Brand New Home.
Still Needs a Scope.
Houston builds fast. Crews rotate. Underground pipe work gets buried before anyone looks twice. A sewer scope is the only way to see what's actually inside that brand new lateral line — and find defects while the builder's warranty is still on the clock.
The Window That Closes
Builder warranty covers sewer defects — but only while it's active.
Find a sewer defect inside the warranty period and the builder pays. Miss it and it's a $5,000–$15,000 repair at your expense. The scope costs a fraction of that.
Houston builds fast.
Underground work pays the price.
The Houston metro is one of the fastest new construction markets in the country. Crews turn over constantly. Plumbing rough-in happens early in the build sequence, gets buried, and then nobody looks at it again. The builder walks the finished home. Nobody walks the buried sewer line.
Sewer work in new construction is also among the least supervised phases of a build. It happens in a trench, gets covered with dirt, and the next trade moves in. What gets left behind — debris, misaligned joints, improper slope — stays hidden until it causes a problem in your home.
A scope at or near closing is one of the few ways to document the actual condition of buried work before you accept the keys. It's a 30-minute inspection that can change the trajectory of a $400,000 conversation.
Why The Sewer Gets Missed
01 · It's Underground
No inspector can see inside a buried pipe without a camera. The standard home inspection doesn't include it.
02 · Crews Rotate
The plumber who did the rough-in may not be the same crew who finishes. Accountability for buried work is minimal.
03 · Builders Don't Offer It
No Houston production builder proactively scopes the lateral line before closing. That's the buyer's job.
Six things Imperial Pro finds
in new Houston builds.
01
Construction Debris
PVC shavings, concrete pour-over, wood scraps, and tape left inside the line during installation. Partial blockages that worsen over time.
02
Improper Grade
Pipe installed too flat or with a reverse slope. Waste doesn't drain properly, solids settle, and chronic slow drains or backups follow.
03
Glue Blockages
Excess PVC solvent cement pooling at joints during installation and hardening into a partial obstruction inside the pipe.
04
Crushed or Cracked Pipe
Damage from backfill compaction, heavy equipment rolling over the trench, or other trades cutting and working in the same area.
05
Misaligned Joints
Pipe sections not fully seated at the joint, creating an offset or gap that catches debris and is a future entry point for soil intrusion.
06
Missing Cleanouts
Required access points for service and inspection sometimes skipped or improperly located. A code item that costs significantly more to correct after closing.
This is what it looks like
inside a new build sewer line.
Real HD camera footage from a Houston new construction sewer scope inspection. Severe underground damage that transfers entirely to the new owner at closing if nobody looks first.
Collapsed Sewer Line · New Construction · Greater Houston TX
Imperial Pro Inspection · TREC #23450 · ICC #10111729
Three moments that matter.
Each one changes your leverage.
Maximum builder accountability.
The best window. The build is still open, crews are still on-site, and defects are simplest and cheapest to correct. Most builders will allow a Phase 3 inspection — ask yours.
Strong leverage before you sign.
The most common window for new construction scopes. Defects documented before you accept the keys are a direct repair obligation for the builder or a negotiation point at the closing table.
Last call before it's yours.
Already closed? Schedule inside month 11. Most builders carry a 1-year workmanship warranty. Defects found before it expires go on their dime. After it lapses, they're yours.
Imperial Pro covers every
active new build corridor.
Fort Bend and Harris County are producing more new construction square footage than almost anywhere in the United States. Imperial Pro is based in Sugar Land and operates throughout every active new build corridor in the greater Houston metro.
Book Online →Katy · Fulshear · Brookshire
Cross Creek Ranch, Firethorne, Tamarron, Cinco Ranch, Jordan Ranch — Harris and Fort Bend County's most active new construction zone.
Richmond · Rosenberg · Missouri City
Aliana, Veranda, Harvest Green, Sienna — Fort Bend's southern new construction corridor.
Cypress · Spring · Tomball
Bridgeland, Towne Lake, Amira — northwest Harris County's high-volume build zone.
Pearland · League City · Manvel
Shadow Creek, Mar Bella, Pomona, Iowa Colony — south Houston's fastest-growing new construction area.
New construction sewer scope
questions, answered.
Yes — and this is one of the most common misconceptions in real estate. New construction plumbing is not inspected by the city after backfill. The city issues permits and inspects rough-in before the trench is covered, but they are not looking at workmanship inside the pipe or overall grade. Construction debris, glue blockages, and improper slope are all findings that pass a city rough-in inspection and go undetected until they cause a drain problem in your home.
Most Houston production builders will allow a third-party inspection — including a sewer scope — prior to closing. Some require advance notice or coordination with their construction manager. It's worth asking your buyer's agent or the builder's sales team directly. If they refuse access, that itself is worth noting. Imperial Pro coordinates directly with whatever access the builder provides.
You receive a written report and HD video documentation of exactly what was found. That documentation goes to your buyer's agent, who presents it to the builder as a repair request. Builders are far more responsive to documented defects with camera footage than to verbal complaints. In some cases, findings have been used to negotiate credits or closing cost concessions when the builder prefers not to open a trench before closing.
Not if you're inside the builder's warranty period. Most Houston builders carry a 1-year workmanship warranty and a structural warranty beyond that. If you find a sewer defect within the first year, it is generally a warranty repair item. Schedule the scope before month 11 to give yourself time to submit the warranty claim before the window closes. After the warranty expires, repair costs become entirely your responsibility.
PVC doesn't corrode the way cast iron does, but it fails differently — and primarily from installation error rather than age. Improper grade, debris, misaligned joints, and physical damage from backfill are all PVC-specific failure modes that have nothing to do with the age of the pipe. A new PVC line installed incorrectly will cause problems quickly. The pipe material is only one part of the equation — installation quality is the other.
Yes — and that's the most cost-effective way to do it. Book your home inspection through Imperial Pro and add the sewer scope at the same appointment. One trip, one report package, and you leave with full documentation of both the home and the lateral line. The add-on rate is less than the standalone rate because both inspections happen in a single site visit.
Find it before closing.
Make the builder fix it.
That's the whole strategy.
Add a sewer scope to any new construction home inspection. TREC-licensed inspector. HD camera. Same-day written report. Katy, Fulshear, Cypress, Pearland, League City, Richmond, and all of Greater Houston.
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