Part 1 Example - Why I recommend home inspections for new builds!
This is a detailed example of the benefits of having a home inspection for a new build property. My clients were pleased that they did. I have had other clients who felt the very same way.
This represents my summary regarding the A/C question that came up from the home inspection and resultant discussions. Please keep this should you have any need in the future.
Address: Chandler AZ
Home size: 2200 square feet
History of the A/C issue:
July 31st – August 4th
Home inspection - Exterior of home was evaluated on Thursday, July 31st. The remainder of the inspection was not performed until August 4 as Brown Family Communities would not let the home inspector in the premises until insurance information was on file with Brown Family Communities. Inspection concluded August 4th.
Home inspector cited the A/C as a “Major Concern” and indicated “Monitor: The compressor is a 4 ton unit. This is good up to approximately 1800 square foot. Recommend further evaluation with repairs by a qualified professional in the trade.”
It was around this time that the buyers had inquired with an A/C technician contact who told them that the A/C unit definitely undersized for the size of the home.
Around this time, I spoke with a Chas Roberts Air Conditioning representative (Lance?) that explained that determination of the right tonnage for a home was based on many factors including the size of the home, low-e windows, insulation, and other characteristics. He did not provide specific input on whether in this case the A/C was likely correct or incorrect. His recommendation was to ask for a calculation sheet that would show how the specification for tonnage was arrived at.
August 5th (Approximately)
I believe the Buyers sent over the summary sheet for the home inspection to the Superintendant for the community.
August 6
Walkthrough of property. Buyers and myself met the Superintendant for the community at the sales office on Aloe. It was during this portion of the meeting that I or the buyers asked about the A/C unit. Jason indicated that any information could be obtained through the company that performed the installation of the system and gave that contact information when asked as: Red Rock Mechanical at (623) 516-9002.
During the walkthrough, the Superintendent indicated that the A/C was running at 80 degrees and wasn’t running all the time, which was a concern brought up as part of the question on appropriate tonnage. This was not discussed in detail at that time.
That afternoon, I contacted Red Rock Mechanical to inquire to get specific calculation information for the property. Red Rock Mechanical took my name, phone number, and the property address and indicated that “Christy” would get back to me. I received no response.
August 7th afternoon (estimation)
I called Red Rock Mechanical again to inquire to get specific calculation information for the property. I again gave my name, phone number, and the property address. “Christy” was mentioned again.
August 8th
I called Red Rock Mechanical again. At this time, I was put in touch with an individual but do not recall his name. At this time, he explained that any calculations for A/C tonnage would have been something done with Brown Family Communities at an earlier stage in the communities’ development (as I understood it) and that they would not provide this information to me. They indicated that Brown Family Communities would have to give this to me and my buyers.
I sent the following email to the Superintendent of the Brown Family Communities community in question:
From: David Lorti
Sent: Fri 8/8/2008 3:47 PM
The buyers and I spoke to you regarding the A/C unit and who determines the appropriate unit size for the home here. As such, I spoke to a representative for the company and they said this is something that they did with Brown Communities early on and that any documentation as to how the calculations were derived to determine the appropriate A/C unit size would be something that Brown Communities would have to provide.
As such, do you have a phone number for the appropriate contact at BFC or are you able to look this up and provide this information so the Buyers can review?
Thanks for your help here.
Best Regards,
David S. Lorti, Realtor - MBA,CNE
LortiHomesArizona.com
RE/MAX Elite
8154 S. Priest Drive, Suite 104
Tempe, AZ 85284
Direct: 480-227-6911
Email: david@lortihomesarizona.com
Website: www.LortiHomesArizona.com
I received the following response shortly thereafter:
From: The Superintendent
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 4:25 PM
Good afternoon to answer your question bfc and redrock have put in the required size unit (4ton) for the 4504 plan there are many other calculations which figure in to this , low E windows, insulation of the home.We do not give out the engineering for this. Redrock mechanical is licensed HVAC company. If we where talking about the home not cooling this would be a different scenario, but it is cooling to 80 degrees and the unit is not constantly running.If the home inspector hired feels this is wrong please have him give you the proper paperwork to back up his claim please . other than that there is no action required.Thank you
Brown family communities
I found the response here disappointing, especially given that I was provided the A/C company information and told that they could provide that only to come to this message and its conclusion that no information would be provided. As for documentation from the Home Inspector, this was provided in the summary report sent to the Superintendent earlier.
The Buyers, who had been copied on this email, contacted me soon after. I explained that I would contact the corporate offices of Brown Family Communities to see if I could get the information we were requesting. Although I communicated that I would look at it on Monday morning first thing, I ended up calling Brown Family Communities at approximately 4:40pm on Friday.
I left a voicemail for “Stephanie” on the “Construction” side of the business (phone options). I tried again to “Customer Relations” and managed to get Sharon (Barrett, I believe) on the phone. She said that she would research this and get back to me. At this time, she indicated that it wouldn’t probably be until Monday to hear something. I commented that I understood given the late timing in the day.
I communicated to the Buyers as to the latest update here and that I would follow-up more on Monday.
August 11th
I left another voicemail for Sharon (Barrett, I believe). I tried contacting another person given the limits on time (close on Wednesday) but got rerouted to “Stephanie” and did not leave a message as I recall. The Buyers indicated at this time that they prefer I work the communications channel with the corporate office and not through The Superintendent out of concern that Jason may make the possibility of moving into the home on schedule difficult or delayed.
I spoke to no less than 4 and probably 5 additional Air Conditioning companies regarding the issue. A question I would ask was whether determination of the right tonnage for a home was a complex calculation or whether it was a simple square footage calculation. I then provided information on the size of the home, nature of the build, and the current tonnage of the property. The summary is below:
• The calculation for proper tonnage is more complex and takes into account a lot of factors such as energy efficiency of the home, insulation, low-e windows, square footage, and other items to come up with the estimate. Some gave a rough estimate that for every 400-475 square feet, you should have 1 ton of A/C capacity.
o In ALL cases, when I explained about this particular situation, the A/C company representatives were clear that the size should be 5 ton and not 4 ton, that the size of the A/C was definitely under-assessed.
Even with a high-efficiency house in terms of advanced energy saving features such as special insulation, windows, etc, the home would still require a 5 ton unit, that the impact from these measures would not change the overall need by a great deal (one representative said that square footage would go from around 450 to 475 square feet based on this).
Go to Part 2 for the rest of the story.
Date: Friday, September, 5th 2008 @ 10:38:12 AMViews: 393
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