FALCONE BUILDING INSPECTION SERVICE INC

He is outstanding in evaluating a person's house and letting them know if they need to fix something and also the best way to do it. He was absolutely excellent. I trust him. I had a problem with peeling on my screen door and I thought I had to replace the whole front door but I didn't to put money into that. He said, you can just peel off the upper layer to expose the wood layer underneath and just finish it like you finish a wood door. That's clever. He is not an alarmist. When something needs to be repaired he tells the clever way to repair it less expensively and I trust him 100 percent so that's a good combination.

Where do I begin. He was recommended by our realtor so we had no reason to not trust him. I was also told he is a stucco expert, so that was great being that we have stucco. I cannot count how many things this man missed, it's almost comical.
1. We were told that our stucco was great. When we noticed cracks and that it wasn't painted, he said "Don't worry, not everyone paints there stucco" I had concerns about tons of cracks but was told that's what stucco "does". After moving into the house, we were getting our gutters cleaned and the gutter guy alerted me that all stucco needs to be sealed and painted and also informed us that none of our windows on the outside of the house were caulked. Yeah, he didn't even see that, something every inspector should notice right away. Needless, to say we had a mason come out whom we found on Angies List and he told me that our inspector had no idea what he was talking about - that these cracks were not normal and that we had to address the problem soon. Frank cost us $6000 on that one.
2. Had an electrician here today from a deal we purchased on Angies List to rewire our ceiling fan. Part of the deal is that he looks at our electrical boxes and checks things around the house. Low and behold, our box in our basement is wired wrong, not up to code and has water damage. The funny thing is when he opened the box, there's Frank's card sitting in there with the date of the inspection. My electrician was literally in shock that he even passed inspection. There are so many things wrong, he was speechless! This is all "101" stuff that any inspector should know. The cost to fix this is going to be about $2300. Plus, the outlet near our furnace is also not up to code at all and needs to be fixed.
3. Three or our smoke alarms are not in the right place, all not up to code. They are too close to the vents which can cause the smoke to not get near the alarm therefore not sounding off
He also hand writes his reports, which is just weird. It's 2014, not 1950. He will tell you he was a contractor for years. Well, I feel bad for anyone that used him to build anything in the past.  I strongly urge you to not go with this guy. If he is recommended by your realtor, move on!

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Our experience with Falcone Inspection started off well.  We called and the woman who answered was friendly and had no problems scheduling our inspection with extremely short notice (two days notice).  She was up front about the pricing for our 1600 sq ft house:   $585 for the inspection, termite and radon tests.  The day of the inspection, Frank Falcone showed up early, we completed introductions, signed paperwork and began the inspection.  We were told the inspection would take approx 3-4 hours.Once the inspection began, however, we realized we'd made a mistake.  Mr. Falcone is nice, but is extremely unorthodox from other inspectors I've used in the past.  He spent very little time covering structural or problem items, rather focusing largely on cosmetic things.  For instance, he spent time talking about paint colors, the quality of tile, and telling us there was no reason to upgrade the 1950's bathroom.  He made off-color and odd remarks, mentioning that during the summer "men chat outside" and "woman play cards inside."  He failed to test any of the electrical outlets - when I tested them in front of him, almost 90% of the outlets were ungrounded and several miswired.  I asked if this would pose a problem, the response was "Don't worry about it."  He missed the fact that none of the outlets in the kitchen and bathroom were GFCI protected.  When we mentioned this to him after the inspection, the response was "Oh yeah, I guess they should have that fixed."  We asked about sizable cracks in the plaster ceiling, concerned that it might indicate bigger problem.  His stock response was "No, don't worry about it."   When we pressed harder, Falcone became defensive, telling us he'd been in the industry for 40 years, and he knew what he was talking about.  This made us extremely uncomfortable, to the point we were afraid to ask him questions.Finally, Falcone doesn't take any notes during the inspection, which we found peculiar.  At the end, he spent 45 mins hand-writing his evaluation, which boiled down to a 1 1/2 page summary of points that told us nothing about our house.  Since they're quickly hand-written, his notes are difficult to decipher, and no electronic copy is provided.  We had to scan and transcribe his written notes in order to generate a copy.  His inspection incorrectly listed our house as having aluminum wiring, which was incorrect.  When we asked him about it, he said "Oh, that's just a mistake, I'll fix it."  The few recommendations he made DURING the inspection were omitted from his final report, and we ultimately had to go back and ask him to add his recommendations.Falcone tries to hide the subpar evaluation by providing a self-written 60+ page maintenance booklet, which has notes and tidbits on how to maintain various systems of the house.  His notes are scattered throughout this booklet, making the report that much harder to comprehend.  He failed to tell us anything about the house that wasn't obvious.  Even our buyer's agent said he was the most unorthodox inspector he'd ever seen.  I took notes during the inspection, and he needed to amend his report 3 times because he wrote incorrect information in his initial report.As a side note, the outside company that provided the radon and termite tests, D-Tech, was excellent.  They came quickly, gave a preliminary report and had the final report to our agent within 3 days.We really wish this had turned out better, as we don't like leaving bad reviews.  We're decent people who wanted a good local inspector, but were sorely disappointed.  If you're looking for a quick inspector who will glance over just to fulfill some contract contingencies, then Falcone is right for you.  However, if you want a full comprehensive look at your future home, we recommend passing on Falcone.

He actually inspected 2 houses. He is very thorough and talks about little things that are important to home owners like where to direct the water. He not looks at the structure but also looks at how things are put together. He took the time to explain things and gave suggestions. He also waved off $50 as it was our second home inspection with him as the first house fell through. He also contracts 2 people to check for termites and radon.

Initial contact was good. The person answering the office phone was polite and answered questions in detail. I had to change the appointment after I initially scheduled it and this was handled smoothly. Mr. Falcone showed up on time, spent a little over 4 hours giving our 4 bedroom split a thorough review, and documented all his findings in writing and by photographing the areas he inspected. He has a detailed understanding of home construction and he shared this information with me both during the actual inspection and following his "eyes on" inspection. His written documentation included detailed suggestions on addressing some of the minor problems he identified. By the time he left, I had a hand written copy of his report and one day later I had the typewritten report.

Excellent service! The owner was on time, informative, and patient. I called for an inspection and the next day he was there. The inspection took about 3-4 hours and the owner inspected every nook of the house, even allowing us to videotape. He was very thorough. He didn't overlook anything. We received his report by fax the next day and by mail in 2 days. I would definitely use Falcone's service again!

Frank Falcone gave us a wealth of information about the house we were purchasing and pointed out all of its assets and flaws. His report enabled us to get the seller to repair a number of costly things. We also found the booklet he gave us and his web site to be extremely useful. Although he was a bit slow in getting back to us when we called, he did return our call and was extremely wiling to provide us with additional information.

MR FALCONE MADE A COMPLETE INSPECTION OF THE BUILDING AND ALL SYSTEMS AND TOOK THE TIME TO EXPLAIN THE PROPER CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF SAME AND ATTESTED TO THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY ON THE PROPERTY AFTER THE REMEDIATION OF A TERMITE PROBLEM. HE SHOWED UP WHEN EXPECTED AND KEEPS A FILE ON THE PROPERTY FOR FUTURE QUESTIONS.

OVERALL, THE INSPECTION WAS FAIR. HE MISSED SOME RECENT WATER DAMAGE IN THE BASEMENT. HE RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY WHEN I CALLED HIM TO NOTIFY ABOUT THE WATER DAMAGE AND WAS HELPFUL IN THAT MATTER. HE CAME BACK AND OFFERED SUGGESTIONS. I WOULD NOT USE HIM AGAIN. I FEEL THAT I WOULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT THIS HOME IF HE HAD FOUND THINGS IN THE INITIAL INSPECTION WHICH I FOUND LATER.

THIS COMPANY BOASTS THAT YOU CAN CALL THEM "FOREVER" IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE INSPECTION OR UPKEEP OF YOUR HOME. FRANK, THE INSPECTOR, WAS A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE IN HOME REPAIRS. WE'D RECOMMEND HIM HIGHLY!