Capitol Home Inspections

Copy of complaint filed with Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational regulation. Home inspection of 11512 Barrows Ridge Lane, Chesterfield, VA 23838 April 28, 2017 beginning at 2 PM and ending at 5 PM by Mr McMurdy of Capital Home Inspections. Weather, clear and hot – ALL TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPS FOR CENTRAL VIRGINIA this week. TWO a/c units set at 64 for night time and 77 during the day. Both were set on auto at those settings and were functioning properly at 2 PM on 4/28 when the homeowners left the property. Douglas Hugo walked 2 doors down the street to a neighbor’s house and waited outside until he saw Buyers, agent and Inspector leave at 5 PM. Upon re entering the home, Douglas Hugo found the following: It was 93 degrees when I stepped in the house. Both units were on "hold" and set to about 90 degrees. Most of the window blinds were askance as if they were quickly and carelessly dropped down. I had to raise and fix probably 80% of them. The GFI in the jack n jill bath was off - it was red and had to be reset. The GFI on the back porch was also off. This controlled the lights in the great room and the Verizon internet and cable TV, all of which were not functioning. It wasn't until I tried to turn on the lights in the great room much later after contacting Verizon, that I realized that the 2nd GFI might be tripped. A couch that we had in our loft had shoe prints on the seat cushions that someone was standing on it, likely to reach the window behind the sofa. When I went down in the crawl space to check on the Verizon issue, the first thing I found was that the insulation had come off the door, but the inspector said nothing about it being off, which he should have AND he failed to turn the light in the crawl space off. I had to re glue the insulation on the door. I also found that a large bat of insulation had been removed from the space between the blocks and the wood framing. This negates a lot of the insulating and "conditioned crawlspace" qualities. This loose insulation was very noticeable and was not present before the inspection. The home is 5 years old and the insulation has never come off before, let alone all of it, despite NUMEROUS contractors being under the house besides myself. I was the last one under the house prior to the inspection and the insulation was fine. The way the door is manufactured, if one is not familiar with the type of door, or is careless, the insulation could be torn off the door by jerking it open. From 5 PM till about 8 PM, we had a 93 degree home and had no Verizon. We had no Air conditioning from 5 PM on Friday April 28 until Tuesday May 2 during a time of 90 degree plus temperatures, when our contractor added Freon and the units began functioning again. I could have stopped there and maybe gotten away with $200, but the contractor said BOTH units had leaks in them that the coils needed to be replaced, which I did to the cost of $1600. I DID THE RIGHT THING. Our electric contractor said he had never seen two units go out at exactly the same time, but would not speculate as to cause, probably because of potential legal liability. As I asked my realtor, would I list a home that I knew did not have functioning HVAC units? Would I allow a home inspection on a home I knew had non functioning HVAC units? The answer is a resounding, NO! Results: I am out $1600, which the home inspector refused to acknowledge even some responsibility for when all I asked is that he forfeit his fee to me of $475. He refused to talk with me on the phone, sending his wife to return my phone call in which she just kept repeating that her husband “has never made a mistake” and “we need to have a conversation” over and over and over. I would ask the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation to punish Mr McMurdy as you see fit, up and to terminating his license to operate in the state of Virginia. I would not wish this “home inspection from ****” on anyone else in Virginia. Thank you for your attention to my complaint.

Absolutely superb inspection. Every detail was covered. Identified problems with HVAC system that would have cost us more than $1500 to repair. We were able to get all items fixed by the sellers. Ray is totally customer service oriented and provided an excellent run down of all issues at the end of the inspection. His report was clear, concise, easy to understand. Highly recommend this company!

Very friendly on phone and answered all of my questions. Service was great- very thorough and detailed report!

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It was a great experience! As a Realtor I have worked with Capitol Home Inspections on numerous occasions and have appreciated their work for years, however having used them personally really drove home how wonderfully knowledgeable they are. They don't just inspect a home and send a timely report, they also educate the home owner on the finer details of what makes a home tick. Capitol Home Inspections really raises the bar and I am proud to recommend them to my clients and trust them with my own properties. If you are looking for an exceptional Richmond VA Home Inspector, look no further!

As a local REALTOR, I have used or recommended Capitol Home Inspections for over 10 years.  In every single instance their inspectors have provided extraordinary service.  This most recent inspection by Tim Gabay was just as professional and thorough as I have come to expect.

'Great experience and quality work.  The owner does all of the work himself, not one of those companies who sends someone out.  I called and booked the appointment through the owners wife who was a pleasure to work with.  She explained everything, how the inspection would be performed, her husbands qualifications, payment, etc.  The day of the inspection Ray arrived right on time.  He did a very through inspection (4 hours), he took his time, he was organized and very detailed oriented.  Lots of pictures and video of the defects of the home and for things that were an FYI to keep an eye on for the future.  Over the course of my life, this was the 5th home that I had an inspection on and Ray was as good or better than what I was expecting.  The report came later that same night and it really helped me prepare for the things that I needed to have corrected before agreeing to settle on the house.  We just moved to Virginia and I found Capitol Home Inspections on Angies List and hit a grand slam home run with this inspection company.  Look no further it doesn't get any better than this.  Thank you Ray and Jenn for a great inspection and for being a company that I can recommend to anyone who asks!

Using this service saved us lots of money in the future.  The first home we put an offer on had some major issues that needed to be fixed.  We couldn't come to an agreement with the seller so that sale didn't happen.  The next house had a few issues that needed to be fixed that we wouldn't have seen without Ray completely checking things out.  He did a great job, top to bottom, and I would definitely use Capitol again.

Ray provided a very thorough inspection. Ray provided pictures and professional advice of what was needed.

Ray was on time, professional, thorough, performed inspection in a timely manner, completed and delivered report same day as inspection.

Ray performed a very thorough home inspection.  He was punctual, professional, and very helpful.  He spent lots of time with us after he completed his inspection reviewing his findings and helping us to understand what was an important fix, what could wait, and what was a minor issue.  He took well over a hundred pictures of every part of the house and went through them with us in detail.
Also, Jenn (who manages appointment scheduling) was very helpful and thorough on the phone.  She discussed radon testing with me, and, after our discussion, for various reasons she recommended against performing any testing at the time of inspection.  I really appreciated her honesty.
I would definitely hire Capitol Home Inspection again.

Ray was there for a few hours walking through the entire home and checking for issues before i purchased. he was very professional- and i thought he was very detail oriented. i really liked the report he created- because he did a great job explaining the issues, and the severity of them, and the costs to repair the issues.  he also gave me a good idea of which items required the most attention before the purchase of the home, and i felt it gave us a better negotiating angle.

He is very flexible with his scheduling.  He would start with the outside inspection first (take pictures of exterior defect along with roof).  He then work on the inside of the house making. The entire process usually take about 2 hours depending on the square footage of the house.  Pricing is very feasible for the amount of work that's involved.  At the end of the inspection, he will print color copies of the entire report and put it in a nice binder for the homeowner.  
He has put many smiles on my clients' face .  
Kelly TruongREALTORRE/MAX TODAY804-426-3119