EDIFICE INSPECTIONS INC

They are not professional at all. I was in process of home buying and like everyone else I scheduled home inspection with radon testing. They asked me for three hours window but radon testing guy showed up 2-3 hours early by not honoring scheduled time and was expecting me to coordinate with elderly old home owners, with whom only real estate agent can communicate, that they leave the house with their pets. As that was not possible I had to call their office and asked them to wait until scheduled time or if not cancel radon test part of it. They cancelled the radon test but then they charged me in full for radon part too and their explanation was their guy had to drive to the property, so there will be charge for it. In all this as a customer I ordered service for a house which I dont yet and gave them the window for inspection that they as asked for, their guy mess up and didn't honour the appointment window and showed up few hours early but I am the one getting penalized for their mess up .. this is not professional business. I'll not recommend a business which has no ethics

While we were in due diligence, Charles Mann gave our house a very clean inspection (one that, on retrospect, suspiciously took only about 2 hours) and we confidently purchased the house believing it needed no structural, electrical, or plumbing work. We moved in and it quickly became clear that this was not the case. The chimneys were unlined, leaking, and deteriorating (a 7k expense for us to fix) and a number of plumbing issues (drips, etc.) quickly became apparent in the crawl space. As we fixed the plumbing, the plumbers pointed out significant electrical hazards, which we then needed to address. As a result, I ended up getting the house re-inspected and, sure enough, there were electrical, plumbing, and structural concerns that immediately arose throughout the house. The second inspector was pretty surprised that these had not been caught, as any competent inspector and/or thorough inspection should have revealed them. Charles's report is especially troubling because I even pointed out a few issues in the crawl space re: missing bricks, etc. after closing and was told that they were nothing to worry about. These issues are now on the "should be repaired" list of our new inspection report. I understand that no two inspectors will agree on what is a "must repair" and what is not, but most of the issues are not ambiguous. I pointed this out to the company and they offered to refund the inspection, but that doesn't save me the money or headache of repair. Buyer beware.

I would recommend others to hire their own inspector. I didn't think about it at first, but there is an incentive for the inspector working with a buyers agent to make the inspection go smoothly and result in the potential buyer actually buying the home. Mr. Nichols was thorough and gave us lots of information about the home, and I also appreciated his professionalism and promptness. But in future I would hire another inspector, and I would pick him myself. We later had a specifically electrical inspection, and the electrician found four non-UL listed breakers in the circuit box which he said the inspector should have caught, as this is also a safety issue. There were more minor problems that Mr. Nichols did not point out to us. I suspect that he wanted to ensure a smooth buying process for us more than he wanted to provide us all the information about problems with the house. I am still happy with our house and I liked Mr. Nichols personally, but I will find a different inspector if I do this again.

I highly recommend Edifice Inspections. We have used them twice for consultation services -once for a structural issue and another time for how to best deal with bathroom water damage and mold. Bill was our consult each time. He is extremely knowledgeable and a highly effective communicator. He listened to our concerns, thoroughly accessed the situation and then summarized issues and actions we should take. We would not hesitate to use them again in the future.

At the suggestion of a realtor, we called Bill Garwood who is with Edifice Inspections. He was prompt, very friendly and checked all of the house as expected. When he saw a particular structural issue that he couldn't be 100% sure on, he arranged for a free appraisal/inspection from an engineer. The engineer agreed with his assessment and we were able to put this into the negotiations for the house. At my request, Bill also ran a Radon gas test and while more expensive than home test kits, he was able to turn the results around much faster. He did excellent quality work and comes highly recommended. My real estate agent mentioned that he used to write a column for the AJC called "Ask the Inspector" and he was a general contractor for about 15 years if I recall correctly.

JEFF NICHOLS DID A THOROUGH JOB. HE WAS KNOWLEDGEABLE AND EFFICIENT.