Ed Lampl - Environmental & Home Inspections

Ed is very thorough with the home inspection. We hired him for two jobs. The first inspection was on a home that my husband and I had not yet bid on. We were concerned that that the seller had not properly cared for the house because he did not live there as it was an investment property (flip). Ed pointed out moisture issues in the basement, worrisome clogged downspout drains, and other concerns that were simply painted over or covered up. This inspection made us feel much more confident about the value of the home when putting together our bid. We trusted his work so much that when we found the house we wanted and had our offer accepted, we hired Ed for the job again. Ed is very thorough with his work and spends the time explaining what he is doing and finding along the way. He acts in your best interest and claims that real estate agents don't usually recommend him because of how much he turns up in the report (they don't want to risk the deal not going through) -- but for the buyer, this is exactly what you want. Plus, you end up with a greater knowledge of the house you are about to purchase and a list of things you may need to pay attention to or address over the coming years. My only complaint -- and this has nothing to do with the job he is hired to do -- is that he takes frequent smoke breaks. I don't mind the breaking part at all (both of the inspections were 6 full hours so he should absolutely take breaks -- we even offered him water and pizza), but the smoke is really bothersome to me, and it was hard to avoid it and still get the benefit of his knowledge. The price is also higher than some other inspectors may charge, but it's 100% worth it. An extra hundred dollars or even two is a drop in the bucket compared to what you are paying for your house and could potentially save you thousands of dollars or save you from a disastrous deal -- you walk away with a lot more value than you probably would with a less thorough inspector. Overall, we recommend Ed for home inspection.

Provided EXCELLENT service!! Went WAY above and beyond and helped saved my house! Thank you Ed! It's so important to know the science behind behind mold and mold testing. Ed brought education to me along with saving my home, thanks again!

It went very well. He showed up on time and was very thorough.

Ed was very thorough and explained things as he went. He also made it clear the process was for and about me so encouraged me to ask questions and even offered to assist me with measuring the space. Ed provides the inspection report (with the exception of the radon) at the end of the inspection which is an added benefit.

The inspection that Ed performed was remarkably thorough and detailed. Ed found even the smallest things that were in disrepair or needed to be brought up to code. The inspection report that Ed prepared was accurate, well-organized, and easy for the layperson to understand and use. I would recommend Ed without reservation to anyone who is considering the purchase of a home.

Ed did a great job! Very thorough and informative. I would highly recommend him for any 1st time home buyer inspection

Ed was very thorough and in his inspection of the home. We appreciated his professionalism and attention to detail throughout the entire process. He found things that I'm guessing most other home inspectors would've missed. In all, I would guess he spent 5 to 6 hours going through the house and making sure everything was in good condition. Most important, however, was Ed's willingness to walk through the house with us and personally show us everything that he found, including his advice on home maintenance and repair. It was an invaluable process. We would highly recommend Ed for anyone looking to have a home inspection done by someone who is not paid by the realtor to simply make sure the house sale goes through. He is truly a buyer's advocate..

Very thorough - he's "persnickety" as my grandmother would say. We went over the house top to bottom, and he even identified some things that the previous inspector (a different person hired for the same property, who also appeared very thorough) missed. He took the time to explain what he found when he found it, and what it meant for us. When he identified mold, he managed to get an unaffiliated mold remediation specialist there within 45 minutes to provide an estimate so we wouldn't have to schedule that later and could address it in our inspection negotiations. He used an ipad of some sort with voice recognition software so that we could receive the report the moment the inspection was done via USB, and we could write him a check immediately, which made life so much easier than waiting for something typed up later and mailing a check. Even after we were done he was very helpful and responsive, answering the phone late on a weekend evening when we had trouble reading some test results. I've had a very bad inspection experience in the past (when we were greener), and got severely burned by it, and this was the polar opposite - I'd recommend Ed even to people who aren't at all handy and first time buyers, he'll find everything there is to find, and explain it well. You can't beat that kind of peace of mind. I don't anticipate buying another house in the area any time soon, but if I did, I'd hire Ed for the inspection.

If we wanted to have an inspection of the property, it had to be done prior to making an offer on the house since it was a foreclosure. Ed was able to fit us in at the last minute, and he gave a very thorough inspection. He spent hours going over every inch, and he provided very detailed documentation including photos. He even went above and beyond to provide a ton of extra information and tips that would help us with the renovation, as well as contact information for some recommended contractors. I felt much more comfortable purchasing the property after his inspection. His price seemed to be pretty comparable to other inspectors, which is fantastic considering how much information he provides. Would definitely recommend his services!! Thanks Ed!!

Mr. Lampl was first referred to me by friends. Before scheduling the inspection I saw he was also recommended on Angie's List. I cannot say enough about Mr. Lampl's professionalism, knowledge, thoroughness and the overall comprehensiveness of the written report. Mr. Lampl exceeded all my expectations by not only inspecting the property but also giving me both written and verbal recommendations for future maintenance and repairs on the house. He had suggestions I would never have considered. The inspection itself was a very lengthy process lasting approximately 6 hours. The information received was a bit overwhelming at times, but you certainly get your money's worth and more. We went through every single room floor to ceiling and the 3 story house, as well as spending time outside and in the basement. At the end of the inspection, I received a written, color coded report on a flash drive, several reports sent via email, and over 50 pages of photos and detailed descriptions. He uncovered areas that were potential fire hazards, those needing future maintenance and confirmed areas that were stable and in good condition. The extent of the report was extremely useful in negotiating with the sellers, planning with my architect and contractor, as well as being a great resource to have on hand for future maintenance and repair issues. Mr Lampl was also very patient in answering any questions and concerns I had. I cannot recommend his services strongly enough. As a home inspector, no one else in the area compares to the professionalism and thoroughness of Mr. Lampl. You will not regret hiring him and will be more than pleased with a job well done. Thanks Ed!!

Ed performed a very thorough inspection. He also provided plenty of helpful tips and advice for maintaining the home.

Ed was just a wonderful house doctor for diagnostics. No problem could possible escape from his sense. He cared his client patiently and addressed any questions I had fully. All aspects of the inspection were clearly explained. The information was placed into a computer in real time and given to me not only via email, but via thumbdrive for future reference. The inspection lasted almost 5 hours and I was at Ed's side the whole time. Ed's expert work and diligence allowed me to understand so many things I had never heard before.

Ed was very punctual and professional. He walked us through the house and gave us recommendations for improvements.

I initially heard about Ed through a mold remediation company whom I contacted to ask them to test for mold in my current home. They told me it was a bad idea to have the same company test and remediate mold, as they might exaggerate what they found (I was impressed that they were turning down my business!) and they suggested Ed Lampl as a honest and objective mold tester. I had a little trouble tracking him down - left a phone message and sent an email and it was a couple of days before he replied - but once we were in contact he was very very responsive. He came to my house, explained how one tests for mold, gave me options for various kinds of tests and encouraged me to use some of the cheaper but just as effective options, which I was very impressed by. He explained different kinds of mold, and how mold works in the home. He emailed the results 2 days later along with a comprehensive email explaining how to understand the results. After this very positive experience of his thoroughness, honesty, and knowledge level, Ed was the first person I thought of when it was time to conduct a home inspection on a new home. My expectations were not disappointed! Ed spent 7 hours conducting the home inspection (of a 3 story home)! He spent several hours examining every home system (heating, water, electricity, etc), examined the roof, the walls, the insulation inside the walls, etc. He looked at every window (caught broken glass and broken sashes I hadn't seen), every light switch, the oven, the stove - everything! He found all kinds of issues that I never would have suspected, and also took the time to point out positive features of the home I hadn't noticed. As he went through the house he used special software on a tablet computer to take pictures of issues, add arrows pointing to the trouble spots, and voice-record commentary on those pictures (which was turned into text in the final report). The fact that he didn't hand-write or type, but instead used speech-to-text, meant that he was able to work on the report as he walked through the home, without wasted time for typing, and turn over the report at the end of the day right then and there rather than going home to type it up. And it was a 45-page report, with useful information about every part of the house! When he gave it to me that afternoon, it came with another 100 pages of additional information, including a maintenance guide for old homes (what to do to keep the house in good shape, divided by season), and many other useful documents. Just as importantly for somebody like me who wants to know what the inspector is finding, and to learn more about the home before purchasing it, Ed was just fine having me tag along behind him, and he was cheerful about answering my hundreds of questions all day long, and listened carefully when I asked questions he hadn't considered. In summary, I was really impressed with his expertise, his thoroughness, his timeliness, and his good personality.

Ed was a very knowledgeable and knew what he was doing. Nice guy who explained what he was doing. Everything by the book.

Ed is fabulous! I have worked with him twice this past year. The first house I put an offer on and went under contract with ended up falling through after the inspection and I ended up buying the second one. Both times Ed was very thorough. The first house had many problems and he spent well over 2 hours inspecting every little detail and going above and beyond what was required. He has great technology that he uses to give you a typed copy of the inspection before you leave the property. He had a lot of great suggestions on how to fix problems that were found in the house. The house I ended up buying had a horrible cat urine smell in the basement and he knew the exact product to recommend to remove and said if we couldn't do it ourselves he would be able to come back and do it for us. He is very observant and caught and mentioned things that other inspectors may have ignored or just glazed over. He is also very friendly and happy to show you what he is doing and explains everything he is doing and really wants you to understand. He also gave great advice on things that I should be doing to upkeep the house, which was very helpful for a first time home buyer. I wouldn't hesitate to call Ed again and use his services and I highly recommend you do the same!

Ed did a fantastic job for my home inspection. I was purchasing my first home and he was very thorough and made the process a calm one. I felt confident knowing what I would be dealing with as a first time home buyer after Ed had gone through the house. He knew I had never owned a home so he took extra time to explain things to me and what I should watch out for. I would highly recommend Ed. I have also had family members that have used his services for home inspections and they have had great experiences as well. We would all recommend him to others.

This guy is extremely capable, and offers his customers a degree in mold identification. He explained EVERYTHING, tested carefully, and recommended a separate contractor to remediate the problem. Came back and retested in same locations. Everything he told us proved true, and we were very glad we contacted him, and then used a separate remediator to fix the problem.

Ed was extremely thorough and was very helpful in explaining things to us as he went along. We are first time home buyers and really appreciated the hand holding. (But of course Ed can do jobs without you there too, if you prefer that.) He uses a tablet computer to take photos and build the report as he goes along, so he gets every last detail, and it provides a map of the projects you need to do on the home in the future.

15207I gave my daughter Ed's name after I checked Angie's List. I was concerned because this is the first home My daughter and her fiance would be buying and they don't have a lot of money to spend or to do extensive renovations. The only problem we had with Ed was that he did change the time of the appointment, for us it turned into a plus because my daughter's fiance could also attend the inspection but, for others something like that could cause a problem. Ed got right to work and was able not only to inspect the house but offer the young couple tips on maintenance and repairs. In the attic Ed discovered knob and tube wiring hidden under the insulation that had been spliced into modern wiring. That in itself made me want to run but he did uncovered many other things. He also advised them to get a sewer line inspection and thank goodness they took his advise. In the end my daughter and her fiance walked away from this house, and thanks to Ed they are a little wiser. I'm sure this young couple will use Ed again hopefully with a better outcome.

The services provided were top quality and as thorough as it gets. The provider's investment in technology and equipment used to perform the service enable him to deliver a timely and extremely detailed report. After spending several hours with Ed during the inspection, it is evident he is committed to giving his clients outstanding service and I would recommend him to anyone.

Ed is very thorough and performs his whole report on site. Prepare to be there a long time as he prepares the report onsite but that is a big help to understand everything. Ed was able to notice many small issues that most inspectors would overlook and it helped in negotiations.

We hired Ed to conduct a mold inspection on our house a couple weeks after we bought it when we realized that our pre-purchase home inspector had missed it. Ed made a very through inspection of the house along with taking a sample that was sent to a lab for evaluating the types of mold present. Fortunately, the mold issue was minor and we were able to take care of the problem ourselves. I would definitely consider hiring him the next time I needed any type of inspection done on my home.

WORST HOME INSPECTION EVER and caused (and is still causing) so many problems and extra expenses. DO NOT USE THIS GUY! He is so unprofessional, I don't even know where to begin. First, when I called him, he asked where I got his name (Angie's List) and then said "well you can't please the world", (referring to bad review that was posted about him). I saw that review about him, but since all of the rest were good, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Now I have no idea how those good reviews got there. I am sure he must have posted them himself or paid someone to post them because there was just so much wrong with the way he operates, I am sure no real customer would have given him positive comments). Then, instead of taking my name and number like a professional, he tells me to email him my name and the address of the home and day and time of the inspection that we agreed on. I should have just walked away at that point because I had a bad feeling. The day of the inspection, I arrived at the house at 9 am (the scheduled time), and he was not there. Instead, the owner was home and told me that when he came to drop off the radon test a few days ago he told her the inspection was in the afternoon. She has a young baby and then had to scramble to make child care arrangements for her baby, bringing extra bottles for her. She told me that when he dropped off the radon kit he was intoxicated and rude. Finally, at almost 9:30, he shows up and he does in fact appear intoxicated or under the influence of something. Immediately, he starts saying very rude and inappropriate things about the homeowner, who seemed extremely nice and reasonable to me. He instantly tried to set up this combative atmosphere between myself and the homeowner. His general attitude and demeanor is nasty. So much so that I stayed as far away from him as possible for the whole inspection. He was repeatedly making all of these cliche comments during the entire inspection ("I'm here for you, there's no dumb questions, this is the most important thing in everyone's life right now", etc). He obviously thought that made him look like a good inspector. But it was so obviously all rehearsed and insincere. The longer he was there, the more agitated everyone felt. There were other people with me and we all felt the same thing. We witnessed his rudeness to the homeower so many times. During the inspection, he was outside smoking cigarettes (?), which I also thought was inappropriate. He used this device that he spoke into instead of entering information manually into a computer. Because of the voice-recognition technology that he relies on, when the report came back there were many places that you couldn't even figure out what was on the report. That was not helpful at all. In the beginning of the inspection, when he "tested" the water, he said "We have a failure on the water test". The way he said it was very odd. I couldn't put my finger on what didn't sound right about it, but I just got the feeling something was wrong. Already at that point, I did not trust him and did not get upset about the water because I knew that I was going to just read the report and research anything on it and figure out myself whether or not there was something wrong with the water or anything else on it. During the inspection he took down a ceiling panel to check plumbing and did not put it back. The homeowner came back and told me about that and was very upset (understandable). So I was putting the panel back up myself, when he came in with a crow bar and started pushing on the wood with the sharp end of the crowbar, so as to put an indentation on it. I told him immediately to STOP and he did not. He was there almost 6 hours, which was way too long. The house is less than 1200 square feet. During the inspection, I did not want to be anywhere near him because he is so obnoxious and annoying and being near him just made me feel stressed out. That is not the purpose of a home inspector. I have bought many homes and had many more inspected. I have always followed the home inspector around and asked many questions. In this case, I know nothing about the house I am about to buy because I wanted to stay as far away from him as possible, and also I don't trust him and have reason to believe that his test results were fabricated. At the end of the inspection, I gave him cash ($670) and he was very excited about that. His reaction was "Oh, cash is king. Memorial Day weekend is coming up. You never know how much cash you will need". Not a professional reaction, in my opinion. After the inspection, he emailed me the report, which again reflected the "failure" on the water test. The day before the deadline that I had to respond to the inspection, I was trying to figure out what to do about the water test "failure'". I called my lawyer (obviously costing me more money) who asked me to email him a copy of the certificate. It was only then that I knew I was supposed to have an actual certificate. And it was then that I realized that the inspector did not include the actual certificate stating the results. I didn't even know there was supposed to be an official test certificate, since I had never lived in a house with a well or tested a well. In the end, the fact that he did not send me a copy of the certificate caused MAJOR problems for the whole inspection process, including a huge delay in all of the deadlines that we needed to meet, and more undue stress for all parties involved. So I called him to ask him to email me the certificate immediately because I have a deadline in 6 hours. I was very surprised when I got an email from him with a water test certificate for the WRONG HOUSE! I had to email him several more times after that to get the results. Instead of emailing them to me, he emailed them to the sellers' realtor. I did not have that report in my hands until after 3:00 (the sellers' realtor emailed it to me, not the inspector), and the deadline was 8:00. (I should have had that certificate a week before). I am a teacher and I had to cancel my teaching that day so that I could do everything I could to try and meet that deadline. I lost more money because of that. On the certificate, the exact test result number was 20, and right on the certificate, it said that hospital-safe was 100. Anything less than 100 is safe. Since that was confusing for me, I called the company who made the testing device. They informed me that the only way he could have come up with a failure with the number 20 was if he had re-calibrated the device to show a failure. Since I now had a certificate stating a failure, I had to have the water re-tested, at my own expense of course. And since I realized that he had to have done something to his testing device to make it show up with a failure result, at that point, I realized that I can't trust anything else in his report either. So at that time, I decided that I need to have the electrical system re-inspected as well. It's a good thing that I did, because it turned out that the entire electrical panel is not up to code and needs to be replaced. I do not have the time or money to have anything else re-inspected. Now I basically need to disregard everything else in that entire report and probably pay for another home inspection at some point after I move in so that I can know for sure if there is anything major wrong with the house, since it is too late at this point to get another complete inspection before closing. So now I am buying a house that for all intents and purposes has not been inspected. When I was calling around for re-inspections, I happened to call a company who tested water and told them the situation. They asked the inspector's name. I told them. They said "You don't need to say any more. We know all about this guy". I tried to get more information about what they knew about him but they would not reveal it. They did give me the name of the person at Pro-Ashi who I can report him to, and believe me, that is next on my list, as well as ASHI and the BBB. This guy has caused so much unnecessary stress and wasted so much of my money during this entire process. I have never met a more miserable person in general that him. Because of him, there has been so much unnecessary tension created between myself and the sellers. It has caused so many delays, and extra work when I have other necessary things I needed to get done for the sale/purchase process. And not only that, but now I am buying a house that could have all kinds of other problems, and I won't know until I live there. I urge you NOT to use this guy. He has caused nothing but problems for me.

Ed was extremely thorough and professional. He came and completed the inspection and talked us through every point and answered any questions that we had. He was able to provide us with pictures and a full report in PDF and word format during the inspection and it was extremely smooth. I would definitely recommend his services to anyone in the future.