How a One-Year Warranty Inspection Can Save You Thousands

End of warranty inspections are a good idea for everyone who has a home that is less than a year old. This is because when the homes hit one year old, their one-year warranty that comes with the home (insured by the builder) expires. 

What is Covered in a Warranty Inspection? 

A home warranty inspection covers everything in the house that could have a defect from the way that it was built. This means that things that have been damaged from normal wear and tear won’t be covered as part of the warranty, like stained carpets, scratched floors, broken windows, etc. 

Warranty inspections look at the systems and components of the home that could be faulty. Things that are typically looked at for every warranty inspection include: 

Structural 

  • Foundation, floors, ceilings
  • Roof, chimney 
  • Windows, doors
  • Drainage systems 
  • Exterior & interior areas (walls, brick, etc)

Appliances 

  • Garage doors, door bells 
  • Microwaves, ovens 
  • Stoves
  • Dishwashers, disposals

Essential Systems

  • Electrical – all wiring in the home and  around 
  • Plumbing – toilets, faucets, laundry, showers, drains, hot water heaters
  • HVAC – gas, electric, air conditioning, etc.
  • Operational – sprinklers, gas, septic, pool/spa

While these are some of the most common things that are inspected in a warranty inspection, there are other things that are situational depending on the features of the particular home. 

How Can a Warranty Inspection Save Me Money?

A warranty inspection can save homeowners money because they are basically making sure that everything that’s covered by the warranty is still working. 

  • Too often, people buy a just-built home and live in it for a few years with very little issues. 
  • After about 4 or 5 years, problems that have been with the house since it was built start to pop up. 
  • These issues can be things that are very costly, and that the owner will be 100% responsible for. 

The purpose of the warranty inspection is to keep this from happening, and catch the problems before the home is no longer covered. 

Once the homeowner has received the complete warranty inspection report, they can file a claim with the company who built the home. 

Then, the building company will have to fix the claims, even after the house is no longer covered under the warranty, because the inspection report shows that the problems were there under the warranty. 

Having structural, plumbing or electrical issues are some of the most costly issues to have with a home, and they can set a homeowner back thousands of dollars – all out of pocket – without the warranty coverage. 

Make sure to get a home warranty inspection on your home that has been newly built before the one-year warranty expires! Sometimes even homes that look like they are in perfect condition have hidden defects.