CORNERSTONE BUILDING INSPECTIONS INC

I wanted to bring to your attention an unfortunate incident that took place during a real estate transaction this August involving a home inspection. My sisters and I have been attempting to sell my deceased mother's house. We received an offer contingent upon inspection. When the inspection report, completed by Mr. David Hartpence of Cornerstone Building Inspections in Liverpool, was shown to us, we were shocked to discover that it included pictures of a furnace that is not in our house. These pictures included a rusty heat exchanger that he cited as being the source of a carbon monoxide leak. The problem with his analysis is that our house has never had a heating system that would require a heat exchanger (nor does it have a carbon monoxide leak as confirmed by two different HVAC professionals). It has had a gas forced-air furnace for over fifty years and before that coal burning furnaces. In the report and based on the photographs that he supplied, Mr. Hartpence stated that he would recommend the installation of a new furnace. However, in addition to the non-existent heat exchanger, he also included pictures of the two 100-year-old coal furnaces that are original to the house and still sitting in the cellar (though, they have not been used in over fifty years). Please understand that he never supplied photographs of the actual working gas furnace. Hoping to receive an explanation, we called his office to ask him about the photos. When we suggested that he may have made a mistake, he became defensive and hung up. Either he is the most incompetent home inspector on the planet, or he was attempting to assist in some sort of scam--there can be no other explanation. We knew there were valid things wrong with the house (it's 117 years old), but he chose to fabricate issues. Do not hire this man.

When he inspected our home that we ended up buying in Feb 2013, I asked him if the rotted particle board in the crawlspace was anything serious. He explained that it was simply caused by a combination of "vapor lock" and water leakage coming into the basement from the deck which was at an angle towards the house. I asked him a second time just to make sure, and explained that I was concerned about it. He said it was nothing to be concerned about! As you can see from the pictures, it was CLEARLY cause by water coming in from between the chimney and the siding. As it turns out, another part of the problem with the water coming in was because of extensive carpenter ant damage in the very same area. We had to replace the siding and the damage wood framing...$10,000 later!!!!

Dave discovered problems with the house we would have never noticed, it was mold.  We walked away from the home and when we found another house Dave was our go to guy, he is very knowledgeable and takes the time to explain everything.

They have saved me time and money!

Dave did a great job! He is very informative and really helped show me how I could best maintain my home in the future. His advice was invaluable and really helped me make a good decision about the house. He came recommended to us by our realtor and I am very glad we got him.

It was very good.