What Makes a High-Quality New Build Home? Inside the Inspection Process for IDEAL New Homes in Oklahoma

How Are New Build Homes Inspected During Construction?

When buying a new build home, many buyers assume inspections only happen when the city inspector visits the property and that this means a new home is high quality. In reality, though, high-quality new home developments should include multiple internal inspections throughout construction beyond what the city requires. These inspections ensure that the new home meets both building code requirements and the builder’s own quality standards. Now you just have to figure out which new home builders in Oklahoma have the highest standards.

Every new build home constructed by Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods in our new home communities undergoe continuous internal inspections throughout construction. These inspections help ensure every new home in our developments meets our high-quality standards before the homeowner ever moves in.

These internal inspections start at the very beginning and far exceed local requirements and go above and beyond what many other builders inspect. In other words: inspections aren’t simply part of our process. They are our process.

According to Duane Sanders, Director of Construction, “Every phase has its own inspection. We’re involved every day. Inspecting every day.” Duane believes Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods’ processes and commitment to the highest quality new homes should give buyers confidence.

Phase 1: High Quality Before Even Breaking Ground

Structural Engineering in Your Ideal New Home

Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods is one of the only local builders that has a Ph.D. structural engineer ensuring a high-quality new home foundation by starting underneath the foundation. 

Along with his work with Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods, Dr. Chris Ramseyer is an emeritus professor at the University of Oklahoma’s Gallogly College of Engineering, a co-designer of the iconic Skydance Bridge at Oklahoma City’s Scissortail Park, and the author of the City of Moore’s tornado building code.

Dr. Ramseyer reviews engineering specifications for each floor plan and designs the foundation plan based on detailed hydrology soil reports of each neighborhood. Foundation engineering plans might be different community-to-community depending on the soil. In this process, meeting the International Residential Code and local building codes is the minimum, not the goal. Ensuring that the new home foundation is built to the highest quality by evaluating the land is one of the reasons that Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods has some of the strongest foundations.

Learn more about how Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods builds foundations with one of the highest success rates in Oklahoma here.

Scopes of Work to Ensure High Quality

Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods has developed, and relies on, proprietary scopes of work for every trade involved in the building process. Split up by each step, this collection of detailed written guidelines exceeds 200 pages, and goes above and beyond city requirements to ensure that every new build meets the Ideal high-quallity standards.

“We expect our trades to follow our Scopes of Work and we grade their work against those codes,” Duane said.

The Ideal building team is trained on these scopes of work and reference them every day as they review progress by trade partners.

Phase 2: Structural Phase (Foundation + Framing) for Ideal New Homes

This is the most heavily inspected part of your home’s build. “Foundation, slab, frame, concrete pouring – we’re checking these daily,” said Duane. Each builder at Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods only builds a certain number of homes at one time to ensure they’re able to inspect each home thoroughly at each stage.

The Foundation of New Ideal Homes

Most Ideal homes use a modified slab on grade foundation. This means that every four feet, a 36” deep concrete pier is poured for structural stability, and a stem wall is poured that forms the outside barrier of the slab. At this stage, Ideal builders check the perimeter measurements, pier diameter and depth, rebar placement, moisture barrier underneath the slab, and more. 

Once the stem walls are ready, the slab is then poured. Even though these are technically two different pours, it’s all tied together with rebar and considered a monolithic foundation. An Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods builder will check to make sure the concrete has the appropriate slump, which is the consistency or fluidity of wet concrete and is critical to ensure the correct consistency for stability and strength.

Internal Structural Checks

The scope of work for framing trade partners is 35 pages long. In additionl to city frame inspections, the internal frame inspection is one of the most intense parts of the process. Using the scopes of work as a guide, each Ideal builder takes 1-2 hours per home to check that:

• Studs are level both vertically and horizontally to ensure walls aren’t bowed
• Tyvek moisture barrier is taped at all seams and nail holes for moisture protection
• Tyvek added over all exterior walls, including dormers and front gables
• Corners inside the home are square
• The appropriate bracing is added in the attic for support
• HVAC duct work is taped along seems to prevent seepage
• Correct bracing is added above windows for structural support
• Hilte nails are used every 18” on walls to ensure maximum support
• All corners to be built with space for insulation to increase energy efficiency
• Foam board insulation is added to all exterior walls to create energy efficiency
• 1x4 lumber is added in the required areas for wind bracing
• …and more

“Little details could become problems,” explained Duane. “Because of continual inspections and the trade scopes, we don’t have big errors. We don’t normally find anything drastic.”

Our builders make significant notes to trade partners during this process, so you’ll see spray paint and information written on the frame to communicate any items that need to be corrected before moving on to the next phase. The builder will inspect the home again after the trade partners have completed their corrections to ensure nothing was missed in the process. You might notice that Ideal homes have more detailed instructions on the frame than many other builders since this process isn’t always standard for home builders.

Phase 3: Bricks, Rough-In & Mechanical Systems

During this phase, the roof and exterior elements such as the bricks are installed. Internal inspections continue at every step after a trade finishes their work to ensure items aren’t missed in the process. 

Duane used bricks to illustrate: “When we’re in the brick phase, we’re constantly checking that the brick ties are appropriately placed, and making sure everything’s anchored and flashed correctly.”

The same goes for plumbing, electrical systems, mechanical systems, and every other part of this phase. Nothing is left to assumption or deemed “good enough.”

Phase 4: Insulation & Energy Performance for Top Quality

At this point, third-party contractors who’ve been part of the process from the beginning, become more central.

Energy Efficiency for Energy Advantage Certified New Homes

Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods partners with Justin Wilson, world-renowned building science expert and co-founder of Construction Instruction. Justin and his team regularly visit Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods job sites to evaluate practices, recommend improvements, and help us stay on the leading edge of energy-efficiency and mechanical design.

HVAC and Ductwork for High Energy Efficiency

Before any mechanical equipment is ordered, independent engineers perform three separate sets of load calculations to determine the heating and cooling needs of the home and the best ductwork layout. They also do a third-party duct blaster test that ensures the heat and air system air leakage meets or exceeds our higher-than-normal standards. Our HVAC trade partners are always amazed that the minimal amount of air leakage that occurs in an Ideal home.

Insulation and Airflow For High Energy Efficiency

Jeremiah Bryant from Home Energy Response Squad, LLC, will conduct Blower Door Testing at the end of the project to determine each home’s individual HERS® Score. However, he and his team visit each IDEAL home throughout the build process to assess for potential energy efficiency issues from the framing stage on.

“We’re evaluating things like insulation, framing, and whether the windows were installed correctly. Our goal is to have as few variables to address at the Blower Door Test and to course correct along the way,” Jeremiah said. “What we are doing is understanding every house, that it is healthy, comfortable, and energy efficient, we’re looking at each house individually. That house. Your house,” said Jeremiah.

Phase 5: Interior Completion for Beautiful Homes and High Energy Efficiency

This construction stage is about craftsmanship, detail, and system performance. Once the drywall is up, it’s time for the things you’ll see every day in your home, like paint, cabinetry, trim, lighting, flooring, and everything else selected at the Ideal Design Studio.

Along with daily inspections on all components that you can see, our internal inspections are also making final checks on electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and mechanical systems. 

This is also when the Blower Door Testing is conducted and your home’s HERS® Score is assigned. The Blower Door Testing is not required by local or national codes or building standards. Along with determining the HERS® Score, Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods uses this added layer as both inspection and diagnostic test. If the Blower Door Testing shows the home is too tight or not tight enough, we investigate the cause and bring Jeremiah and his team back to do the testing again.

It’s no surprise that Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods’ HERS® Scores average about 40% better than a typical new home and 53% better than a typical used home.

 Want to learn more about this interesting process that informs your home’s three-year Energy Advantage Certified Guarantee? Check out this article.

Phase 6: Quality Assurance Inspections Only in Ideal New Homes

Even after an Ideal home is complete and all internal, external, and city inspections are signed off, we have one more round of inspections for your future home. The Customer Care team inspects every Ideal home to evaluate all of the finishes and functionality of the home. This is when appliances are tested, paint touch up needs are marked, faucets are run, and potential drain issues are identified.

When a builder is focused on a home for months, having a final second set of eyes to double-check everything makes a huge impact on your home’s final quality. 

Does this mean that your home is perfect when you move in? We like to think so! But there are always things that could get missed even through these intense inspections. That’s why our customer care team is dedicated to going above and beyond standard warranty procedures. We pride ourselves on correcting anything we wouldn’t be personally okay with in our own home. Even if an issue isn’t one defined in our warranty standards, we’re happy to look into every warranty claim to be able to be proud of every home we build. 

Customer Care approaches every home with the thought, “What would I expect in my own personal home?”

Your Ideal Home

Along with the inspections designated for each phase, the directors of construction perform random, unscheduled inspections at every phase of the project. The inspection process doesn’t finish until just before closing.

At Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods, our commitment to internal inspections reflects our commitment to quality and to you, our customers. We don’t let small errors transform into big problems. We don’t let things slide if they’re covered by drywall or paint. But if they do accidentally go unnoticed, we’re also there for you after closing to make sure your home is built to a high standard.

Every inspection, every Scope of Work, every expert, and every standard that exceeds requirements is in place because of you.

So why do we prioritize internal inspections? Because we prioritize you.

FAQ: New Build Homes and Inspections

Do new build homes need inspections?

Even though new construction homes must pass city inspections, Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods also conducts internal inspections during each phase of construction to ensure high quality. So, while every new build home goes through some level of inspections, only the highest quality homes are inspected this significantly along the way.

How many inspections does a new build home go through?

A typical new build home may undergo multiple city inspections, including:

• foundation inspection
• framing inspection
• mechanical inspections
• final walkthrough inspections

Are inspections different in new home developments?

Some new home developments use standardized building processes and internal quality checks that go beyond municipal code inspections. It's important to talk to the new home company to understand what level of inspections they conduct above and beyond what is required by code.

Do you want to see the quality yourself? Visit available new homes in one of these areas:

• New homes in Blanchard
• New homes in Washington, OK
• New homes in Norman
• New homes in Moore
• New homes in Mustang and Yukon
• New homes in Harrah
• New homes in Choctaw
• New homes in Piedmont
• New homes in Edmond and Deer Creek
• New homes in Guthrie
• New homes in Stillwater