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How to Check Your New Home for Defects
Singapore Property - Real Estate5 minutes read
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39085 views
Inspecting defects in your new home can be a challenge, especially for us inexperienced homeowners. Despite our inexperience, inspecting for defects is necessary since our homes are probably the largest investments we will make in our lifetime.
Before you embark on renovating your new flat, it is good practice to check your house for defects, and get the developer to rectify them for you. If this is not done, there may be a possibility that it becomes harder and costlier to rectify certain defects after the completion of your renovation works.
For instance, some defects such as hollow floor tiles need to be rectified before the cabinets, shelves and wardrobes are installed on the floor. Another example is water seepage in the ceiling, which needs to be resolved before the erection of false ceilings below the bare ceiling.
For a guide to defects inspection in your new home, read on!
To make things easier for you, carry out your defects inspection in a systematic way. Defects are typically grouped into 7 main categories:
1. Floors
2. Internal Walls
3. Ceiling
4. Doors
5. Windows
6. Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) Fittings – power points, switches, air-conditioning units, taps, etc.
7. Other Components – carpentry like wardrobes, kitchen cabinets, shoe racks, staircase railings, etc.
Some common defects that you should try to check are cracks and stains on your walls/floors/fittings, chips or inconsistent joints between your tiles, staple marks, inconsistent gaps between the door leaf and door frame, misalignment of door handles, window panes, power points, and more.
Fig 1. Chipped tiles
Fig 2. Blistering paint
Fig 3. Water seepage through window frame
Fig 4. Chipped door frame with nail hole and dents
Fig 5. Uneven floor surface or lippage
To tell if an item is defective, you also have to know what is acceptable workmanship and what is not. Some questions homeowners typically ask include:
1. What is the level of inconsistency in the flooring tonality before it is deemed as a defect?
2. What is the acceptable level of brush marks, and unevenness on a plastered wall?
3. What is the acceptable gap width between a door leaf and a door frame?
Other things you should note include the misconception that defects checking only covers architectural defects which are visible like stains, cracks, scratches and gaps, for example. Apart from architectural defects that can be seen with the naked eye, there may be hidden defects that are harder to identify by the untrained eye. These include the proper functionality of all mechanical and electrical fittings, the conditions of all pipes, conduits and trunkings, etc – and they typically required professionals to carry out the checks.
If you don’t have the confidence to carry out defects inspection personally, and fear missing out on catching some critical defects that should be rectified, fret not!
Absolute Inspection Pte Ltd provides professional home inspection services to identify defects and unacceptable workmanship finishes in the house. Conducting inspections based on industry and BCA’s standards for measuring quality to ensure that your investment is protected – you may count on their experienced inspectors to do a thorough check for you!
Services Provided:
1. First round of defects inspection upon key collection by owner.
2. Assist owner in marking out defects, preparing and submitting defects checklist to developer.
3. Running through the list of defects with the developer’s rep in the second appointment.
4. Conducting a re-check to ensure that all defects have been rectified once the developer has finished all rectification works.
About Absolute Inspection Pte Ltd
Absolute Inspection provides professional defects inspection service to homeowners, including BTO projects, DBSS, ECs, private condominiums and landed houses. For more information, please email to: enquiry@absoluteinspection.sgor visit them at www.absoluteinspection.sg.
Photo Credits: Building and Construction Authority
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