TRI-COUNTY SECUREMENT CO

Initially we decided against this company because of another member's unsatisfactory review. We chose another inspection company listed on Angie's list. When we sent the inspector's contract to our attorney he reffered us to Tri County because they include a termite inspectin in the base fee but the other company didn't. We told him of the referral on Angie's list and he was able to refer us others that used Tri County. I have to say I am so glad we listened to our attorney. Mike Pych did an excellent job of inspeecting the home. Mike found that ALL the copper piping had been removed from the home which prevented the furnace and plumbing inspection from being inspected properly. The sellers neglected to tell us this information even though they were aware of it. Within a day of the actual inspection we received an extremely detailed report by email. If Mike had not been as thorough as he was we would have bought a money pit. We are still searching for our dream home. We wil definitely us Tri County before we close.

When I called Tri-County and spoke to Duane, he was very friendly and helpful. Even though it was short notice, he scheduled me for a structural inspection with Mike for the next day . On the day of the inspection, Mike was punctual (he was actually early) and very personable - he met with my husband. They went through the house, looked over the bowing roof-line and examined the basement. Mike explained to my husband that the roof-line would need repair, but the basement was more of a problem due to crumbling bricks in the foundation. That same afternoon, as promised, Duane emailed us an inspection report. The one page report indicated that the house "needed repairs". The majority of the page consisted of several lines of legal disclaimers and a single sentence about the wall along the bowing roof-line needing to be rebuilt. There were no details on if this was a huge issue or a minor one. And there were no details on the "larger" problem with the basement. When I called Duane, he insinuated that we would have to schedule another inspection and pay another fee to have the basement added to the report, as it wasn't what they came out for (I mentioned the roof-line during our initial phone call, but was never told that no other parts of the structure would be examined during the inspection). So, he continued, anything extra we got out of the inspection, i.e. the basement, was a bonus to us but couldn't be included it in the report. After I asked him why we would pay again to have them come out and inspect something they already inspected, he conceded to speak to Mike, the inspector, to determine if he'd done a "real" inspection on the basement, and to the owner to see if it was ok to include the findings in the report. At this point I was starting to feel like they were trying to nickel and dime us.. Later that same day, Duane sent through a new report with a note about the basement . Again only one sentence, saying inner course of basement foundation needed repair. I called him again to say that it really didn't provide much information and t asked if he could send a report with a little more detail. Like, what type of repair, is this dangerous now or potentially dangerous later, is it going to make the house fall down , etc. I called Duane back and he was clearly impatient with me at this point. We went back and forth about the contents of the report , and he basically told me that he couldn't tell us any more than he already had. Finally he agreed to send a new report with more details the next day. What I got the next day was another disclaimer-like sentence saying that more information about the roof issue could only be obtained by removing insulation. In the end I stopped trying to get what I needed from him . Really, all I wanted was enough information to make an informed decision about a house purchase. $200 later, all I got was "needs repairs" - something I didn't need an inspection to tell me.

David was on site before we were and had already began his inspection outdoors. He was very thorough. He walked us through each step of the process, pointing out certain things and answering any questions that we had. He was very helpful and very friendly and knowledgeable. We were very pleased and plan to use them again if needed. This was February 23, 2006.