General Contractors Inspection Service

Inspector showed up to inspect a 2 bed, 2 bath condo unit. Very nice, professional inspector but overall I felt the inspection was lacking the thoroughness that it should. I had to ask the inspector to check certain things that were fairly common to be checked, toilet was dripping internally that inspector did not notice and pictures were not provided for items that were called out. In all the inspections that I have had on homes I am purchasing(5), I have never paid this much and not received pictures in the report. I am highly disappointed.

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Peter Goodman performed an inspection of an 1895 Victorian 2 flat building that we eventually bought in San Francisco. He did an incredible job. The house was in very poor condition and Peter spent over four hours going over the house from top to bottom. He pointed out that it needed a new roof, discovered a huge hidden chimney between the dining room and kitchen, carefully examined the brick foundation for cracks, checked individual boards on the porches, and pointed out myriad abatement issues in the unwarranted inlaw. He even crawled into the 3 foot space between the dropped ceiling and the roof and discovered that a significant amount of period detail as well as some water damage were hidden from view. He also pointed out that the house flipper who was selling the house had incorrectly installed windows and a HVAC system which needed to be corrected immediately for safety reasons. He was pleasant and knowledgeable (he was a retired architect) and treated the tenants respectfully as well. We had hired GCIS on the advice of another friend who said that their reports were thorough, and were still surprised at how thorough Peter was. Our real estate agent (who had not known about GCIS) said that in all her years of selling homes she had never been on an inspection as thorough.

Leo Bragagnolo inspected the Victoria home we purchased in Noe Valley. This 3 story 3000 sq ft home was built in 1880 and needless to say had a few opportunities for repair. I was with Leo every step of the inspection, from the kitchen, through each bathroom to crawling under the house to review the foundation. Leo took the time to review and explain every item that he documented. Leo stayed on-site longer than he had planned. I knew that Leo’s highest priority was giving me a complete professional report. This is my 5th home transaction in 22 years and Leo was the best.

GCIS sent our Roger Drosd. Roger was perfectly punctual and could not have been nicer. Definitely an A+ for the interpersonal component of the inspection. However, the quality of the inspection performed was genuinely bad. Roger did a very cursory job - he didn't check to make sure that all of the electric sockets were working, he didn't check to see if the appliances worked, he didn't check to see if all of the windows functioned properly, he didn't test to see if the hot water heater worked, he didn't inspect the furnace, he forgot to test the plumbing in one of the bathrooms, etc. This list could go on much longer. After he left the property, I had my general contractor swing by, who performed a FAR more thorough/informative inspection (for free!) in about 30 minutes than in the 3 hours Roger spent at the property. My contractor pointed out GLARING items that Roger completely missed (missing smoke detectors,  a door that didn't close, etc.). This was the 6th home inspection I've commissioned in the past 3 years, and I was shocked by the experience. Ironically, this was also the most expensive pre-sale inspection I've ever commissioned. After receiving his report (sent LATE at night on the day he promised to deliver it), I had a few follow up questions. I sent him an email with some photographs ... well, that was a few weeks ago and I have yet to get a response. Overall, Roger is a nice man, but I would never hire him/GCIS again.