New construction HVAC inspections, while the builder can still fix it for free
Your builder’s HVAC sub gets a day or two in your house, and nobody with gauges checks their work before the drywall hides it. We do, at rough-in and again at final, so the punch list carries real findings instead of hopes.
Why a brand-new system fails early
New homes in Ellis, Johnson, and the southern Dallas and Tarrant county suburbs are going up at production speed. That speed is exactly the problem for the mechanical trades. Ducts get crushed into truss bays, returns get undersized because the framing was in the way, refrigerant lines get brazed in a hurry, and the commissioning step, the one where somebody verifies the charge and airflow, often does not happen at all.
None of that shows up at the walkthrough. The system cools the house on a mild morning with everyone standing in the kitchen. The problems arrive in August, in year two, in the utility bill, in the bedroom over the garage that never quite gets cold. By then the builder’s crews are three subdivisions away.
An independent inspection during construction moves those discoveries forward, to the point where fixing them costs the builder a work order instead of costing you a weekend of arguing with a warranty line. That is the whole trade: a few hundred dollars of inspection against problems that are free to fix now and expensive forever after.
Jimmy has spent twenty-plus years installing and repairing these exact systems across the DFW metro, which means he knows precisely where a rushed sub cuts corners, because he has been sent behind them to fix it.
What gets inspected, at each stage
Two visits cover a build. If you only get one, take the final: it catches the most expensive category of problem while you still have leverage.
- Rough-in: duct layout and sizing
- Whether the trunk and branch runs match the plan and the tonnage, before drywall makes changing them a demolition job.
- Rough-in: duct sealing and support
- Mastic and connections at every joint we can reach, plus kinks, crushed runs, and unsupported spans that will sag and choke airflow.
- Rough-in: return path
- Return sizing is the most common shortcut in production building. A starved return punishes the blower for the life of the system.
- Rough-in: line set and drainage rough
- Refrigerant line routing and insulation, condensate slope, and whether the secondary drain actually goes somewhere useful.
- Final: refrigerant charge
- Verified with gauges by subcooling or superheat, not assumed from the factory charge. Undercharged new systems are common and invisible.
- Final: airflow and static pressure
- Measured, not guessed. High static is the silent killer of blower motors and the usual reason one room never conditions.
- Final: gas pressure and venting
- Inlet and manifold pressure on the furnace, plus combustion venting and clearances checked against the manufacturer’s data plate.
- Final: controls, safeties, condensate
- Thermostat staging matched to the equipment, float switches wired and tested, secondary pan placed where it can actually catch water.
What you walk away with
A written report with photos and measurements, sorted by severity, in language a builder’s superintendent cannot wave off. You attach it to your punch list or your warranty request and the conversation changes: it stops being your opinion against their schedule and becomes documented findings against the manufacturer’s own specifications.
Most reports are delivered the same day as the visit. If something urgent turns up, you hear about it from the driveway, not from the paperwork.
It is worth being plain about why the independence matters. The HVAC sub answers to the builder’s schedule, the city inspector answers to the code minimum, and the builder’s own quality walk answers to the closing date. Every one of those people can be competent and honest and the system can still ship compromised, because nobody in that chain works for you. The inspection is the one visit where the only agenda is whether the equipment does what the data plate says it should.
Sizing gets a look too. A system that passed every check can still be wrong for the house if the tonnage never matched the load, and two-story plans with a single system need their staging and zoning verified against how the floors actually condition. Where the design itself is the problem, the report says so, in terms you can hand to the builder while changes are still on their side of the ledger.
When to schedule
Rough-in: after the HVAC rough is complete but before insulation and drywall. Your superintendent can tell you the week; give us two or three days of notice.
Final: any time between trim-out and your walkthrough. Before the walkthrough is ideal, so findings land on the builder’s punch list instead of your warranty claim.
New construction questions
Building in the metro and not sure which visit you need? Call (214) 717-3959 and describe where the build stands. See examples of what these inspections find in the gallery.
Will my builder allow an outside inspection?
In almost every case, yes. Texas builders routinely accommodate third-party inspections when the buyer arranges access through the superintendent. We coordinate the timing with them directly if you prefer, and we conduct ourselves on site like the trade professionals we are.
Is this the same as the city inspection?
No. The municipal inspector checks code minimums across the whole house in a short visit. We spend that long on the mechanical system alone, and we check performance, not just legality. A system can pass code and still be undersized, undercharged, and starved for return air.
The house is already drywalled. Too late?
Not at all. The final-stage inspection is the more valuable of the two visits, and it happens after drywall by definition. We verify everything measurable from the equipment side: charge, static pressure, gas pressure, drainage, controls, and every duct we can reach in the attic.
What if you find problems the builder disputes?
The report carries photographs and measurements referenced against the equipment manufacturer’s published specifications. Builders dispute opinions. They rarely dispute a gauge reading photographed on their own equipment.
Do you inspect custom builds and additions too?
Yes. Custom builds, additions with new systems, and casitas or ADUs with their own equipment. If a new system is going in, the same two-stage inspection logic applies.
The drywall goes up on the builder’s schedule. Get eyes on the ductwork first.
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