Well, I did buy a condo before I had my current house built.
The one thing I didn't catch in the condo inspection was that one of the electrical outlets in the master bedroom was non-functional.
So for my new house, I went around with a little plug-in light and tested every electrical outlet.
Also, in my new house inspection, I had ordered dual-pane windows throughout the house, but discovered that a large, non-opening type window near the front door only had a single pane. They replaced it with a dual-pane window.
Also, I had some thin, shot-gun-slot type windows installed in places in the house where I wanted some natural light coming in, and they had forgotten to order shade screens for those specialty windows.
Also, I had carefully measured the refrigerator space in the model home, and purchased a large side-by-side fridge for that spot. But after the house was built, discovered that the space for the fridge was a few inches narrower than in the model. So a carpenter had to come out, remove that section of the kitchen countertop, and saw off an overhang on one side. That gave an extra inch or so for the fridge.
I discovered that the countertop in the upstairs bathroom had been significantly scratched - by the painter who came to touch-up the wall paint. He had stood on the countertop to do his painting, but had little rocks embedded in the ridges of the rubber soles of his shoes, which scratched the countertop.
Look for weird spots on the walls where the drywall has been patched.
One major problem I had after moving in, was that one day I noticed a stain on the (ground-floor) master-suite closet carpet. I couldn't imagine how a stain happened to be there. Then I looked up, and saw that the closet light was full of... water!... and had been dripping onto the carpet directly underneath.
They came and cut a bunch of holes in the closet walls trying to find a leaking pipe, to no avail. Turns out, a carpenter nailing trim along the bottom of the wall in the upstairs bedroom had shot a nail into the upstairs bathroom water-supply pipe. Once that bathroom shower started being used, the pipe started leaking water under the bedroom carpet.
Half that bedroom's carpet was soaked, had to be pulled up, and special fans were put in place to dry out the carpet and the flooring under the carpet. Of course, the leaking pipe was repaired. They never did really get the stain out of the closet carpet too well though.
Also, the guys that delivered the fridge from Circuit City were supposed to install an expensive, under-sink water filter on the line that sent water to the fridge icemaker. When they finished the installation, they gave me a paper and said I had to sign saying that the job had been done with no flaws, or my guarantee on the filter would be cancelled. (
)
Well, I looked around and everything seemed to be in order, so I signed. Turns out, the filter installer had knocked a chip out of the inside of the porcelain sink, but had stuck the chip back (temporarily) so it wasn't noticeable.
Honestly, it seemed like every workman who came to repair something, caused *other* damage in the process of his work. Grrr.
Oh, yeah, another problem. Turns out, when it would rain, the front concrete porch in front of the front door was slanted slightly, so that the the rainwater would flow under the door-threshhold plate and under the carpet inside. A guy had to come out with a grinding machine that ground the porch so that rainwater flowed 'away' from the doorway.
But all these things are covered under your one-year warranty. Just be sure to use the fireplace and every appliance enough times to be sure they are working properly.
Be SURE to get dual-pane windows, by the way. They are SO worth it, for so many reasons, especially for outside sound-control and dust elimination, in addition their insulation properties.