How To Choose A Builder You Can Trust

A brand-new home can still be built wrong and the scariest part is how easy it is to miss problems until drywall goes up. We’re Jim and Laura, and we’re sharing what we’re seeing on real new-build inspections, plus the practical steps that help buyers avoid expensive surprises and months of stress.

We talk through how to choose a home builder with real accountability: the difference between a builder with an in-house crew versus one who subcontracts everything, why supervision matters, and how repeat issues show up when nobody “owns” the quality. We also dig into builder contracts that restrict site access, force arbitration, or even try to block you from hiring an independent home inspector. If a contract is designed to limit your ability to verify the work, we explain why that’s a giant red flag.

You’ll also hear specific examples of construction defects we’ve found, from framing that isn’t providing support to unsafe electrical splices hidden under insulation. Along the way we clarify why building code is only a minimum standard and why manufacturer installation instructions often matter more for long-term performance. If you’re building a house, buying a new construction home, or choosing between builders, this is a straightforward checklist for protecting your investment. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s house hunting, and leave a review with your biggest builder red flag.

Transcript

What Inspectors See In New Builds

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hey everybody, it's Jim, and of course Laura's here.

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Hello everyone.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Alright, so we do inspections for people buying houses. We also do inspections on people who are Building a House. Building a house. Or the buying a house that was just built and it's all ready to be moved in. But man, if you are like what we did, we built our own house. Yes. Not physically do it ourselves, but we hired somebody to do it. No time. How long did it make me how long did it take me to build that little cabin?

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Months.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Months. Months. And it is not big.

SPEAKER_03 0:37

Or square.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Or square. Correct. I love you, honey. There are some issues with it. But I mean, it it's probably overly built in some work site. It is a work site, yes. But it's some aspects are probably overbuilt because it is not shifting. Nothing with all the wind that we had and the trees to the front. It's dirty. It is dirty. Very sturdy. Well, some of the issue, wow, here's some of the issue of that build was it took so much time between my going back down there, back down here, that some of the wood would warp and twist a little bit. Then you deal with that. Same thing the chicken coop I built last year, strong windstorms, moved it out of square, and then I got back squared up. But there's still some I know there's some areas that are off, but it's totally

Pick Builders With A Real Crew

SPEAKER_01 1:27

functional. But anyway, how do you select a builder for your house? Because some places we we even smashed it lately, these are not rough, rough, rough. These are not good builders or or the subcontractors, they just don't they don't care and they don't in both places there was no there's no code enforcement in the in those counties.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Which is a concern. So you definitely need to get checked out. But even places that where they have code, we're still seeing things very much messed up.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

Yeah, it's like they don't care. There's one builder, and I can't think of the name of them.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Well, we're not we're we're not gonna say it anyway.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

But they don't even have their own employees to build, they subcontract out everything, and then they don't have supervisors that work for that builder watching the people that are subcontracted, so they have no clue what the skill set is of the subcontracted people building your house.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Yeah, so here's gonna that was gonna be my first tip for buying for selecting a builder is do they have their own contractors, their own workmen, their own crew, people that depend upon their them for their paycheck. Yeah, because the one builder who we've been out to this house three times now. Yes, is they don't have employees to actually do their work, they subcontract everything out, which means it's gonna be different every single time you go out. And we're we're getting really goofy stuff, and the stuff that was pointed out to them before wasn't fixed.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

It still wasn't fixed, or was it fixed correctly, or they made it worse?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

And then well, the the client then told me, like, yeah, I'll send them a picture, told them it's not done, and they go, No, my my my guy says it's done.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Do you know? And they call that good, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

So, first you need to make sure your builder actually has her own crew to work on things. I understand subcontracting some things out like our builder. It was just him and his son that do the work, then they're consistent.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

The guy would show up every day, seven in the morning, and he he's working on things, getting everything done like he should. He did a great job. There are a few things we found, but we pointed out and they're fixed immediately. Immediately the next time he came out. I was thinking about by the end of that uh end of that day they're fixed or they're fixed the very next day. Kind of depends what time we pointed things out, but they did a very good job. And they subcontract subcontracted out the furnace. The trusses, the trusses because they did not have the cranes to pick it up to lift those things up, which makes sense. Not everybody has a crane that can pick up these things.

SPEAKER_03 4:21

They didn't do the um the pour for the foundation.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Yep, they had a concrete guy who did that done. Good work.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

Um Yeah, there were a couple of things that uh he subcontracted out, but for the most part, anything he could physically do with his son, he did himself.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Yep, and and he worked with the guy who did the concrete. He worked with that guy many for many years. He got his supplies from this one store, and so and and he had a good relationship with them, so they would send the supplies over and get paid later. In fact, where our builder did it, most most of the time the builder will give you I've heard 10 to 15% markup on materials. We had zero markup on the materials. Our builder was a here's my invoice for these last last materials, and then we go, okay, so then we will go to that supply place and then pay it off. There was no markup at all that. So that saved us lots of money. A lot. That easy saved us $20,000 minimum.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

Easily.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Easily. So we and whenever someone asked for us for a builder, we we give this builder's name out.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

He's busy as he wants to be, he doesn't want any more, but I think he's actually working on a spec home right now with another one of our friends to sell.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Nice. Okay, so so they're working together. Good. So two things for buying

Contract Red Flags And Access Rules

SPEAKER_01 5:55

for buying a builder. Do they have their own crew?

SPEAKER_03 5:59

Well, with our builder, we were out here regularly, like easily once a week, once they started building. Easily, and we would look through and point out things, and he knew what we did. Like he knew what he was getting into with the property. He knew we did home inspection. He really did. But I've heard other people that have recently come and told me that the builder says they can't go on to the property at all until they're given permission. Like it's in the contract that you can't do that. It's in the contract that you can't sue them, that you have to go to arbitration, which by the way, did you know that the more money you ask for in arbitration, the higher the fee is that you have to pay?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Just to begin the arbitration.

SPEAKER_03 6:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

I didn't I didn't know realize that it was that, that it's not just a flat fee. So another thing would be to look at the contract. Are you allowed to come out whenever you want? Because if not, that's a huge red flag. They're hiding stuff because they know that their work quality is crap. Run, don't walk, run. Do not sign that contract, do not listen to a real estate agent saying it's not a problem, it's a new build, they'll do fine. No, don't. I I've got specific instances of clients that we've worked with the past year where they've been heavily burned because of contracts like that.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that because I forgot all about how some builders tell the client, the home buyer, that they cannot look at their work while it's being done. That is that's yeah, that's a big red flag. That's a concern. What do you mean they can't look at your your work?

Why Independent Inspections Catch More

SPEAKER_01 7:30

So you should be able to check on what's going on. You should be able to hire an independent home inspector. Just come in and take a look to see what's what's getting missed. I mean, the new project we're at yesterday. Uh this is the second time I've been out this place. There were framing materials that were not resting on anything underneath, which means they're not really providing support. There was a stud, a very tall stud on a load-bearing wall that was just cut. Cut in half. And not sistered, not nailed back in place, just cut.

SPEAKER_03 8:06

The whole way through. It was cut the whole way through.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

And the kind the guy, the contractor who's there, he didn't he didn't know anything about it.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

I don't know why this happened. Well, he should be looking at your work and your people.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Yeah, yeah. Obviously, they're not looking. So if they have if they say they have the supervisor, well, the supervisor needs a supervisor, and that supervisor is the home inspector who who doesn't look for code, they look for function. And I know us and some other home inspector companies, they've been in plenty of new builds. They know when something doesn't look right, they're going to look a little bit closer and then figure out exactly what's going on.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

We've actually called manufacturers when we've seen something that we've had questions about, we've called the manufacturer and you know, sent pictures and gone, is this how this is supposed to be done? And every time we have ever called a manufacturer right up until right now, they have all been done incorrectly.

Real Mistakes Found During Framing

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 9:05

Every time.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Oh, and here's another thing. Just because somebody says they're a contractor, that does not mean they're going to do things best for you or right. Because a place the other day, there was a big gap underneath the siding, and they're gonna just gonna put a foam baccarot underneath there to block out that space. They don't get you know, air infiltration and mice coming in. Well, the foam baccarod, that is not gonna not allow moisture to escape if moisture ever gets back behind us. So that is not the good fix. There they they will often look for the cheapest and fastest way for them to fix it. Not necessarily the most correct. If it lasts a couple years, well, in a lot of buildings, if it lasts that first year, pass our one-year warranty. Well, we did what we needed to do. Like, no, that is not the way it should be done.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

So habitation investigation is the way to go. For a home inspection in Ohio. Trusted licensed home inspectors for your needs. For a great home inspection, you really can't go. Visit home inspections in Ohio.com.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Another thing you should do is ask for recommendations for builders.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

Go online. I'm I'm under the impression that there are several builders that are being sued because they weren't letting people out onto the property. They made huge glaring mistakes in the build. Go online, do your research, go to Facebook, look in the groups, hop, hop in the groups and see what they're saying about them.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Or or ask a home home inspector. Ask the home inspector, call because they're there are even and I'm saying not the county or city home inspector.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Home inspector. Ask an independent home inspector that has no money for anything, like no skin in the game. It just is what it is.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

There's some builders, I'm like, all right, they're gonna cut corners, they're not gonna do it right, and they will then lie about it later on. And there's sometimes like, all right, generally they do a good job, but their subcontractors can still screw up, and they they they have issues finding good contractors. They still go in and fix stuff, they will fix things. So the I guess I guess those are your you got one more?

SPEAKER_03 11:25

Yeah, I got another one. There are actually some builders too that are having people sign contracts that say they will not get a home inspection, that they will just purchase the property and you know the they'll just rely on the county code enforcer, which if you're in a county that doesn't have that, you have nobody looking at your house. Do not sign away your rights, just look at it this way. That contract is to pigeonhole you and to restrict your ability and your rights to check on them and to make sure

Research Builders And Protect Your Rights

SPEAKER_03 12:00

that they're doing a good job. If you've got a contract that is that restrictive, do not walk, run to the next builder and check them out.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

And and code does not mean best practices. No, code is the lowest quality allowed legally in that area, and and all codes, they are they they are overridden by the manufacturer's recommendation, which is how we inspect.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

We inspect to manufacturer's recommendation, not to code.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Yep, and my thing I'm thinking about is this the sheathing or that one board. It was super thin foam board, and we're like, well, and then an over uh house wrap with some of this stuff. It's like that doesn't look right. So we go manufacturer's recommendations, you know, online, find that, and go, nope, this is not designed for this. Manufacturer tells you not to do that. So I think that's it. So but if you're buying a building a house or buying a house that was recently built, you need to get it inspected, and not by the county, not by the builder, not by the builder's rep. They they have motivation not to do a whole lot for you.

SPEAKER_03 13:15

If you are thinking about building a new house, call us, call any home inspection company in your area, ask them who they have the least number of problems with, who is the most receptive to repairing items. That's who you want to go with. And it is worth it to wait and get the right builder because otherwise you could be in for years of legal battles from from some of the stuff we've seen lately.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Oh, and and the stress. The lady the other day, a couple days ago, was very stressed about what was going on because underneath this brand new house, they have not moved in yet. I found electrical splices that were just out in the open. It was buried underneath the insulation. I had the dick because we couldn't figure out how they got power to the under cabinet lighting in the kitchen. So there's no switch, like none of that made sense. And so I went up attic, dug around a little, can we see the little wires? Little tiny lamp boards, and I found those up there, and yep, they just spiced into a larger normal wiring, and this

Code Versus Best Practice And Final Warning

SPEAKER_01 14:21

and it it's it's wrong. It's very wrong. But always get it inspected. Alright, bye-bye. Bye guys.