Reliable Inspections of Tennessee

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A few months after our purchase, we experienced a heavy rain and noticed one of our 10x12 unfinished storage rooms in our basement had approximately 6 inches of standing water in it. Upon further inspection, we noticed a red clay "stain" about 10-12 inches up the block wall, where water had apparently collected in that unfinished room at some prior time. The floor in this room is an unfinished "clay" floor with about a 2 inch layer of small rocks on top of the clay. Not being from the area, we assumed this was a "normal, inexpensive" way to "finish" unfinished flooring in basement storage areas in this area.
After noticing the water in the storage room, we contacted Mr. Russell about our concerns. Within a couple of days, Mr. Russell arrived at our home and we showed Mr. Russell the evidence of the water intrusion.
As it turns out, during a heavy rain, the rain water runs down our driveway and, due to an insufficient drainage system at the bottom of the driveway, just in front of our garage doors, the water collects "or ponds" at the base of our driveway and actually runs under our driveway, under our attached garage and collects into this basement storage room.

After about 20 minutes of Mr. Russell's inspection of the water intrusion evidence, he admitted " I never had a chance to inspect this room, because it was locked". AND "If I would have inspected this room, I would have noticed the water intrusion immediately".
NOTE: Nothing in the inspection report mentioned ANYTHING about not having access or not inspecting that particular room. All that the report states is that all Foundations, basements and crawlspaces were inspected...period.

The fact of the matter, that particular door was never locked (remember it opened into a 10X12 empty, unfinished basement storage room...why would anybody lock it? Mr. Russell simply did not turn the door handle hard enough. Even if it was locked, as Mr. Russell stated, it was Mr. Russell's responsibility to have secured the key from the realtor, although, the 4 times we visited the home prior to us purchasing it, again, that room was never locked.
After a couple of hours of "friendly" conversation, Mr. Russell assured me he would do "Whatever it takes" to resolve/repair this issue. He actually placed two calls from his cell phone in an attempt to contact a couple of structural engineers that he knew to see if they could assess the repair.
Mr. Russell then advised me of his $2500.00 insurance deductible and that if he could not have the issue repaired for less than $2500.00, he would simply file a claim with his insurance company and pay the deductible.
IMPORTANT NOTE...MR. RUSSELL, AFTER INSPECTING THE EVIDENCE OF WATER INTRUSION, WAS CONCERNED THE PROPER REMEDY AND/OR REPAIRS REGARDING THIS SITUATION COULD POSSIBLY EXCEED $2500.00. THIS WAS MORE THAN AN EDUCATED GUESS...THIS IS WHAT MR. RUSSELL IS LICENSED (AND INSURED) TO DO!
ALSO, IF MR. RUSSELL DID NOT FEEL IT WAS HIS RESPONSIBILITY TO DISCOVER THIS WATER INTRUSION OR THAT HE JUST "MISSED" IT, THEN WHY WOULD DISCLOSE THE AMOUNT OF HIS INSURANCE DEDUCTIBLE?
AFTER A FEW MORE TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS, MR. RUSSELL OFFERED TO REFUND MY $360.00 THAT WE PAID FOR OUR HOME INSPECTION. AGAIN, IF HE DIDN'T FEEL LIKE THIS WAS HIS ERROR, WHY WOULD HE OFFER A REFUND?

WELL, YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY...
IT'S NOW BEEN ABOUT THREE MONTHS SINCE WE HAVE HEARD FROM MR. RUSSELL. OUR NEXT CONVERSATION WILL BE VIA ATTORNEYS! AND GUESS WHAT...STILL NO REFUND!


UPDATE: After filing the complaint with Angie's List and having them handle my complaint, I received a phone call from the Insurance company and then received a check for $12,000. The inspector luckily values his Angie's List rating very highly so he was willing to work with me once they contacted him.
 
 

Eric Russell arrived promptly at the appointed time.  He performed a very comperensive inspection in a very professional manner.  The total time for his inspection was over 3 hours and he provided a 40 page report of his findings.  The report contained photographs of each of his findings, which we will use in having various items repaired.
Joe Williamson