Wilson Home Inspections

Mr. Wilson was professional.  Did a thorough job as far as I could tell.  Won't know until further down the road if something comes up that he may have missed.

The inspection report appeared to be comprehensive. A minor foundation crack was identified and we were able to have the seller remedy this before the close of escrow. Mr. Wilson also specified that the HVAC system was in proper working order. Consequently the seller provided home warranty covered the cost of replacing the heat pump when it failed 1 month after the purchase date. However, Mr. Wilson failed to identify the fact the fact that the thermostat was inappropriate for a dual fuel system (electric heat pump and gas furnace) was cause of this failure. Along with replacing the heat pump we had to pay for the purchase and installation of the correct type of thermostat. If this had been identified in the inspection report we would have been able to negotiate having the seller replace the thermostat.
Fast forward almost 4 years. We recently sold this home. During the due diligence period, of our recent sale, the home inspector hired by the buyer reported the presence of an underground storage tank (UST). Identification appeared to be straight forward for a professional inspector. There are inoperative fuel oil delivery pipes adjacent to the gas furnace that replaced the oil burning furnace. Mr.  Wilson failed to identify the presence of the UST. . The cost of mitigation was $1800.  This was an expense we would not have incurred if inspection had identified  presence of the UST as wee certainly would have requested that the seller resolve the issue prior to the close of escrow

Responded quickly; was punctual; was extremely well-informed and professional.  Explained test results and gave options on mitigation/ remediation.  Installed equipment quickly, neatly, and with low impact on the rest of the house.  Showed us how to monitor it, and performed post-test and demonstrated to us the difference in radon levels (which was substantial).  Very glad to have engaged Mr. Wilson & company and would HIGHLY RECOMMEND for radon services!
(N.B.:  I chose not to enter what we paid, but it was completely competitive with other bids we obtained.)

Dudley Wilson stands behind his work.

There was one area where I specifically asked him if there was going to be a problem with the condo porch.  He thought not as the upstairs neighbors had recently repaired their porch.  Two months later when the rain came, my porch was leaking like a sieve.  I CALLED HIM AND HE RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY BY REIMBURSING ME FOR THE COST OF THE UNANTICIPATED REPAIRS.  (I am sorry for the people who used Dudley then complained about him on Angie's List without ever contacting him.  He would have made things right by them.)  

I hired him without checking on Angie's List but through his personal references among realtors.  I was told he was "the best."  He is.  He is possibly the most ethical businessman I've had the pleasure to do business with in years and it's a shame that more people are not like him.  Dudley is professional, highly skilled, knows his business, and has many satisfied customers including realtors from the greater Asheville, NC area.  He is prompt, genial, responsible, responsive, and runs the kind of business that is meant to serve the client fairly and with good information.  That  is his intent -- to provide good service, and he goes out of his way to do it. 

I never met him before he did the inspection but I heard from him immediately after I called him to say there was a problem.  He acted most professionally and kindly.  I was the one who was embarrassed to tell him there was a problem.  When he found out there was, he immediately came over to re-inspect and when he saw what was happening, he told my contractor that he would take care of the situation.  He did.  I am VERY pleased.

Dudley stands behind his work.  If you want professional and ethical workmanship, call him.  I can't recommend him highly enough.  My contractor is impressed by him.  Even my dog likes him.  In my book, recommendations don't come much higher.

The home inspection was comprehensive and thorough. 
The radan mitigation system was installed efficiently and follow-up inspection was conducted.

Blue Ridge Radon Solutions installed a radon mitigation system in our home last month. We got 3 estimates and their price was similar to the others. We chose them as Mr. Wilson explained exactly what they would do and the cause of our radon issue more clearly than the other companies. His employees were very courteous and left our basement cleaner than they found it. The final results were extremely low radon levels (average 0.7 pCi/l) and a quiet professionally installed system.  I would not hesitate to recommend this company to anyone with elevated radon levels.

When I sold my other house I had a sellers inspection from a company that used a report format that I liked so I searched out someone in this area using the same format. I talked to the owner of that company and got Dudley as a recommended inspector. The report is generated from a software program and usually included pictures of any areas of concern. Each apartment had a checklist, so was pretty easy to make sure we covered everything: At least that's what I thought. You would think that if a building has been treated for termite damage that an inspector would tell you about it. NO SUCH MENTION. You would also think that the roof would be a MAJOR concern of any homebuyer. I definitely asked anyway because it was raining on the day of inspection even though there was no concerns on the report. It's a year now since the inspection when he told me "You have 10 years on this roof" and I NEED TO REPLACE MY ROOF. There is no way that my roof could become so damaged so quickly. He missed it, and I trusted him to buy this house.

I was not living at the work site so I arranged to leave the door open (in case they got there early) and meet them there. When I arrived they had already put the pipe in the gravel, laid plastic over it, drilled a hole in the side of my building, and hooked up electricity to one of my electric service lines. Nobody called to ask about WHERE to drill that hole or WHICH electric service to hook up to. I never got to see what they put in the ground either. They said it was too late to show me. They used a closed cell foam spray to seal the plastic to the walls and floor. Shoddy workmanship there: big gobs of foam in some places and missed spots in others. Another thing is that the fan is not isolated from the frame of the building so if you are inside the bedroom next to where the outside fan is, you can hear the vibrations. When the testing was done we were getting heavy rains. Dudley told me that readings can be elevated at that time. It's a worst case scenario situation. But he didn't tell me why the radon would be higher at the bottom of my basement vs. in the adjacent crawl space which is at a higher level. Any air flowing though the vents in the crawl space would cause radon to settle on the basement floor, making the levels there higher. At 2.5 picocuries/liter during a huge rain, and considering that radon is heavier than air and could be compounded into a lower lying space, I don't think I really needed to spend another $1200. I probably could have bought an exhaust fan that kicked on at high humidity and put that in an existing basement vent.