Why new homes have defects
Buyers assume a brand new house has been checked. It has, in a specific and limited sense: a municipal building inspector verified that certain things meet code at certain milestones. That is a compliance review conducted in a few minutes per visit, not a quality review of every assembly in the house.
The other reason is simply how volume construction works. A production builder runs many houses simultaneously with a rotating pool of subcontractors under schedule pressure. Trades work in sequence, and each one has the opportunity to disturb the work of the one before. The insulation crew compresses batts to run a wire. The drywall crew steps on a duct in the attic. The painter caulks over a gap that should have been flashed.
None of that is a scandal. It is normal, it is predictable, and it is precisely why an independent inspection pays for itself. We have never inspected a new house with nothing to report.
The defects we find over and over
Attic and insulation issues lead the list. Insulation missing entirely over one section, compressed under stored material, or blown to inconsistent depth. Attic access hatches uninsulated and unweatherstripped. Bathroom exhaust fans ducted into the attic instead of through the roof, which in a Florida attic means dumping humid air into a space that is already struggling.
Duct work is second. Flexible duct kinked around a truss, crushed where someone knelt on it, disconnected at a boot, or sagging in long unsupported runs. Missing or torn duct insulation. Air handler closets that were never sealed properly. Each of these costs the buyer money every month and none of them are visible after the ceiling is finished.
Roof and flashing details are third. Missing kick-out flashing where a roof meets a sidewall is the classic, and it produces wall rot within a few years. Improperly lapped step flashing, sealant used where flashing belongs, and nail heads left exposed on the covering.
Then grading and drainage. New construction lots are graded to the plan and then landscaped, and the landscaping frequently undoes the grading. Soil sloping toward the foundation, downspouts discharging at the wall, and air conditioning condensate discharging into a bed against the slab are all common.
And plumbing and electrical: fixtures that drip at the supply connection, tubs and showers that drain slowly because debris is in the trap, missing or non-functional GFCI and AFCI protection, junction boxes without covers in the attic, and reversed polarity at receptacles.
The three moments to inspect
Pre-drywall is the highest value and the most often skipped. Once the drywall goes up, framing, structural connectors, plumbing rough-in, duct routing and electrical rough-in are permanently hidden. At pre-drywall we can see whether the hurricane strapping is installed at every truss, whether anyone has notched or drilled a structural member improperly, whether the plumbing is properly supported and the shower pan is correct, and whether the duct runs make sense. Ask your builder whether they permit it — most do, some require it be scheduled through the sales office.
Final walkthrough, before closing, is the second. This is the punch list inspection and it is what most buyers think of. Everything is finished, so the focus is on function and finish: running every fixture, testing every receptacle and switch, operating every window and door, checking the HVAC at the registers, and inspecting the roof and exterior.
The 11-month inspection is the third, and the one buyers forget. Most builder workmanship warranties run one year from closing. A full Florida summer and winter will have revealed things that did not exist at closing — settlement cracking, doors and windows out of adjustment, nail pops, grout and caulk failures, and mechanical issues that only appear under load. Inspecting at around month ten or eleven gives you a documented list while the builder is still obligated.
Northeast Florida specifics for new builds
In Nocatee, Bartram Park, Oakleaf, the Northside and the newer Palm Coast and Port Orange sections, we see the same regional patterns. Attic humidity is the big one. Florida attics run hot and humid, and any assembly that puts moist air into that space — an exhaust fan terminating in the attic, an unsealed attic access, leaky supply ducts — produces condensation on duct surfaces and eventually staining on ceilings.
Stucco on frame construction needs a proper drainage plane and a weep screed at the base. On two-storey production homes we look at that termination carefully and at head flashing over windows and doors, because stucco over wood framing with a compromised drainage plane is the most expensive new-construction defect in this state.
And get your wind mitigation inspection done. A new home built to current code usually documents very favourably across the state form categories, and those credits are applied to the windstorm portion of your premium. They are not automatic. The report has to exist and reach your carrier. Ordering it at closing is the simplest way to make sure it happens.
How to work with your builder on findings
Submit findings in writing, referencing the report, and keep a copy of the submission with a date. Verbal punch lists disappear. Written ones with photographs attached get scheduled.
Be reasonable about categories. Cosmetic drywall and paint touch-ups, minor nail pops and settlement hairlines are normal and builders address them routinely. Structural, water intrusion, mechanical and electrical items are different in kind and should be pressed.
Understand your warranty structure. Most new homes carry a tiered warranty: workmanship for one year, major systems such as plumbing, electrical and HVAC for around two years, and structural for longer, often ten. Knowing which tier a finding falls under tells you how urgent your deadline is. The one-year workmanship window is the one that closes fastest and covers the most items, which is exactly why the 11-month inspection exists.
Finally, do not let the builder's own warranty representative be your only assessment. They are competent people working for the builder. An independent report is not adversarial; it just means the list you submit was written by someone with no stake in how short it is.