Alabama House Whisperer

Mike was easy to work with and accommodating of my schedule. I have used Pillar to Post in the past at ~$500 with a very thorough inspection. Mike was referred to my by my agent and the cost was ~$300. I absolutely regret using Mike's services and in fact, would not have purchased the townhouse had Mikes inspection revealed the problems that were discovered my first weekend in the unit. I expressed my concern to Mike that I thought the house might have moisture problems. Mike did note a possible roof leak and a rotting panel by the front door. However, Mike completely missed that the sub-flooring under the kitchen was wet and that both shower controllers were leaking down inside the walls, through the tile joints, and down the face of the shower tile.. These two omissions (three problems) have cost me thousands of dollars of un-budgeted repairs. First about the kitchen: My first weekend in the townhouse I pulled out all the carpet and kitchen linoleum. When I pulled up the kitchen linoleum I saw "puffed up" fiberboard with about 1/3 of the kitchen floor actively wet. I bought a moisture meter which showed a 50% reading (thats as high as the meter reads). I tested the bases of the kitchen cabinets (in fairness probably not something a normal inspection would include) and two of the five cabinet bases also read 50%. The bases of the cabinets were all swollen from the moisture. As I was going to put new counter tops in anyway, I pulled the counter tops and cabinets. The cabinets were beyond repair because the wood was all wet and deteriorated. Upon further observation, I could see that the entire kitchen floor had been wet at sometime in the past as I could see water "stain rings." I then looked at the bottem of the cabinets and could see that they infact that the cabinet bases had been repaired from water damage before. I went in the crawl space and could see the water staining as well- both the current wet area and the old "stain rings." Here's is why I cannot recommend Mike as an inspector: At the time of the inspection I specifically ask Mike if he'd checked the underside of the kitchen floor when he inspected the townhouse and HE SAID HE HAD AND THAT IT WAS DRY!!! Whether or not checking under the kitchen floor for moisture is part of the inspection standard or not is not relevant be cause I specifically asked him and he replied that he had! The short explanation is that the dishwasher had leaked on numerous occasions causing the old "stain rings." The current wet area was caused by a combination of the neighbors fractured concrete slab and rotten siding on the back of the attached shed. Mike told me he had not inspected that wall because it was in the neighbors backyard. By the time I had removed all the wet items I had torn out two walls of drywall and had to remove the fiberboard underlayment and remove all the floor cabinets (5 cabinets). Even though I asked Mike about moisture under the kitchen floor it was not mentioned in the report. Neither did Mike mention that he had not inspected an outside wall. Thankfully the neighbor allowed me to fix not only my rotten siding, but hers as well. Of course I don't expect Mike to inspect her house too but it is reasonable to expect him to find the damage to my unit. Now on to the shower controllers: The first weekend in the unit I decided to take a hot bath and I'm glad I did! While sitting in the bathtub I could see water seeping OUT OF THE CRACKS (joints) of the tile, and water leaking down from the spout. There were actually rust stains on the tile below the tub spout. Had mike looked carefully when he turned on the shower (if he actually did turn on the shower) he would have seen the water running down the wall and surely noticed the stains. Unfortunately, the original builders put iron pipe from the controller valve to the tub spout. Because the iron was rusted through the controllers were not repairable. I had two choices to fix the showers: either tear out the tile or go in through the wall behind the showers. As tearing out two tile showers wasn't in my budget I opted for going in through the walls. In the master bath this meant removing the vanity top and the cabinetry. In both bathrooms the shower controller and tub spouts were replaced. If Mike had noted these issues and I'd bought the townhouse anyway then "caveat emptor." But since Mike didn't mention any of the three issues in his report he clearly just missed the problems. I'm writing this review in November because it's taken me this long to get the work done. Like I mentioned earlier, these repairs were not in my budget and to the additional expenses wiped out my savings account. Based on Mike missing these significant and expensive problems, I must recommend against using The Alabama House Whisperer or Mike.

I cannot say enough good things about Mike. He was professional and courteous throughout the whole process. During the initial call, I asked him many questions, and he answered each patiently and thoroughly. The arrived for the inspection promptly, worked diligently and spent several hours at our property. The inspection report was received quickly and included more information than any report we've seen before. We enjoy real estate and have used several home inspectors before. Each time, we've thought they were okay, but called a new person the next time. We won't be doing that again. Mike/Alabama House Whisperers will be called again! I've already recommended him to friends and family. *** This is a follow-up to my original review. It's been about a month since the inspection and we found a pretty bad leak in the roof around one of the stacks. It was leaking through the walls and onto a brand new $10k HVAC system. This leak explains several other problems such as the previous HVAC system damage and a rotten vent. We heard the leaking in the wall, and when we got in the attic, we could actually see directly out to the sky from the interior. We felt that this is something that should have been easily identified during the inspection. I called Mike. He said I should file a claim with the 90 day home warranty that came with his inspection, and he offered to pay the deductible. He then said that he does check stacks and probably something blew off in a storm, but that he would come by to look at it. When you get on the roof, it's obvious that nothing has blown off in a storm, there's just a leak. There is no deductible for the claim, so there's really nothing further I expect from Mike, but it is frustrating to have paid money for a good home inspection and now have to spend all this time getting estimates and filing insurance claims, etc etc... not to mention that now there's been water leaking on a brand new HVAC system. We still feel that his inspection was thorough and he spent a lot of time here, but finding the leak was disappointing. I don't know if Mike ever came by to look at the roof again, but I haven't heard back from him since. ** Another update. The claim was denied. Apparently Mike put in the home inspection report that just about everything in the house should be looked at by a professional. This basically excludes all payments by the home warranty. In addition, we've had a second problem with pipes leaking that we were told by other professionals it should have been found on the home inspection. The "warranty" that comes with Alabama House Whisperers inspection also denied this claim. Although Mike seemed thorough and professional at the time of service, he has not responded to us since these problems and the claims were denied. We've spent at least $1000 on repairs that should have been found at the time of inspection but were not. Mike has not returned any calls. We would not recommend Alabama House Whisperer.

Basically since I changed the house I was expecting him to know everything about the house like the siding of the house and that type of things as we didn’t know how to get into that as it was cosmetics. He checked the wiring and he went into the ad deck and said that there were rats nest in boxes for the wire connection. His price was $50 better than normal price. He did an average job and did not do anything spectacular. He was right out when he was supposed to be there. Everything was okay about him but it was just a matter of why he was here and what I expected him to do he was not actually quite concerned about. He made attempts to say things about the sidings of the house and said that it was not designed in a way that it could actually be done. He said that it should have been wider and had to get back to the wall. Having read other reviews I didn’t feel that I got what I wanted from him.

I saw mold in my home and wanted to get someone out to test it. Mike was extremely helpful. He listened to my problem and offered advice that was very credible. In the future for any home inspection needs I will definately remember his positive attitude and profesionalism. I really appreciate his help.

He was punctual and extremely professional. Mike answered any questions I had regarding details of the house inspection. The report was thorough but he did explain the limitations of it. In the instances he felt further inspection was necessary by a specialized professional, he pointed it out verbally and in the report.