Empire Home Inspections of W.N.Y., Inc

We worked with Craig Lipp before we purchased our home last year, and I've finally gotten to a point where I feel I need to write a review to not only help my own sanity but to potentially help others. Craig arrived to the house before we did and was inside to meet the homeowners and look through prior to our meeting. I thought it was a blessing that we were granted a home inspection by the homeowners, but our home inspection did not help us at all. Craig praised the house from start to finish, declaring it sound and solid, despite minor cosmetic issues, which were least important to us. He made us feel that we would be purchasing a solid home. He sat in the basement and raved about how dry it was, emphasizing the dust in the finished section indicating that the homeowners trusted leaving their stuff downstairs and had been doing it for some time. He neglected to point out the many signs of previous flooding that we noticed after moving in that other professionals also noticed and pointed out. He stood in places that blocked our perspective (like when he stood facing us by the hot water tank in a way that blocked our view of the hole behind the furnace with earth coming through it) and made problems seem a lot smaller than they were. He mentioned that there was a flex line coming out of the hot water tank that had a faint smell of gas. He made the problem seem minor, despite my concern at the time. As soon as we were in the house, the smell of gas was stronger and National Fuel had to address the problem not once, but twice. Within months of moving in, we had to purchase a brand new furnace. The first large snow melt, the basement flooded. It has also flooded a few other times after snow melts and heavy rain. We are going to have to get the drain tile replaced and it is going to cost upwards of $10,000. He missed pointing out the original exterior asbestos siding in an enclosed room off the garage (which we made a condition to get professionally removed or we would back out on our offer post-inspection.) He wasn't even going to show us that room, which I made a point to go into. When I saw the siding, he agreed with my observation, yet neglected to warn that there might be other asbestos lurking in the home. While he may have missed the hole in the floor under the kitchen sink due to the homeowners covering it up, or some of the problems that the "remodeled" bathroom had if you looked in the cabinet (holes in the wall, unfinished trim, paint covering past mold issues on the ceiling due to not having a ceiling fan) he emphasized things like the small leak in the kitchen faucet that he told us Moen would have a lifetime guarantee for (which they didn't.) He also never mentioned anything about other mold growth in a few spots in the home, a broken front door (which we both have found funny that he made sure to be the one that opened it to let us in that day.) He praised the homeowners for not painting over things to hide problems, but most if not all the rooms were definitely painted recently or within the last few years. These are not the only issues we found with the house that we wish we had learned about in our inspection. I truly feel like he was there to make sure we liked the house enough to go through with the sale, and not to help us better our lives with a truly informed decision. Either that or he is just a very poor inspector. As we were pressured with a deadline to get our home inspection, and the whole process was very quick from the bid to the inspection, we had asked our real estate agent if she knew of any home inspectors. She provided us with Craig's name, and in hindsight, I would have made sure to take my time and research for my own inspection service, one with better reviews. I would advise you to find someone else if you are granted a home inspection, so that you can make a more informed decision on something that will cost you much money and time for years to come.

The inspector (Craig Lipp) does not work for you (purchaser), he works for the the realtors helping you with the purchase. He basically was a salesman for the seller. He walked around complimenting everything. He literally did not find one, single thing on the property to be even mildly critical of. We find out after closing that not a single furnace had a filter in it, they were all full of gypsum dust from a previous renovation process, and one was altogether broken and needed to be replaced immediately. Another did not collect return air from the apartment it was heating, but from uninsulated attic (so in the winter, the radiator was pulling in freezing cold air and trying to heat that up for the apartment below). We also had some terrible, failing electrical wiring that he completely missed. Basically on day one of ownership, we gradually discovered thousands of dollars worth of repairs. Our electricians and HVAC repairmen were completely astounded that we had had an inspection and these issues were missed. Craig Lipp is a dishonest businessman.

Terrible. Make no mistake this guy, Craig Lipp, is in it to get the house sold. He treated us like children from the start of the inspection, assuming we had little to no knowledge of the process and attempting to write off large issues as minute. He attempted to write off mold discovered in the attic as not all that time sensitive. When we pressed the issue the previous homeowner agreed to have the mold remedied. Fast forward a year later and the work has been discovered to have been improperly performed and as a result more mold has grown. Craig inspected the remedy work after completion. He apparently missed the fans not being vented properly or the insulation barrier that had not been installed. The issue is now moving toward litigation. Do not use this company as it’s more important to them to get the house sold than it is to do the right thing for a family with young children.

Our home inspection by Empire Home Inspections was essentially worthless.  He missed several important problems, and glossed over the severity of others.  He had a large personality and was gregarious, but took very little notes and provided virtually no documentation.  I have been in contact with the owner, and to this point, he has provided nothing but excuses.

I am extremely disappointed in this service, and would strongly advise against anyone using him.

See above. A bit of an overpowering personality.  He seemed like he justed wanted to rip through the job and had little tolerance for questions.