New Construction Home Inspection: A Guide for Inspectors

Short answer: A new construction home inspection is usually sold as a package of visits: an optional pre-pour check of the foundation, a pre-drywall inspection while framing and rough-ins are exposed, and a final inspection before closing, often followed by an 11-month warranty inspection. You inspect to your standards of practice, not to the building code, because you are not the code official. The work pays when your agreement, access arrangements and report wording are built for a house that is still changing.

New homes do not come with fewer defects just because nobody has lived in them. They come with defects that are harder to see once the walls close. That is the whole case for the service, and it is the case your clients need to hear before they sign a contract with a builder who tells them the city already inspects everything.

This guide is for inspectors adding new construction work, or tightening how they already do it.

What a new construction inspection is, and who hires you

The client is almost always the buyer, under contract with a production or custom builder. Occasionally it is an owner building on their own lot, or an investor. The builder is not your client, even though you are on their site, using their schedule and reporting on their subcontractors' work.

That split shapes everything else. The builder controls access. The client controls the relationship and pays you. Your report has to be clear enough for the client to read and specific enough for a site superintendent to act on.

There is no official state form for these inspections. What exists is association guidance, such as the InterNACHI Pre-Drywall Inspection Standards of Practice (updated March 6, 2025) and InterNACHI's sample New Construction Phase Inspection Agreement. Treat them as industry practice, not law.

The phases, and what each one can see

InterNACHI's sample phase agreement describes three inspections: two during the "post pour / pre drywall" phase, with a written report after each, and a final "when construction is complete." Many inspectors also sell a pre-pour visit for slab or foundation work, where the builder allows it. That one is common practice rather than anything an association standard defines.

The pre-drywall visit is the one clients most often skip and most often regret. It is also the one with the most detail, so it has its own guide and checklist.

Pre-pour

Keep this visit tight. You are documenting what was placed before it disappears: reinforcement present and supported off the ground, vapor retarder laps and punctures, plumbing penetrations, and water that will drain toward the house. You are not approving the foundation design. That belongs to the engineer and the jurisdiction.

Final

The final is closest to a standard home inspection, and you will run it against your normal standards of practice. The difference is expectations. The client expects a new house to be perfect, and the report will be long with small items. Separate safety and function from finish work early in the report so the important items do not drown.

Code versus standards of practice

This is the line that protects you. You are not a code official. The building department inspects for code compliance and signs off. You inspect to your standards of practice and report material defects you observe.

The InterNACHI Pre-Drywall SOP says so directly: the inspector is not required to determine "compliance with codes or regulations," and the phase agreement excludes code compliance too. Most state standards take the same position for the standard home inspection.

In practice that means:

• Write what you observed and why it matters, not which code section it violates.
• Where a manufacturer's instructions or a code reference helps the builder understand the finding, cite it as a reference, not as a ruling.
• Do not tell the client the house "passed" or "failed." The city passes things. You report conditions.
• Never suggest your inspection replaces the municipal inspection. It supplements it.

If you want to understand the code side properly, the path is a code certification, covered in how to become a building inspector. Our guide to what home inspectors are not allowed to do covers the wider boundaries.

Working with the builder

Builders react to third-party inspectors in one of three ways: cooperative, indifferent or hostile. Your job is to be easy to work with regardless.

• Check the purchase contract first. Some builder contracts restrict or schedule third-party inspections. Ask the client to confirm their contract allows your visits before you book.
• Go through the site superintendent. Get the superintendent's name and phone number from the client, and confirm each visit with them directly.
• Follow site rules. Hard hat and boots where required, sign in, stay out of active work, and do not move materials or touch equipment.
• Report to the client, not the crew. Do not direct trades on site. Answer questions factually if asked, then put it in the report.
• Keep findings actionable. A superintendent can fix "missing hurricane tie at the third truss from the east gable, photo 14." They cannot fix "framing concerns."

A builder who sees clear, located, photographed findings tends to fix them faster. A builder who sees a code lecture tends to push back.

Working with the client

The client needs three things from you before the first visit.

1. What each phase covers and does not. Especially that the pre-drywall visit cannot tell them how the finished house will perform.
2. What they do with the report. They send it to the builder, usually through their sales contact or the superintendent, and ask for written confirmation of what will be corrected.
3. When the next visit is. The client usually hears about schedule changes before you do. Ask them to tell you when drywall is scheduled.

Your inspection agreement should name each phase, the fee for each, the exclusions (code compliance, concealed conditions, anything not installed yet) and what happens if the builder denies access or covers work before you arrive.

Access and scheduling

Timing is the hardest part of the service. Builders move fast between rough-in approval and insulation. Miss that window and the pre-drywall inspection is gone.

Most inspectors find it helps to book the final and the 11-month visit at the same time as the first phase, so the client does not forget and the dates are in both calendars.

Writing the report

A new construction report has a different reader than a resale report. The superintendent reads it too, looking for anything they can dispute.

Write each finding so it survives that:

• Location. Room, wall, elevation or grid reference. On a framed house with no finishes, "north wall of the primary bedroom, second stud bay from the window" beats "bedroom."
• Observation. What you saw, in plain terms.
• Why it matters. One sentence on the consequence.
• Recommendation. "Builder to correct" plus any evaluation you recommend, such as by the framer's engineer or a licensed electrician.
• Photo. At least one per finding, with the defect visible and framed so the location is clear.

Keep finish items (paint, trim gaps, scuffs) in their own section so they do not dilute structural and safety findings. For more on phrasing, see how to write defect comments that hold up.

In Binsr, you build a separate configurable template for each phase: pre-pour, pre-drywall, final and 11-month, each with its own sections, line items and findings. Photos attach directly to the finding they prove, so the superintendent sees the evidence next to the words. One inspection can also carry more than one report, each with its own template, which is useful when a client orders a phase inspection and a separate add-on on the same visit.

Texas and other state notes

In Texas, TREC rule 22 TAC §535.223 requires the REI 7-6 form for inspections of substantially complete one-to-four family homes for a prospective buyer or seller, but lists exceptions, including builder quality-control construction inspections and substantially incomplete buildings, as of November 2026. A final inspection on a completed new home for a buyer generally falls under the form; pre-pour and pre-drywall visits of an incomplete house generally do not. TREC's November 9, 2026 meeting agenda included proposing amendments to the inspection standards and the report form. As of November 11, 2026 none had been adopted, so check the current rule. Read the rule itself and our TREC report guide before you design your Texas templates.

If the buyer is using an FHA-insured loan on new construction, the lender's case binder needs a HUD-92544 Warranty of Completion of Construction from the builder. That is the builder's paperwork, not yours, but it sets the one-year window your 11-month warranty inspection is timed against. Our guide to FHA inspection criteria covers where the appraiser's role ends and yours begins.

Pricing a phase package

Price each phase as its own service, then decide whether to offer a package. Do not start from a discount off your resale fee.

Reinspection of corrections is a separate fee, stated in the agreement. So is a visit that fails because the builder was not ready.

For the full method on pricing add-on work from your own costs and volume, see how to price ancillary inspection services, and set your base first with how much a home inspector should charge. Binsr booking lets you price each phase as its own service, with rules by square footage or a custom booking question, and the same rules set the calendar block length.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• Pre-drywall inspection checklist and pricing
• 11-month builder warranty inspections
• Deck inspections
• How to price ancillary inspection services
• Write defect comments that hold up
• Home inspection agreements

Try Binsr on five real inspections. No time limit, no credit card. See pricing or start your trial.