Tri-County Inspection Co

Terribly. I received a report detailing several minor low cost recommendations relating to plumbing and electrical. I based my purchase negotiations on this evaluation. The seller offered me a fair dollar amount to have the repairs completed as listed on the report. When my electrician arrived to go into the attic and repair what was listed, he informed me that there was a very large problem involving an electrical safety hazard that was expensive to fix and not listed. I also obtained a second opinion that agreed with this. The repair cost became 10 times what I was expecting. upon contacting this provider regarding their blatant disregard of the problem, the owner stated that they are not responsible for pointing out local code violations. This was not a local code violation. According to 2 reputable electrical specialists there is NO WHERE ON THE PLANET WHERE THIS WOULD BE CONSIDERED SAFE. A severe fire hazard existed that this provider IGNORED. I had it fixed and paid out of pocket after settlement. This provider cost me unneeded funds and was not willing to admit that a major flaw was overlooked on their part. A mistake was made and the owner simply wrote back a letter stating they are not responsible and that it was up to the buyer to obtain further due diligence. So basically, this home inspection was USELESS.

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The sheer number of things missed was staggering - some small, some large. First and foremost was not testing the (very expensive) garbage disposal, which was a $600 immediate replacement as it was completely not operational and had not been for some time. Many electrical problems were missed, such as outlets which were not grounded/not GFI and easily noticed, such as in the main floor 1/2 bath and the storage area, both of which Tri County inspected. Outlets and light switches have two hot wires and no grounding, etc. Exit doors on the main level leading from the house onto the attached door had key locks with inside keys rather than required knob-turn safety locks, and the house should never have passed inspection without those being noted and replaced. The door leading from the house to the attached garage had a penetration for an animal door which completely negates its fireproofing factor; we will have to replace this door or risk having our house insurance not pay out in case of a fire. Overall, the items missed cost (or will cost us) between $1,500 and $2,000 all in. The caveats and the "I'm not responsible for pretty much anything" disclaimers which were required to be signed make the inspection nearly useless. Seemed like a really nice guy, too, but maybe he was just phoning it in on our house. The service provider's response below, while well-worded, essentially re-iterates the concept that he is simply not responsible for his own results and it all falls to the buyer of the home and consumer of his report to re-do and re-check every single item which he purports to provide comfort on.

Jack Milne is a very knowledgeable home inspector, who takes the time to explain what he does in detail, in such a way as can be easily understood by the lay person. He arrived on time, started at the garage and worked his way up, patiently explaining every step to us. He helped us understand the things we need to do in terms of regular maintenance and also documented them as part of the inspection report. Even the builder was amazed at his capability. He also responded promptly to our follow-up emails and calls. Overall, he was simply awesome! I am happy to recommend Jack to anyone who needs a home inspector or call him myself if I were to buy another home!

I called Tri-County Inspections and they were very friendly on the phone. When I explained what I wanted and my availability, it so happened there was a cancelation the next day. Jack Milne showed up a little early. He had everything he needed with him. We sat down and he interviewed me on what our goals were concerning our home. Then he began a top down, system by system inspection of our home. He invited me to tag along and ask any questions (which I did). Jack was very knowledgeable, personable and thorough. It was a great learning experience for me. We discussed all aspects of our home and its structure and systems. Jack made several recommendations, suggestions and offered friendly advice and then he was on his way to his next appointment. He was never rushed and explained everything thoroughly to me. We had a detailed report in our email account that evening. We would definitely recommend Jack and Tri-County Inspections to our family and friends.

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Jack Mine inspected my new townhome and he was absolutely AMAZING!! Not only did he do a thorough inspection, he took the time to explain to me everything he was doing and why he was doing them. Jack also have me home improvement tips outside of the inspection. Not only was Jack on time- - he was there 30 mins early looking at the exterior of the home before I got there. Don't be foolish and use a different company because Jack and the Tri County team were phenomenal!! I highly, highly, highly recommend!!

Jack was on time He explained every little thing about the house He has radio shows on house maintenance and you can exoerience it when he was explaning things in easy language Very thorough job inspecting house and responded to every question that we had on time. The report provided was easy to understand and react to. Thank you,

Our realtor recommended Jack Milne from Tri-County for our home inspection, so we went with him. When we arrived at the house, Jack was already there and had already been up on the roof and taken photos. He was polite, professional, and went to great lengths to explain things in an understandable fashion - and give us very solid advice as homeowners. He took his time going through each aspect of the house and answered any questions we had. His personality is terrific - and his ability to deal with a seller who was at times - let's say and quot;less than cooperativeand quot; with the process - was impressive. He was diplomatic but got his point across. He had several recommendations, and detailed them all in his report. The report was delivered to us as an email attachment a few days later. He had only one major recommendation for repair prior to closing, and several other recommendations for us once we moved in. I have referenced his report numerous times since we moved in - it has been invaluable (and having it saved in my inbox is a lot more helpful than just a paper document in a drawer somewhere). His documentation also included recommendations for local service providers. I have since recommended Jack to colleagues who bought a home in the area, and they were equally impressed. Jack is a true professional and although I don't plan to buy a home anytime in the near future, if I did, I would have no hesitation in going with him again. I will continue to refer friends to him.

I would not recommend this company especially if you are a single woman who knows nothing about home maintenance. I moved from a 20 year old townhome which was practically brand new and in spotless condition to a 46 year old home which was not run down per se but where the previous owners minimized and totally withheld a lot of major information on their disclosure form which I did not detect until after I moved in, and by that point I could not do anything about it. Since I had no prior experience with home inspectors nor had any personal recommendations, I decided to pick one of the highest priced inspection companies in my area believing I would get my money's worth but sadly did not. The inspector missed major, glaring issues with the home yet was overly pickiune about other minor details which have not posed any issue whatsoever. After moving into the home, I found out that there were major glaring issues with the basement (water drainage) that I will have to spend thousands of dollars to minimize (I probably will never be able to fully correct the problems because of the way the house was built and the plot on which the home is situated). I believe a good inspector should have detected 1) major cracks in the slab basement floor; 2) cracks and openings around the basement windows and water marks on the walls under the windows indicative of water pouring through the windows during a storm; 3) a vinyl window in the basement which is smaller than the opening in which it was installed so it was likely to be poorly insulated and thus a potential water leakage issue; 4) an extremely poorly graded property including a driveway higher than the walkway to the house, meaning that additional waater spills off the driveway onto the walkway and then into the basement; 5) poorly maintained window wells contributing to poor drainage of water around the basement windows; 6) previous owners disconnected the thermostat to the roof fan, causing my air conditioner to constantly run during the summer until a saavy electrician found out that the thermostat had been disconnected; 7) loose electrical outlets and wiring all over the house that I had to call an electrician to fix; also an overhead fan in the bathroom which literally fell down on me when I went to paint around it; 8) carpets all over the house soaked with animal urine that I had to rip out as soon as I moved in (don't say I should have picked this one up, I am not one to sniff the carpets!). The inspector seemed overly concerned about a pipe under my kitchen sink which he swore had moisture coming out of it. He rubbed his fingers together and showed me a teeny weeny bit of moisture which was practically microscopic. Well, this has NEVER been a problem to me, nothing whatsoever wrong with this. He also was extremely concerned about a sagging sewer pipe which has not posed any issue for me. I had a plumber look at it and say that it is truly sagging which is not correct but he admitted that it is basically one of those items that unless it is causing problems, you cannot bother fixing. Let's put it this way. I would not have bought this house if I had known all of these issues.

They were thorough and very pleasant to deal with. My only complaint is we were expecting the report on a Friday and did not get it until Monday, which made things tight with our timeline.

I am a first time home buyer and a single woman with severely limited mechanical knowledge or handyman skills. Basically, I had no idea what to expect with a home inspection. Chris Burns from Tri-County was excellent at communicating to me what he was doing as he checked the several systems in the house. He was extremely patient and forthcoming with the many follow-up questions I posed. I received the completed report as a .PDF e-mail attachment less than 24 hours after the completed inspection. Chris was at the property before I was, and I was 10 minutes early. The company does not perform termite inspections, and I subcontracted them out to Boro for that portion of the inspection for an additional $90. I had an extremely positive experience and would recommend Tri-County and Chris Burns to anyone in the Metro, Philly area.

5 Stars!!! They are extremely professional, prompt, very thorough and detailed, courteous, informative, and they inspected on very short notice. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

THE ENTIRE PROCESS FROM THE INITIAL CALL TO RECEIVING THE PAPERWORK TO THE ACTUAL INSPECTION WAS PROFESSIONAL AND APPRECIATED BY MY WIFE AND I. GREG WALKED US THROUGH THE ENTIRE HOUSE AND CLEARLY EXPLAINED WHAT HE FOUND IN EACH AREA BEING INSPECTED. AT THE END OF THE HOME INSPECTION HE PROVIDED A BRIEF SUMMARY AND THEN TOLD US WHEN TO EXPECT THE FINAL REPORT, WHICH WAS DELIVERED ON TIME. IT WAS VERY POSITIVE EXPERIENCE AND I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND BOTH TRI-COUNTY INSPECTION AND GREG THOMAS.

STEVE WAS PROFESSIONAL AND FRIENDLY. HE WALKED ME THROUGH AND EXPLAINED THINGS AS HE WENT. HE NOT ONLY SHOWED ME SOME THINGS THAT NEEDED TO BE FIXED, BUT GAVE ME SOME TIPS ON THINGS I COULD DO TO CUT HEATING COSTS AND SO ON. I RECEIVED AN E-MAIL REPORT THE NEXT BUSINESS DAY AND A HARD COPY A FEW DAYS AFTER THAT. I WOULD HIRE THEM AGAIN.

I WAS IMPRESSED THAT TRI-COUNTY WAS ABLE TO FIT ME INTO THEIR SCHEDULE AS I WAS ONLY ABLE TO GIVE THEM A FEW DAYS NOTICE. SEVERAL OTHER COMPANIES WERE UNABLE TO BE OF SERVICE BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE A LARGE TIME FRAME IN WHICH TO SCHEDULE THE INSPECTION. THE INSPECTOR, CHRIS BURNS, SHOWED UP ON-TIME AND TOOK ME THROUGH THE ENTIRE INSPECTION PROCESS. THE REPORT HE PROVIDED WAS DETAILED.

THE SERVICE WAS VERY INFORMATIVE AND DETAILED. THE INSPECTOR WAS POLITE, THOROUGH AND SEEMED HONEST.