It sure does. Just look at this inspection I did on a brand new home in Los Angeles. There are over twenty items that need fixing.

Keep in mind that this builder did a very good job on this house, quality materials and good finish work throughout the property was observed. I would buy this house myself if I was looking to purchase a home in LA.

When a contractor builds a home there is usually a superintendent who’s job it is to keep an eye on the sub-contractors. Depending on what the background of the superintendent is determines what kind of oversight the finishing of the home receives. If the super came from a concrete background he will usually look at the concrete more carefully. If he has a roofing background, the roof will be looked at more critically. The best background to have is a general contractors background, especially if that background is in building custom homes because the standards are higher for expensive custom homes. That is where my experience is.

Custom homes are not built perfectly by any means but if your home inspector has had experience in custom homes, he at least knows the tolerance level for imperfections. I have never seen a perfect house, but what I find is that if the builder or remodeler did good finish work, chances are that the work you cannot see is also well done.

Real estate home inspections are ‘general visual’ inspections. There are a lot of components in a home that cannot be seen during a visual home inspection by just looking around at the interior. A knowledgeable home inspector with a general contractors background will look past the finish work in places like the attic, the garage rafter framing and the crawlspace or basement, if there is a crawl space or if the garage framing is viewable. They will also look at spaces under the cabinets and in other places like the roof flashing connections.

In addition to being a licensed general contractor, my experience includes 12 years as an Expert Witness for plaintiff and defense cases involving construction defects lawsuits.

I make it a point to never scare homebuyers by exaggerating defects, I simply point out what I find in simple, easy to understand terms without ‘horribilize-ing’  imperfections. Remember – it’s all fixable.

Having a certification from a home inspectors association is fine but it doesn’t even come close to having a general contractors background.

Click to view sample report of new home inspection.