Make sure all switches are correctly labeled in the circuit breaker box.

Inspect windows and doors to make sure they're all plumb/properly sealed/include screens.

Make sure you have any and all remote controls for appliances/fixtures, and check to see that those remotes work the way they're supposed to.

Collect all manuals/warranty cards for appliances.

Check all the closet interiors for finish/outlets/rods and rails!

If you've chosen to include trim like crown molding/baseboards, take the time to make sure they're properly joined, nailed, and painted.

Make sure all appliances include whatever accessories they came with.

Remember to bring a tape measure, a level, a camera, and a copy of your contract with you.

Congratulations!

This question comes up every year or two. Here is a link to one of those previous threads.

Here is a link that might be useful: Final Walk Through?

It is wise to check as much as possible but it is also important to remember that it is the responsibility of the GC to have already done it and that your acceptance of the work will not relieve the GC of the responsibility to meet the requirements of the contract documents and the building code.

If you begin to notice a large number of deficiencies it might be wise to stop and ask the GC to do his job before you review the work. You should not be preparing a punch list for the contractor; that document should be in your hand or completed when you do your walk-through.

Thankfully, we haven't noticed too many major things thus far. The builder's quality rep will be walking through next week, and we paid another visit today now that we could go upstairs (had to wait for stair staining/painting) and caught another couple of things, but basically minor. At this point, I think it will be pretty much making sure they did what they needed to and also testing out the things that we couldn't already, like dishwasher, microwave, sinks, etc. The only thing I'm slightly worried about is how they're going to fence the yard, and that's not quality so much as a weird layout that would be hard to explain.

Renovator8, could you clarify this line: "You should not be preparing a punch list for the contractor; that document should be in your hand or completed when you do your walk-through."

Do you mean that we should not be making the check-list during the walkthrough, but already have it to show the contractor at the walk-through?

I think he meant that it is your GC's job to notice and correct problems, that's what you're paying him to do.

No matter whose responsibility it may be, no one cares as much about your house as YOU DO! I say set aside a whole day, send the kids elsewhere, and focus on every little detail. I'd also use the day to measure for curtains, drawer organizers, etc. And move adjustable shelves to your preferred levels.

In addition to the things that've been mentioned, I'd say bring along a lemon to run through the garbage disposal to see that it works.

Bring a hose and squirt the exterior of each window to make sure they're going to be water-tight in the weather.

Bring a small lamp and plug it into each and every outlet.

And check that hot water comes out of the hot tap /cold water out of the cold tap at each sink /tub /shower. I'm thinking of a rental house in which I lived in college -- the hot and cold were reversed. Not a huge deal, but it always confused guests, and if I were paying for it, I'd want it right.

Don't neglect anything that is supposed to be included in the yard: Trees or other landscaping.

It's a good idea to check all of the outlets, but you can go a step further than a small lamp. You can buy an outlet tester at a home improvement store for a few bucks, and not only will it tell you if the outlet has power, but also if it is wired correctly. The better ones will test GFI outlets as well. An outlet can work, but still be wired incorrectly. It takes no skill to use; simply plug it in, and see which lights on the tester light up.

The OP has been making walk-throughs since April and said: "I've already checked all the outlets with a tester ...."

Squirting the windows with a hose would not prove they are watertight any more than the last rainstorm; it would take all day and a pressurized hose to discover a flashing or window defect. This is not a punch list or walkthrough issue but a warranty issue after occupancy.

Thanks for all the input and some great ideas, like the lemon for the disposal and remembering to check the hot water. We did find one non-working outlet and one bad can light (or could have been the bulb) during a previous visit, so we need to recheck those. The electrician will be back to do some other stuff this week so that should hopefully be taken care of.

I'd heard about using that hose test before, although from what @Renovator8 said, it sounds like it will work just as well to wait until next summer when the torrential Florida thunderstorms test it out for me before the warranty is up. I do know of one other town home in the complex that had an issue with a window seal, so I'll be keeping an eye on it. I did catch fairly big gaps at the bottom of both upstairs balcony doors already.

The builder has some really good quality control in place, including the final quality control inspector who's supposed to be a stickler, but as @MrsPete said, no one will be as picky as me.

Their painting process puzzles me a lot, as they painted the interior early on and then redid it after other work all over the house pretty much trashed the paint job. Then they redid much of it again after more work, and they're going to have to redo part of it again because varnish got all over the wall when they did the wood stairs. Oh well, I figure the more paint the better.

I attached a photo so you can see the place I've been obsessing about for months now. The yellow line shows the weird placement of the back fence (the second air conditioner is the next-door neighbor's, since the interior town homes don't get a yard), and the pavers go far enough up to have room for a hot tub and fire pit. Sadly, that dirt area under the side balcony isn't part of the useable yard. It just has pine straw and decorative bushes and trees due to stupid HOA rules. I'd love to have it as part of the back/side yard, but we still have a pretty decent yard space for a townhome, plus the two balconies.

Quick follow-up: we stopped by earlier today and they were working like mad. Swung by this evening on the way home from dinner and stopped to peek in the windows because the workers were all gone. The quality control person must have gone through, as there are little blue tape bits all over. They said he was very thorough, and that most definitely appears to be the case. Granted, it's mainly just cosmetic flaws, but it's nice to know they go over it that closely.

The time to test windows is before the interior finishes are installed. If responsibility for field testing is not mentioned in the contract it should not be attempted at the walk-through. There is enough to look for during that small window of opportunity and the GC is no less responsible for a watertight building because you did or didn't test the windows.

We only had one window concern during the early process and it was supposedly taken care of, but I'll be keeping a close eye on that particular window. Nature here should give them a workout and reveal any defects

Our official walk-through is next Monday, but we checked some things out today and are going to go through on Sunday in detail just to make sure we didn't miss anything. They shifted away from ours because one family had to move up their closing to this Friday, so the workers are all madly getting things done in that house.

I appreciate all the great info I've gotten here. I think we're in good shape unless there's something I managed to miss that rears its ugly head down the road. We plan to get an inspector at the 10 month mark anyway, but overall it should be a smooth walk-through and closing.

LOOK UP. Ceilings get overlooked so often. If you have a tray ceiling, look at the corners of the tray. Often they will crack.

Look at how baseboards meet at corners.

Check all cabinet doors and drawers.

Quick update, since we did a really thorough walk-through on our own today in preparation for the major one tomorrow. Most things were minor or cosmetic, but I was surprised at some larger things, considering how closely we've watched the process. Here they are, in case it might help others know what to look for:

-Shower pipe in one bathroom apparently isn't anchored, as it moves a lot if you hold it (not the shower head, the pipe itself).

-The spot where they repaired a squeak in the tile along the tub already as separating, cracking grout and the squeak is back and worse. There are grout problems in the center of that room now, too, so I suspect there might be a bigger problem with that floor.

-None of the upstairs window screens fit properly. One has a gap big enough for love bugs to come through, and all have bent frames. Oddly, the downstairs ones are fine.

-Three windows don't open, and it appears to be because of badly-cut trim.

-The hardware on the garage door was installed backwards (i.e. key lock on wrong side).

-Caulk/grout not done in one whole section of one bathroom.

-Loose electrical receptacle in powder room.

-No caulk/sealer around one outside window.

-Non-working can light in kitchen ceiling.

Hopefully none of those is a showstopper for the Friday closing. We went through it with a fine tooth comb; the only thing I forgot was to test one of the outside water bibs.
' My advice to others is to make sure you allow enough time to go through your house THOROUGHLY. I was surprised at how long it took, since we were testing outlets one last time, opening/closing everything, running water, testing appliances, etc. Or you could get a home inspector, since I'm sure a good one would have caught these things.

Fingers crossed for a smooth closing.

-The hardware on the garage door was installed backwards (i.e. key lock on wrong side). This is the kind of mistake that always leaves me scratching my head and wondering how anyone doing the work could be quite that stupid. Ought to be obvious which side of that garage door, the key HAS to go into. LOL!

With my build, one of the really stupid mistakes I found was that the electrician ran wiring for a doorbell to the area right beside a pair of back patio doors...and did not run a doorbell wire to the front door! Duh! Given that you can see the street from the front door and the back patio opens out to nothing but a couple of acres of woods, maybe he thought my dogs were trained to ring the doorbell when they wanted to come inside because there sure as heck will never be any other visitor come to those doors!

Too funny about the doorbell! For the garage, the builder told us today that it was done that way on purpose and they change it before closing. He said they put the key lock inside the garage so the workers can open it without a key from outside. We went through all the items on the list, and everything should be fixed by closing. I think he was surprised at how thorough we were. He seemed a little shocked that my husband caught the loose shower pipe.

GREAT info, thank you everyone. Bevangle - Wonderful list, THANK YOU.

Many of the things you have identified to check are interior items, such as features and finishes. While these are important, the truly important things to check, which will affect the long-term performance of your house, are the major systems of the house, including:

--Quality of foundation and proper finish grading to ensure positive drainage of water away from foundations
--Quality of interior basement walls and floor slab (if you have a basement)
--Exterior wall quality
--Proper flashings at all exterior wall penetrations (windows, doors, grilles, etc)
--Roofing, quality of roof penetrations and flashings, gutters, downspouts and diverters at base of downspouts
--Quality of HVAC equipment, ducting and controls
--Electrical and signal systems, including circuit breaker boxes and main disconnect
--Lighting (indoors and exterior)
--Plumbing
--Landscape irrigation, lighting, any other special features

You should receive a 3-ring binder with all owner's manuals and warranties for all installed appliances and equipment. You should also receive a minimum of two sets of key, garage door controllers and information on the security system (if installed).

Finally, take a notebook with you and record where the key property shutoff controls are located: water supply, electrical, gas, sewer clean out and any other special system control items, such as irrigation controller, exterior lighting controller, etc.

Your builder should warranty workmanship and materials for 1 year from occupancy.

Good luck on your project.

Good points @virgilcarter. We identified some minor things outside too. For example, they forgot a water diveter over one area of the gutter on the roof, one of the windows needed some sealing, there was a big stain on the garage floor from varnish or paint, and some of the boards under the eaves needed attention. We tested the circuit breakers and videotaped the builder telling us where the cut-offs are and other important info. We have a one year overall warranty and then two years on the major systems like electrical, plumbing, etc. and then 10 years on foundation and I think the roof too. Thankfully the HOA has to deal with the landscaping, irrigation, minor stucco cracks, and roof replacement.

I have my binder of maintenance information, and the warranty and instruction booklets are all in the house, along with paint kit and spare tile. I think the only spare we don't have is planks from the hardwood floor. We have one more walk-through the day before closing to make sure the punch list items are complete, and then the warranty rep will be out a couple of weeks later.

Whew, so much to remember! I know I'm still probably forgetting something, but hopefully it won't be anything major. I'm happy the whole interior and most of the exterior should be done by closing. The only outstanding items might be my side balcony fan, since they had to order a different one due to the odd size, and one of the exterior lights since they never got sent and another unit is waiting for theirs, too. The fence is supposed to be up this week, but I'm not holding my breath on that since I've already seen how unreliable the fencing contractor is. Those things can be done after closing without disturbing me too much, though.

I'm not following since this is creeping up on me