December 12th, 2017
The home building industry is certainly unique in the way that the end product is put together.A huge assortment of materials and trades people all make their way to an outdoor site where the final product—the house—takes shape. What’s more, all of this activity takes place under the watchful eye of the customer, or homebuyer.Along with this exposure comes questions from buyers—a natural reaction considering the magnitude of the purchase. Buyers may wonder about the yard, the chimney, or the look of the façade—and these days—they may ask questions about mold. Today’s homebuyers have seen media stories on mold in their local papers, on network television, and even in publications like the New York Times Magazine. Most of these eye-catching stories tell of multi-million dollar court awards, families abandoning their moldy homes to live in hotels, and even homeowners burning down their houses for lack of any other way to be rid of the mold. While these stories are striking, they can hardly be considered representative of typical houses. Nevertheless, such reports are likely to cause anxiety in homebuyers and result in questions for builders during the construction process. This ToolBase TechNote discusses what builders can do to help their buyers understand mold issues and how to deal with some potential problems during the construction process. Taking buyers’ questions seriously and providing them with an honest representation of the facts and other information resources will help both builders and buyers. The topics covered include steps a builder can take at different points in the construction process as well as a few responses to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about mold.