The 11-Month Builder Warranty Inspection: Get It Documented Before Your First Year Ends
Your builder's warranty is a deadline, not a courtesy. This page is for owners of new homes in Hernando and Pasco who are somewhere between month eight and month eleven and already have a list going. It comes from Jay Sampson of All Corners Home Inspection, FL License #HI8193 and a State-Certified Building Contractor, who has built the kind of houses he now inspects.
- ✓ FL Licensed #HI8193
- ✓ State-Certified Building Contractor
- ✓ InterNACHI Certified
- ✓ Same-Day Reports
Your warranty ends on a day. Find that day first.
Most builder warranties run one year on workmanship and materials. Yours has a start date, an end date and a set way to file a claim, and all three are written in your contract or closing packet. Dig it out before you do anything else. Circle the end date. Read how the builder wants requests sent.
Then count back. Book the inspection around month ten. That gives you room for the visit, the report, putting your request together and getting it to the builder with days to spare. Owners who wait until the last week tend to send a rushed list, and a rushed list is easy to answer with a partial fix.
This is a busy corner of Florida for new houses. Thousands of new homes are permitted every year across Hernando and Pasco, according to U.S. Census building permit data for 2025. Every one that closes starts its own clock. The 11-month visit is the last of the three new-build checkpoints All Corners offers, and the other two are covered on the new construction inspection page.
An owner's timeline from move-in to the deadline
The inspection is one step. The owners who get the most out of their warranty treat the whole first year as a paper trail.
- ✓Move-in through month three. Start a running list the day you get the keys. Phone photos with the date on them, a note of the room and what you saw. A door that sticks after a storm counts. So does a crack that shows up behind a picture frame.
- ✓Months four through eight. Keep adding. Summer matters here. The house goes through its first long stretch of AC running hard and its first full rainy season, and that is when a lot of first-year movement shows itself.
- ✓Month nine or ten. Call to set up the 11-month inspection. Pull out the contract and confirm the exact end date and how claims go in.
- ✓Inspection day. Jay inspects the house top to bottom and adds what a trained eye finds to what you already noticed. You'll have the full report the same day, and Jay goes over it with you after the inspection.
- ✓Before the end date. Send one written request to the builder's warranty department, numbered to match the report photos. Keep a copy of everything you send.
- ✓After you send it. Track each item until it is closed. Note who came out, what they did and what is still open. Follow up in writing on anything that stalls.
What a brand-new house commonly shows after twelve months here
A new house is built from fresh lumber, fresh concrete and fresh sealant. Then it spends a year in Gulf Coast heat and humidity with the AC drying the inside and the rain soaking the outside. Some movement is expected. These are the things a lot of first-year homes show.
Nail pops and corner cracks
As framing lumber dries out, drywall fasteners can push out and leave small round bumps. Hairline cracks often run off the corners of doors and windows, where the wall is weakest.
Caulk and grout gaps
Tubs, showers, backsplashes and countertops move a little as the house settles in. Caulk pulls away and grout lines open. Small gaps there let water get where it should not.
Doors and windows that rub
A door that latched fine at closing may rub the jamb by spring, or a window may get stiff in its track. Usually it is adjustment. Sometimes it points at something worth a closer look.
Hairline stucco cracks
Thin cracks in stucco are common as it cures and the wall behind it moves. They still get documented, because open cracks on an exterior wall let rain in.
Grading and downspouts
The first rainy season tests the yard. Washouts at downspouts, low spots that hold water and soil sloping back toward the slab often do not show up until the summer storms arrive.
Attic and condensate lines
Trades work in the attic after insulation goes in, and it often gets pushed aside or packed down. AC condensate lines and pans get checked too, since a clogged line shows up as a wet pan or a ceiling stain.
The outside gets a look as well. Sealant around outdoor faucets, dryer and bath vents, light fixtures and other spots where something passes through the wall dries and shrinks in the sun, and that is where water looks for a way in.
The report documents. Your contract decides. Jay writes down what he sees, with photos, and explains what it likely means. Whether the builder repairs a given item is set by the terms of your warranty, not by the inspector. Anything that looks beyond cosmetic gets flagged as worth a closer look by the builder or a specialist.
Why it helps when the inspector has built houses
All Corners Home Inspection is Jay Sampson's company, based on the west side of Spring Hill and serving Hernando and Pasco counties. Year-one movement has a pattern. A builder's superintendent knows the difference between a crack that came from lumber drying out and one that keeps coming back with a door going out of square beside it. Jay reads a house the same way, because he holds a State-Certified Building Contractor license on top of his inspector license, FL License #HI8193. He is also InterNACHI Certified and has been inspecting since 2013.
That background matters when the request lands on the warranty desk. A plain description of where the item is, what it looks like and why it matters reads like it came from someone who knows construction. That is the kind of item list that gets scheduled. More about Jay is on Your Inspector.
It also keeps things honest in the other direction. Not every nail pop is a crisis, and the report says so. A good report sorts the small cosmetic items from the ones that deserve the builder's full attention, so your request does not bury the important ones.
How the 11-month visit goes
A home inspection is a visual, non-invasive look at the readily accessible parts of the house. Nothing gets cut open or taken apart. Jay works through the roof, attic, exterior, structure, electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling, and the interior rooms, and photographs what he finds.
- ✓Share your list ahead of time. Mention your running notes and dated photos when you call to set up the visit, and ask Jay the best way to get them to him before inspection day.
- ✓Clear the access points. Make room at the attic hatch, the electrical panel, the air handler and the water heater. Move boxes off the garage walls if you can.
- ✓Have the paperwork near. The warranty document and any earlier service requests help Jay see what the builder already touched.
The narrative report with photos comes to you the same day. After the inspection, Jay goes over it with you, item by item, so you know which findings to lead with when you write to the builder.
Do you have a wind mitigation form on file yet?
A wind mitigation inspection records how the roof is attached and what protects the windows and doors. Plenty of buyers got one at closing for their first policy. If you did not, or you are not sure your carrier has one on file, year one is a good time, because on a new house all of that is still original and easy to see and photograph. Ask your insurance agent how your carrier uses the form.
The wind mitigation form comes free with a complete home inspection. An 11-month visit is its own inspection, so when you call, ask Jay whether your visit qualifies or whether the wind form would be a separate inspection.
Turning the report into a request the builder can act on
Make one list
Combine your own notes and Jay's findings into a single written request. One document is easier for a warranty desk to schedule than a stack of emails.
Number it to the photos
Give every item a number that matches the photo in the report, with the room and location. The tech who shows up should be able to find each spot without calling you.
Send it before the date
Submit it the way your contract says, in writing, ahead of the end date. If there is a portal, upload the report too. Save the confirmation.
Keep copies and follow up
Keep the report, your request and every reply in one folder. Check items off as they are closed and follow up in writing on the ones that are not.
11-month inspections across Hernando and Pasco
Builder warranty inspection questions, answered
When should I schedule an 11-month warranty inspection, and what if I'm already past month eleven?
Book it around month ten, counted from the start date in your warranty contract, so there is time for the inspection, the same-day report and a written request before the end date. If you are past month eleven but the end date has not passed, call now and get your request in before that date. If the end date has already passed, the report still documents the condition of the house, but your contract decides whether the builder will take a late request, so check with the builder first.
What does a one-year builder warranty usually cover, and what does it leave out?
Most one-year builder warranties cover workmanship and materials, but your contract is the only answer that counts. Each builder writes its own terms, including what is excluded and what upkeep falls to the owner. Read that section before the inspection so you know how your items will be judged.
Do I need an inspection on a new home if the county already inspected it and I did a final walkthrough?
It is worth doing, because neither of those sees how the house behaved over a full year. The county inspects at permit stages, and the final walkthrough happens before anyone has lived in the house. The 11-month inspection looks at the home after a summer of heat, humidity and rain.
What should be on my 11-month warranty checklist before I call the builder?
Everything you have noticed since move-in, with the room, the location and a dated photo. Common entries are nail pops, cracks at door and window corners, caulk or grout gaps, doors that rub, stucco hairlines, low spots or washouts in the yard, and anything around the AC. Jay adds what he finds to your list.
How do I submit the inspection report to the builder's warranty department so items actually get fixed?
Send one written request before the end date, numbered to match the photos in the report, in the way your contract says to file. Attach the report, keep a copy and save any confirmation. Then follow up in writing on anything still open.
Is a new home's first-year drywall crack or nail pop a warranty item or just normal settling?
That is up to your warranty terms, not the inspector. Small nail pops and hairline corner cracks are common in a first year as framing lumber dries. The report documents what is there, and the contract decides what the builder repairs. Wider cracks, cracks that keep coming back or doors pulling out of square nearby are worth a closer look by the builder or a specialist.
Does a brand-new home still need a wind mitigation inspection?
It is worth having if you did not get one at closing, because it records the roof attachment and opening protection while everything is new and easy to see. Ask your insurance agent how your carrier uses the form. The free wind mitigation form comes with a complete home inspection, so ask Jay when you call whether your visit qualifies.
Warranty clock running? Get it all on paper first.
Book the 11-month inspection around month ten, get the report the same day and send the builder one clear list. Real estate agents, this is a good page to send past new-construction buyers around month nine. Call Jay.
