PRE-DRYWALL HOME INSPECTIONS
The first step on your new home inspection journey.
With a pre-drywall inspection, find and fix problems early while the systems of the home are still easily accessible. Later the pipes, wires, ductwork, and framing will be hidden behind drywall, making any issues harder to find and harder to address. This will be the last time some items will ever be visible.
Homes are built by many different people, and sometimes people make mistakes. Masons, electricians, plumbers, HVAC specialists, painters, and more will all contribute to your home.
With all those moving parts, things can fall through the cracks, or someone could have an off day in the months it takes to construct your home.
With a new home construction inspection, you get a fresh set of eyes on all the details of your home. A fresh set of eyes that work for you, not the builder or the county.
Common Pre-Drywall Defects
Later this broken joist will be invisible.
"I had Francis come and perform pre dry wall inspection. It went great and he was very professional. He did identify many defects - major & minor ones which were missed by the county inspector as well."
A county inspector makes sure the building is up to local code, along with the several other properties they inspect that day. They work hard and do work for your interest, but they don’t work for you, and they can’t take the time to thoroughly go over the whole house. For example, according to a video made by the city of McKinney, TX, their team of 12 building inspectors performed 60,000 home inspections in one year! Wow! That’s 5,000 homes per inspector. Even if an inspector worked every day of the year, which I certainly hope they don’t, that’s 14 inspections per day. While that certainly requires a ton of dedication, it does not leave a lot of time for each home. Assuming no breaks or travel in an 8 hour workday, very unlikely, each inspection only gets 34 minutes. In comparison, we take 2 to 2 ½ hours on average for every pre-drywall inspection to thoroughly examine the home.
"Very professional and knowledgeable. Tim didn't just point out items to me but also took the time to explain why they are important and how the builder should fix them."
Parth P.
A pre-drywall inspection is also ideally pre-insulation. A quality pre-drywall inspection report is a great document to have years down the road. You can show it to repair persons and contractors many years from now. It will give them a guide to what’s behind your walls. They’ll be able to see what areas have already had repairs which will make their work easier, and less expensive for you!
Pro tip: You can use the pre-drywall report to check on those early repairs before your one year warranty is up in case any items need additional work while it’s still the builder’s responsibility.
Getting a home inspection at this stage in the construction process is fantastic for saving money and trouble now, and it will keep giving over the lifetime of your home! Plus, because it’s easier to see and inspect everything, this inspection is shorter (around two hours instead of three) and priced to match!
Remember to look at our bundling options!
The pre-drywall inspection should be done after the close- in inspection from the government inspector and before the insulation and drywall is installed.
It is important that the builder is made aware that you are going to have an outside independent inspector for a 2 part inspection series, pre-drywall inspection and finish product inspection.
We will need permission from the builder to be on site. Some builders do require insurance certificates and we can provide documents with 48 hours notice.
Areas Served: Kent County Delaware, New Castle Delaware, Sussex County Delaware, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Chester County Pennsylvania, Montgomery County Pennsylvania, Delaware County Pennsylvania, Cecil County Maryland