Building errors

In the process of building a new home, you have to make a lot of decisions. We made ours and we're 95% happy with everything. Of course, we still had to have the builder send out repair crews for a few items since we've had all the initial issues fixed.

1. The master bath ceiling fan starts sounding strained after about 5 minutes of use. It's like the motor is trying too hard. It warbles high and low. Not normal. They have to come out and fix this.
2. One of the cabinet doors in the kitchen was coming loose. It's a hidden hinge system and it kept on making a 'popping' sound when we'd open the cabinet door all the way. They put in a larger screw to secure the door.
3. Our side gate had a loose lower bolt. They came out and put new longer screws. Fine, right? The new ones they put in are not fully flush. This is causing the gate to get stuck on the bolts. So the gate is getting stuck and the iron frame is getting scratched.
4. Our formal dining room lighting fixture is not positioned correctly. I never noticed this. The Hubs did and never said anything. When you look towards the dining room from the living room, the light fixture is too far to the right. I'll get those guys to fix it at our 1-year check.

Our one neighbor?

1. The air conditioning in his house isn't pumping correctly throughout the house. The room that traditionally would be the tandem garage section was only getting 30% of the air it should be getting. They haven't figured out why that's the case. Another room vent was somehow crushed during construction which resulted in less air flow. They had to replace that one.
2. Their front door had a visible varnish seam in it. Turns out that when they varnished the door, someone CLOSED the door before it was dry. They've had to sand the door and revarnish it. Took TWO days because it was so hot out here.
3. We were having our water softener and RO system installed. Our neighbor had called that company to get an estimate for his house. The one install guy went over and checked things out. It was going to be a bunch of money. Much more than what we were paying to get our system. Why? Their house was piped for an RO system to loop to their refrigerator. Good. But their house was not piped for a water softener system. Their main pipe was on the west side of the house. Their garage was on the east side of the house. So they would have to dig under their yard and put pipes in to put the water softener in the right spot.
4. My neighbor decided on the vendor who gave him the lowest price to get the water softener connected. The guys who did the work? They looked like they were 18 years old! VERY young. It took them all day to trench and lay in the pipes. They had to come back the next day to finish up. They broke the kitchen faucet and had to buy a new one and install it.
5. A week ago, my neighbor's hall bathroom tub wasn't putting out any hot water. I told him about the issue we had with the clogged valve. He got the builder's plumber to come out. The cause? Rocks in the pipes. ROCKS! Turns out that the boys who installed his water softening system were jamming the pipes through the dirt without putting a stopper on the end of the pipe being shoved. Therefore...rocks and dirt in the pipes. And the boys had installed a connecting water pipe backwards, so it was good that they had to come back out to fix the rocks in the pipes issue.

Other neighbors?

1. Garage doors that stick or rub.
2. One neighbor's garage door opener was actually activating the next door's garage door.
3. Inefficient toilets. Apparently, a couple neighbors have noted that their toilets don't flush thoroughly. We've all go the same low-flow toilets. I think it may have something to do with their pipes. We haven't [knock on wood] had any problems with our toilets.
4. One neighbor's air didn't kick in the late afternoon. Thankfully, it was only in the 90s that day and it cooled down to the 60s at night so it wasn't unbearable in their house. Plus they had a 2nd unit that did work.

To sum it all up...if you're building a new house. STAY ON TOP OF IT! Visit your house often. Take photos.

When you notice problems during the construction stage, the builder can address them at that time. Oftentimes, waiting to fix a problem only adds to the cost of the repair. At your final inspection? Turn on all the lights. Figure out which light switches connect to which electrical outlet. Make sure all the light fixtures work. Turn on all venting/bathroom fans. Flush those toilets. Try the stove and oven. TAKE YOUR TIME.