This is often one of the most asked questions we get at GAHI. A new house must be in better shape than an old house since the parts haven't had time to wear out, right? That might be true except for one glaring fact. There are lots of builders in Georgia that should not be builders. Believe us when we tell you that there is a science to building a house. Only a few builders really know that science. Many builder/developers are masters of scheduling and marketing but don't know the first thing about load bearing capacities of floor joists and roof rafters, or how many cubic feet of combustion air that new high efficiency furnace needs to safely burn the natural gas so not to produce carbon monoxide. Most builders in Georgia depend on their subcontractors to know that "technical stuff". And the county inspects every new house, right? Yes, but only a part of every house is inspected during the mandatory inspections. In metro Atlanta your municipal inspector probably had 15 or 20 minutes to do his inspection. Could he have even walked upstairs and gone into all the rooms in such a short period of time? Barely. Then take into consideration all the phases of construction that are not covered under the mandatory inspections that may have been installed by yet more people with no license, no training, and you have the potential for many things to go wrong. Very wrong.

A code certified inspector can spot code violations and give you information to help you direct your builder or the county officials toward assuring you have a house built to minimum safety standards. It's the law. Your builder is ultimately responsible for making sure your home meets all the requirements of the code. If your builder is one of the master marketer types with no formal training in home construction, he/she may miss some critically important phase of construction that could turn your dream home in which you planned to spend a life time into your nightmare house you dream of leaving.

If you decide to have a code certified inspector inspect your new purchase, or monitor your construction as the house is being built, you should read your contract closely. You may not have any right to hire your own inspector and your builder may be able to ignore what your inspector says...unless your contract specifically gives you these rights. Be sure you know your rights to an inspection before you sign your contract.