Safe-Gard Consolidated Inspection Services Inc

Dana came out to do a repeat dye test on a home we were purchasing that failed the first test. The dye test failed again, but he convinced the sellers that the ground was just soggy from the rain and that in 'his opinion' the septic system was 'functioning perfectly under normal circumstances'. (E.g., not raining with 4 people flushing toilets and running laundry?).
We got the septic inspected again by a plumbing company. Turns out there was a pipe in the drainfield cracked from settling, the baffle had fallen off and there was a bunch of solids in the drain field and a hole in the tank.
Functioning perfectly.

I was referred to this company based on a realtor's recommendation.  The Home Inspector arrived on time and did an approx. 1-1.5 hour evaluation of the home.  While he covered the home from top to bottom, the inspection was very superficial, as one other reviewer had mentioned.  He glossed over apparent issues and did not inspect them more fully.  Being a first time homebuyer, I naively took his word on things.

A brief rundown of what was caught and communicated, but not further inspected:
1) The kitchen ceiling had some obvious staining and water damage.  The inspector noted this, but did not inspect any further, stating that it was obviously older damage that had simply not been painted over, but the problem must have been fixed.

        Result:  The problem was not fixed.  A week after I moved in, I had water on my kitchen floor due to a constant small drip/leak  in the bathroom plumbing above the kitchen.  When I put my hand to the ceiling, it was damp, and the drywall could be pushed through with a finger.  This could not have been that hard to diagnose or catch.

Cost: $500 in plumbing repairs and then patching/repairing the ceiling damage.

2)  Staining on walls at ceiling where chimneys enter the house on the second floor.  Verdict: same as above...old damage that had been fixed but not painted over.  Again, I took his advice on this and though it would just need a coat of paint.

Result:  Putting your hand to the stained area, the plaster crumbled and flaked off, and moisture can be felt.  I painted, and more staining occurred within 2 days.  Due to an incomplete evaluation of the roof, he missed that there is leakage occuring from a lack of proper chimney flashing, which is allowing water to get in and cause damage.  Again, the lack of proper flashing was noted, but there was no mention in this report that this was a "red flag" issue.

Cost:  Estimates ranging from $2000-$5000 to correct flashing and repair damaged roof.

3) There is an improperly constructed porch enclosure which is leaking into the house.  Evidence of staining and moisture are evident from the basement, but again, I was given the "this was probably and old problem and has been fixed" line and I accepted that as fact.

Result:  I've had two contractors out who told me that the entire enclosure really should be scrapped and re-built due to the level of damage that's already occurred from years of being improperly built in the first place. 

Cost:  As a makeshift workaround, I've been quoted anywhere from $1200-2000 to properly seal and flash the enclosure to prevent further damage.  Rebuilding is out of the question for my budget at this time.

4) A window pane on the second floor was cracked to the point of having an actual hole in it.  This was completely missed.

These are all things that were missed.  Perhaps not "missed" per se, but intentionally glazed over.  All of the signs were there and evident, and no further investigation was done.  I'm sorry, I don't buy that I should be expected to hire a general contractor or "specialist" to stick their finger to the kitchen ceiling to see it is damp or weakened when water damage is apparent.

  I'm sure I'll find more problems, but that's quite enough given that I've only lived in the home for 6 months.  As a first-time homebuyer, I was hoping that hiring a home inspector would save me from financial pitfalls and unexpected major expenses, at least early on.  Think twice before you hire SafeGuard.  While I do not hold them accountable for everything I'll ever find in the home from then until I move out, I do think that the job performed did not meet expectations and was only superficially thorough.  I will never hire another home inspector again.  I'll pay a general contractor or other building professional for their time and effort.

Safe-Gard performed a very superficial inspection.

Although the Safe-Gard inspector spent 2 ½ hours walking through the house he missed a number of major issues which included:

1. Carpenter bees had infested the soffits leaving holes that were clearly visible (except to the inspector).  The soffits were so badly infested we had to have them treated three times to get rid of the bees.
2. The house was infested with mice.  There were mouse droppings in the attic as well as mouse traps still in the house all of which the Safe-Gard inspector should have identified but didn?t.
3. The bathroom vents were discharged underneath insulation in the attic.  Not only did the Safe-Gard inspector miss this, he specifically stated during the home inspection that the bathrooms were vented.
4. Many of the windows were in various stages of deterioration.  Some windows were in such bad condition that after being opened and closed a few times the sashes started to fall apart.  There were clear signs of water infiltration and rot on many of the windows none of which was raised as an issue by the Safe-Gard inspector.  I had to replace or repair most of the windows in the house.
5. An overflow pipe for the downspouts was plugged.  The pipe was clearly visible in the front yard with standing water in it and the Safe-Gard inspector did not identify the issue.  It cost about $1,875 to correctly rerun the pipe.

I brought these issues up to Safe-Gard?s owner, Dana Wilson, who refused to accept any responsibility.  Dana?s conduct and responses when he finally (after three requests) came out to the house to review the issues were offensive and unprofessional.  Dana actually threatened me when I said I would not allow him to get out of any responsibility for the issues missed by the Safe-Gard inspector.

The next time I buy a house, I will be much more careful when selecting a home inspector and I will definitely not use an inspector referred to me by a real estate agent ? there is to much conflict of interest to use a home inspector referred by a real estate agent.  Next time I will definitely hire a Building Inspection Engineer.  Building Inspection Engineers are Professional Engineers with a 4 year college degree in engineering.  They are a completely different bread than the Safe-Gards of the world.

Poorly. They were here talking to the previous owners before we arrived (which we're told they are not supposed to do) and missed A LOT of major problems, problems that cost us thousands of dollars to correct after we moved in, when it was too late. We called them and they refused to talk about it. We filed a complaint with the State Attorney Generals office and Safe-Gard would not agree to mediation and further tried to intimidate us into dropping the charges. There wasn't anything more we could do because they refused mediation and the state couldn't force them.

WHILE THE INSPECTION WAS THOROUGH TO AN EXTREME, THERE WAS ONE POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS PROBLEM THAT WENT UNDETECTED. THE PROBLEM IS NOW UNDER REPAIR AND NOT COST PROHIBITIVE DUE TO THE TIMING OF THE FURNACE PURCHASE/INSTALLATION DATE AND THE KINDNESS OF THE HEATING CONTRACTOR.