Ace Inspection

It went relatively well. The entire experience was a touch odd but it wasn't bad. First, scheduling was a problem on my end. I needed to deal with the other tenants. Then, when scheduling was worked out, I was home long enough to let him in and then let him loose, since my daughters had p?diatrician's appointments that morning that couldn't be rescheduled. So I didn't observe all of the work. When I returned 3 hours later, he was still in the other tenants' flat, and going over his list. Thorough is not even the beginning of the word for it. He noted where fixtures were original to the house (built in 1916) and which ones were added later; he discussed the flooring, the ceiling, the problems inherent in the building (which turned out to be remarkably few), questions he had about glazing of windows, & c. None of that was the weird part. That was the competent part. The weird part was interrupting the conversation at times reasonably appropriate to sing a s***** of Frank Sinatra or to quote Shakespeare. I'm used to eccentrics, but this was a bit odd to be dealing with, given the context.) The competent part continued when we progressed into the basement area. He described small features that I'd not noticed or seen before, explained the concerns of asbestos, his opinion of the wiring, his questions about pointing and sealing the mortar of the basement stones, things like that. Hiring a home inspector is like hiring an attorney, insofar that you're not really asking for answers, you're asking what the problems are, and he was quite competent at conveying that. As a bonus, the report was available to me the same day, since he takes his records with him by 8x11 photograph, so I have all of his notes and his cryptic scribblings in columns, much good may it do me. He advised me to follow up with him as needed. I feel that he is a competent inspector and has forgotten more about New England architecture than I'll ever know. I also recognise from his work that he respects "if it's old and working, you're a step ahead of having a contractor in here and having it not working for the time being." And he pointed out many areas of quality that I can bring up with potential home renovators ? for instance, how wiring was encased as to be fireproof, or ductwork encased so as not to leak. He is also significantly less expensive than other local home inspectors (by about a quarter), but he's also a certified inspector by the American Society of Home Inspectors, so I've no reason to doubt his credentials. So he's a bit of an odd duck, but I have had more information crammed into my head about furnaces and window glazing than I ever thought I would have in my life.

They were very friendly. They initially gave us plenty of information about their service and were pretty thorough. I wish he had looked more into the Air Conditioning unit because it failed about a week after the house was bought. I would recommend him to others.

Excellent.

Ken Bates was very responsive and was helpful and was very thorough. He did a good on site report and gave us a binder straight away. So far nothing he found is inaccurate. He pointed out a few things that he thought needed to be fixed, the way he told us to address the issues with the seller got all of the issues fixed by the seller.