BOSTON HOME INSPECTORS

I own one unit in a two unit condo. They were hired by the potential purchaser of the other unit. The inspector removed the cover to the electric meters serving the entire building, which he had no business doing, and left the cover lying on the ground, where I found it when I returned home from work, with the master breakers left exposed to the weather or anyone passing by. Not only did he refuse to come back and remedy his negligence, he was patronizing and insulting (see attached image).

Jim arrived early, explained everything to us, and was very thorough. He answered any questions and provided a thorough report immediately following the inspection.

Thorough, professional. Spent two hours (approx 2200 sq ft). Assessing structure inside and out. Very Responsive to questions during inspection.

Fabulous; have bought and sold RE a couple of times, this is the first time in MA and for our primary residence. James ("Jim") Brock was great, showed up 30min early to do an external home inspection so when we arrived, he could quickly summarize everything outside. When we went inside, another man from his firm was doing the electrical and HVAC parts of the house, so our time was well focused Jim was patient, explaining everything, dictating all into his write-up there on the spot, and taking pictures. I would use them again in a heartbeat.

Jim arrived early and examined the entire house inside and outside, from the basement to the roof. He was very thorough and pointed out all of the items that he thought would need attention at some point. He picked up on many things that I thought would not be obvious even to a trained eye. Every question I asked Jim gave me an intelligent reply to. Jim took many photos, dictated his report, and mailed his report to me before he left. I'd say Jim's rates are in line with what other inspectors seem to charge. This is about as good as it gets, this dude really knows what he is doing. He has my highest recommendation.

When I arrived they were already on-site inspecting the outside of the property. They were very thorough from the basement through the common areas to the roof. They explained every step of the way what they were looking for and were welcoming to any questions I had.

This was our first home purchase in Massachusetts and we did not realize how little time you have between the acceptance of an offer and the home inspection being done. Our realtor recommended this company and reserved a time later that week when we made our offer in the hopes we would get accepted. Jim showed up early and had already assessed the outside, and he walked us around describing what he'd found. The whole inspection inside was very thorough and Jim answered and amplified on all our questions. I never felt he was rushing or trying to move on to his next call. During the inspection he took notes on his iPad and used speech-to-text to put comments directly in his report. At the end of the inspection he went through the entire report with us on the iPad. I signed the screen and he immediately emailed the completed report direct to me, my wife and the realtor. He even took a picture of my check to immediately credit it direct to his bank. I loved the fact the final report is in your hands as the inspector is walking out the door -- no waiting for it to show up in the mail. We are very happy with this service and highly recommend Jim and his company.

I knew the house would need work before I even put the offer in. I depended on BHI to find everything wrong with it, not just so I would have a clearer picture of whether to walk away or not, but to get an idea of what to repair. He inspected the house thoroughly - and I mean THOROUGHLY! We haven't found anything else he didn't see. In fact, he's been more thorough and precise than many of the other contractors and exterminators who came through. He gave clear opinions on what did and did not need to be repaired. Thanks to him I now have an awesome house. I absolutely, without reservation, recommend BHI. They are worth every penny and then some. He is far and away one of the best, and most honest, inspectors I've every worked with. If I could recommend him more highly I would. A++++++!

I have used this company a couple of times and I have recommended to others. They do a very thorough job and give a lot of information for maintaining the home. After my first inspection about 7 years ago, I purchased the property. After another inspection last year, I backed out of the sale. The inspector identified an issue and recommended I get a professional opinion from a structural engineer. I did and it turned out to be a $25,000 problem on top of other substantial items. They really saved me from purchasing a money pit and some big headaches.

It was an excellent experience. Jim arrived early and walked us through every step of the repairs the home needed. He also was excellent about noting things we could do ourselves and giving very specific feedback about improving safety, efficiency, and design in our (soon to be!). He gave a lot of very good and specific advise about windows, doors, and boilers (providing quality brand names, etc). He provided us with these marvelous tags for items in our basement, marking the emergency shut off valves on various appliances which will be very useful. We spent about two and a half hours together going over the property and it was wonderful. We walked away with a very good sense of what we are getting into with this property, as well as our report from Jim. Within an hour of the inspection being completed, he had pdfed a copy of the report to us, as well.

very thorough, detailed inspection - good documentation and also helpful homeowner tips provided;

Last March you did a home inspection for us on Fresh Pond Lane in Cambridge. Because you noticed a small pipe cemented into the basement floor, you warned us that there might be a buried fuel tank, probably outside. We put that into the Pand S agreement on April 2, with a closing date in early June. We proceeded to a design phase with Feinman, Inc, and even put down the first payment on a construction phase for renovations, so that we could reduce the time that we would be owning two homes. Without the tank issue we would have closed in early June, put 1.3 million dollars into the purchase and renovations, and might still be stuck with our original house, cracked plaster walls and all, putting us $2 million in the hole. The Seller foolishly waited until near the end of the Pand S to check on the tank, and not only found that there was one, but that it had leaked. They had to do a major excavation under the deck, from the basement wall almost to the property line. It kept raining, and it never was clear to us that the bottom had been reached. Eventually they claimed to have an acceptable test and closed the hole back up, but all they could offer in July at the end of the 30 day extension period was an unofficial engineers report that things were OK and they would finish the DEP paperwork in a few months. We decided to back out of the sale at the end of the Pand S. Because they were enmeshed with the DEP, we felt that they could not deliver clear title. After several exchanges of letters between lawyers we got part of our deposit back, which would not have occurred had we walked away in June. The bottom line is -- KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK OF LOOKING FOR HINTS OF TANKS. You helped save us from major problems.

I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND BOSTON HOME INSPECTORS TO ANYONE WHO NEEDS A HOME INSPECTION DONE. THE INSPECTION WAS VERY, VERY THOROUGH. THE REPORT WE RECEIVED WAS EXTREMELY INFORMATIVE AND HELPFUL TO US.

THE INSPECTORS WERE VERY COURTEOUS AND SEEMED TO BE VERY THOROUGH, HOWEVER; THIS WAS MY FIRST INSPECTION AND I WAS NAIVE TO SAY THE LEAST. THEY EXPLAINED EXTENSIVELY MANY OF THE DETAILS CONCERNING THE BUILDING - SOMETIMES TOO EXTENSIVELY. THEY HAD RAISED CONCERNS ABOUT ONE BATHROOM WALL AND POTENTIAL WATER DAMAGE, HOWEVER; THEY MISSED SOME KEY POINTS. THE TWO BIGGEST ISSUES THEY MISSED, WERE THE ELECTRICAL LAYOUT OF THE CONDO - THE ENTIRE UNIT EXCEPT FOR THE STOVE RAN OFF OF TWO CIRCUITS AND ONE OF THE TWO CIRCUITS ONLY SERVED ONE OUTLET INTO WHICH THE FRIDGE WAS PLUGGED - AND SOME DESTROYED FLOORBOARDS THAT WERE BEING HIDDEN BY CABINETS. IN ADDITION, THEY DIDN'T POINT OUT THAT THE WIRES WERE ONLY RATED FOR 15 AMPS BUT HAD 30 AMP FUSES - NOT TO MENTION THE MERE FACT THAT THE UNIT WAS OPERATING OFF OF A FUSE BOX AS OPPOSED TO CIRCUIT BREAKERS. CONSIDERING REVAMPING THE ELECTRICAL WORK IN THE CONDO WILL TAKE A BIT OF CASH I WISH I HAD KNOWN BEFORE CLOSING.