House Inspect

The worst inspection I am ever experienced and heard of and my real estate agent been in business 30 years and said it was the worst report he ever saw I believe his name was Steve from house inspect I have a finished basement he did not bend down and look at my Outlets he said they all need to be changed cuz they were 2 prong Outlets they were Brown he did not bend down and look at them my heater and hot water heater was put in 3 years ago he said they need to be looked at that were done professionall by PECO also said we were hiding termites and water damage we had a termite inspection we have no termites we had a waterproofer come to the house no water coming in also said the great of our house ran towards our house waterproofer came with a level it runs away from our house there is plenty more stuff I can go on and on he broke a lot of stuff in my house that I had fixed like my toilet he pulled on it real hard my upstairs railing he pulled on it real hard outside round pulled on a trip to cement up and broke a couple other things wrote them a 5-page letter they're not doing nothing about it I called them they won't do nothing about it if there's other people out there with a broke your stuff you can find me on Facebook a bunch of us want to get together and take them to court for the repair of the stuff they broke and he trashed my attic didn't put nothing back. I would recommend not using them at all they are the worst place they will not return my phone calls I even called the news I'm waiting for them to get back to me please don't use them trust me you will be sorry save your money they're the worst worst

inspector arrived early and started before client arrived. website advertises instant on-site report- didn't happen. client had additional questions on items a few days later. took a couple days and phone calls to get answers. inspector estimated age of roof at 10-12 years. discovered later it is actually 19 years old.

Home Inspector was horrible. Talked down to me during inspection and did an incompetent job, I complained about him that day. 5 weeks later, 1 week after purchasing home it was discovered that my main concern, the roof which he listed as good condition was in poor condition and needed to be replaced immediately. This cost me a few thousand dollars. I called and emailed the owner who only made the situation worse with her rudeness and total unprofessionalism. The owner thinks her company is above the law and does not have to comply with rules. I started researching the company and I also discovered that the inspector was not properly licensed at the time he was paid to inspect my house.

I made an offer on my home in Upper Darby in December of 2013, and shortly afterwards my real estate agent contacted House Inspect LLC to perform an inspection of the property.  Ted Greenberg performed the inspection 12/7/13.  Upon departure, Mr. Greenberg invited me to call him should any questions arise. 
After being in the home for a week it became apparent that water was backing up from the sewer line into the house.   Investigation of the problem uncovered a long standing clog in the line, the absence of a stand pipe in the yard to access the sewer line, and a collapse of the sewer line under the street.  I wanted to know (1) why the absence of a stand pipe (a standard for the area, and in an unobstructed location) was not noted, and (2) why a simple water test was not conducted to verify clear lines.  What follows is an abridged (for brevity) timeline of the ?customer service? provided by House Inspect.
02/19/14 (Phone) House inspect directed me to their ?client inquiry form? as the only available communication option.
03/01/14 (Letter) A Valerie McLaughlin responded with a letter that did not answer my questions.  No title, phone number, or email address information for Ms. McLaughlin was provided in the letter.
03/05/14 (Letter) I responded in writing reiterating my 2 unanswered questions (see above).
03/06/14 (Email from [email protected]) AML, unknown House Inspect representative, emailed me a letter as an attachment.  This was a copy of the letter received on 03/01/14, only with the date changed to 03/06/14.
03/07/14 (Email) I replied to the email asking squarely if the attachment I received the day before was the same letter from 03/01/14 with the date whited out and changed.
03/07/14 (Email) AML replied, ?yes.?
03/23/14 (Email) I informed House Inspect of my decision to negatively review their services on social media and consumer service review websites.
03/26/14 (Letter) Counsel for House Inspect informed me that ?creating a false impression of the company (is) not protected speech? and that, I ?should be guided accordingly.?
04/01/14 to 06/01/14 (Letters) I wrote 7 letters to Counsel for House Inspect, repeatedly and in different ways asking for answers to my same questions.  None of these letters produced answers to those questions. 
HouseInspect and its legal counsel then discontinued communication with myself and all involved agencies.  Given their correspondence, it is evident that Mr. Greenberg?s invitation for me to call HouseInspect with any questions was an empty one. Their decision to involve their attorney rather than have a conversation with me or answer simple and clearly articulated questions did not satisfy my expectations for basic customer service,

After closing, I discovered that my rear deck had an overhang that was in danger of collapse due to rotted wood.  The inspector did not mention this during inspection.  There were also several boards that needed immediate repair.  He specifically called attention to the stairs that extend from the deck to the back yard.  He did not mention the rotted boards on inspection day or that the seller needed to address the overhang.  He rated the deck poor but could have mentioned the rotted boards to the seller and/or the overhang issue. They would have most assuredly fixed the issues at their expense.
He did not mention anything about the HVAC mechanics.  He mentioned in his report, that it needed to be cleaned and serviced so I did not believe from his comments that it was a matter of immediate concern.  He talked about the venting ducts in great detail but this being an older home, I accepted the duct work issue.  In actuality, I had to replace the entire HVAC system and get much needed insulation.  At no time did the inspector tell either me, or the seller that the furnace , the air conditioner or the water heater were in need of immediate replacement,. They were attached to a circuit breaker incorrectly, which is also did not mention. As a result of not communicating his concerns and limiting his concerns to the duct work, I did not address this specifically with the seller and as a result, I incurred a cost of $17,000 to replace both the furnace, the air conditioner and the water heater.  I received three estimate for the replacement of the system and each company asked me whether or not I had a home inspection.   If he would have removed the cover, he would have noticed a poor dead animal caught inside.  
When I communicated this to House Inspect, they would not take my call.  They had a re-inspection which was a mere formality; taking no responsibility for the lack of communicating these issues as an immediate concern.  Instead he rated the HVAC unit as "fair" on their report which was basically a CYA; a means of taking no responsibility for my loss or offering no real position.   House Inspect would not take my calls and instead kept referring to their report which again, was a CYA device to place the onus on their customer.   The owner of this company checked me out on LinkedIn.  She quoted material from my professional website to use against me.  She would not even call to apologize for the miscommunication.  She had time to check me out on the Internet but refused to contact me directly.  When one hires a home inspector and relies on their professional opinions, one can rely on this service to their detriment.  I didn't expect them to pay for my new HVAC system but to be treated so poorly and rely on their waivers and disclaimers was a basic, "screw you".  They offered nothing.  To this day, they will not take my calls.  Instead they have a woman who answers their phone and tells you everything must be in writing.   
 I therefore would not recommend this company to anyone needing a home inspector.  Their failure to call me, to apologize for any miscommunication, to intrude into my professional website and do to so in a blatant, arrogant and disrespectful way is not a company you want in your home or to provide professional you with advice while in the process of making the biggest purchase in your lifetime.  I would strongly recommend that you find someone who at least has the decency to call you if there is a problem. Their reliance on on boilerplate nonsense provides no advantage to their customer in the short window they have to address issues with the seller.  A home inspector should be able to notice an issue with an HVAC system instead of rating it "fair" and using the rating as basically a shrug of the shoulders.  I would have most definitely expected him to raise the issue with the sellers, my agent and myself, so we could have leveraged a difference in the price of the home.  We only have 3 days to get out of the contract for major repair issues.  I had no idea that the HVAC system had to be replaced or the eave on my deck was in danger of collapse.  
Please think twice about using this company for your home inspection needs.  You don't want someone who lacks the experience to notice a major mechanical issue and a structural issue and doesn't have the decency to make note of it with the seller at home inspection.  The final nail in the coffin was the owner's refusal to make things right and pick up the phone and discuss the issue with their customer.  BUYER BEWARE!!!
I am sure their response will focus on the report itself but will not emphasize the inspector's failure to communicate these concerns immediately.  Every thing the inspector noted to the seller was addressed by the seller.  The issues above were not.

Went very well. Mike Fisher was my inspector. Very friendly, knowledgeable & professional. They hire an outside company to come with them for the termite inspection (Thur-O Pest Management).
Received a very detailed 30+ page report at the end with color photos, comments, etc. Verbally reviewed the entire report before leaving.
Pricing was the best that I could find. Ranged any where from $535- $770.
I would definitely use these guys again.


*** I used a $25 off coupon that I found on their webpage ***

He is the former president of the Tri-State chapter of home inspectors. He is top notch! He found things that I don't feel anyone else would have found. He was very thorough, and took his time; also educating us about the various problems he was seeing. He put us in a good position to negotiate with the sellers of the house. He is very knowledgable about all of the various systems in the house! Price reflects termites, radon, and home inspection on a much older home.

We felt that Blaine was very thorough and methodical. We walked through every inch (inside and out) of the house with him as he conducted the inspection. He fully explained all his findings and prepared us for our meeting with the builder. Blaine has a good background/experience in evaluating stucco on exteriors which we were especially interested in checking. He also provided detailed information on regular maintenence of HVAC units. We were provided an on-site printed report (as well as the document on a CD).

Dave and Pete inspected the home. I felt that they were not able to answer all of our questions on the operation of different components of the house. During the inspection we had to point out areas that appeared damaged that they overlooked. We found water damage in the attic that they felt was old but the insulation was wet. We had a contractor look at the damage and received an estimate of $1500 to repair the damage and fix the leak. I felt that they were "humoring" us and they seemed surprised by the details of our questions. They seemed more interested in completing the report in the lap top than actually inspecting the house.

THIS COMPANY IS INCOMPETENT AND UNCOOPERATIVE. THE OWNER REFUSED TO TALK WITH ME, WAS ARGUMENTATIVE IN WRITING, AND MISUNDERSTOOD FACTS COMMUNICATED TO HIM SEVERAL TIMES IN WRITING.

BLAINE DID A GREAT JOB. HE EXPLAINED HOW THE VARIOUS COMPONENTS OF THE HOME (HEATER, A/C, ELECTRICAL) WORK AND GAVE MANY GREAT TIPS ON HOW TO MAINTAIN THINGS IN GOOD ORDER.