Do You Need a Handover Inspection Report?
Posted on: 25 June 2019
If you want to build your own home but don't have construction experience, then you have to rely on the builder you hire to deliver what you want. When the build is complete, you'll need to check things over before you sign off the project and make any final payments.
If you don't have construction experience or have never built your own home before, this can be tricky. Commissioning a handover inspection may help. What is a handover inspection, and what are its benefits?
What Is a Handover Inspection?
Some residential property inspection companies offer handover report services. These reports are designed to check over a new build before it is signed off. Typically, a handover inspection covers the following areas:
- Checks that the build meets current industry and government standards.
- Checks that the builder has met certain standards of workmanship.
- Checks that your new home was built to your agreed specification.
Some inspections take place periodically during the build to make sure that things are going to plan. Generally, however, you book this kind of inspection at the end of a build, as the inspector checks over the whole property inside and out. Their report tells you if everything is OK or not.
Why Book a Handover Inspection?
If you don't have building experience, then it is hard to thoroughly evaluate your new house when it is completed. Everything may look fine, but there may be problems in the background that you don't have the expertise to spot.
If you use an independent inspector, then they give you an impartial opinion based on their own construction and building inspection experience. They see what you can't. This has a couple of benefits. Your handover report gives you a proof of problems, if there are any, that you can show your builder. This may encourage them to make things good to fix any problems the inspector finds.
It's a lot easier to deal with problems before you make any final payments and sign off on the project. If you find problems after you've approved the build, you may need to go through an arbitration process or even to take legal action to prove your case.
If things do go wrong and you have to take things further, then a handover inspection may be useful. This is an impartial professional report that may back up your case with hard evidence.
To find out more about handover reports and how they work, call a company that offers new residential inspections and ask about their services.
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