SHELTERWORKS, INC

Amazing! While their price is slightly above average, it is well worth every extra dollar spent. We used Joe for an inspection on a home we planned to buy. His report was remarkably thorough and put us in a great place to ask for concessions. Any extra we spent we got back! Joe also explained everything in his report and was available for questions after. The best!

Joe came highly recommended to us from a satisfied family member and we couldn't have been happier. His attention to detail is remarkable and he treats you as if you are part of his family, looking out for you and pointing out any potential issues large or small. His reports are highly detailed and contain photos and indexing which made repair negotiations with the seller very easy.
It seems Joe has a soft spot in his heart for first time home buyers and does everything he can to protect his client, something that I am very grateful for. I would recommend Shelterworks to anyone looking for a thorough home inspection before making the largest purchase of your life.

Went very well. We were there with Joe Corsetto for every inch of the inspection and never made to feel we were in the way. All of the good and the bad with the inspection was explained in detail with recommendations for correction. Very valuable and useful information was conveyed at a level where we could understand and apply in the future.
Nothing on the house was too high or too low and dirty - the inspection was extremely comprehensive and detailed right down to the photos, not simply a and quot;once overand quot; inspection of the major components of a house.
The written report was very professional and included all of the comments, observations, practical recommendations and photos of the inspection that took 1/2 day. The house was inspected in depth and helped us make major decisions at the time of purchase as well as in the present and will be used as reference during our ownership going forward.
Joe arrived early, inspected this house with a fine toothed comb, came equipped and prepared for all levels of inspection with ladder, binoculars and demonstrated his extensive knowledge in all aspects of home inspection. He treated us with respect and shared our appreciation for and quot;the old galand quot; of a home we were buying. We are extremely grateful we hired Shelterworks.

We have been searching for a house for the past several months. Joe was recommended to me by one of my friend. I checked shelterworks' website and did extensive research about Joe Corsetto (the owner and inspector). Joe was the former president of American Society of Home Inspectors, and has been a home inspector for 35 years and is well regarded in his field. Here is a video link I find where Joe was talking about home inspection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIkrDmaHeOc.
When we found our candidate house and nearly finished the attorney review last month, I contacted Shelterworkds to schedule an appointment, fortunately, Joe was available in a couple of days. On inspection day, I was at the property 10 minutes before the appointment, only to find out that Joe was there 30 minutes earlier and was already checking outside the house. As a first time home buyer, I have MANY questions. However, Joe was very happy to answer all my questions, just like a great teacher. The inspection lasted 4.5 hours, I would say Joe was a true professional with dedication and meticulousness. While talking to him, I could see that he loves his job and takes great pride of his work. I got the inspection report 2 days later. The report was very well written along with corresponding color pictures, so everyone who read the report can see what and where the issue is.
Among the list of defects of the house, seven non-functional windows, unsafe deck and partially damaged roof are the most expensive items need to be repaired. Since we have no idea how much these items will cost and we have a time constraint to give sellers a counter offer, we contacted Joe for some advice. To be clear, as a home inspector, Joe has no obligation to do this. However, he sent me a detailed email and spend over half hour on the phone with me to go over each item and give me a ball park estimate of each repair. This IS EXTRAORDINARY!
In the end, sellers refused to repair all the major defects and refused to give us credit for fixing these items ourselves. That left us no choice but cancel the contract. We will continue searching for our home, and we will surely use Joe again for home inspection next time. I strongly recommend Joe to every home buyer in New Jersey!
Lastly, I will quote Joe's word in one of his interview to finish up this review. and quot;What very few people realize is that the home inspector is one of the few in your last line of defense in making a bad decision.and quot;

-- Roland S.

Shelterworks represented themselves to be much more than a home inspector. Too much opinion was given such as he thinks that a room should have more outlets to be up to date, when current codes were met. For one item noted on their report we had a structural come in to evaluate what was noted on the report. Shelterworks then dismissed the report from the engineer (licensed by the state) as to not be accurate. Many items on the report were found not to be accurate at all and the license number listed on the report was not valid with the state when doing a search.

Just to give you an idea of the quality of work a manual garage door was cited for not automatically reversing.

Joe completed a home inspection for a tudor style home originally built in 1940. It had several additions, so the inspection was complex with many and quot;nooks and cranniesand quot; and took several hours (6) to complete. The inspection report was 34 pages and is the perfect roadmap to bring our house to a safe and enjoyable state. I was truly thankful that he inspected the house as if it were his. The level of professionalism and his keen eye for detail was top notch. If our purchase does not go through, I plan to use him again. I have already recommended Shelterworks to several friends who are also in the market to buy.

When I was referred to Shelterworks and Joe Corsetto I was told he was the best home inspector around and I think it is true. I was in the process of buying a "recently renovated" house that I knew had complicated heating and plumbing and wanted to make sure everything was in good shape because I was not paying for a fixer-upper. Joe was exceptionally careful, checking out the electrical service, HVAC, etc. Nothing was cursory - he went on the roof, unscrewed or unlatched multiple covers to check sewer pump, sump pumps, etc. Toward the end of a very long inspection, he discovered a crawl space ( estimate about 2 to 2.5 feet high) and checked out three connected crawl spaces by crawling around on his belly, finding standing water and a moldy smell in one of them. The house turned out to require many repairs and would have been much more difficult to maintain than I had expected. The finding of water and a moldy smell/allergens was a health issue for my family. Joe's inspection cost more than an average inspection, but saved me a lot of trouble and a lot of money down the road. The cost of this inspection was especially high because it took much longer than Joe's usual inspections given the complicated set up of the house. I received a quote that covered a certain amount of time and then an hourly rate there after, so I knew as the inspection progressed how much it would cost. Also, Joe checked that I wanted to continue past the "standard" amount of time, and let me know that I could stop anytime. However, the extra time and cost was more than worth it. What was uncovered would have cost tens of thousands to repair properly. Note that the cost of an inspection for a standard house, though more than the average rate, would cost a lot less than what is listed here.

Shelterworks (Joe) was highly recommended to me and I have highly recommended him. You can get a home inspection cheaper, but I doubt it would be half as comprehensive. Joe and his office staff (Liz) are extremely helpful and responsive. He inspects every inch of the home from top to bottom, gives great information and pointers during the inspection, and issues a complete report. We have used Joe twice and were completely satisfied each time. We bought our current home using a different inspector (due to schedule restraints at the time and to save some money) and neither the inspection nor the report came remotely close to the work that he does.