The Finish Line Before the Finish Line

Walkthroughs.

They're the finish line before the… finish line.

It's that moment you get to have all of your hard work nitpicked and criticized.

Hopefully in a respectful way.

But I'm sure you don't take it personally. You shouldn't.

It's part of the game.

It's also the part where all of the little things that should have been done start appearing.

Preferably, you found most of them before the buyer did.

What Should a Walkthrough Really Be?

The Good News: You finished your punch list.

The Bad News: The buyer hasn't started theirs yet.

Before I got into building, I was a real estate agent. During those years, about half the buyers I closed with bought new construction.

I spent a lot of time on the other side of the walkthrough.

Every builder did things a little, or a lot, differently. But something I saw regularly was spending what felt like four hours polka-dotting an entire house with blue tape.

At the time, that seemed normal.

It almost became a game of who could find what.

Then I left that side of the industry and started running my own projects.

I was trained that "walkthrough ready" meant ready. As in, hand the buyers their keys and send them to the attorney's office that afternoon if you could.

Touched up. Final cleaned.

Finished.

That changed how I looked at those earlier walks.

The buyer was getting their first real introduction to the finished house, and we were spending most of it identifying work that still needed to happen.

A lot of that work could have been found before they got there.

For me, that means walking the house before the painter comes back. Flashlight, mud, caulk, tape. I have my sheetrocker make another pass before paint touch-up, too.

It also means picking up a paintbrush afterward to get the spots that still got missed.

Run the dishwasher. Check that every light has a bulb. Check the caulking in the wet areas. Have the cabinet company do a preliminary punch. Get the roofer to check over the shingles.

The list goes on.

You're wearing the home inspector, PM, and superintendent hats before the buyer ever pulls into the driveway.

And those checks need enough time for somebody to actually fix what you find. Discovering a scratched tub the afternoon before the walkthrough is useful information delivered at a fairly inconvenient hour.

If you're managing 50 houses at once, personally touching up every one probably isn't feasible. I get it.

At roughly 25 a year, I can be more hands-on. Another builder might need a different process or somebody specifically responsible for the final punch.

Either way, somebody needs to own getting the house ready.

Because technically, we're in the business of selling houses, not just building them.

Every scuff, damaged floorboard, dirty countertop, scratched tub, or broken tile gives the buyer another reason to wonder:

What else is there to find?

One missed spot might be one missed spot. A room full of them starts telling a story you probably don't want told.

Now you're explaining which things are minor, who's coming back, and when everything will be finished. Even if you know those items are getting done, the buyer can still feel anxious.

You're making your own job harder.

Sometimes those things can't be helped. It depends on the situation.

But more often than not, a lot of those items are preventable.

An easygoing buyer appreciates a clean, finished house. A particular buyer gives you even more reason to prepare one.

And occasionally, somebody arrives looking like they've been training for the blue-tape portion of the Olympics.

By all means, look. You're spending a lot of money.

Cosmetic concerns deserve attention. You shouldn't have to apologize for noticing a scratch in something you just bought.

But a walkthrough should involve more than pointing and placing different colors of adhesive on the walls.

There's also a house to learn how to operate.

Appliances. GFCIs. The electrical panel. Water shutoffs. Maintenance. Warranties. Who to contact when something goes wrong.

Where do you shut the water off if there's a leak? What should you check if an outlet stops working? What maintenance becomes your responsibility after moving in?

Those answers need room in the appointment.

Ever shown someone the dryer breaker during a walkthrough, then received a "dryer isn't working" warranty request on moving day?

I know I'm not the only one.

There's a lot to take in. They're thinking about closing, moving trucks, furniture, and whether the refrigerator will be there on time.

Pointing at the panel once doesn't mean everything you said made it through.

Give them time to ask questions. Have them locate the shutoff themselves. Leave the important information somewhere they can find it after you're gone.

They're going to need it long after the blue tape comes down.

I tell buyers we could walk through a $250,000 house on 100 different occasions and find something cosmetic every time.

We could do the same thing in a $2.5 million house.

The result would be the same.

That's the nature of building.

That doesn't excuse handing over work we already know needs attention.

Extra eyes will always find a few things. That's normal. We should still get it as close as we can before they arrive.

A well-prepared walkthrough gives the buyer room to picture living there. Where the couch goes. Where the kids will play. What it will feel like when it's their home.

That's a much better conversation to carry into closing.

Not only that, but a good and well-organized walk will help your reputation with buyer's agents. It'll be something that will set you apart from the competition.

We want buyers leaving the walkthrough understanding their house and feeling good about moving into it.

They shouldn't have to spend the whole appointment doing the punch list we should've already done.

See you next Friday.

Happy buyers. Happy closings.

— David