Carter Homes, Inc. Homeowner Information

New Home Warranties Don't Release Buyers from Ongoing Maintenance
Dena Amoruso

When we buy a new car, we pay close attention to the car's warranty, noting that, with regular oil changes and services, the automobile manufacturer will warrant it against material defects and faulty workmanship. And we note the time period the car is warranted for, knowing full well that, for instance, after 35,000 miles or two years, whichever comes first, we can make no further claims on many mechanical features.

But do we think of new homes with the same matter-of-factness that we reserve for new cars when it comes to warranties? It seems not. Although time was when new cars were hand made (assembly line or not), new homes are indeed still hand-made specimens, one of the few remnants left of that time-honored discipline. And we can't compute human mileage the way we can car mileage. It just boils down to owner care. Some homeowners (are these referred to as 'boring' types?) try to keep up with every detail of home maintenance to preserve their homes' pristine newness, inside and out. Others truly live in every corner of their home every minute they can, without concern to how prematurely worn the house will appear or whether it is indeed time to have major systems in their homes serviced or air conditioning filters changed.

New homebuilders often have elaborate networks of subcontractors and precisely worded agreements in place to deal with "service after the sale" on the dwellings they build. Some purchase outside indemnification warranties from firms specializing in these types of contracts with both the builder and the buyer. The builders who pay the extra dollars for these separate warranties claim that not every builder can purchase them; the builder must build their homes to a specifically described set of standards, or they would not qualify to be participants. This may be true, however, these outside warranties cost a considerable dollar amount per-house to the builder, with this figure no doubt buried somewhere within the sales price of the new home. (You can bet it's not taken off the bottom line).

Do homes with these types of warranties fare any better on homeowner satisfaction surveys than those with conventional builder warranties? The jury is out on that one. The outside warranty is an attractive selling feature for those builders purchasing them, however. The builder will claim that, even if they went out of business, the Warranty Company will be there, giving buyers peace of mind in the long run. The sad fact is, even warranty companies can go out of business (as is the case with my own less-than-ten-year old home), leaving the homeowner to search for the builder's warranty office when the builder may indeed have stopped building new homes in that area.

The traditional 1-10 or 2-10 builder warranties (the shorter periods for items and systems within the homes and the 10-year element for basic structural integrity issues) that accompany most new homes are limited warranties, but are not to be sneezed at. Some states and municipalities already have strict building codes in place, getting tougher every year. The various trades themselves (framers, roofers, electricians, plumbers, etc.), must be able to back up their own installations, and the products they use each come with their own warranties. As they say, when something is amiss, stuff usually rolls downhill. The builder hires the best tradesmen they can find for the budget they have set for themselves, and the rest is up to just how well each of these trades perform on a regular basis. Sub-contractors come and go, and oftentimes the builder is left with the task of remedying shoddy workmanship. That is why so many builders try to be extra careful about who they bring onto the job, inspecting their work every step of the way.

Now that we have somewhat addressed the builder side of things, what is the homeowner himself responsible for? A builder's customer service, or warranty representative can easily determine, after literally hundreds of visits to their own homes, the difference between material defect and installation and owner neglect, misuse, and lack of regular maintenance. The truth is, the homeowner is not "off the hook" during the new home warranty period. The routine maintenance of installed systems, surfaces, and other amenities contained within their new home falls squarely on the new home occupant's shoulders, with the builder's service representative on hand only in the cases of obvious and glaring mistakes, sub-standard installations, or emergencies.

Here, then, are some common scenarios found in many buyer/new home warranty department agendas that may help new homeowner see things in a different perspective:

Correcting those "Walk-Through" items: Most builders have just as serious an interest in getting remedial walk-through items repaired or replaced as the homeowners themselves. As with others entering your home for repairs, someone must be on hand for the visit to be made, sometimes for hours at a time. Your failure to keep an appointment may result in weeks, and even months of delay for the builder to reschedule his sub-contractor or customer service representative to revisit. If a builder's sub no-shows, it is the responsibility of the homeowner to report this immediately to the builder's service department. Although builders will not reimburse homeowners for their time lost from work, as other businesses will not, they need to know how accountable their sub-contractors are in their response times and appointments. Squeaky wheels generally get the grease in this respect. Fax, call and e-mail the builder repetitively, without regard to being a pest on this one.
Send in those warranty cards!!! Literally all of your appliances, and even many of the systems installed in your new home have warranty cards for homeowners to fill in and send out. Don't leave these sitting neglected in the homeowner packet furnished to you at walk-through time. The warranty period on these items begins the day of occupancy or the close of escrow, whichever happens first, and the clock ticks. Builders will refer you directly to the manufacturers themselves, leaving you high and dry if you are not johnny-on-the-spot with the mail-in of these important documents.
Not everything is an emergency: Let's face it. The inability of your garbage disposal to operate does not constitute an emergency. And the failure of your garage door opener does not warrant a frantic call to the builder's customer service hotline on a Sunday. If most homeowners read the manuals that accompany appliances and systems contained within their new homes, they may find step-by-step methods to correct the most commonly occurring anomalies, as well as ways to live with them until Monday, when a service request can be faxed or mailed in. New homeowners tend to expect perfection from every item and square foot of their new homes, but oftentimes fail to think about what they, themselves, can do to remedy the situation.
Homeowners can't point fingers at builders when something ceases looking new in their new homes, without an effort made on their part to keep it that way. Natural wood cabinets can fade because of constant light, carpets can mat in heavy traffic pattern areas, tile grout can get ugly when not routinely sealed, and driveways will continue to stain when oil messes are not instantly cleaned up. That's life. New homebuilders deliver their products to the buyer new, for them to use. And nothing stays new for long. Homeowners can, however, decide to take precautions to maintain and restore the new appearance of many of the items in their homes. Keeping blinds closed where lots of sunlight beams onto cabinets (and carpeting) can keep them from prematurely fading. Carpet "raking" and regular cleaning can keep carpets looking new. Grout sealer can keep the color fairly consistent on tile countertops and floors (the sealer itself may cause initial darkening, however), and regular cleaning of walls, baseboards, concrete and painted surfaces can prolong their life and pristine appearance. Filters on air conditioners, heating systems, etc., need to be changed regularly. Shower and bath glass and tile must be wiped down to avoid hard water "etching" of new surfaces.

The list goes on and on. So where does the buyer's responsibility end and the builder's begin? Read your new home warranty carefully. If you are unsure that the requests you may be making of your builder's warranty department are within the proper warranty guidelines, you may ask for the builder to send a representative out to examine the issue, before sending a repairman. Also pay close attention to what constitutes a real emergency. A total loss of power when no homes around you are having a problem, an entire plumbing system that is backed up, with sewage smells spewing into your bathtubs, or the total failure of your heating system, etc., are reasons to sound the alarm.

This article is not meant to protect every builder who throws a production home neighborhood up, takes its profits, and silently steals away, without regard to their home warranties and their own accountability after the fact. Fortunately, most American homebuilders are on the up and up, trying to provide high quality, affordable homes to the public. And, although mistakes may be made along the way, it usually doesn't take long for a builder to realize that they may need to correct the tactical and material errors in the homes they build, or they may not stay in business for long.

If homeowners think of the builders of their homes as "partners" during the new home warranty phase, they may come to understand that homeownership takes a commitment, both intellectually and financially, to maintain their investments. Homebuilders stake their reputations on the quality of workmanship and products put into the homes they build, and it doesn't take long for word to get around when neighbors compare notes about sub-standard builder performance. By the same token, new homes carry with them an emotional investment as well as a financial one. For that reason, owners tend to think of them differently than they do of that shiny new car parked in the garage, which will need to be operated and maintained within the guidelines of common sense, before bringing the car maker into the picture to solve a problem. Only when homeowners think of a new home purchase in that way, albeit on a much larger scale, can a clearer picture of new home warranties come into view.

Dena Amoruso is a full time freelance writer, specializing in new construction issues. She has 14 years experience in residential builder - developer sales and marketing in both Northern and Southern California. Her articles appear in the Sacramento Bee, Reno Gazette-Journal, Gold Country Media papers,and twice weekly on Realty Times. She is currently at work on her first consumer book for new home buyers. Dena also writes on women's issues for WAHM.com (Work at Home Moms) where her insight, experiences, and satire can be enjoyed by all. She can be reached by e-mail at: DenaAmoruso@realtytimes.com.

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