At a glance
- A new construction home inspection in Revelstoke is a series of checks by different people, from the building inspector to the energy advisor or modeller who tests how airtight the finished house is.
- The City inspects a new house at set stages, including the footing forms before concrete and the framing before it's covered. None of that work can be covered until a building official has accepted it in writing.
- The BC Building Code mostly deals with structure, health and safety, while BC Housing's Residential Construction Performance Guide goes further on workmanship. Warranty providers have generally agreed to use that guide to help decide defect claims.
- Our checks happen before the insulation goes in, while the backing and the plumbing, wiring and duct rough-ins are still easy to see. We check again once the insulation is in, then make sure the blower door test has passed before any drywall goes up.
- At handover we walk the house ourselves against our stage checklists first, then walk it with you on the warranty provider's checklist, explain how the systems work and give you a binder that stays with the home.
If you're building a custom home, it's natural to wonder who is checking the work as it goes up. In Revelstoke, it's several people at different stages, each there for a different reason, and knowing what each one looks at makes it easier to understand what you're seeing on your own site.
This guide walks through each of those checks, from the first building inspection to the day you get the keys. The stage before the insulation goes in gets the most attention here, because it's the best chance to see what sits inside the walls, and it's a big part of how we build custom homes in Revelstoke.
Who checks a new build in Revelstoke, and what each one is there for
The City of Revelstoke's building inspector checks the work against the BC Building Code and the City's Building Bylaw at set stages through the build. Most of our projects go through the City, and some properties around Revelstoke sit in CSRD Electoral Area B, where the regional district's building inspectors carry out six inspections during construction.
Electrical and gas work goes through Technical Safety BC, which issues electrical installation permits and gas permits in Revelstoke and in the CSRD alike. After each phase of work, the certified electrician named on the permit, who Technical Safety BC calls the field safety representative, declares the electrical work compliant, and the gasfitter files a notice of completion for the gas work. Technical Safety BC then decides whether it needs to send someone out to look. Within the City of Revelstoke, plumbing is inspected by the City as part of the building permit.
Most of a house is built under the part of the BC Building Code written for houses and small buildings, which is Part 9. Sometimes a structural piece, such as a beam carrying a concentrated load, has to be engineered under the code's structural design rules in Part 4 instead. When that happens, the engineer who designed it normally also reviews the work on site and confirms in writing that it was built to the design before you can move in. The City relies on that written confirmation, which the code calls a letter of assurance, for the parts of the house it covers.
An energy advisor or energy modeller tests how airtight the finished house is. Your home warranty provider can also require its own inspections during construction, or third-party verification, before it agrees to insure the house. On our side, we keep quality checklists for each stage of the house so problems get caught as the work goes in.
What a City building inspection checks, and what it doesn't
When you build with us, we handle all of the interactions with the City for you. The building permit comes with a list of required inspections, and their cost is included in the permit fees. Under the City of Revelstoke Building Bylaw No. 2294, the inspection stages include excavation, the footing forms before concrete, plumbing below the slab, rough plumbing, the framing before it's covered and the insulation and vapour barrier. None of that work can be covered until a building official has accepted it in writing. Our guide to building permits in Revelstoke lays out the full sequence, from the application to the occupancy permit.
The final inspection checks the finished house for health and safety, energy conservation, greenhouse gas reduction and accessibility. Nobody can move in until the City issues an occupancy permit, which comes after the final inspection and the required paperwork, such as any letters of assurance and the as-built drawings.
BC Housing describes the Building Code as mostly addressing structural integrity and health and safety, while its Residential Construction Performance Guide deals more with defects in design, materials and workmanship and goes beyond the Code. Our own stage checks go further too, covering things the City's inspection list doesn't name, like where a switch sits beside a door frame or whether there's solid backing behind a towel bar. They also cover the overall fit and finish quality of the home.
Is a blower door test required before drywall?
A blower door test uses a fan in a doorway to pull air out of the house and measure how much leaks back in. The Province doesn't require one before drywall and leaves that to each local building department, although at Step 3 the finished house does have to pass one. We have the test done once the insulation and vapour barrier are in, and it has to pass before any drywall goes up, so we can find and fix leaks while the walls are still open.
Revelstoke requires new houses to meet Step 3 of BC's Energy Step Code, and we usually build to Step 4. Step 3 is also now the lowest step the BC Building Code allows anywhere in the province.
At Step 3 the finished house has to meet the code's airtightness target, which the code labels AL-1. The test produces three figures and the house only has to pass one of them, for example no more than 2.5 air changes an hour with the fan holding a 50 pascal pressure difference. Our guide explains what the BC Energy Step Code asks for if you'd like the wider picture.
What we check before the insulation and drywall go in
People often call this a pre-drywall inspection, but on our builds the checks happen earlier, before the insulation goes in. Once the insulation is in and the poly vapour barrier is sealed to the walls with acoustical sealant, a lot of what's inside the walls is much harder to see. By the time we start, the rough framing has passed inspection and the backframing is done, which means the non-load-bearing walls are up. There's also backing in place for millwork, shelves, hooks, towel bars, TVs, handrails and grab bars.
We check the drywall backing in the corners, along the tops of walls and around openings, and that backing matters for the vapour barrier too, because its tapes and sealants need something solid to attach to.
Every trade's rough-in has to be complete, tested, checked and inspected before we move on. At rough-in we look closely at where the switches and outlets sit, especially beside doors and other openings, so the trim won't run into them later. A switch in the wrong spot is easy to fix at this stage, because it can simply be moved over a stud. Once the wall is drywalled and painted, moving it becomes a much slower and more costly repair, and a brand new home shouldn't need renovating before we hand it over to you.
The plumbing has covers on the shower heads and water lines, and the tubs and showers are protected. The ducts are sealed and covered with hard protection, so dust and debris can't get in and damage them or get blown around the house when the system is first turned on. The ducts also get cleaned before the system runs for the first time. Before the insulation goes in, we also take 360 camera photos of the house and log them.
Once the insulation and vapour barrier are complete and have passed their inspection, we check the house again. Ideally the whole building envelope is finished by then, although usually only the air barrier is on and the cladding is at different stages of completion. Either way, the doors and windows have to be in and sealed, and then the blower door test has to pass before any drywall goes up.
Drywall mud adds a lot of moisture, so we usually run a commercial grade dehumidifier on site to keep moisture levels consistent and improve drying times. Before the drywall arrives, the site is cleaned, and there's a plan for where and how the sheets get loaded into the house and placed. Some homes don't have openings big enough to get drywall into the upper or lower levels, so either the sheets are smaller or a window is left out until the drywall is loaded. Drywall is also very heavy, so it's stacked where the floor system is designed to take the weight.
What does good workmanship look like in a new home?
A good yardstick is BC Housing's Residential Construction Performance Guide, which warranty providers have generally agreed to use when they decide whether a defect is covered.
The guide says a wall shouldn't be out of plumb, meaning off vertical, by more than 25 mm over 2.4 metres unless it was designed that way. In finished rooms other than the garage, drywall nail or screw pops should be fixed if they've broken the finished surface or you'd readily notice them in normal light from 1.8 metres in front of the wall. Five or more pops within one square metre are treated as excessive and need filling, sanding smooth and painting. Floors shouldn't have excessive squeaks caused by movement in the floor system under normal loading conditions, although minor squeaks aren't covered.
We check for all of these on our own builds, and more, as part of the fit and finish we hold our work to. Building to code only meets the minimum standard, and the code says very little about the quality of the workmanship. The details you'll notice most are the everyday ones, like a towel bar or grab bar that feels solid because the backing went in before the drywall.
How we keep a record of every new construction home inspection
We document the work at every stage of your build. That record includes detailed job logs, our quality checklists for each stage and the 360 camera photos we take before the insulation goes in. You can follow the build through our client portal, and together with the City's inspections at each required stage, that record shows how your home was built.
We establish trust with you at the beginning, before any work starts, and that documentation is how we keep it all the way to handover.
Handover: our own walk first, then the walkthrough with you
Before we walk you through the house and hand over the keys, we walk it ourselves and go back over our quality checklists for each stage. Because those checklists catch issues while they're still easy to fix, our goal is to have very few deficiencies left by the end.
Then we walk the home with you on the checklist our home warranty provider supplies and note any outstanding items on it. Once it's signed, it goes to the provider and records the completion date your new home warranty can start from. BC Housing says this walkthrough is usually your first opportunity to inspect the finished home, and it suggests noting anything incomplete or deficient in writing and taking pictures. Warranty providers generally rely on that form for claims about damage to finishes such as flooring, countertops and plumbing fixtures, so the deficiency list is worth taking your time over.
We also walk you through the house and its systems, explain how the home is operated and answer your questions. You get a large binder with the documents, drawings, reports, manuals, contact lists and warranty information, which we go through with you, and it stays with the house as a permanent record of the build. We also clean the house before you get the keys, and handover is the last stage of how a Straight Up project runs.
Your workmanship warranty after you move in
The 2-5-10 home warranty covers defects in materials and labour for 12 months, and defects in the electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning delivery systems for 24 months. The exterior cladding, caulking, windows and doors are also covered for 24 months against defects that may lead to detachment or material damage to the home. The building envelope is covered for five years and the structure for ten. Under BC's Homeowner Protection Act Regulation, a custom home built on land you own is covered from the earliest of move-in day, the occupancy permit date and the day it's complete and ready to live in.
If a defect turns up, you need to give written notice to both the warranty provider and the builder within a reasonable time, and before the coverage that applies to it runs out. BC Housing points out that a repair the builder makes without written notice to the provider doesn't count as a formal claim. It also suggests carefully inspecting everything the warranty covers before each expiry date. We've gathered the warranty questions worth asking any builder in a separate guide, and our post on the red flags to watch for with a builder covers how to check that a new home has been enrolled.
The bottom line
A new house in or around Revelstoke is checked by several people before you move in, each looking at the part of the work they're responsible for. Alongside those checks, we keep our own quality checklists for each stage of the build and walk the finished house with you before we hand over the keys.
If you're planning a build in Revelstoke and want to know how we'd handle these checks on your project, we're happy to talk it through with you. Book a complimentary 15 minute call.
