11-Month Warranty Inspection: A Guide for Inspectors

Short answer: An 11-month warranty inspection is a full inspection of a new home shortly before the builder's one-year warranty expires, so the owner can report defects while the builder still has to address them. No association publishes a formal 11-month standard, so you inspect to your normal residential standards of practice. The value is in timing the visit against the right warranty window and writing findings the owner can submit to the builder the same week.

Most new homes come with a one-year builder warranty on workmanship and materials. After a year of living in the house, the owner knows about the sticking door and the cracked tile. What they do not know about is the attic, the crawlspace, the roof and the drainage. That is the work.

This guide is for inspectors who sell the service, or want to.

Why the 11-month inspection exists

The name comes from the timing, not a rulebook. A typical builder warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship for one year. An inspection in the eleventh month leaves time for the owner to send a written claim before that year runs out.

There is no official form and no formal standard for it. We looked for one from the major associations and found none. InterNACHI publishes a Pre-Drywall SOP and a sample New Construction Phase Inspection Agreement, but nothing specific to the 11-month visit, and we did not find an ASHI phase or 11-month standard either. Most inspectors run the visit under their normal residential standards of practice, with a template adjusted for a nearly new house.

If you already do new construction phase inspections, this is the natural last visit in the package. If you did the pre-drywall inspection on the same house, you also have photos of what is inside the walls, which helps when a symptom shows up at month eleven.

The warranty windows you are timing against

The builder's own written warranty sets the real deadline. Ask the client for it at booking, and read the claim procedure. Where state law or a federal loan program adds warranty terms, those matter too. Here is what the main ones say, as of September 2026.

Two cautions. First, you are not the client's lawyer. Tell them which window you timed the visit against and that they should read their warranty and get legal advice on any dispute. Second, statutory claim processes such as Texas RCLA notice and Florida Chapter 558 are for disputes. Your report is evidence the owner may use, so write it that way.

When to schedule it

Book it in month ten or early month eleven, not in the last week. The owner needs time to read the report, send it to the builder in writing, and get a response logged before the window closes.

If you did the final inspection, book the 11-month visit before you leave. It is the easiest sale in the business, and the client will not remember the date on their own.

What to inspect

Inspect the whole house to your normal residential standards of practice. Nothing about a one-year-old house makes a system optional. The difference is what you are looking for: things that moved, leaked, settled or were never finished.

Pay particular attention to:

• Attic. Insulation disturbed by trades or never finished, disconnected ducts, bath fans venting into the attic, roof leaks visible on the sheathing, missing baffles.
• Roof and flashing. Kickouts, step flashing, penetrations and shingle fastening that has let go.
• Grading and drainage. Yards settle in the first year. Look for negative slope at the foundation, downspouts discharging at the wall, and ponding.
• Foundation and slab. New cracking, and whether any cracks show displacement.
• Crawlspace, where present. Standing water, vapor retarder coverage, plumbing leaks.
• Plumbing. Slow leaks under sinks, at the water heater and at supply connections, and drainage performance.
• Electrical. Receptacle and GFCI and AFCI function, and anything the owner has had trip repeatedly.
• HVAC. Operation, condensate disposal, temperature complaints from the owner.
• Exterior. Sealant at windows and penetrations, siding gaps, deck or porch movement. For decks, see our deck inspection guide.
• Interior. Drywall cracks and nail pops, doors that no longer latch, flooring separation and tile cracks.

A thermal camera earns its place here, because missing insulation and small leaks show up after a year of use in a way they cannot at the final.

Ask the owner for their own list. They know about the intermittent problems. Note which items you observed and which the owner reported but you could not confirm.

Common 11-month findings

Writing findings the builder will act on

Your report is going straight to a warranty department. Write for that reader.

• One finding per defect. Do not bundle five items into one comment. The builder's warranty system usually tracks items one at a time.
• Locate it. Room, wall, elevation. "Primary bath, left of vanity, base of wall."
• Describe what you saw, not a cause you cannot prove. "Water staining and a moisture meter reading above the surrounding wall, below the supply stop," not "the plumber did a bad job."
• Say why it matters in one sentence.
• Recommend correction by the builder under the warranty, plus evaluation by a qualified contractor or engineer where the defect needs it.
• Attach the photo to the finding.
• Separate what you observed from what the owner reported. Both can go to the builder, but the difference should be clear.

Put safety and water items first, then systems, then finishes. A long list of paint touch-ups in front of a disconnected bath fan duct buries the item that matters.

More on phrasing is in how to write defect comments that hold up.

In Binsr, you can build an 11-month template once, with sections ordered the way warranty departments read, and photos that attach to the individual finding they prove. Binsr also has a repair request builder: the client picks items from the report, adds notes and exports a PDF, which is a clean way to turn your findings into the list the owner sends the builder.

Pricing the 11-month inspection

Price it like a full inspection, because it is one. The house is as large as it was at the final, and you are looking harder at the attic and exterior than a resale inspection might.

What to count:

• Full time on site and report time, like any inspection of that size.
• Drive time, often to a new subdivision at the edge of your area.
• A reinspection fee for checking the builder's repairs, sold separately.
• The liability that comes with a report the owner will use in a claim.

If you sell the visit as part of a new construction package, still price it as a standalone service first, then decide whether a package makes sense. The method is in how to price ancillary inspection services, and your base rate comes from how much a home inspector should charge.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• New construction home inspections
• Pre-drywall inspection checklist and pricing
• Deck inspections
• How to price ancillary inspection services
• Write defect comments that hold up
• FHA inspection criteria

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