Lepine Home Inspections LLC

Ryan Lepine (of Lepine Home Inspections) examined four properties for me between 2006 and 2019. Two were residential, two commercial and I purchased all four. Ryan is a friendly, highly personable professional and the man just loves delving into the unique details and intricacies that make up each individual home (and, in my case, two small office buildings as well). The breadth and depth of his knowledge of the structure of houses and the various systems inside (heating, cooling, electrical, plumbing, etc.) is truly remarkable. He knows what to look for and, if there are problems, he finds them. He finds wood rot in places that, from a distance, would look perfectly normal to most people. He understands intricate details about proper (and improper) flashing. He’s even a licensed pest inspector. Ryan climbed up on top of each roof of the four buildings he inspected for me and moved around as comfortably as if he were born on one of them. He looks down chimneys. You name it – he tests and/or inspects it. Then he wraps it all up into a highly-detailed report with lots of color photographs illustrating various aspects of the home, with any important issues or problems clearly described in text. His reports are thorough, smart and well-organized. Depending on the circumstances and my strategic position, I have kept some reports private but, at least once, shared one with the property owner. Please consider one thing in advance of your inspection, however. There’s a decent chance you’ve been looking at houses for a while and at last you’ve found the “perfect one” – the one you love. As such, you can’t be blamed for hoping that Ryan is going to come in, fall in love with it too and tell you how perfect everything is. Well, if that’s what you want, bring a friend over instead, because that’s not what you should be hoping for from your inspector and it’s certainly not going to happen with Ryan. No matter how “perfect” your dream house seems to you, there are going to be some problems with it – potentially many. In this regard, at least one of Ryan’s reports was, frankly, kind of depressing. But would you rather know about the problems while you are still in the decision-making stage, or after you move in? In my case, I eventually bought all four properties Ryan inspected. That said, the choice wasn’t always clear and, at least once, I had to do some real soul-searching before finally making the decision to move ahead. In this case, I was certainly disappointed about the problems (more exterior rot and decay than I would have liked). In the end, however, my wife and I were happy to be able to make an informed decision, and we moved ahead with the purchase of our dream home in spite of some very real problems. I should also add that, for how much work he does (both during the inspection and for the reports), I have found Ryan’s fees to be most reasonable (especially relative to the cost of what he is inspecting).

Ryan did a great job identifying the critical things we needed to correct in order to pass inspection for any buyer to get financing. He also offered to return to change his inspection report as we addressed the issues he pointed out.

Ryan did an amazingly thorough inspection.  He spent approximately 4hrs and was very detailed pointing out every potential current or future repair need as well as out of code situations.  I hope I don't have to buy another house soon but I'll only use Ryan from here onwards.  When talking to a highly regarded contractor to get a bid for repairs, the person at the contractor's office said Ryan was the only person they would use for themselves.
When I am about to make a huge investment in a house, I am not looking for a fast or cheap inspection.  I'm looking for super picky so I know what I'm getting into and can effectively negotiate with the seller.

I keep getting requests to review this service. Not sure why. It was a not a good experience. It cost more than most, took longer than most (4+ hours for 2300 sq ft). His descriptions were vague or sounded worse than was really the case. My lender said there was no way they would lend me the money for house, sounds like a heap of mold and even sent someone to look at the house because they thought I was trying to defraud them somehow. Sellers were offended. I almost lost this house. Everyone agreed to disregard his inspection and I paid for another one (another $375, another inconvenience to sellers, agents). Everyone came to an agreement on results of 2nd inspection. I bought house and have lived here 3 years. I love it. Others have had a similar experience (reviews on another website, you can find them if you look). Definitely better, more current (didn't want to take pictures, not electronic report), more reasonably priced inspectors out there.

We are considering installation of new hardwood floors and were worried about the house having settled and if this would be a problem.  He provided a list of contractors he knew who might be good options for the problems he discovered.  I double checked the contractors ratings on Angie's List and all of them were A-rated.  I appreciate the extra effort he went to in order to check out more than just the items we brought him in to evaluate.

Very satisfied with inspection results. Will hire again.

Ryan Lepine was able to work with our schedule and time frame. He was prepared and went through every detail of our home. He prepared a very easy to understand book that was left with us (and carbon copies) at the end of our appointment. He patiently answered our questions and made sure that we were informed before he left. He was incredibly knowledgeable and respectful of our home.