LEBAN ENGINEERING & HOME INSPECTION

He was punctual. Downhill from there. Charged about $750 for about45 min. visit. Two page report. Would not return my call after I left message with secretary. I’m having a structural engineer with good reputation visiting soon who charges $275 an hour. Writing this review late after now realizing how much I was overcharged.

Charged over $750 for half hour to 45 min. visit. As another rater stated, about two pages of a typed report. No photos. Would not return my call after left message with his secretary. Having another engineer come out who charges $275 an hour. I’ll have to admit, he was punctual for the visit. Probably not much business,

unknown

He was haughty and therefore hard to show exactly what problems I had noticed.  I especially showed him a place on my kitchen floor where the grouting was beginning to come out.  He waved it away as unimportant--in fact, even ridiculed me a bit for worrying about something that small.  Well, one year later, two whole rows of tiles are loose , cracking, with grout disappearing in a lot of spots.  Another structural contractor came recently with a laser level and measured.  He found that the kitchen floor is bowing about 3/4 in. in one place and more tiles will eventually come out (they are already moving slightly when stepped on).  The structural integrity of the kitchen is compromised underneath.  This second man charged less than 1/5 of what Leban did and spent about as much time.
To my knowledge, Leban did not use a laser level machine (a rather complex instrument in its own big housing), run by remote.  He went to the basement and shot telephotos of the piers in the crawl space.  I don't believe he actually crawled over to them, just stood in the open cellar space with his camera or phone.
He wrote a clear report recommending various fixes.  Some were useful but he totally missed the massive kitchen floor problem.  Now it is beyond easy repair and will run $7000 or above to correct structurally--plus the cost of all the new tile and labor.

We wanted to remodel our kitchen which involved removing a wall between the kitchen and dining room.
Scope of work : We needed a good knowledgeable structural engineer to come to our house and determine if we can take this wall down. We needed an engineer to provide us a written statement verifying that the wall was or was NOT a load bearing wall. Our contractor would not take the wall down until we had written confirmation.
We contacted Leban Engineering which was an Angies?s list referral. During the initial appointment setting, Leban was quick to mention ?We need $450 at the time of service? which we agreed to.  They sent their engineer out to our house on September 24.   We provided Leban Engineering the original blue prints for our house in hopes that would help their task go easier. The engineer was at our house less than one hour. He would not 100% guarantee that the wall was or was not load bearing. He mentioned the words to us ?there is a 99% probability that the wall is a good candidate for removal?
The engineers? scanner on his IPhone was broken so at that time, he could not swipe my charge card for the $450. He hand wrote my credit card#, expiration date, name and Security code on the back of the card and put all this on a piece of paper. When I told my husband I had done this, he was furious.   A few days later, my credit card was being used for invalid online purchases, I had been hacked.  I have proof from my bank, they closed my account and issued a new credit card. We are not sure who or how my identity was stolen but my husband said ?never do that again.?
2 weeks went by and we still had not received the written report from Leban Engineering.  I called left message and a few days later the owner called me. He apologized and said part of the delay was the fact that he was out of town. I reminded him that the contractors are waiting to begin demolishing the kitchen and to please hurry.
Monday,  November 17th my contractors arrive and asked me where the report was, they needed a copy. I called the office for Leban Engineering and notified the secretary that it was urgent,  I had contractors standing around at my house and needed the owner to call me ASAP, we needed the report.
We waited and waited. Tuesday, November 18th, 11AM, we could wait no longer. I called Leban Engineering and left a message asking why they never called me back.  The contractors had to cut a 12? X 12? hole in my ceiling so they could look up in the ceiling and determine if the wall could come down.   I now have a hole in my ceiling that was never to be disturbed and will need  Leban Engineering help cover the cost to repair the ceiling.
Tuesday, November 25,  I receive a call from the secretary at Leban Engineering stating my credit card was declined. I told her that was because they had the old credit card# and it had been cancelled. I reminded her that I was still waiting on a call from the owner.
Tuesday, November 25th, 6PM ? I get an email copy of the invoice from Leban Engineering for work that was never completed and a job that was not performed which was -  Determine if our wall is load bearing.
 
As of Today, Wednesday, November 26, I still have not heard from the owner of Leban Engineering. 
 
 
 
 

unknown

Michael reviewed a potentially structural problem on the house and made some very objective recommendations. I also called Trotter for the same problem and they wanted to sell me a $7K solution. Michael said that I really did not need all that, but suggested some small fixes to our issue, to monitor and then go to the Trotter solution if needed. We believe his recommendations are more realistic and credible since they come from a source that does not have a vested interest on selling me anything. I thought the price was a little high, but he is a licensed engineer, so it was worth it.

Michael was thorough and professional. He found structural issues with the house that I would have otherwise missed. Although more expensive than other home inspectors, Michael is licensed structural engineer and well worth the additional expense if there are structural concerns at issue.

Michael was outstanding. We used him on the first house we had under contract and he was able to identify some major structural issues that the sellers either tried to cover up or pretended not to know about that would have cost us dearly in the future. We actually had a contractor at the house that day as well and he missed a few of the issues Michael caught. We ended up walking away from the house and even though we were upset that we were out the money for the inspection, we viewed it as money well spent to avoid a major financial mistake. He is a little more expensive than some of the other quotes we received, but his engineering expertise was well worth the additional expense. He also gave us some great advice on removing walls and other structural elements. He was very responsive to emails and calls concerning any questions we had and was more than willing to make suggestions on fixes or contractors to take care of other work. We also used him on the second house we had under contract and our experience was no different. He also set up our radon test which was another $175, but also worth it since the second house tested high. I can't say enough good things about him. If you are considering using Michael as an inspector do yourself a favor and spend the extra money for him. He will do exactly what you want an inspector to do which is keeping you from making a major financial mistake.

unknown

I feel comfortable that the inspector was thorough, knowledgable, and fair. They were responsive to my phone calls, less so to emails. The price is a bit above average, but their ability to provide structural engineering assessments is what set them apart from others.

Kevin came and inspected a two story home with a crawl space. He was very thorough was knowledgeable of building codes. He crawled through the entire crawl space, checked under decks, was able to give insight to the house's wiring and plumbing situations. Kevin doesn't mind if you follow him through the inspection, letting you know what he is looking for, and how the systems measures up. If you can't visualize what he is describing, he won't hesitate to draw a sketch of the existing conditions, and what needs to be done in order to bring it to code. Likewise, if you don't understand how a system works, he has the ability to explain it in a manner that is easy to follow. Kevin is professional, friendly and approachable.

This company was helpful and prompt in scheduling appointment. They seemed to know right away what I needed. Other companies I contacted (some on Angie's List of structural engineers) had no idea what I was talking about when I described the observations that I had made about my house, but gave me estimates almost 2x as much as Leban to come out and take a look. Kevin Wade arrived on time, discussed the situation with me, answered all questions, and spent a lot of time looking over the areas in question. He give me his opinion and wrote up a detailed handwritten evaluation. The evaluation included recommendations for next steps to take which would provide a benchmark for monitoring movement as a precautionary measure. This was one of the best experiences that I have ever had with a service provider in the Atlanta area!