The final walkthrough checklist for a new construction home

What should you do before the walkthrough?

Before the walkthrough, schedule it in daylight with the utilities on, ask for at least a couple of hours, and confirm that construction is finished rather than finishing. A walkthrough at dusk with the water off tests nothing. Ask the builder's representative, usually the superintendent, to bring the punch list form and the warranty document, and ask whether your own inspector may attend. Then pack the kit below and read your selection sheet the night before so you know what was ordered.

If the house is plainly not finished when you arrive, say so and reschedule. A walkthrough of a house with painters still inside produces a punch list of things that would have been done anyway, and it uses up your one scheduled look at the finished product.

What should the builder demonstrate?

The builder's representative should demonstrate every system in the house while you watch and photograph: the thermostat and the HVAC in both heating and cooling, the water heater and its setting, the electrical panel and its labels, the main water shutoff, the gas shutoff if there is one, the irrigation controller, the garage door and its safety reverse, the sump pump if there is one, and every appliance through a cycle. This is the orientation, and it is worth as much as the inspection.

Photograph the label on each piece of equipment while you are standing at it: model, serial, and date of manufacture. Those photos start the home record, and they are what a warranty registration or a claim will ask for later. Video the shutoff locations; a short clip of the superintendent pointing at the valve is easier to find during a leak than a memory of where it was. The questions to ask during the orientation is the companion list for this part of the day.

What should you test in every room?

In every room, test rather than look: run every faucet hot and cold for a few minutes, fill and drain each tub and sink, flush every toilet and wait to hear it stop, run every exhaust fan and hold a tissue to the grille, test every outlet with the plug-in tester, and open, close, and lock every door and window. Then look at every wall and ceiling with the flashlight held low against the surface, which shows dents and seams that overhead light hides.

The tests find what a glance misses. A drain that gurgles, a toilet that keeps running after the fill, a faucet with weak hot pressure, a fan that does not hold the tissue, a tester showing an open ground: each is a punch-list item now and a service request later. Run the dishwasher, the disposal, the oven, the cooktop, the microwave, and the washer and dryer if they are included, and check the model on each against the selection sheet. A substituted model is a punch-list item too.

The room-by-room list in the punch list post covers the surfaces in detail. The GFCI test covers the bathroom, kitchen, garage, and outdoor outlets, which have test and reset buttons of their own and should trip and reset while you watch.

What should you check outside?

Outside, check the grading, the downspouts, the caulk, the concrete, the garage door, the exterior outlets and lights, the hose bibs, and the roof from the ground. Water is the exterior question: the soil should slope away from the foundation on every side, downspouts should have extensions that carry water away from the wall, and no puddle should sit against the house. Walk the whole perimeter, not just the front and the driveway side.

Look up. From the ground, shingles should lie flat with no visible gaps, and the flashing at every wall and chimney should be complete. Do not get on the roof at a walkthrough and do not borrow the builder's ladder; a missing ridge cap noted from the driveway with a photo is a punch-list item, and that is all it needs to be. If there is attic access, look in from the hatch with the flashlight for daylight through the roof deck, insulation that stops short of the outside walls, and construction debris. The grading and drainage guide shows what good slope looks like so you can name the problem precisely.

What should you collect before you leave?

Leave the walkthrough with the signed punch list, the warranty document, the manuals, the paint and finish schedule, the subcontractor list, the keys, the garage and gate codes, and the builder's warranty contact. Ask for each by name. A builder with a handoff package will hand it over, and a builder without one will find the pieces faster now than after closing. The signed punch list is the one item you should not leave without.

If the builder uses Property Station, most of this arrives with the claim link: the systems, the finishes, the shutoff locations, and the documents the builder entered move to your account when you claim the home, and the warranty start date is set to the closing date. If not, the closing-day document list says where each piece goes. Either way, the warranty document goes on the Warranty Dashboard with its end dates before anything else, because those dates decide what the rest of the record is for.

How does the walkthrough connect to the warranty?

The walkthrough connects to the warranty in two ways: the punch list is the record of what was defective on delivery, and closing is usually the day the warranty clock starts. Cosmetic items not on the list are commonly excluded from the warranty as pre-existing or owner-caused, and the coverage periods in the warranty document count from the effective date the document names, which is often the closing date. Both facts make the walkthrough the first warranty event rather than a separate one.

Write the warranty's effective date on the punch list the day you get it, and put the first full inspection on the calendar a month before the shortest coverage window closes. The warranty timeline explains how the windows nest, and the 11-month inspection post is the checklist for the end of the first one. The walkthrough photos are the before pictures for both.