The 11-Month Builder Warranty Inspection (And Why You Should Actually Schedule It)

You closed on the new house, you moved in, you found the closest decent BBQ place, and life moved on. Then a year goes by and the builder warranty quietly expires and you didn't think about it once.

I see this constantly. The 11-month inspection is one of the most useful inspections I do, and it's the one almost nobody schedules unless their realtor reminds them. So this is me, reminding you.

What the one-year warranty actually covers

Most production builders in Florida give you a one-year workmanship warranty. That's the broad one. It covers things like drywall cracks, doors that won't latch, paint defects, trim issues, sticking windows, grout that's coming loose, that sort of stuff.

There's usually a separate two-year warranty on mechanicals, plumbing, electrical, HVAC systems and such, and a ten-year structural warranty for major load-bearing components. Read your specific paperwork because builders aren't all identical.

The thing is, after the first year the workmanship warranty is gone. And the workmanship warranty covers most of what an inspection finds. So getting your eyes on the house at month eleven, while you can still file a claim, is a real timing thing.

What I find on these

A house has now lived through one full year. One winter, one summer, one rainy season, one stretch of dry weather. That cycle reveals stuff that wasn't visible when you closed.

Settling cracks in drywall. Almost every new build gets some of these, especially around door frames and where the ceiling meets the wall. Builders patch and paint these as warranty work. Easy.

Doors that won't latch in summer humidity. The frame swelled, the door swelled, now nothing closes right. The builder will adjust strike plates and trim doors.

Grout failures around tubs and showers. The grout shrinks back during the first year and water finds the gap. If you don't catch this, water gets behind the tile and that's a much bigger problem in year three.

Roof issues. I climb up. On a year-old roof I usually find a few exposed nails that didn't get sealed, sometimes a slipped shingle near a rake edge, occasionally a flashing detail that was missed at a wall transition. A roofer fixes those in a half hour as warranty work. Out of warranty, you're paying somebody to come out.

HVAC. The condensate line. The drain pan. Whether the condenser is sitting level. Whether the air handler closet has the right drainage to the exterior. I run the system and look at how it actually performs after a Florida summer.

Grading and drainage. New construction is famous for grading issues that don't show up until the first heavy rain. If water is pooling near the slab, that's something the builder is on the hook for.

Cracked tile, ill-fitting cabinet doors, soft spots in the floor where someone didn't blocking right under a bathtub, exterior caulking that's already opened up. None of it is the end of the world. All of it is fixable. Most of it is free, if you ask in time.

What buyers tell me they wish they'd known

The biggest thing is just that the warranty exists and runs out. People assume new homes are problem-free for years and don't realize the clock is on the actual warranty paper, not on how new the house feels.

The second thing is that builders mostly do honor warranty claims when they're written up clearly with photos and locations. They want to keep their reputation in the development. What they push back on is vague stuff. So having an inspector hand you a written report with pictures, page references, and exact locations, that report becomes your warranty claim. The builder reads it and works through it.

Third thing: builders aren't going to remind you. They're not going to call you in month ten to ask if anything needs fixing. The reminder is on you, or it just doesn't happen.

How I'd schedule it

Look at your closing paperwork and find the date the builder warranty starts. It's usually closing day. Then book the inspection somewhere between month ten and month eleven. You want enough time to get the report, hand it to the builder, and have them complete the work before the warranty expires.

If you're closing today and you remember this in a year, that's fine, do it then. If you're closing today and you're the planner type, put a calendar reminder for month nine.

The inspection itself runs the same as a regular home inspection. Couple of hours on site, a written report by the next day, all the same systems checked. The output is just used differently. Instead of negotiating a purchase, you're handing it to the builder.

Easiest money I help people get back. If you're in a new build and you're approaching the year mark, this is worth doing.