Progress Inspections for New Construction: The Four Stages Worth Paying For

Every building goes up in layers, and every layer hides the one under it. Drywall hides framing. Cladding hides the weather barrier. By the time the keys change hands, most of what decides how the building will perform for the next forty years cannot be seen without cutting something open.

A progress inspection puts an independent inspector on site at the moment before each cover goes on. Owner builders and small builders in the North Okanagan are asking for it on single houses, shops with a suite above, and small runs of bays on the flats. Our new construction inspection service is built around those moments. This post walks through four of them and sets out what each one shows, what disappears when the next trade arrives, and what it costs to find out later.

What a progress inspection is, and what it is not

A progress inspection is independent and third party. c4u works for whoever hires us, usually the owner or owner builder, sometimes the builder. We observe, document, photograph and recommend. We do not direct trades, approve work or sign anything off.

It does not replace the municipal building inspection. The building official inspects at the stages the permit requires, for compliance with the BC Building Code. That is a regulatory function with its own time budget, and the official is not working for you. Passing a municipal framing inspection means nothing was seen that stopped the permit. It does not mean every load path was traced.

It does not replace the builder’s own quality control or the new home warranty process. Homes built by licensed residential builders in BC carry third-party warranty coverage with its own procedures. Owner builders working under an Owner Builder Authorization do not carry that coverage, and they carry personal responsibility for defects to anyone who later buys the house. For them, a dated photographic record of the concealed stages is the only evidence of what is behind the drywall.

Stage one: framing, before insulation

Once the drywall is up, the structure is gone from view until someone demolishes it.

What we are looking at is the load path. Every beam has to land on something, and that something has to carry the load down to a footing without interruption. A ridge beam that lands on a header, which lands on a single jack stud, which lands on the subfloor with nothing beneath it, is a common find and a cheap fix on the day. The same find after drywall is a sagging ridge, a cracked ceiling and an engineer.

We look at bearing at every level, and at what the plumbers and electricians have done to the framing after the framers left. Over-notched joists, top plates cut through for a drain and never strapped, and a bearing stud bored out for a three inch pipe all show up here and nowhere else.

Fastening is the other half: sheathing nailing pattern and edge distance on shear walls, hold-downs and straps where the drawings call for them, truss bracing installed rather than left in the bundle, hangers with the right nail in every hole. Fireblocking at soffits, dropped ceilings, chases and stair stringers belongs here too. Once the drywall is on there is no way to confirm any of it, and finding a problem later means opening finished walls before a single structural repair begins.

Stage two: envelope, before cladding

The weather-resistive barrier and the flashings keep water out. The cladding mostly protects them from sun. Once the siding goes on, every flashing detail behind it is invisible for the life of the cladding. The principle is simple: every lap and flashing sheds water outward and downward onto the layer below, never behind it. Nearly every envelope failure we open up is a failure of that principle at one spot.

We look at the WRB laps (upper courses over lower, shingle fashion) and how the barrier is finished at the top of the wall and at the foundation. We look at every window and door in sequence: sill pan first with end dams, then jamb flashings over the sill, then head flashing over the jambs, and the WRB above lapped over the head flashing, not tucked behind it. Reversed head flashing is the most common envelope defect we photograph on new builds, and it is a two minute correction while the tape is still on the roll.

Then the penetrations, hose bibs, vents, masts and gas lines, each with the barrier sealed to it rather than cut around it. Then the intersections: step flashing where roof meets wall with a kick-out flashing at the bottom of every such edge, deck ledgers flashed over and behind, and rainscreen strapping with a clear drainage path where it is required. WRB left exposed through an Okanagan summer takes UV damage before the siding is on, and freeze-thaw cycling through the shoulder seasons works water into any joint that is holding it.

Water behind cladding rots sheathing for years before a stain appears inside, and the repair is cladding removal and sheathing replacement over whatever has been wet. By then the area is never small.

Stage three: mechanical rough-in

Often the same visit as framing. Everything the trades have run through the framing is visible now and buried shortly after.

For ductwork: routing, support and sealing. Flex duct crushed through a joist bay and unsealed joints at every collar are ordinary finds. Bathroom and range exhausts have to terminate outdoors, not in the attic or soffit cavity.

For drains: consistent fall toward the stack with no bellies, correct venting, and nail plates over every pipe and cable within reach of a drywall screw. A drain run with a low spot will drain slowly for the life of the building, and nobody will find it once the ceiling is closed.

For electrical: cable support, box fill, and penetrations through fire separations sealed with something rated for the job. Vin’s electrical training means this is not a glance.

Air barrier continuity runs through all of it: at the top plates, around every box in an exterior wall, at the rim joist, and around every duct and pipe that passes through it. A gap here is a condensation point for as long as the building stands, and in a North Okanagan winter it shows up as frost in the attic and ice at the eaves.

Stage four: final, before handover

The last visit looks like a conventional home inspection, with one difference: the inspector already knows what is behind the walls.

We test everything that operates: fixtures, appliances, HVAC in every mode, exhaust fans for actual airflow at the exterior termination, GFCI and AFCI protection. We look at attic insulation depth and baffles, roof flashings, siding clearances above grade, and grading away from the foundation, because backfill settles and the first spring runoff finds the low spot beside the house. The result is a photographed deficiency list for the builder before the final payment is released.

A worked scenario

Say an owner builder in Spallumcheen is building a house with an attached garage whose roof meets the main wall of the house. The siding crew is booked for Monday. On Friday, a stage two inspection notes that the kick-out flashing at the bottom of that intersection is missing. The fix is one piece of bent metal and a strip of tape.

Skip the visit and the siding goes on. Every rain and every spring melt for years sends water behind the siding into the sheathing beside the garage door. Nothing shows inside because the wall backs onto an unheated garage. Around year six a soft spot appears in the mudroom drywall. Behind it is rotted sheathing, a wet bottom plate and mould down into the rim joist. The repair means stripping that wall, replacing sheathing and framing, and re-siding with material that may no longer match. A five figure repair to avoid a two minute fix.

For small builders: why invite someone in

A dated, photographed record of every concealed stage is the strongest evidence a builder can hold when a warranty claim or a dispute arrives years later. It also catches the subcontractor’s Thursday afternoon shortcut before the builder is paying for it.

Booking the visits

Timing is controlled by the trades, not the calendar. Call before the insulator is booked, before the siding crew starts, before the drywall is delivered, and before you hand over the final cheque. Tell us the build schedule as early as you know it. If the budget only allows for some of these stages, take framing and envelope. Those are the two that never come back.

Talk to us before subjects come off

Tell us the address, the building type and your deadline, and we will tell you honestly what we can do and when. Every inspection is carried out personally by Vin McConnachie, Consumer Protection BC licence #78731, and every report comes with a walkthrough on site so you hear the findings before you read them. Call or text (250) 212-4025, or book an inspection online.

Don’t Buy Blindfolded. Let c4u see for you.

New Construction Inspection

A brand new home before possession, or a warranty milestone coming up. New does not mean flawless.