Buying a Brand New Home in Chandler? Your Builder's Plumbing Warranty Does Not Cover What You Think It Does.
A couple bought a new construction home in a Chandler development last year and called us eight months after moving in. Their water bill had been creeping up since they moved in and they had chalked it up to a new household getting established. In month eight it jumped enough that they could not ignore it anymore.
We found a slow leak at a fitting behind the master bath shower valve. A connection that had not been made correctly during installation. It had been dripping since the day they moved in and had been sitting in the wall cavity the entire time.
They assumed new construction meant everything was right. The builder's inspection had signed off on it. The city inspection had passed it. The leak was there anyway, and the drywall behind the shower was going to need to come out.
New does not mean perfect. What new construction gets is a set of inspections that are designed to confirm code compliance, not to find every workmanship issue that might take months to show up. There is a difference.
What the Builder's Warranty Actually Covers
Most new construction in Arizona comes with a statutory one-year workmanship warranty, a two-year systems warranty covering plumbing, electrical, and HVAC, and a ten-year structural warranty. Those timeframes sound comprehensive. The reality of what gets covered under workmanship and systems warranties is more limited than most buyers expect.
Workmanship warranty claims have to be reported within the coverage period and typically require the builder to agree that the issue constitutes a defect under their definition. Builders have some flexibility in how they interpret what qualifies. A fitting that was installed slightly off-spec and leaked for months before anyone noticed it is not necessarily a simple warranty claim. The conversation with the builder can get complicated.
The more useful protection is finding problems before they become damage. An independent plumbing inspection in the first year of ownership, before the workmanship warranty expires, gives you documentation of any issues while the warranty is still in effect and while the builder is legally obligated to respond.
What We Find in New Construction That the Inspections Miss
Pressure is one of the most consistent issues. New construction homes sometimes have water pressure running higher than the fixtures and supply lines are rated for because the pressure reducing valve was either not installed, installed incorrectly, or set at a higher pressure than the plumbing is designed for. Nobody notices until a fixture fails early or a supply line lets go. A pressure test takes ten minutes and tells us immediately whether this is a concern.
Drain slope is another one. Drain lines need to be installed at a specific pitch to allow gravity to move waste through the system. A horizontal drain line that was installed without adequate slope, or that has a low spot where water pools, will drain slowly or back up intermittently in a way that is easy to mistake for a blockage. We have found drain lines in new construction that were installed with the wrong slope and had been collecting sediment since day one because water was sitting in the low spots.
Fixture connections are where most of the installation workmanship issues show up. Supply line connections at faucets, shower valves, and toilet supply lines that were made without proper seating of the compression fitting, without adequate thread engagement, or with the wrong components for the application. These do not always fail immediately. They degrade over weeks or months and then they fail, sometimes inside a wall where nobody sees it until there is a stain on the ceiling below.
Water heater installation quality is worth checking specifically. A new construction water heater that was installed with the T&P valve discharge line not properly run to a safe discharge location, or with the supply connections slightly off, or with the expansion tank not correctly sized for the system, is a unit that has been wrong since day one. Finding that in month eight of the warranty period is very different from finding it in month fourteen when the warranty has expired.
The Camera Inspection Is Especially Valuable in New Construction
Most buyers of new construction homes do not think to have the sewer line inspected because the pipe is new. New pipe does not have the root intrusion or degradation problems that older pipe has. That is true. What new sewer pipe can have is installation problems.
We have run cameras through new construction sewer lines and found sections of pipe that were not properly joined, leaving gaps at the connection point that will eventually allow root intrusion from day one rather than year twenty. We have found pipe that was crushed or cracked during backfill, where someone drove equipment over the trench before the pipe had adequate soil coverage. We have found drain lines with the slope installed backwards.
None of those issues cause an immediate backup. They cause a backup in two or three years after the pipe has had time to collect material at the defect location. A camera inspection in the first year confirms the sewer line is actually installed correctly and gives you documentation to bring to the builder if it is not.
The Timing on This Matters
The one-year workmanship warranty is the window. Whatever plumbing workmanship issues exist in a new construction home are most actionable before that window closes. Finding a problem at month ten gives you two months to document it and make the warranty claim while the builder is still obligated to respond. Finding it at month fourteen puts you in a different conversation entirely.
We work with new construction buyers on first-year plumbing inspections regularly. The inspection covers pressure testing, fixture connections, drain slope assessment, water heater installation review, and sewer camera if the homeowner wants the full picture. Everything we find gets documented clearly.
If the inspection finds nothing significant, you have peace of mind and documentation that the plumbing was in good condition at the time of inspection. If it finds something, you have time to address it while the warranty is still working in your favor.
Call us at 480-869-6952 or reach out online. We handle new construction plumbing inspections across Chandler and the surrounding East Valley. Pricing is discussed upfront before any work starts.
