Building Your Dream Home in Cincinnati
A year and a half ago, I had the pleasure of having lunch with a contractor who works solely for a home builder here in the Cincinnati area. He is a finish carpenter with 23 years of experience. He told me something VERY interesting that has been stuck in my brain and explains why we get many calls from clients with newly built homes.
This guy told me in the “quick build homes” frequent in newer subdivisions, there is a “process” in which one crew covers the mistakes of the last. The framing crew comes in and frames out the structure. Behind the framers come the drywall crew, which covers for any mistakes the framers make. After the drywall crew comes in the tapers follow to cover up the drywall crew’s missteps. Once the tape and mud is dry the painters come in to cover the errors made by the crew before. Lastly, the finish carpenter comes in to install trim and molding to cover the mistakes of the painters. This process is to ensure aesthetically that the home is pleasing to the buyer, but what it does not do is ensure the security and safety of the future occupants.
A juvenile mouse needs an opening of a ¼ inch to gain access. That is no larger than a space you can fit a #2 pencil into. A rat needs a hole no bigger than a dime. Squirrels, birds, bats, raccoons, and other larger nuisance wildlife will take advantage of poorly installed flashing, soffits, and vents along your roof and siding to gain access to your nice warm home.
When a builder or a contractor is not taking the time to “do things right” and knows that there is a process in place to cover any mistakes they may make, that allows for gaps, voids, and unsecured materials, leading to a potential unwelcome wildlife in your brand new home that brings a host of potential structural damage and potential health problems.
Many of these homes come with a “warranty” to cover such defects sometimes up to 12 months after the date of purchase. The catch is you have to be able to find these errors in order to hold the builder and their contractors accountable.
With our flat rate inspection fee, for $85 you can have a full color PDF document noting any issue we find with detailed remarks stating what exactly we found, and where exactly on your new home we found the concern. That gives you the power and knowledge to go back to your builder and protect your investment and secure the health of your family before your warranty window disappears.
Why wait until an emergency happens at 2 am to call us because you have bats in your attic or squirrels nesting in your bedroom walls? Prevention is the best control method. Go on over to our “Schedule Service” tab and schedule a full home exclusion inspection on your time. No four hour windows, you pick the date and time, and we will be there.
Till next time… see ya folks.