new home his wife fell in love with. For six years, well past the deadline for local lemon laws, the home has no problems. Then the city builds a bypass, and the next rain reveals the flaws: poor drainage causes a basement flood in the poorly-sealed walk-out basement, not of water but of gooey mud, four feet high. A drainage culvert to the side of the house collapses in the washout, and parts of the lawn also become treacherous to walk over or mow. At the bottom of the sloping yard, what was once lush grass becomes a marsh, ruining the established vegetable garden.
This catastrophic pair of defects – a poorly-sealed basement and bad drainage in the home’s lot and lee area – took a quarter-million dollar home’s value down by about a third, after the cleanup. Though some of the problems have been addressed, the home has seen subsequent floods over the last decade, and the walk-out basement is now more an average storage basement, eliminating nearly half the home’s living space. Worse, many of the family heirlooms and keepsakes have been destroyed in the floods, irreplaceable treasures.
Need another example?
Case 2: A man buys a home, handyman’s special. He knows a bit about home structure, having worked several summers in construction, and he likes building and renovating. The flaws he sees – a roof cant indicating some leak problems, paint (of course), and broken bricks around the bottom of the home look like things he can work with. After signing his contract, he finds the real problem with the home: a cracked foundation caused by poor settling. The south end of the home is settling more than the north end, and though jacks have helped hide the problem and level out the floors, there is no repairing it himself. To fix the problem will cost him more than he paid for this unique fixer-upper opportunity.
These and hundreds of other hidden problems may exist in that lovely home you’ve been considering, new or old. Even if you know about homes, even if your best friend is the builder, there is always the possibility that any home has serious building flaws.
As many as 90% of homes have flaws serious enough, in the long run, to cost you tens of thousands in repairs or renovations. A smaller, but significant, minority of these homes have flaws severe enough to make it cheaper to tear down and rebuild the home.
Before you purchase a home, always hire a building inspector. These professionals have worked for decades in construction, and have seen it all; they also know where to go to check credentials on land quality, future zoning issues, and the home’s history. Building inspectors know who to trust and who to avoid as well, and know what corners the shadier contractors cut – corners that might surprise you.
Before you buy, get an independent building inspection. It could be the best money you spend in the complex transaction to get your new home.
For more information or to arrange an inspection contact Pink Inspections on (02) 9529 5222 or contact us online.
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