Hidden problems in new homes as Florida construction booms
Halfway or so, an engineer comments that part of the problem is contractors who don’t know code. Later, that the county let the contractors self-inspect.
At the end, the reporter comments that hiring a private inspector is a home buyer’s best protection.
Thanks for sharing Lon!
At about 3 minutes he describes common issues we see around here. Windows not properly installed, with Stucco bucket at a critical point of the structure.
Things like this are not “only in Florida.” In Colorful Colorado, we had a period when builders were allowed to self-inspect, too. We do a lot of stucco and most of it is not best practice or worse. If we were a wetter and more humid climate, we would have plenty of “Trouble in Colorado” videos.
These types of problems have been going on for a long time.
Not to mention odd HVAC installs 
I remember inspecting some of these homes when they were new and calling out the stucco and balcony issues. Then years later…
Russ makes a good point about “inspections”.
Here in Texas many municipalities will either completely rely on the Builder’s Third Party Inspections and perform no or very cursory (10 minutes) inspections on site which are nothing more than saying they were there. This has been going on as long as I have been inspecting (20+ years).
It is the “Fox guarding the hen house” here in Texas.
It’s no wonder these homes are falling apart after a few years. Don’t building permit fees help pay for independent code inspectors?
That’s a HUGE part of the problem. The public perception that the local building department provides over sight for projects in exchange for the fees they pay is far from the truth about the situation. This is exasperated by builders ‘go to’ excuse “It passed Code”.
To reduce their costs some municipalities have contracted with a very large Third Party Inspection company to perform their inspections. I won’t name names to prevent getting sued but they are no better than the City was! I’ve been in after their supposed inspection and been hit in the face hard by obvious issues they passed right up! Had one, pre-drywall, where I did not even get out of my truck and could see several major issues and they had just passed that stage inspection.
If you follow the money it is easy to see what is going on. The third party company is getting paid peanuts so they have to go through many homes a day just like the City. Also if they are to hard on the Builders the Builders obviously balk. More importantly to the City the homes take longer to build and that is money away from the property taxes. It’s all about slap them up and start collecting taxes.
Most all Builders here will not allow access for the inspections until they pass that stage’s inspections with the City. Then yes they use that excuse. I tell my clients to contact the City Building Inspections Department and give them a copy of the report and ask them to re-inspect the items the client is concerned about. I quote the Codes, plans, manufacturer requirements, other standards, etc., etc., in the report. I tell the client the City does not even have to look it up and can just read it.