Square House

Justin "found" numerous things to complain about on our house. There were a few things that he was right about, but most of it was trumped up. Keeping in mind that his job is to find things wrong, so that buyers can dicker with sellers, he's doing great (sarcasm intended). Here are some examples: 1. The yard has a downgrade that "could lead to flooding". We are the first house on the top of the hill. There's no chance of flooding. 2. "Possible termite damage". There has never been termites on this property. It is all brick. Termites are now eating brick for breakfast? 3. "Possible Rodent Infestation", which he based on the fact that attic insulation appears to be moved around. This is because we have a lot of blown in insulation. It's not supposed to be flat. Not rodent issues. 4. He said our water heater didn’t pass inspection. We just had the piping replaced this past spring, and it passed inspection then. It was inspected by a professional, and we have the paperwork to prove it. Trumping up make believe problems is unprofessional and demonstrates a total lack of integrity. If you're a buyer looking to screw over sellers, I'd recommend him. If you prefer to know the truth......Steer Clear!

Very pleased with the level of service. We were informed about every little thing, no matter how big or small an issue. Thanks to Ryan Jones's thoroughness, we were saved from buying a home that is in need of THOUSANDS of dollars worth of immediate need repairs, along with THOUSANDS more in repairs over the next few years. Looking at the home and it's beautiful finishes, we would never have guessed the horrible secrets this house was hiding. We will most definitely be using Square House for any home inspections moving forward.

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Justin is awesome. Really that's all that needs to be said, but I'll be more specific.
I've used his services 3 times and was on site with him for 2 (possibly all 3). He is incredibly thorough, but very efficient. we backed out of some houses with some issues due to his thorough reports. 
Can't say enough good things.

Very easy to schedule online. The inspection was very thorough and report was easily laid out for me and builder to manage all the repairs. Just think that because my house had no major issues, the price tag for a 4 hour inspection at $600 is a bit high. But, you are paying for a top notch inspector like Justin, so at the end seemed worth it. And it is worth the peace of mind.

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Square House was very good. They're very professional and thorough and wrote a very nice report. I was able to take the report and turn it into a punch list for the builder. I chose them because of their high rating on Angie's List.

It went well. Justin was super efficient and professional.

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Very thorough, very professional and prompt. Great report. Available for follow up questions. Technically savvy.

It went very well.  Completely satisfied.

Great. He gave us some suggestions of things to ask fixed that we would have never noticed ourselves, showed my husband how to do annual maintenance on the air conditioner, and found out they forgot to put insulation in the attic!!

It was great. Justin took his time and reviewed everything. He started with the outside of the home and moved inside. He took many photos along the way and sat with us to show us clearly what needed to be repaired, what was serious, and what was not that big of a deal. He also offered ideas on what repairs should cost. The overall final report was professional and perfect. I can use it as a handbook for hiring other contractors for repairs. Highly recommend Square House!

As my 1 year builder warranty was nearing its end, I hired Justin to do a home inspection to see if there was anything I need to get the builder to fix.  Justin arrived on time, did a thorough job looking the place over, and promptly (later the same day) emailed me a copy of the report.  He was both knowledgeable and professional, and, as such, I would strongly recommend him to others.

We have had problems with our master closet being very cold for over 5 years, since the house was built.  We reported it while the home was under warranty, the builder came to investigate it but said it was normal.  They came in June and the problem is only apparent on cold days.  After 5 years, during a cold spell, we had had enough.  Called the builder, who again said they had already investigated it as an airflow problem and unless we could prove something was wrong, they couldn't do more.  They recommended thermal imaging, at our own expense. To their credit, they said if there was something wrong, they would fix it, regardless of the expired warranty. 
We called Justin at Square House, based on many excellent reviews on Angie's List.  We needed him to come on a cold day.  He was able to work us into his schedule on short notice and came the next day.  Justin was on time and very thorough.  He took readings all over the house and checked things out in the attic.  He did extensive thermal imaging.  His findings were that the closet was 12-15 degrees colder than the master bedroom, the heat coming from the closet register was 20 degrees less hot than the bedroom's and the insulation was loose on one exterior wall.  The overall verdict was that the heat to insulation ratio in the closet was way out of balance. 
Justin provided a written report the next day.  It included all the thermal photos with the temperatures clearly marked directly from the device.  It detailed the findings, the problem summary and two recommendations to fix it. We sent it to the builder.
We waited to write this review until we had a response from the builder.  The detailed report and recommendation from Square House resulted in the builder agreeing to fix it.  They sent their HVAC subcontractor last week.  The HVAC contractor spent 1.5 hours reworking the ducts to the closet, putting in dampers all over the house, and rebalancing the heat/cooling flow.  Next week it is slated to be cold again and we will see if it worked.  In any case, Square House's work allowed us to reopen the conversation with the builder, who has stepped up to fix the problem.  And, the builder will reimburse us for the inspection!  Thank you, Justin!
Very reasonably priced, and we used the $20 Angie's list coupon.  We highly recommend Justin and Square House.

Justin did a fantastic job.  We had used him before on a home that needed so much work and had so many things wrong with it we ended up not purchasing that home.  So when it came time to inspect another home, we knew we wanted to use him again.  He is very through and did an excellent job pointing out any issues we might have and letting us know of all the pitfalls we may encounter with an older home.  I feel like we got a very strong inspection and while I know things come up, I feel like we went into this purchase with all the relevant information one would hope to have.  Would definitely use him again and highly recommend him to anyone looking to purchase an older home.

My house which I've been living in for over 10 years is now getting to the point where major maintenance items are required. Before meeting with remodeling contractors, I figured it would be best if I got a full inspection done to make sure I knew what really needed to be fixed and what didn't.
I found Justin through Angie's List. He has one of the highest ratings for home inspection. I used his website to book the inspection. It was very easy to use. His website is very professionally done, by the way. It allows you to also pay for his services online in advance with a shopping cart system he has there. But an email to him followed by his quick reply just hours later revealed that I could hand him a check in person instead. I preferred that, since I wasn't sure exactly what it would cost once he got there and decided on what needed to be done.
He was scheduled to come at 1PM on the day of service. He actually arrived a little earlier. Then he asked what I was looking for in particular, since this wasn't the usual type of inspection done prior to buying or selling a house. He explained that sometimes homeowners ask him to do a more limited consultation before remodeling instead of a full inspection. I told him to do a full inspection, because I wanted to know all of the problems before I went to any remodeling contractors.
His inspection lasted about 3 and a half hours. At the end, he showed me all of the problems with digital photos he took. And he took the time to explain everything and answer my questions. I even asked about things like how much certain problems typically cost to repair, which really set my mind at ease. Later that evening, I received his full report over email (PDF file), which was much more detailed and comprehensive than I ever expected it would be. The report looks very professional. There were lots of photos and clear explanations of the issues which made it very easy to understand. I was quite impressed.
He covered not just obvious things such as siding issues, paint problems, insulation, and cracks here and there, but also little but important details such as caulking missing around the various pipes and electrical connections that go from the exterior to the interior (a potential water entry problem). He even found that the circuit breaker for the A/C unit was rated at a higher amperage than the A/C unit can safely handle. And he found PVC pipes that were sagging and should be supported more. He found problems related to carbon monoxide exhaust that needed immediate attention. He probed the electrical system and found GFCI outlets that were flakey or completely dead. He listed many recommendations for improving energy efficiency. Etc. I could go on.
This inspection exceeded my expectations. I would not hesitate to use him again, and I highly recommend his service.

Justin is great to work with!  We have used him before and he did a very thorough job, so we wanted to use him again.  It was a great experience from start to finish!  He arrived on time, and spent about 2 1/2 hours inspecting the house.  He has a wonderful portable computer system that he uses and he takes lots of pictures.  After he was through, he explained everything to us.  There were a couple of major red flags that we will have to address with the owner before we purchase the house.  We received his 29 page report later that evening.  It had every detail that you could want and many recommendations.  He saw a lot of issues that we didn't notice ourselves.  I will definitely use him if needed in the future.

Justin performed a home inspection on a house that our daughter was considering purchasing. We don't live in the Austin area, and looked on Angie's List to find him, and based solely on his recommendations on there we contacted him. He arrived on time and it took about 4 hours which he had told us it would. He was professional, knowledgable, and very thorough, and during the inspection he would stop to tell us about something which he was especially concerned about to explain it to our daughter. When he finished the inspection he went over everything again and made sure she understood everything he had pointed out to her. We would definitely use him again and would highly recommend him.

Justin was very professional and thorough with the inspection.  The inspection report was e-mailed to me immediately after he walked through the items inspected.  The report was very detailed and with photos to show the problem area.  Justin was highly recommended by my realtor friend and I can definitely see why.

First off, I have never heard of Square House, I went solely on reviews on this site.  That being said, Justin gave the best inspection I have gotten yet on any home.  He was very professional and very thorough.  He found cracked tiles that I had never seen walking through the house.  He also told us that the AC needed new evaporator coils.  When we told the home owner, she showed us a work order from a few months before that said the line was blown out but everything else was good.  When we called a third party HVAC guy, it confirmed that the AC's evaporator coils had rusted out and needed to be replaced.  So Justin found an issue in a field he is not a professional that a so called professional missed!  That is pretty impressive to me.  I will highly recommend him to everyone I know and I will also use him for all of my future rental home purchases.  There is a reason this guy has a stellar report on this site.  I don't care who you have used before or who you are recommended to use, this is the guy to use to save you from making a costly mistake when purchasing a home.  Thanks Justin.

Overall, the experience was great.  Justin was professional and walked me through the process.  He allowed me to ask questions which he answered in detail at the end of the inspection.  He was polite, professional and careful while performing inspection.  After the inspection, he walked me through the report.  He had pictures to support all issues.  He also tailored the report and his review of it towards the warranty services for which I had initiated the home inspection.  He armed me with information I may need when requesting warranty services from the builder.  He had experience in the neighborhood so he discussed trends and issues I may need to know.  His price was reasonable and better priced than most companies.  Everything was done digitally as well, signing the agreement, payment, report, etc., which everything very convenient and easy.

While our realtor had a couple of inspector recommendations, none could be found on the BBB ratings or Angie's List.  So, we selected Justin by his reviews.  We used his on-line scheduling and payment (PayPal) tools and did everything on-line.
On inspection day, Justin arrived early for a 10 am appointment.  Everything was done by 12:30 and we went over his findings.  The full report was conveyed via e-mail the same evening.  Since we are in the midst of relocating and are selling a home, we had a seller's inspection done on the home we're selling in another city.  While the inspector who did the seller's inspection is top-rated on Angie's LIst, there was quite a difference between that inspector and Justin.  Justin's homebuilding knowledge came through when discussing the findings.  Things like, "You can see from the picture that the exterior caulking is failing in this region.  When you re-paint the area you might want the have the siding die into the trim board instead of the current configuration.  The caulk will hold up much better and you'll minimize the chance of water penetration." set Justin apart.  Every good inspector knows what to look for.  When asked, Justin had recommendations about how repairs should be made and in turn maximized his value in the overall process.

We found Justin Marler (Marler Inspections) on Angie's List.  He arrived about ten minutes after our planned time, probably due to construction on area roads.  Once he arrived he got right to work.  We had keys to the home since the homeowner chose not to be there during the inspection, and we sat reading while Justin worked.  The home was an older house built in 1963 with foundation issues.  We had also planned on having a separate foundation inspection by a structural engineer from a foundation repair company.  After working for close to 3 hours Justin sat down with us to go over some of the problems.  We knew that there were foundation issues but we did not know the extent of the damage to the house itself due to the foundation.  In addition there were numerous major problems that we discussed.  Justin was happy to answer any questions we had.  His review was very thorough.   He showed us one of the pictures from his report that showed a particularly bad structural damage in the attic where the ceiling joists were no longer attached to the ridge beam.  By the time he was done talking we knew that we would not be able to purchase the house as there were just too many problems in every area of the home and it's systems.  Justin was very easy to talk to and did not hold back any details that he felt we needed to know in considering buying the home.  The cost was $330, including $30 for the termite inspection.  He gave us a discount of $30, so we paid $300 total, which was much appreciated.  Later that night, Justin emailed the exhaustive 26 page inspection report, which included many pictures of problem area.  Because of Justin's information we canceled the foundation inspection from another company and decided not to purchase the home.  We were very happy with Justin's work and would not hesitate hiring him again.