We hired one after the CO was issued. He found several things I was not aware of that the code inspectors missed completely. He also agreed with me on a couple of issues which were in dispute with the builder. His report provided extra leverage in dealing with those items.

He also alleviated my concerns with a couple of areas I though might not have been done properly. He was able to explain why they were OK to my satisfaction.

Get someone who is articulate, educated, and has direct building experience. The more phases of construction he is knowledgeable about, the better. Ours used to have his own construction company.

It pays dividends to accompany the HI while he does his work. A good one will explain what he is doing and anything he finds along the way. Ours took about six hours on site to complete the inspection. He charged $450.

I would avoid home inspectors who came into the business from outside the building trades and those who do more than one inspection a day.

"Our town has been doing all the required inspections along the way, and it does a final inspection to issue the CO"

The town is inspecting to the minimum code standards, and is not responsible if they miss something.

Inspecting new work is out of the league for most HIs.

If you were worried you should have had the place inspected a couple times during construction by someone you paid to check things over.

Buried defects (behind walls) are a little hard to see once everything is done.

We did. Biggest waste of $$$ ever. We had one who had all the same quals as creek side mentioned...didn't matter...still a joke. In fact, my husband threw the report away!

Sorry to hear about the bad experience, DD. I'm pretty sure we got our money's worth with our guy. I was real careful in my selection, since I wasn't at all impressed with the individual we used when we bought our old house, especially after I found some of the stuff he missed.

One other thing to look at are his past written reports. Good home inspectors will have several real life samples available for prospective clients.

We actually had 3 different home inspectors. 1 we hired and 2 that our contractor hired. All 3 were "highly" recommended by builders, architects, engineers, etc...still a joke. I really think that it is only worth the $$$ for other than new construction.

We are building with Ryland, so we won't actually own the house until after we close. We had him inspect the prep work for the slab before it was poured and check out everything before the drywall went up. He didn't give us a report either time, but did give me 8-10 things that I suggested/requested of the building supervisor with Ryland (of which half was completed). He has given us peace of mind that the construction quality is very good.

We will have him come back and do an inspection before we close, where he will go through the house with a fine tooth comb, checking all the outlets, the water pressure, the fit and finish of everything, etc.

The cost of the 3 inspections (1 with report) was $400. If we want him to come back at 11 months (just before the warranty period ends) it will be another $200.

Sometimes it's good to have an additional pair of eyes to look at stuff -- someone who hasn't seen it every day.

I asked my realtor for recommendations. He sent me three names, only one of which was NACHI (International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, Inc.) certified -- the only one that requires a test. He also had some additional certifications that I liked (wind mitigation, environmental hazard).

We didn't do this with our last house, which was more of a custom build. The peace of mind is worth it, imho.

We didn't have one before we moved in (in Feb) but we plan to have one, probably in November, to identify any problems and have the builder address them before the first year is up.

"Sometimes it's good to have an additional pair of eyes to look at stuff -- someone who hasn't seen it every day."

"The opinion of 10000 men is of no value if none of them know
anything about the subject."
Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 121-180 AD

While building a custom home, you should have the framing plans drawn up by a structural engineer, and have the firm inspect the building prior to closing the walls.

I'd hire seperate plumbers, HVAC and electricians to inspect the work of the contractors who did installs before the walls are closed. Shouldn't be but a couple hundred dollars each. (Try and make sure they don't know each other)

The stuff outside the walls is usually cosmetic, and you'll find on your own in the first few months in the house. Keep a notebook dedicated to "flaws and issues" that you notice.

PS We didn't do any of these inspections, as the GC, I was combing over every subs work all the time. I missed stuff, but not as much as I found and got corrected before it was a big hassle.

Never even crossed our minds to have an inspection!! Dh had some building experience plus we lived right next door to our build. We were on site every day and in our contract we have a year to report problems. We got to know all the subs and the minor problems we did have were all taken care of. I could understand having an inspection if you are not real confident with your builder or if you are not familiar with construction.

You should have someone qualified and unbiased do inspections throughout construction so that expensive-to-repair defects don't get covered up. It may be too late to suggest it for the OP but a structural engineer familiar with foundation and other issues should be used early on, such as being present during pouring of the foundation. If steps are not done right at that phase it can cause a world of hurt later.

Don't count on code inspectors; many new houses have code violations either due to lax inspection or no inspections, not enough time to do a proper inspection, etc. I don't recommend reliance on real estate agents, your builder, etc, for a recommendation for an inspector because their interest is in making sure the sale goes smoothly so everyone gets paid. Real estate agents even call some home inspectors "deal breakers" as if catching defects is a bad thing. Bad for the agent maybe but not for the buyer, who needs to know! Code violation or not, new homes can have defects that the average buyer won't recognize. There really is very little protection, legally, if you have a defectively built house. Catch defects before you close, when you have the most leverage. Ideally, your contract should provide for it. At the very least, get a competent inspector to go over things before you close, but be aware that some of the most serious defects are no longer observable to the naked eye once the house is done.