About us
Your Home Inspector should be working for YOU, not your Realtor! Since 2003, Inspections by Bob has given Maryland home buyers and owners peace of mind with high-quality, independent home inspections. Our goal is to educate our clients about the condition of the home. On-site summary, with a full electronic report delivered within 24 hours. We have no ties to any Realtor, contractor, builder, warranty company, alarm company or anyone else, and will never sell your information. Super Service Award winner every year since 2009! Servicing Montgomery, Frederick, Howard, and Carroll Counties in Maryland. Radon testing not available in Carroll County. Some other services limited by Lab availability and hours. PS... we are the -ONLY- ASHI certified inspection firm that is pledged independent in our service area. (http://www.independentinspectors.org/maryland) All others are either not ASHI or don't service our area. You want BOTH!
Business highlights
Services we offer
Home Inspections, Pre-Drywall Inspections, Pre-listing Inspections, Radon Testing, Water Testing.
Amenities
Free Estimates
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 95% | ||
| 2% | ||
| 1% | ||
| 1% | ||
| 1% |
It was very easy to set up an appointment with Inspections by Bob online and they contacted us the same day to verify the appointment. Bob was at the house prior to us getting there and introduced himself and told us what he would be doing and what exactly he is looking for.
Bob was very thorough in the inspection and at the end gave us a complete run down of what he found including pictures and his recommendations. He found some electrical problems and some plumbing issues that needed to be repaired along with some railing and stair issues. He also found two major issues, the condition of the roof and the underground storage tank for heating oil, both of which need to be replaced.
We appreciate Bob being thorough and professional and saving us thousands of dollars and many future headaches if we had bought the house. If the sellers do not replace the roof and oil tank and fix the electrical then we will look for another house and will use Bob again to inspect the next one.
I heartily recommend Bob's service. We used him for two different inspections. We actually walked away from one house because of all the issues that Bob found. Bob was very realistic but not discouraging about the amount of care and maintenance the older home would need. With that information we decided it wasn't the best fit for us. Bob then inspected our next choice which was a newly constructed townhome. One would think there isn't much to inspect in new construction but Bob was very thorough and identified a lot of issues that we will take back to the builder to correct before we close on the home.
I found Bob to be prompt, courteous, professional and very thorough. Upon introduction, he asked what my experience/knowledge was in home inspections so that he could tailor his explanations to my knowledge level. As a woman, I'm used to dealing with people who assume that I know nothing about construction so this was refreshing.
In short, we really appreciated Bob's experience and knowledge. He's helped us make the best decision in choosing our next home.
After living in the home for a few months now, there's been no surprises that Bob didn't mention. The tape measure he gave us came in handy as well! Overall, I thought he was very professional and very good at his job. I later found out a close friend actually knew him personally, and she said that I didn't need to worry about buying a dud home if Bob was the inspector.
I think he may be a bit more pricey than other inspection services (we paid $640 for inspection + radon test), but the value he provides is well worth the price. Would absolutely use him again in the future and recommend him without any reservations. Should also add that he accommodated our tight timeline and came out on a weekend with only a couple days notice. He's great!
1) He thoroughly walks through the entire house with you, provides information about areas of focus and answers all questions that you might have.
2) He's very friendly throughout the process and might even give you a few story or two about his personal experiences (I thought it was important to leverage his knowledge from similar house inspection)
3) He provides a summary at the end of the inspection and even prints the picture on the spot! No need to wait for a day or two.
4) You get a binder with not only the inspection itself, but other house maintenance tips and contractors in the area
5) I received a professional grade measuring tape which I've used extensively in my furniture shopping extravaganza.
You really can't go wrong with Bob's inspection who is a local business with a great attention to detail! Give him a try!
Bob often quotes county code incorrectly creating fear or confusing the client. He also throw out strange info that does not apply to current property or is only his opinion and not relevant to the transaction. Potentially making the buyer's agent's job more difficult.
His reporting system is outdated and time consuming. Most inspectors use a tablet to collect the report data and take digital corresponding photos. Then take the info to their office and email a report within a few hours. Bob takes a few hours to finish hand writing his report and then printing his photos on a portable printer. Both inspections I've attended with his company the printer has run out of ink. In today's tech environment, printed photos are a waste of valuable time better which could be better used to complete home inspection contingencies negotiations than trying to determine exactly what a photo is and then scanning photos, uploading them, and finally scanning the report and uploading that to the listing agent.
Most exhausting home inspections ever!
"I am sorry that [Removed member's name] is displeased with our home inspection services. However, she was not our client. Our inspections are performed for the benefit of the buyer, not the agent. Our goal is and always will be to help the client understand the conditions of the house, so they may make a fully informed decision regarding the purchase. We do not claim to be code inspectors. We don’t quote code. However, if something needs updating for safety, we call it out. We may tell our client that “current code” requires new things, but code is not retroactive. We do tell clients that, if they choose to update areas of the home, that these updates will be required to meet current code. Much of home inspection is indeed opinion; we are applying our education and experience at each inspection. We go into attics WHEN IT IS SAFE. If we can't see where to walk, SAFELY, we can't go in much beyond the access. We need to be able to get in, do our job, and get out safely. Many times an access is in an unsafe location, or blocked by the owner’s belongings. Attics with lots of insulation do not allow us to see what we’re stepping on. We don’t want to damage the seller’s property, or risk our own safety, just because a realtor wants us to get into a particular area. One of the main reasons we use our current reporting system is that we believe it is in the client’s best interests to deliver the report on-site. We sit down with the client at the end of the inspection and go over the entire report with them, answering questions and explaining our findings. The pictures are labeled as to the defect or issue. Sometimes we’ll bring up an issue in the report and the client will ask where it was; reviewing the report on site lets us immediately go with the client to look at problems, rather than relying on memory after an electronic report is delivered. There really is no substitute for being at the site and pointing out problems so the client completely understands them. Yes, we take much more time than other inspectors (usually an hour per thousand square feet), and make no apology for it. If the buyer’s realtor is present, they receive a copy of the report as well. When asked, we are also happy to scan and upload the report and the pictures for easy retrieval. Uploaded pictures are also labeled with the defect or condition. The “work completed date” on this review does not correspond with any inspection appointment in our files, so we are unable to address any specific issues. The only appointment on our files that lists Ms. Ramsey as the agent was performed in March 2013, well over a year ago, and that house had multiple serious structural and electrical issues. If our inspection helped someone choose not to purchase this house, we often get blamed for doing our job by people who have a vested interest in selling the house. We don't care about the sale; we are there to tell our client about the house: good, bad, ugly or scary. We try to present thing in a calm, non-judgmental way, but things like structural issues and shock hazards are hard to downplay. We never advise a client as to whether or not they should purchase the property. So, while we don't like getting poor reviews, we thank this REALTOR for a great bad grade. Sorry if we cost you a sale by doing our job."
Licensing
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