Before Taking The Final Walk Through After Your New Home Is Built
After the new home is completed, you're going to want to
walk through and examine the entire house to make sure that everything
is acceptable, one last time before you release your final payment to
your contractor. Here's some suggestions and I hope they help with the
process.
The most important thing that I can tell you about your final
walk-through is to spend the few hours examining the home with out your
building contractor, a few days before the final walk-through is
scheduled. It wouldn't be a bad idea to grab a digital camera, folding
chair and a pad of paper for your pre-inspection.
Place the chair in the center of each room and spend some time examining
the walls, ceilings and floors in each room. When you feel comfortable
that you have examined that particular room, you can move to the next
one and start the process all over again.
Take as many pictures as you need, because these pictures could be very
important in the future, especially if you have any disputes with your
new home builder or any of his subcontractors. This is your last chance
to examine the structure and you should seriously consider examining it
the best that you can.
If you had a couple of problems and weren't really comfortable with your
contractor or their subcontractors, it wouldn't be a bad idea to hire a
home inspector to get an outside opinion. It might cost you between 200
and $500, but this could save you a lot of frustration, especially if
you don't know what you're looking at.
Create a list of possible problems and questions to ask your contractor
while taking the final walk-through. If there are any problems, it's
best to solve them before you pay any money or release any funds to the
contractor. Once you have paid your contractor, they don't have any
incentive to fix or repair any parts of the home. If you're holding the
money, you're controlling the situation.