Constructive Conversations

Episode 9: The Punch List - What is the Buyer's Job During Construction?

• Victorian Finance • Season 1 • Episode 9

Share episode

New construction doesn’t come with a manual, so we made one. We break down exactly what a buyer is responsible for during a build and how to avoid the most expensive, time‑wasting mistakes. From the first conversation with your builder to your 12‑month warranty list, you’ll learn how to document changes, plan site visits, and run a smart blue tape walk that targets real defects and verifies function.

We share the simple admin moves that save real money: schedule utilities for activation on closing day, file your homestead tax exemption, update IDs and bank info, and lock in homeowner’s insurance early. On the financing side, we explain why new credit torpedoes approvals, how lenders monitor changes, and what to do if life forces a purchase before closing. You’ll also hear practical tips for organizing lender docs, reviewing the closing disclosure line by line, and asking the right questions before you sign.

Protection doesn’t stop at the front door. We outline what builder warranties cover, how third‑party structural coverage works, and why you should register appliances and consider extended plans. For smoother move‑in, hire insured movers, align timing with utilities, and confirm how they pack valuables. After closing, keep a running warranty list and submit the full batch around month ten, then use a simple maintenance schedule to manage dust-heavy HVAC filters, vent cleaning, and water heater service. Want an edge for future projects? Capture a Matterport scan before drywall to create a digital twin of your home.

If this guide helps you feel more confident about your build, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s buying new, and leave a quick review so others can find it. Got tips from your own build? Tell us what saved you the most stress.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome back to Constructive Conversations. I'm Zach Daniel with Victorian Finance. And I'm Luke Barkstill with Viz3D Space. Today we're going to dive into the question every new home buyer should ask. What's my job during the construction process? So builders have their responsibilities and buyers do too. From blue tape walks to setting up utilities, filling out a homestead, preparing to move in and understanding what your warranty is. We'll put together an ultimate punch list for you to know exactly what to expect and how to make the process smoother for you and your builder.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so we're just going to kind of break this thing down into like segments. So segment one, we're going to be talking about just communication and documentation. With the first point being, you know, staying in touch with the builder and like and or a sales rep, you know, if you're doing uh maybe like a spec home or something, but just keeping an open line of communication with the builder is probably one of the most important things you can do during your build process. Yeah, and I think we've talked about that the whole time, and that's just because it's that important. You've got to keep communication open. People get a little bit of like withholding of some of their information. Uh, you can't expect the builder to know what's inside of your head. They can't expect to like for you to know what's inside their head. So just talking very openly about what it is you want, what it is you expect, and making sure everybody's on the same page is just super important. Um, the next point being getting change approval, change orders and approvals in writing. Um, I know uh a lot of people get frustrated, and you know, we have a building company as well. People get frustrated with change orders being sent to them, mainly because it has to do with money. You know, it's there's a line item of hey, this is what we're changing, this is what we talked about, this is the cost associated with it, but it not only protects the builder, but it protects the client. Like it's just as important for you to get that in writing. Yeah, you know. Um keeping a checklist of deadlines and upcoming decisions, that is paramount. So I know just as an example, and not everybody does it the same. Uh people do it differently, but as a communication uh tool weekly, we send out a report on Fridays. So on Fridays, we have like a company meeting, this is what went on during all the projects, and then we send that to the people that like it means something to. So if you were building a house with us, we'd say, okay, on Zach Daniels project, this is what happened this week, this is what's happening next week, and then like here's the overall budget, and here's what was billed out this week, and here's what was remaining. So that's just a weekly snapshot of the project, yeah, and that keeps deadlines and everything's like nobody has any questions.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, everyone is on the same page throughout the process. So I mean that's important for anybody involved the builder, the buyer, the realtor, the lender, exactly. Everybody knows exactly what's going on. So segment two in the series that we're going to talk about is really the site visits and blue tape walks. Uh, this is towards the during the build and the end of the build. To explain what a blue tape walk is, once the house is, I would say, done, uh, the the builder is finished, you will go through and mark any kind of defects that you see with painter's tape. They call it blue tape. So if you see any scuffs on the floor, uh, you know, maybe a broken window, uh paint, uh scratched up. I mean, it could literally be anything.

SPEAKER_00:

I think that's important right there. Anything. Anything. A lot of people just like breeze through the house and they're, oh, let me just look for scuffs. You need to test the dishwasher, turn on the sinks, make sure it drains, and like make sure it functions like you want it to when you're gonna live there. If it doesn't, blue tape it. Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh flip all the light switches on, make sure everything's working right. So anything uh would be covered in the blue tape walk, and that's you going through the house to make sure that it is functionable, like you said, uh, to live in. Focus on real defects uh when you're doing that blue tape walk, you know. Just like we mentioned, you don't want to necessarily like look at dust on the floor and be like, oh, it's dirty. I'm gonna put some blue tape on a pile of jobs.

SPEAKER_00:

If you want to ruin a builder-client relationship, go dog them about dust on a project that's taken 10 to 12 months to build. Yeah, that'll ruin a relationship real quick. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um but also during the construction, uh, so to kind of take a step back a little bit, respect the site and safety rules. Uh, it's great to go walk through the project as the process is taking place, uh, so you can kind of see important things like you know where the water lines are or where the gas lines are, because once sheetrock goes up, you know, that becomes invisible.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Last thing you want to do is to not know where your gas lines are, and you move in, you want to go hang a picture and you drive a nail through a gas line. That's right. Uh so it is important to know what is happening and what is behind your walls through the process, but you need to respect that it is in fact a work site and a job site.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and you know, a lot of people that don't know what to look for when they're showing up. So, a couple of just tips. You can go Google like blue tape walkthrough checklist, right? You can use AI to put you on together on what you should be looking for.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And then that's a good, you don't have to know anything about construction. You can walk in there with a piece of paper and go, okay, I'm gonna go look for this thing. Make sure those things are accomplished. That'll hit all your checklist stuff. And then for like the behind-the-wall stuff, one thing that is, you know, we're in the 21st century. There's a lot of tech out there. Um, one thing you can do is before sheetrock goes up, there is a service called Matterport. You can pay to have one done. In the grand scheme of doing a house, they're pretty cheap. They're anywhere from 300 to maybe like five, six hundred bucks, depending on the size of your house. And then you can pay to have that hosted. And if it's before sheetrock, you can literally walk around the house, see where the wires and stuff are behind the walls, and measure to those. Yeah. So as you're doing stuff in the future, you've always got that model of your home or a twin, digital twin.

SPEAKER_01:

That's a that's a great service that everyone should consider. Um, and also we've talked about in the past, you know, I I personally think it's important to work with a realtor. They can help you with these kind of aspects during construction and post-construction too.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. So, segment three is going to be utilities and services. Um, so you know, buyers, y'all are gonna set up the utilities that's electric, water, gas, internet, trash, is it natural gas, is it propane, having an understanding of what that looks like. These are questions you can ask your realtor if you're working with one, they'll know. Um, your builder, you'll have these conversations along the way. This is a good thing to make note of and uh just have in mind for when this gets done, it's gonna be your responsibility to go turn all these things on. Um, the last thing here in this segment is gonna be uh schedule ahead of closing day so that they're active on the move-in day. So as far as these utilities go, really pre-planning that for like a date of execution so that you're not going into a house that all the power is off on, but it's actively turned on, ready to move in when you close.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and you can go to the utilities company, let them know, you know, the address, what house you're buying, and schedule the transfer date. Um, you know, you'll typically know your closing date a week or so ahead of advance. You can go in at that point in time, say, hey, I'm moving in on this date, please transfer utilities to me on this date. And that way that's seamless, your power won't be cut off and it'll be in your name at that point in time, and you're not paying for a period of time where you're not actually living in the house.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, nice, smooth, seamless process.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So segment four, uh, this is getting kind of more into the legal side of the purchasing. What you want to do when you buy your home, especially if it is your primary home in Alabama, is file for a homestead. Uh, this is applicable in other states as well, but specifically for Alabama, you'll want to file for a homestead tax exemption. What that means is once you purchase your home, you'll receive a copy of your deed in the mail after it's recorded with the courthouse. You take that deed along with your driver's license, showing that you have updated it to change to your current address and file for homestead tax exemption. You want to do this as quickly as possible. You will have until December 31st of the year that you bought it to do it and it reflect to the next tax year. But this essentially will cut your property taxes in half and save you money annually and monthly on your mortgage if you uh are paying an escrow. You'll also want to update your uh mailing address, any of your bank uh information, your driver's license, all of that needs to be updated. So if you buy a new home, you can go to the post office, change your address, and forward any mail from your previous address for I would say at least the next month. Um there is going to be residual overflow of things that may not update with address immediately. So you can set up a forward forwarding address to your new property for at least the next month. Yep. Uh and again, like I said, bank statements, those are a huge thing that people don't think about. You need to go to your bank, update your address. Right. Uh even if you get paperless copies, they need to have your current address on file. Yep. And then securing your homeowner's insurance. This is if you are getting a mortgage on a property, it's going to be required for your mortgage. If not, you're buying a property in cash. I'd still personally would recommend having homeowner's insurance on that property.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, 100%. And, you know, I'll throw out two like shameless plugs here. Me, me and Zach, we meet with a lot of people, we do a lot of business with them, and and uh, you know, I've got two people that I would highly recommend for this. One of them being Caroline Pinion with Alpha Insurance, and the other one uh being uh Ricky with Goosehead Insurance. Yeah. Ricky Phillips is a great, great resource.

SPEAKER_01:

Caroline's great too.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, both of those are just solid people that can get you taken care of. So if you need a good recommendation, those are people we both personally vetted and use professionally. So uh give it give them a call and they can help you out with your homeowner's insurance. Um, all right, so segment five is going to be a financial prep. So, big one, avoid new debt before closing. Do not, I repeat, do not go get your mortgage set up where you're with your lender and then go buy a new car. Do not go set your mortgage up with your lender and then close on another piece of land. Like, get one done before the other. You will you will throw a wrench in the process in two seconds, and you're you're a lender, so if you want to speak a little more to that, it happens more time than you can think.

SPEAKER_01:

Someone gets approved for their loan, and then they're coming up to closing. Uh, when you we run this service in the background where it kind of monitors credit updates. So if you're working with a lender, they've ran your credit, don't think, oh well, they won't have to run my credit again. Because, yeah, we could possibly not have to run your credit report if you don't do anything on your credit report. What I mean by that is a lender runs your credit report and you're gonna close you know within the time frame before your credit expires. If you go and you decide you want to finance your furniture because you're gonna get a 20% discount at Ashley's furniture before closing, and a week before closing, you go and sign up for that company store credit card, that's gonna ding your lender. They are gonna know you've done that, and then we're gonna have to update your credit report to show that new trade line that is open, it's gonna have to be added into your debt-to-income ratio. That could affect your approval right there, and you no longer qualify for the house, but you know, unless you finance a new couch, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00:

And and it happens more often than not because people don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, but yeah, don't finance anything, no credit cards, nothing like that. Get the deal done and then go take care of your stuff. Now I will say life does happen for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, I I have worked with people and they're going through the process. I mean, if especially if you're building a custom home, I mean it it takes a long, a lot of time. Uh so I'm working with a guy currently whose car broke down. Right. And he said, but he called me and said, you know, I I know I'm not supposed to do anything, but my car is broke down. I'm gonna have to go get a new car. Can you look and see if I am to finance a car, what my payment should be, or you know, how much how much car can I get without killing my debt to income? Yeah. And you know, I appreciate that conversation. Just he didn't go out and do it without letting me know. So we were able to work out a budget for him and say, you know, this is where you can purchase within your limits and still get approved for the loan. And he said, okay, went and did it and immediately gave me the uh loan information for the car. I'm able to update his credit report, I can update his debt to income, and there was no secrets, it was full transparency. And we that's the key with it's just no communication.

SPEAKER_00:

Communication, just keeping open lines, don't do anything like you're you're part of a team. When you do these things, you're setting up that team we keep talking about, and you're a piece of it, so you have to communicate with other team members. Um, keeping your lender docs handy through the final underwriting. So I'm real bad about this. I'll sign stuff and then like close that thing out and not download the documents and all that, but I've gotten buttered and uh pro tip, download all the documents, put them in a file, either on your Google Drive or on your uh your desktop, somewhere you can access them really easily. That way, if somebody needs something from you or you need to review some data, boom, right there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And it is it's handy to keep even after closing. I mean, just I would say for you know at least two to three years. Uh, because you may want to refer back to it. If you are selling the house, um, you know, a lender may ask for a closing disclosure from when you bought your current house. That's right. Or if you're even gonna refinance if you know in this market rates have been high and they're coming down. A lot of people are looking at refinancing right now, and it's great to have that information handy uh to make that next process a lot smoother for you.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Uh the last little tip here is gonna be reviews and the close reviewing the closing disclosure carefully. So uh closing disclosure is gonna come to you. This is one of the final documents, kind of shows your payment, just how everything's going to close out, what you're gonna be responsible for. Um, as a homeowner, like as professionals, we don't expect you to know everything on there. We're more than happy to answer questions about closing disclosures. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

But you still just need to have a general understanding of what it is you are signing up for.

SPEAKER_00:

And if you don't understand, like ask. Don't proceed without understanding. Stop, ask professional.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, because uh, you know, everybody is human. There could be a mistake on there. There could be a line item that doesn't need to be there. Um and if you just sign without really reviewing it, you may not know what you're actually signing up for. That's right. Uh so reviewing your closing disclosure, talking with your lender, getting making sure you're comfortable with what the process looks like. 100%. So segment six uh we're gonna really discuss is the warranty and protection. Understanding the builder's warranty and what it covers is really important because there are several different warranties when you buy a new construction home. There's gonna be your builder's warranty. Uh they may sign up with a third-party warranty company that provides you with coverage for a certain amount of time for any kind of structural damage or you know defects in the house. That's right. There's also appliance warranties. So when you go and purchase your new home, the builder's warranty may not cover the fact that your dishwasher goes out.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

But the dishwasher manufacturer themselves will have a warranty, and so you can sign and register up for those types of warranties once you buy your home, and that will protect you uh because I've bought several homes, those things happen. I've had a refrigerator go out, I've had a washing machine go out or a dryer go out, and you know, warranties were able to replace those items at you know a fraction of the cost. Yep, absolutely, absolutely. Uh registering appliances, like we said, and I would also consider the extended warranty options as well. Um even with the appliances, you know, if you go to Lowe's or Home Depot, you get a warranty, they'll offer you maybe like a 10-month to a 12-month warranty. And then for$100 or more dollars or so, you could extend it to a five-year warranty. I would always do those extended warranties.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, that's uh that's a good tip. Yeah. Uh segment seven is going to be moving prep. So hiring a movie moving company early, um, reputable, reputable insured movers, not Joe around the corner that's got a trailer. You want people that are insured because I think we touched on this in maybe one of our other episodes. If you're hiring insured moving companies and they are moving you, their insurance will cover the scratches, the dings, if a broken door, whatever may happen. And they're also going to be careful not to do those things. Whereas, like if you and your buddies are doing it, you bring in a couch in, you knock a hole in the wall, that's not covered by your builder. That's not covered under an insurance policy. That's on you to replace, and it's a brand new house. So I believe personally, and again, it's personal perception, that it's worth hiring a moving company. And it's also like a stress reliever. You know, we this is supposed to be a fun process. We don't want to get down to the end of it and then have the dread of moving everything. You can hire companies that come in that'll pack everything up, help you pare down what you're not going to bring. I was just talking one um yesterday, actually. It's uh Proverbs 356, cleaning and moving over in uh Arab. And they'll their service is super cool. They come in, they like talk with you about what all the stuff you don't want to go to the house, where do you want to go? They'll take the stuff you don't want, get it out of there, donate it for you. It's gone. Wow. So it's cleaned out service. Package and label everything, then you're responsible for just getting it to the house, and then they come put everything in and organize it. So you just walk in like you've been living there. That's that's an amazing service. My wife, like we were moving houses, the stress reliever that that brings, man, that's gold. Um, compare quotes, check reviews. You definitely want somebody that's uh that's a high, highly reviewed uh person. We recommend checking um Google, Facebook reviews, uh BBB, Yelp, uh all that stuff. Um uh coordinate timing with your closing and utility setup. So you know you don't want these people like trying to set up because sometimes it'll run into the night uh with no power and stuff like that. You want to make sure everything's turned on, they can just move you in. And then uh ask movers about their insurance coverage for belongings, ask them how they're going to package things. You know, hey, how do you how do you package dishes? Like what's the standard you do there? How do you package a TV? How does that get wrapped? Make sure it's up to your standards for moving stuff.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So the last segment that we're gonna really discuss for the buyer's responsibility is segment eight, and that's post-closing. And that's after you move in, what is your job? The first thing you're gonna want to do is walk through your home and make just a running list for your warranty. Typically, a builder's warranty is gonna be about 12 months. You don't want to necessarily neglect everything, but you don't want to submit everything right up front and then be done. No, you want to keep a running list. A pro tip on this, because I have bought a new construction home before, is keep that running list just in a notepad in your kitchen. You see something, just go by and write it down. Yep. When you come up to about that 10-month period of living in your new home, that's when you're going to want to start to submit everything. Yeah. That way there is still plenty enough time within your warranty period to get it covered.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

If you wait until that 12-month period and then submit everything, the builder may tell you it is now out of warranty. That's right. And they won't do anything. So 10 months in, that is when you want to submit everything. It now, if it is a major issue, like if you have a leak or there's something that is can't wait, you can go in and submit those. There is not a limit to how many things you can submit, but you don't want to submit something every single day.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, uh, a good example is like, you know, doors and stuff like that with the season changes, humidity, stuff like that. You may have a door end up sticking a little bit when you go to close it. Yeah. And that's not something you want as a final product, but that house is is is kind of settling in to temperatures and things like that. Um, like Zach's saying, you know, submit the big things up front, hold on to the other things and don't formally submit them. I would talk to the builder about them. Like I'd say, hey, listen, you know, my kitchen door, like it's sticking a little bit. I'm going to submit that, but I'm putting it on the list and I'll formally submit it and then pick a date, you know. Just keep that open line. You know, hey, I'm going to expect you to fix this. And that prepares them so that they're not blindsided with the big running list one day of all this stuff they got to do, but they can be prepping that and knowing, okay, I'm going to have this, I'm going to have that, and they can be getting people lined up to all right, month 10, we're going to have a callback to run through this new construction, and I'm going to have somebody sitting there already to get that done. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh next thing you want to do is to stick to a home maintenance schedule. You know, we've talked a lot about AI can form something like that for you. I know there's, you know, my wife follows this uh series and they got books. It's like called the Lazy Genius.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

They they have several home maintenance schedules and stuff. They're easy to follow. And keeping those warranty contacts handy, uh, those are going to be, if you're buying from a production builder, uh, generally they're going to have a warranty department. So you wouldn't be calling the superintendent or the you know actual builder that built the house, they'll have a warranty department. You'll want that number handy uh to coordinate with them, like Luke was just saying, throughout the process. Give them a heads up. This is what we are going to be doing. Um, but also uh a pro tip for these big production builders the warranty department is handling the warranty claims for not only your neighborhood, yeah, but all the other neighborhoods that they are building.

SPEAKER_00:

So it could take some time before they get back to you. That that's right. And you know, just another good thing is you end your project, a good like handyman recommendation or plumber recommendation or electrician, because there are things you'll you'll need to maintenance, like you know, I don't know if y'all knew this or not, but you're supposed to maintenance water heaters uh every few years. So having a plumber that can come do that, um, having an electrician that can perform like a like a safety check uh every once in a while on your uh electrical, make sure you know everything's yeah moving around like it's supposed to. Like that's kind of that above and beyond step that you can do to make sure that your investment's protected long term.

SPEAKER_01:

And um, you know, something that you may not know, if you buy a new construction home, now there's gonna be a lot of dust. Yeah. There's a lot of sheetrock dust that you know forms, especially early on. Yep. Um changing those air filters in your HVAC unit regularly.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for the first like several months, often changing them. And you can actually pay uh HVAC professionals to come do a vent cleaning. So you can have them come clean the vents right at the end of construction and then change those regularly, and that's gonna save your unit. Yeah, it'll save it.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, I've I have bought a existing home on the market uh before I built a home, and you know, I feel like anywhere from three to six months was pretty standard to change an HVAC uh filter, but when I built a new home, I quickly realized I was changing air filters about twice a month. Yeah. Easy. It was it was so stuff gets thick.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and you can and you can hear it. I mean, it's just cheatrock dust to get in your neighbor's house. Yeah, it's it's a lot. It will. It's a lot. Um, all right, guys, so that wraps up today's episode of construction constructive conversations. Uh remember, building home isn't just about watching the walls go up. Buyers play an important role in keeping the process on track and setting themselves up for a smooth move in. If you're about to start your own build and you know, save this punch list. Uh check it out. If you've got any questions, give us a call. Uh, if you've been through the process before, we'd love to hear any tips, tricks you have. You know, drop a comment or send us a message. And uh thanks for listening.

Head Shot

Luke Barksdale

Co-host
Head Shot

Zac Daniel

Co-host