Quality checks for your home building and renovation project

Many new homes are constructed badly

There are many media reports of poor construction Read and Read and also Read as some examples.
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Poor quality work can be costly to you because:

• There’s often the inconvenience and cost of having the contractor stay on past the project completion date to fix poor quality work.
• A repair of faulty work often results in a weakness which creates maintenance problems later.
• Defects and poor quality work which has to be fixed after moving into your house results in inconvenience to you and your family.
• There are follow up letters, calls and inspections to ensure that poor quality work is repaired to a satisfactory standard – sometimes even lawyers and construction experts are involved.
• Sometimes you may even give up in frustration and accept a substandard item.
• A fault could be covered up and go undetected until you discover you have a leak in the house, or cracks start appearing.
• Poor quality work has in severe cases caused structures to collapse, or them having to be vacated because they’re dangerous and need to be repaired.

Quality is about delivering a house that meets and exceeds the standards and specifications in the contract, meeting the local bylaws and codes and meeting the code and specification requirements of the state or country. These requirements extend to the house’s functionality, durability and the finished aesthetics.

Do not rely on your building contractor to deliver good quality

An example of bad quality plumbing work which was soon covered inside the house walls - unknown to the home owner until a leak appears!

​It’s important to monitor quality during construction. While these aren’t necessarily formal checks, and you may not consider yourself an expert, it pays to pick up potential problems early in the construction process. Contractors do make mistakes, or on occasion deliberately take a chance. Being there early to pick up the problem is important. Always notify the contractor in writing of quality concerns you see so there’s a record of your concerns. Remember to be consistent. Don’t accept an item as being okay one day, then complain about it the next. Don’t wait until the end of the project to raise quality issues, by then it’s often difficult to fix some problems, and in fixing them other items may be damaged. If the contractor is aware that you’re scrutinising the quality of their work as construction progresses they’re more likely to take additional care to ensure that they produce good quality work.

Familiarise yourself with the drawings, especially the details. Even take the drawings with you when you walk around the project so that you can check when things don’t appear to be in the right place. If you have little construction experience then ask somebody who is more familiar with house construction to join you. Better still, employ a clerk of works to regularly visit the project to check the quality on your behalf. If you’ve employed a clerk of works you must introduce them to your contractor so that your contractor knows who they are.

It may seem silly, but it’s imperative to check that your house is being constructed on the correct property, that it’s within the property boundaries (including allowing for setbacks and building lines) and that it’s orientated the correct way.

In the next 2 articles When inspecting your new home build and renovation project you should check and Checking the quality of construction in your new home Part 3 we discuss what to look for when you visit your new home being constructed, or check on your home renovations.

This is an extract from the author's book 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses: Volume 1 Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home'.

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​Paul Netscher has written 2 easy to read books 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses - Volumes 1 and 2'. An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses Volume 1 deals with Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home.  and Designing your ideal home Volume 2 deals with Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home. 
​("Great for those that DIY. Very helpful in home renovations!" said a Reader on Amazon.com 5*****)
These books are available from Amazon and other online bookstores in paper and ebook.

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