Howell Home Inspection

Not so well, unfortunately:( I remember the day very well. It was in the late afternoon one spring day in May 2010. I was working in a neighboring town about 30 miles away. I had made arrangements to leave early to meet our inspector at our new, old (built 1976, one year before my husband was born:) home to walk through it with our inspector. I made sure to arrive early to make sure there was plenty of time. When I pulled up he was reclining in a folding chair in my garage. He was finished! Should have been clue #1. But I am young, first time home buyer trusting a "friend" to inspect my first home. He wouldn't take this responsibility lightly, right? So to my delight the 34 year old home was in great shape. Only a few small repairs were needed. Nothing too major. Should have been clue #2. So clue #3 that he did a subpar job is when our homeowners insurance agency calls asking for a copy of our inspection. They notice that he didn't even get on our roof and ask us to have him come back and inspect it and send pictures. Wow! The big blow, and clue #4 that we are in huge mess with our first home is when we begin to remodel a couple bedrooms in the front of the house. Our contractor decides to get under the house to check something out and while under our home, texts photos to my husband of our crumbling foundation! He walks off the job, saying it is pointless to do any more till this is repaired. Another huge hit! Of course looking back at the inspection paperwork. He checked off that our foundation was fine and that there was moisture barrier under our home. And according to our contractor that is absolutely not the case. So, we decided to start saving some money for this foundation repair job. In the meantime we have our annual termite inspection and the service man gets under our home and notices that the air ducts are flattened! So even if our home inspector inadvertently checked a box regarding moisture barrier, how did he miss this?!? Less than 6 months later we have a new dishwasher installed in the kitchen. When the plumber comes out and notices the state of our home he asks what is going on. We gave him a brief summary of the last couple years and explain why we are on hold with our remodel. He asks who our inspector was and we decline to say. We are still sorting through legal issues. He then goes on to say, "Give me one guess, if I am wrong I won't say another word!" He hit the nail on the head first try!!!!!!!!!!! So what did our home inspector "friend" do when approached about all of the problems with our home? He got ugly, defensive, and was not even the least bit remorseful. He made us feel guilty for even bringing the matter to his attention. My husband wrote the nicest, most heartfelt, matter of fact letter to him and he came back rude, hateful, and unapologetic. We were crushed by his insensitivity and lack of responsibility taken for his actions(or lack of there of). We are getting ready to buy a rental property so I decided to join Angies list to get some reviews on home inspectors among other things. While on here felt compelled to write a review about the service that prompted me to join Angie's list. I hope no one else is harmed by Howell Home Inspectors in the future. If nothing else, maybe we will save someone else a lot of money and heartache.