You have finally arrived. You and your spouse have just purchased an elegant new home in Las Vegas that you know in your bones rivals many in other areas costing hundreds of thousands more.

You've chosen all the amenities as well, not forgetting to include those gorgeous granite slabs countertops in your kitchen, sumptuous bathroom and lighting fixtures, a killer sound system, a backyard designed like a tropical paradise - everything you could have ever wanted in a dream home.

So, life and good and every little thing is coming up roses, so to speak. Everything, that is, except for one. You won't be around to see this beautiful home being built because you'll be living thousands of miles away until it's time for you to officially relocate.

Who will watch the land being graded? Who will see those sticks go up? And who will make sure that the builder properly installs each and every upgrade you just spent four hours selecting at their design center?

Homebuilding is, after all, one of the most intricate and complex entities still made completely by hand in these United States, and human error is eminently possible if someone who knows what they are doing doesn't check up on the progress of their new home being built.

David and Jill Sinigaglia joined thousands of others in their move West to the desert to fall in love with the area, and its mild weather as well as take advantage of the low prices in the booming city formerly only known as a stop-off for discharged servicemen after World War II. But they realized the hard way that visiting Las Vegas from New York, ordering up a new home and hoping that all the amenities they painstakingly chose would be installed without a hitch was not as easy as the builder's salespeople made it sound when they had their new home built a few years ago. Despite the time and money of cross-country trips to check on things, the couple continually was faced with the nightmare of scheduling the homebuilder to accomplish the promised repair and finish work long after the home closed escrow.

"We kept thinking how great it would be to have someone in Las Vegas that we could rely on to help us with the process, " says Jill Sinigaglia. "It would have saved us so much stomach acid as well as expense if a third person could be our eyes and ears, monitoring the entire process so that we could rest easier."

David, who has 40 years of experience in industrial engineering and business administration, and Jill, who has been involved in property development over the years , decided that homebuyers needed "someone on that wall" while they were not there to oversee construction.

And so, their company, Your Periscope was conceptualized by the couple and put into full operation by early 2002. Its name implies its purpose, "We're here for you, there"; a company dedicated to observing and reporting on the construction process, the ordered upgrades and dozens of other items, including spot making sure rooms and closet sizes are to plan, walls are even, the proper elevation and color schemes are adhered to, drains and gutters are properly installed, all the ordered appliances are put into place, floor springs and squeaks are addressed, woodwork is expertly done, and last, but certainly not least, that door and window opening directions (of which many of us are not privy when touring a model home) do not conflict and are logically installed.

The Sinigaglias have a variety of packages they offer homebuyers, from the grading of the dirt to drywall, or all the way through to the finished home, monitoring and reporting on the progress of the homebuyers' intricately-planned back yard retreats, complete with digital photos supplied every step of the way.

"We don't perform a 'witch hunt,' says David, "but we do make detailed reports on activity and then leave it in the homebuyer's hands to take action on whatever we find. If anomalies are discovered early on, we have found that homebuyers can avoid some major confrontation and stress later on."

"In the end, even the builders seem to appreciate this up-front approach," adds Sinigaglia. In Nevada, where builders routinely face the rising costs of defect litigation and consumers continually try to find ways to protect their interests, Your Periscope is a concept whose time has come.

Your Periscope's typical clients are homebuyers moving to the area from out-of-market or locals who do not have enough time to routinely check up on their new homes' progress, and homes serviced usually are base-priced at $300,000 and above. Although Your Periscope now operates only in the Las Vegas area, its success may someday branch out to other new home areas throughout the country. For more information on the company and its services, visit http://www.yourperiscopeisus.com

Published: February 7, 2003

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A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home. Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.