DECKER HOME SERVICES LLC

Will is a great home inspector. I've used two other inspectors in the past, highly recommended on Yelp/Redfin, but was recommended Will Decker by a respected contractor. His website is a a great resource on its own. Will seemed by far the most qualified both by his certifications as well as the expertise he revealed through conversations. Plus, he's a lot of fun to talk to; we even got a bonus history lesson on Middle Age England! I very much appreciate his knowledge of energy efficiency as well as all other aspects of construction. He even knew the specific architectural style of our historic house, and explained the details of its unusual construction framing. It's also great that he uses thermal imaging and has the critical training needed to interpret what he sees. I will definitely use Will for future inspections.

Mr. Decker especially touted his thermal imaging gun which he claimed could detect moisture in basements. He claimed that he was among a handful of home inspectors in Illinois using this technology, and that he had trained the remaining other home inspectors who were using this same thermal imaging device. This was important to me as I wanted assurance that the finished basement in this house was dry, and that there were no cracks in the foundation actively leaking. In an unfinished basement with exposed foundation walls, it’s easy to see if there are cracks in the foundation, or if any moisture exists. It's the complete opposite in a finished basement where the foundation walls are covered with drywall. Bottom line is that Mr. Decker's thermal imaging gun didn't detect active moisture behind one of the basement walls that I discovered after moving in. I stood in the basement while he pointed the thermal imaging gun at all four walls. At that time he stated that it was a dry basement and that there was no need for concern. A week after closing when I went to replace the carpet in the basement, I found evidence of moisture in one corner of the living room basement. Four square feet of carpeting, along with baseboards (baseboards were yellow and discolored) showed obvious evidence of water damage that should have been detected visually. I really feel like I was let down by Mr. Decker. I wound up spending $466 to repair the damaged foundation, money I should have received at closing. Plus I still have to replace the drywall I had to cut out in order for Permaseal to access and fix the foundation crack. Additionally, I have no idea if any other foundation cracks exist. If I had it to do over again, I would have hired a less expensive inspector and had Permaseal conduct the FREE inspection they did when I hired them. I also want to make known, that off the record, the Permaseal salesman told me that the foundation crack and associated water damage was active. In other words, it hadn't happened in the two weeks since Mr. Decker's inspection was conducted as he might claim after reading this review. Further evidence of this became apparent once I began removing drywall. The first 12 inches of drywall, from the floor up, was moist, as water had been slowly wicking its way up. It was the same for the insulation I removed. The foundation crack itself ran from the top of the foundation to the floor. So water had been gathering at the bottom of the crack. Bottom line again is that moisture absolutely existed the day Mr. Decker pointed his thermal imaging gun at that wall. Lastly, Mr. Decker did far too much glad-handing with the seller. By the end of the inspection, I felt more like Mr. Decker was working for the seller than myself.

Mr. Decker was prompt and did his inspection as promised, recommending a roof tear-off due to initial poor construction. He also reviewed estimates we had already secured, giving less than glowing comments about two roofers who had already given us quotes. Instead Mr. Decker suggested several roofers himself, who we subsequently contacted. He also said he would be available for further telephone consultation as questions arose. We thought this was a real added value, as no one in our townhouse complex had ever had a roof replaced. On two follow-ups calls with Mr. Decker, he seemed less than enthused to be talking with me -- rushed, even terse. We received no response on a follow-up email. Certainly his "added value" wasn't impressive -- and it would have been helpful as one of the roofers he recommended contradicted several of his points regarding roof replacement. However, my biggest complaint is that, based on his suggestion, we selected one of his recommended roofers. Although not the lowest bidder, we felt more comfortable that a home inspection expert had "vetted" and recommended this roofer. So of course, it's been a bit of a shock to us that our experience with the Mr. Decker's recommended roofer has been substandard.

We used Mr. Decker because he had provided services to us at a previous location. While satisfied there, this experience was quite different. Will is prompt, courteous and appears to be well-educated on the subject matter at hand. Unfortunately, there were several things missed during this inspection. In addition, Will started the inspection prior to us or our realtor being present. We were present for only about 15 minutes of the inspection. This was a bit odd but we had trust in Will from our prior experience. Will produced a nice, comprehensive report which was submitted as the official inspection document. It was not until after we moved in did we find the issues. First, in the laundry room there was 3ft. x 3ft. area of drywall under the utility sink that was completely black mold and needed replacement. This mold was clearly a long-term issue. This was not a major issue but definitely something that should have been noticed. Next, there is a 2-inch wide crack in the foundation of the garage where settling now has appeared to take place. The severity of this issue has not yet been determined. Lastly, issues with the roof were completely overlooked. The roof had a defective shingle as noted by the roofer that replaced it. There were several holes and separations in the shingles that caused leaking and damage to the roof decking. Now I suppose this could have been missed from the outside. However, from the attic there were 2 clearly visible areas on the underside of the roof deck about 2 feet in diameter that were completely rotted and leaking. The roofer pointed these out within the first 5 minutes of viewing the attic. The roof needed to be completely replaced and 6 sheets of decking were replaced due to rotting. The cost to replace the roof was $11,000.

Overall, really pleased + excellent. Will inspected our entire property to find the source of water infiltration. He even shared tips to help us save energy in our individual units. Very knowledgeable. A little chatty, but overall good chatty. In my experience, home inspectors will talk about things that don't matter to you, and don't affect your ownership/experience with the building. (eg: talk about the lightbulbs, or why canned lighting fixtures are installed. I don't care!!!) This was not the case with Will -- if he shared some information with you, it was a useful tip that you could benefit from. Also, once we secured estimates from vendors to complete the repairs, Will was willing to review the quotes to see if they were thorough. He's also helpful in that he'll answer questions after your inspection. We plan to use Will for our next home inspection.