Dream Home ?    This home being built on a near by lake in the Austin area was to be the ultimate dream home.  During the inspection of the first floor frame stage, twenty-eight material deviations were found conflicting with the engineer's specifications.  When asked, the contractor replied, "this is the way I've always done it."   The "always done it" approach is 'done' more than you may think in residential construction.  The problem with this approach is that Codes change due to lessons learned, but the 'always done it approach' does not change.  Warranties are tied to the product or installation being installed or constructed based upon the most current acceptable practices, which means:  according to the newest edition of the Code.  After the material changes were corrected, this home had a smoother completeion because all the following contractors/subs knew the "Inspector" was watching!

Load bearing rafters ?

These rafters (the boards with the metal gusset plates attached) are the load bearing ends of an engineered trus system.  All of the weight from the roof and attic is transferred to the ends of the rafters and then down eventually to the foundation (and earth) below.  Not only do the ends of these rafters not meet the double 2x6 header, they are also missing the engineered hangers to hold them to the header.  If not caught by the inspector, the result of this would become obivious in a matter of days after the sheetrock began splitting and other members began cracking under stress.  Correcting a problem like this is extremely annoying and inconvenient if your baby grand piano is underneath this location.  Phase inspections are specifically designed to catch mistakes and errors like this during the framing stage rather than the week after move-in.

Which is better, "done right", or "make it fit" ?The piece at the bottom is called a strut, which is designed in conventional framed lumber construction to transfer the weight of the roof and attic to the bearing members below.  The wood on top of this strut was cut to fill in the gap after the strut was cut too short.  As you can see in the photo, there are gaps between each piece of wood where there is supposed to be structural integrity directly connected to the ridge beam at the top of the roof/attic.  Even though this is an obivious and serious error in judgement on the part of the framer, this new home had already "passed city inspection" and the builder's own "third-party inspector".  The home owner had called his mortage loan officer to ask what his options were.  When asked if he was using a Professional Inspector, the owner-to-be decided to hire us to represent him.  In addition to all of the framing issues, his fireplace had serious safety problems, which also had passed by the "city inspector".  Phase inspections in New Home Construction are your best bet to get the quality you think you are paying for.  (This builder is nationally known and has several awards for quality)  Shame!