New Home PDI & Warranty Inspections

Tarion: "All builders are required to do a thorough, floor-by-floor walk-through with you before they hand over the keys. It's called a Pre-Delivery Inspection or PDI." Its purpose is to record all items that are incomplete, damaged, missing, inaccessible or not operating properly on the builder's PDI Form.

You can bring someone with you or send a designate. Tarion says "there is no restriction as to whom you may choose to be your designate", and a designate who signs the PDI Form for you needs your written authority to the builder. Tarion does not mention home inspectors; it places no restriction on who you bring or send, so a home inspector you hire can go.

The PDI Form "does not represent a request for warranty service", so missing an item on it does not by itself affect your coverage, but Tarion calls the form useful evidence if you have a conciliation inspection.

Tarion's warranty runs in three periods: 1, 2 and 7 years. Its forms: the Initial Form (items from the day after possession, submitted automatically on day 41), the Mid-Year Form (from day 42, submitted on day 183), the Year-End Form (submitted on day 365, with a 10-day grace period, and your final chance to report one-year items), the Second-Year Form (any time in year two) and the Major Structural Defect Form (after year two, up to seven years from possession). Tarion asks you to notify your builder before you make a claim.

A private inspector is not the City's building inspector, who checks permit work during construction.

Ontario passed a Home Inspection Act in 2017, but it has not been brought into force, so there is no provincial licence today. Ontario.ca says: "At this time, Ontario does not have mandatory requirements for home inspectors."

Published Ottawa inspector pages put a single PDI or one-year warranty visit at about $450 to $600 (2025–26). Multi-visit new-build packages vary too much to show a range.