General Inspectors Inc.

We recently purchased our 'dream home' in Sandia Heights, NM. Unfortunately it was 'inspected' by Joseph Lebron of General Inspectors Inc. Mr. Lebron missed a few obvious, expensive items that obviously should have been corrected by the Seller before closing: (1.) 100% dysfunctional heating system: Mr. Lebron concluded in the 'Heating' section of his report, "... the heating system was found to be operational with no readily identifiable deficiencies." In his detail, he stated, "Without removing the burners to gain complete access, and with limited viewing of the heat exchangers, a thorough inspection was not possible." Au contraire: Living with a 100% dead heating system, during the last week in October with nightime temps in the teens, our inside temperature dropped to 59 degrees. Had the structure not been of adobe, we may have seen inside temps in the forties. After two days of expensive correction by a licenced plumber (not by the Home Warranty Company), we have a partly functional heating system but we're not finished. Had Mr. Lebron actually bothered to try activating the furnaces, even he might have noticed the burners never ignite. Now after partial correction, I can finally see active burners from twenty feet away. I wonder what Mr. Lebron was looking at. (2.) Broken window: One of our six casement windows in the breakfast nook is broken. This is also visible from twenty feet, not covered by the worthless home insurance, and should have been corrected by the Seller. We look forward to solutions by Mr. Lebron. Hint: "Use your existing home warranty," is not a solution. Feel free to read below a few hundred horrendous reviews re American Home Shield. [*** Link removed ***] [*** Link removed ***] [*** Link removed ***]

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I am so disappointed with this company. They inspected the house we were buying last year. They missed so many things:

- Major leak in sunroom. Water damage was obvious once we knew to look for it.
- Outside security light was not sealed (half inch gap between light base and wall, more water damage)
- Kitchen sink did not drain properly, had to be fixed by plumber
- Shower did not drain properly, had to be fixed by plumber
- Garage sink did not drain properly, had to be fixed by plumber
- Both shower valves did not work properly and had to be replaced
- Outdoor deck not sealed, in bad shape. Spent a lot to fix this.
- Indoor wood beams not coated, cracked later and had to be fixed
- Garage roof not properly supported and badly sagging, had to use ceiling jack to fix
- Front door handle does not latch and had to be fixed
... etc, etc

We have spent over $5k last year fixing things they missed, and there are many more things that we still need to do. We spent a premium on our house thinking it was in great shape, based largely on the inspection report from this company. Highly recommend never to use this company.

Seemed bent on keeping the sale from occurring by pointing out every conceivable defect, and maximizing estimate as to adverse impact such defects would cause. Seemed to "go into huddle" with buyer to discuss defects. Would not perform a requested re-inspection - responded, "We don't do that."

General Home Inspectors inspected the house we bought in October of 2013. They later re-inspected the house in November right before closing to ensure the home could be warrantied and that needed repairs were made. Ben was the one who re-inspected our house and seemed to be friendly and knowledgeable. My main concern was the roof. On the initial inspection they said missing shingles needed to be replaced as well as other issues. When Ben re-inspected he said the roof looked great. End of story I thought. After we moved in, we had ABQ House Detectives come to clean the chimney. The owner brought me up on the roof and showed me the missing shingles and various problems we still had with the roof. He asked if the roof was re-inspected because he could not believe the roof was given the green light. I called the warranty company which was General Home Warranty. Basically they are the same company and owned by the same person. We even had our realtor call, but neither the inspection or warranty company will do anything unless the roof leaks. As far as I'm concern they should have to pay for the repairs I now need to make since they said the roof was in good shape even though it wasn't. Do not use either General Home Warranty or General Home Inspection. Go with another company like Pillar to Post or ABQ House Detectives. Don't let your realtor convince you to use either company.

My realtor suggested that we use Joseph Lebron for the home inspection on the house we bought.  He had used Mr. Lebron in the past and he came highly recommended.  We went ahead with the suggestion and set up the appointment.  Fortunately for us, it was raining the day of inspection, which made it easy to find things like leaks and drainage issues.  It took about 2 hours for the inspection to be completed, as he had a second man splitting duties with him.  During the inspection they both were professional and seemed very knowledgeable about the inspection process.  The report I received a few days later was very detailed with even the most minor things pointed out.  He then detailed his major concerns once again at the end of the report.  There were some things that needed to be fixed before the finance company would sign off on the loan, but thanks to the report they were all taken care of within a week.
Overall I was very pleased with the service provided by General Inspectors and would definitely consider using them again in the future.

After recommendations from our realtor and after researching several companies on Angie's List, my husband and I hired General Inspectors, Inc. to do a full home inspection on an 1870 sq ft residence we are in the process of buying in northwest Albuquerque. The company's owner, Joseph Lebron, and his assistant, Alex, arrived early and after the appropriate introductions immediately focused on the inspection.  It was apparent they were highly organized and coordinated in their approach.   As the inspection proceeded, they were meticulous in calling our attention to the more important issues they discovered.  Joe even discovered a termite tunnel that the previous termite inspection had missed, resulting in a re-inspection by the termite company.  At all times we felt entirely comfortable and even encouraged to ask questions and observe the inspection process. Having two men working in tandem with one another meant that the full inspection was completed in about two hours instead of four. Both gentlemen were courteous, friendly, polite and professional. At the conclusion of the inspection, even though he had another inspection scheduled after ours, Joe lingered to give us an overview of the inspection and offered some insights into the timeline we could expect for items that needed attention.  For example, the hot water heater was 37 years old and long ago exceeded its expected useful life, patio roof would probably last another two years, etc. The written report was received four days later.  It was a complete listing from the less important discoveries (like the shower door that binds a little as it is opened) to items that were completely non-functioning (garbage disposal) or even dangerous (gas leaks).  From General Inspectors written report we were able to create a complete, prioritized list of repairs, maintenance and improvements that will be needed to make this house into a comfortable, safe, well functioning home.  As a result of their findings and the resulting list, we saw the necessity for re-negotiating the price on this foreclosed home.  We are awaiting the sellers reply.

I've held off posting my experience from fear of retaliation by Joseph Lebron. Now that our pending sale is complete, I feel the need to share my experience.

In late February 2012 our home was inspected by Mr. Lebron as part of a real estate transaction. Our Broker suggested we skip the inspection as he would attend and act as our advocate while answering any questions Joseph Lebron may have.

Following the nearly three-hour inspection our Broker called to say Mr. Lebron had made a couple of notations that may delay the process by a few days. Mr. Lebron had suggested we have a professional roofer come out, as well as an electrician. He felt that the roof had some damage that needed to be looked at further as well as he wanted our electrical outlets to be further inspected by a licensed electrician.

We immediately scheduled a roofer to come to our home. Once we found that our needed roof repairs would be covered by USAA, our Broker called the seller's Broker and had him set-up an appointment to bring over an electrician. Because I wanted to know exactly what we were in for as far as what needed to be done, I attended the meeting with the buyers, Brokers and electrician. The electrician was very nice and explained the entire process of what needed to be done. He made it sound like an easy and relatively inexpensive issue to fix. But the buyers were pretty defiant and said Mr. Lebron had led them to believe we had a much larger issue. They said he had shown them of a cell phone camera video of a house burning down. The house had apparently the same issue as he had noted and we were planning to get fixed. Both their electrician and I said, "He showed you a video of a house burning down?!" They both said yes.

This annoyed me as throughout Mr. Lebron's report it said he was an inspector and that any concerns he raised would best be reviewed by professionals. This single cell phone video made negotiations a lot tougher than they should have been and on Monday I called Mr. Lebron in hopes that he could call the couple and further explain what he originally meant. They didn't seemed calmed by the fact that the electrician said we could fix the issue quickly and easily. They just kept referring back to this cell phone video. Mr. Lebron was defiant and said he had every right to show the couple this video.

The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) Code of Ethics disagrees: http://www.homeinspector.org/codeofethics/default.aspx

Please note, Joseph Lebron is apparently the past President of ASHI and should have known better.

According to their ethics report, a portion of the reports says:
    2. Inspectors shall act in good faith toward each client and other interested parties. 

    A. Inspectors shall perform services and express opinions based on genuine conviction and only within their areas of education, training, or experience. My take on this is because Mr. Lebron asked/suggested we contact an electrician, he was already stating that the issues he had with our electrical outlets were beyond his areas of education, training and/or experience. Regardless of the fact that the buyers asked for more info, I feel like he should have deferred them to a professional. I equate his cell phone photo/video exchange as an x-ray tech making a diagnosis on his/her experience prior to a doctor reviewing the scans.   

    B. Inspectors shall be objective in their reporting and not knowingly understate or overstate the significance of reported conditions. I truly feel that Mr. Lebron overstated the significance of the condition of our electrical outlets. By showing the buyers a cell phone photo/video of a home burning (this video was mentioned by the buyers during our joint meeting with an electrical contractor) I felt that he was yelling, “Fire” in a crowded theater.

Again, why insist we contact a professional if he was going to go ahead and make a diagnosis? His cell phone video/photo was forefront in the minds of the buyers for the 36+ hours he took to return the full inspection report.

I thought he was very thorough, he checked all the applies, and electric. It turns out, before we bought the house there had been a roof leak. The owner did not disclose it, I don't know if he has to but he didn't.  Well we had another roof leak, we called the insurance, they sent someone out to do the adjustment. He noticed that there had been a ceiling retouch, I mean it was so fine that to the untrained eye you couldn't tell. The home inspector did not. Know I don't know if he couldn't or what.

I've used General Inspectors for close to 10 Years.

I believe they provide the best home inspection in the Albuquerque area.

They are always on time, professional and provide fantastic service to a Buyer or Seller.