Home Builder forgot rough-in walk thru

[Mayzon]

Just looking to get some advice as to how to proceed with my builder.

With the new home build the builder is supposed to schedule 3 walk thrus with us. I got one of the construction update emails right before May Long informing me that the drywall will be going in and will be complete the middle of next week(May 25-27). I ended up getting a walk thru on the 26th but everything was covered up. All i could see was whatever the drywallers made sure to cut open. They do have some fixes to complete for what i could actually see and got a reply from the construction supervisor in regards to some other questions.

Just wondering if i should be concerned that I didn't get to see all the rough-ins or should I be asking the builder what they are going to do to compensate me/make it right?

[88CRX]

Are you a mechanical inspector? Do you understand mechanical rough ins at all?

Our rough in walk through was more of a courtesy to see what the rooms and spaces were going to feel like.

Like I (or 99% of people building a house) know what duct or pipe was installed correctly, haha.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I would think people would get a third party inspector to join them on the walk-thru's, no? That's always what I thought I'd do but maybe nobody does that haha.

[schocker]

Why would they compensate you :confused:

[Sugarphreak]

...

[Mayzon]

My question was more about should I be concerned for what I can't see now. I was told by the construction supervisor when we first met him that this walk thru is the most important and we sign off on what they installed so that we all agree it's what we want.

I'm not really looking for compensation but am more looking at it from a contractual side. The Schedule A from the builder states 3 accompanied site-access visits and the first one is after the mechanical rough-ins are complete.
If this was in the engineering world and you didn't meet a clause in a contract... penalties arise.

Just seeing if anyone has had experience or has any ideas on how to approach this with the builder. I know everything has to be inspected and permits have to be pulled so I'm fairly sure that what's behind the walls should be correct.

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by Mayzon
I know everything has to be inspected and permits have to be pulled so I'm fairly sure that what's behind the walls should be correct.
You've pretty much answered your question. If your builder is reputable (and I would assume he is, otherwise you wouldn't have gone with him) then as long as the proper upgrades or options are in place, then that's all you have to worry about.
Most builders won't allow you to bring in a 3rd party inspector to inspect their work. The walk-thru's are for you to see if everything you've paid for is being installed. and the rooms are in the right place, not for you to make sure the builder is building to code and doing it properly. That's what inspections are for.

[CompletelyNumb]

Other than making sure you don't sign anything that says the walk through was complete, I doubt there's anything you can do.

[JustinMCS]

So if I am reading this correctly, they missed the walk through for the rough ins? And instead of calling them to as if they got all the rough ins done, you're assuming they maybe missed a rough in and wrote about it on an online forum instead?

:dunno:

[schurchill39]

Originally posted by Mayzon
If this was in the engineering world and you didn't meet a clause in a contract... penalties arise.

:facepalm: Comments like this are why people hate us engineers.

[FraserB]

It seems like there was an accompanied site visit after the mechanical rough in was done though. Didn't you go and walk through the house after the mechanical rough in was done?

[lilmira]

What's there to look at for a regular Joe? Hm, pipe is round. Aren't all the electrical outlets, vents, faucets shown on the drawings?

What's so special in the engineering world that a contractual agreement is held at a different standard?

It's like people opening the hood. See that son? That's the engine.

[cet]

I've built 3 houses and on in each one found things that needed to be changed or fixed before the drywall went up. However, I usually go through the house every couple of days or so; half out of interest and half checking for things that have been missed or placed incorrectly.

Most of the issues seem to be with electrical and low voltage. Switches and plugs placed in the wrong or awkward locations and things like that. In the first house I built, I went to look one evening and they had the poly up, ready to drywall the next day. The only issue was that they had forgotten to run any low voltage wires. No CAT3 for the phones, no CAT5, no RG6, no security wires, it was all missing.

The builder will go back and fix any big mistakes like that regardless of when it's found, but it's much easier to point out issues and have them fixed as you find them than it is to try and deal with everything at the end. They may not be as receptive to moving a light switch to a better location once the drywall is up.

[88CRX]

Originally posted by cet

The builder will go back and fix any big mistakes like that regardless of when it's found,

Exactly. Even if you did a pre-board walkthrough and didn't notice they missed something and you flag it later they'll still be on the hook to fix it or make it right with you.

Rough in inspection is more to just get you excited that the house you're building is finally starting to take shape after months and month of nothing happening on site :rofl:

[kenny]

Originally posted by Mayzon
My question was more about should I be concerned for what I can't see now. I was told by the construction supervisor when we first met him that this walk thru is the most important and we sign off on what they installed so that we all agree it's what we want.

The main reason for a rough-in walkthrough is to save the builder some $ if there is anything that needs to be corrected.

Ex: When I was building, I did the walk through just prior to drywall going up and ended up moving where one of the thermostats was located as it would've been in direct sunlight. I also moved a light switch higher up on the wall in our bonus room which is down a couple steps. I wasn't charged for these since it was super easy to move.

These are things you can change and see even after the drywall is up, but it will just cost the builder more to correct any errors and cost you more if you want to move the placements of certain things.

If you did the walk through after the drywall and didn't notice any issues, chances are you wouldn't have noticed anything wrong sans drywall.

TL;DR: Everything will be fine.



Originally posted by lilmira
What's there to look at for a regular Joe? Hm, pipe is round. Aren't all the electrical outlets, vents, faucets shown on the drawings?

It's hard to see any misplaced items on a piece of paper. Doing a walk through allowed me to see how everything is laid out to make sure it all makes sense.

[gwill]

This is a good example of why builders limit the inspections of houses. New home owners see a house that's not completed and freak out over little details. Here's a thought.. Why not chat with the builder directly And hear their thoughts on things?

I've had home owners calling me daily about the smallest tiniest issue demanding that they get fixed immediately. 98% of the time after they take possession they call me apologizing about being crazy from the inspections we did as the issues were always taken care of before possession day.

As long as an issues been noted there's no reason or excuse for a builder to ignore the repairs. It may not be fixed that day like you demand but it will be fixed(assuming they aren't a shady builder).

[Mayzon]

The builder missed the accompanied walk thru so they did scheduled one after all the drywall went up. We had several notes they had came back to answer. Mostly said drywaller covered it up.
The site supe scheduled a walk thru as he is more knowledgeable about how the house was constructed. It's a good thing as they did missed a few pot lights and low voltage stuff that they had to open up the drywall and rerun some cable and some pot lights. Some plugs were installed at the wrong height so that had to get moved.
All of these would have been caught and much easier to fix if we had the mechanical walk thru.
As of today we had the site supe walk us thru and they went ahead and fixed it all up for us. Put our original possession back about a week but still progressing well.

I'm not too concerned now bc in 1 week they fixed it all and got the first coat of paint and ceiling texture complete.

[snowcat]

Originally posted by Mayzon
Just looking to get some advice as to how to proceed with my builder.

With the new home build the builder is supposed to schedule 3 walk thrus with us. I got one of the construction update emails right before May Long informing me that the drywall will be going in and will be complete the middle of next week(May 25-27). I ended up getting a walk thru on the 26th but everything was covered up. All i could see was whatever the drywallers made sure to cut open. They do have some fixes to complete for what i could actually see and got a reply from the construction supervisor in regards to some other questions.

Just wondering if i should be concerned that I didn't get to see all the rough-ins or should I be asking the builder what they are going to do to compensate me/make it right?

Did you do any custom upgrades, or rough-ins out of the norm?

I had my walkthrough, and that was to ensure all the potlights, tv locations, touchscreens, data ports, wall changes, door changes, in ceiling speakers, volume controls, extra lights were installed as per the revised drawings and to my liking. They wanted to make sure it was all good before they closed it up.

If you didn't do anything custom, don't worry.

[Mayzon]

Originally posted by snowcat


Did you do any custom upgrades, or rough-ins out of the norm?

I had my walkthrough, and that was to ensure all the potlights, tv locations, touchscreens, data ports, wall changes, door changes, in ceiling speakers, volume controls, extra lights were installed as per the revised drawings and to my liking. They wanted to make sure it was all good before they closed it up.

If you didn't do anything custom, don't worry.

We did do several custom things and those were the things we had concerns about bc there was confusion between the salesman and the design center who was going to charge for certain upgrades.

It's all good now as they did the fixes, opened up some of the walls to correct some of the issues. They even took some pictures for me so they could continue on with the build.

[acedia]

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