Hawkeye Home Inspections and Environmental Testing

Peter came to do my buyer clients' pest inspection. He's done inspections for other clients, as well, on all sorts of houses (old and new). He's very knowledgeable, and gave these first-time buyers some important feedback on the house in general. I'd highly recommend him for pre-sale or post-sale inspections.

I highly recommend Hawk Eye Home Inspections. Our inspector Dan was professional, thorough and very helpful during the inspection and we were completely satisfied with the service we received. They were also able to schedule the inspection at short notice which was great.

Danny was very thorough, courteous and willing to share his knowledge. Hawkeye set up an inspection on very short notice, which we really appreciate. We're very satidfied with our experience!

Our Realtor had recommended Hawk Eye Inspections for our first home purchase we needed to schedule within 2 days. Their online platform for booking made everything so easy with the tight turnaround we needed. Kurt was absolutely amazing to work with throughout our inspection. As first-time homeowners, we had no idea about anything he was saying but he was so patient and explained everything so clearly for us. I was by his side asking a million questions and he answered them all with great suggestions to solutions to any problems that he found.

Hawkeye service was excellent. I called Debra on a Sunday morning to see if I could get a same day, pre-inspection of a property that we were interested in buying. We were desperate to have an inspection as the property was an "antique" house and with the market being so crazy, we knew if we wanted the property that we would have to waive a more formal, written inspection. Debra was so pleasant and helpful and even though it was a Sunday, she was able to find Mark C. for us. We couldn't believe our luck. Mark coordinated with our realtor and we had an amazing one hour inspection. Mark was cheerful and walked us through everything he was doing. He was thorough and pointed out everything he was seeing. His enthusiasm and friendliness really helped as we were so concerned about the property. Mark didn't rush. It was clear that he knew how to make his way around the very tangled and huge basement of this building, looking at all the floor joists and supports, pointing out how well they had reinforced the supports, and handled problems. We were overwhelmed by the apparent chaos of this space but Mark was completely unphased by it and helped us to get oriented. His knowledge, his personality, and his engagement made this inspection invaluable. We couldn't have been more pleased by the inspection and Mark's interaction with us and would recommend him to anyone who is looking for a home. The price of $230 was a steal for this kind of assistance!

I bought a home in Grafton late summer of 2020. Excited to buy my first home as a divorced, single mom I knew that my dad would suggest I get a home inspection. I asked for a recommendation and my mortgage lender recommended Mike Kilgallen. I thought “hey I know him.” He is a fire fighter with my ex husband and I had met him many times. I called right away, the front desk staff was great, polite, helpful and efficient. Mike came out and did the inspection, told me not to worry about following him around, that he would look at everything and provide photos and a thorough report. I trusted him, I figured he would do as he said and would find any issues that needed to be addressed before buying this 100 year old home. He kept saying “it’s a beautiful house.” I move forward with the purchase and moved in on Oct 6th, less than one week later the front roof on my home office (enclosed porch), starts to have a roof leak. No, he didn’t go on the roof (I know that, but said he looks at all the areas he can see). That section of the roof is 100% visible from the 3rd bedroom window. He could have looked at it, seen that it was caving in and inside the house there was a ceiling patch and that the roof was a total mess. It was patched with clear caulking. I, even as a novice homeowner know that clear caulking is not used for sealing roof leaks! He said nothing in the report. Everything was in excellent condition. I had the roof fixed. New rubber roof, all new materials and the vendor tells me that the mold growing on the ceiling in the office is an indication that that roof has been leaking for a long, long time and should have been caught by my home inspector. I take my first shower and the exhaust vent starts dripping water. Turns out that neither of the 2 bathrooms in this house vent to outside, even Hawkeye admitted that this is very important. I had contractors come in to give me an estimate to fix these and they say to me “didn’t you have a home inspection?” Yes, yes I did. A bad one obviously. The faucet for the upstairs shower, is on a roof line - Guess what? That is not to code. The plumbing leaked after a month. Guess what? - the contractor told me he didn’t need to be a plumber to look in the utility closet and tell right away that this plumbing was not done by a plumber. I got a bad inspection from a novice inspector. Again, everything listed as excellent on the report. Of course I called Hawkeye, explained what had been happening, sent photos, filed a complaint. The owner Peter came out, with Mike and assessed the issues. They told me to send all info and they would submit to the insurance company. The roof cost me $5,500. The vents would be slightly less than $2,000 to fix properly. I will leave off the faucet this list for now. He is not a building inspector and I know that. I received a nasty letter a month later from their insurance companies law firm. It was as if these issues and my desire to be compensated for the cost to fix what should have been caught in the home inspection was personal. I was shocked. Peter as the business owner should have admitted that Mike missed these things. I, as a consumer and one that he knew personally, should have been treated better. Now, I am out a lot of money, as a one income family who did the right thing and used a home inspector, this has made for very hard times. I think they should have stood by their work. They didn’t - they lawyered up. I am disappointed, disgusted and angry. People suggest I sue them, go after them. It takes money to sue, I don’t have any of the extra money I was supposed to have that was allocated for home projects that I knew were needed because of Mike’s blatant oversight during my home inspection. I strongly recommend you do not use Hawkeye. Things happen in business, it is how you remedy the problems when they come up and this is not a stand up company. Beware. Really, it can cost you, no matter how nice they seem.

We had a great experience with Kurt from Hawkeye for our recent home inspection. As first-time buyers, we had limited information about what potential issues we should be looking for in an older home. Kurt was extremely thorough and very friendly. He explained everything he was looking at while we were in the home, and explained what issues would be short or long-term concerns. The report was very detailed & easy to navigate, and we appreciated the informational resources like the recommended maintenance schedule. It was also nice to be able to easily schedule and pay online, helping us to save some time during a very busy few weeks!

Peter Ottowitz (assisted by Mina Gaber) inspected a house for us in May 2020 as part of our purchase process. They were friendly, thorough, explained everything clearly and left us feeling confident that we had poked into all the corners and investigated the extent and apparent state of all the services in the house. They were very approachable and Peter took time to explain everything. I would definitely recommend Hawkeye.

I would not hesitate to recommend Hawkeye for your home inspection. As first time home-buyers we really appreciated Hawkeye's thoroughness and friendliness during the process. After not receiving answers from two other organizations, Hawkeye's office representative answered promptly and helped us schedule for the next day. Our inspector Mike was extremely polite, sufficiently thorough, and offered good detail in his report. In addition Hawkeye provides buyers with a binder including annual maintenance items, best practices to keep your home in solid shape, and other general knowledge. Again, as first time home-owners this was very much appreciated. In the following days our inspector was prompt in returning a follow-up call we had to the report.

I am a first time home buyer in the process of buying a home. This is obviously a very stressful time. I set up a home inspection with Hawkeye Home Inspection. They had availability on the date and time I needed. The inspector Patrick Menton was at the property before we even got there, and we were 15 minutes early. He was professional, and personable. He was very thorough with the inspection, and also had great knowledge of up to date house codes. He made us feel extremely comfortable in a stressful time. He even brought a small cooler of waters and candies for us during the inspection. Overall we had a great home inspection through Hawkeye. I plan on definitely using them for any future business. I would absolutely recommend them to friends and family. Sincerely, a satisfied customer, Eric J Charette

Phil Cucci worked with us on our first home inspection and he was fabulous. He was incredibly thorough and took the time to educate us about home maintenance and talked us through what to look for, what work needed to be done and how to do it, as well as what to expect in terms of future maintenance and upkeep. We also really appreciated his eye toward avoiding any fire hazards or other safety hazards.

Very professional and engaging. In fact, having purchased many homes, this was the best point-of-sale relationship we have had. A year after the purchase, we began work in the house; and the contractors would not continue due to several feet of asbestos in the basement, visible to them (sadly dismissed as harmless ceiling tiles and pipe insulation by us). Peter disclaimed all of this away, and referred me to his attorney when I asked for the possibility of settlement through his liability/errors and omissions coverage. The attorney was the wrong approach. He was hostile and ultimately unwavering. I am not a litigious customer, but the two contractors were aghast that all of this asbestos was not pointed out prior to the purchase of the home when I had leverage over the seller (or could back out of the P&S from these findings). After a two week hiatus from the original work, an abatement company arranged for the removal and a certificate from the Commonwealth that we were free of the asbestos. The bill for that work was several thousand dollars. I point this out, because a home inspection is really not valuable when you "miss" items like this. It is your best opportunity to align a buyer with the knowledge of a certified inspector and identify fixable items. This interaction, sadly, ended poorly; and Peter offered nothing (including a condolence) for the shoddy oversight. While the remediation was not his problem, operating outside the disclaimer and offering back his fee would have seemed reasonable, given the oversight. Caveat emptor.

Mr. P. Ottovitz made 3 inspections for us, the 1st and 2nd were great, each inspection was 4 hours of work, he provided very detailed report, found lots of issues, in both cases we lost money we paid for inspection but we didn't buy those houses. The 3rd time we scheduled inspection for Saturday, we were in a rush with closing on a house, he spend only 2 hours versus 4 like in previous cases, his grandson had a BD this day. We got good report again, he didn't find any major issues and we finally bought a house. And so the fun begins, we are at this house 6 months and we are getting different issues all the time. We understand that it's partially our fault, never schedule an important even for a Saturday, but the same amount of money was charged as for the 4 hours of work

Peter was fantastic. He was incredibly detail-oriented and thorough, and he warned us of potential problems as well as existing ones (for example, he explained that with the age of our home we may have aluminum wiring). I didn't feel like he sugar-coated anything or ignored any issues. His approach was humorous, he brought snacks, and he was incredibly friendly and easy to work with. As first-time homebuyers the thought of making such a large purchase was quite overwhelming, but after Peter's analysis we felt we had all the information to be confident in our decision. We've owned the home for a month now and have been over every inch, and have yet to see anything that Peter's keen eyes missed. I would highly and strongly recommend him to anyone in the future.

We hired Hawkeye to perform a home inspection in May 2012. Mr. Ottowitz performed the inspection and noted a number of minor problems. We purchased the home believing these were the only problems with the house. A couple weeks after we moved in, my family and I developed an allergic reaction to what we discovered was a significant mold problem in the kitchen walls and floor. The mold inspector noted that the radiator in the kitchen had been leaking, apparently for years, which had caused not only mold but also wood rot and termite damage, resulting in significant structural damage to our home. A mold remediation and structural repairs -- which ultimately would cost us $60,000 -- would be necessary. We invited Mr. Ottowitz to come back to personally observe this damage, which was readily apparent in the storage area under the kitchen. He took pictures and acknowledged that there was indeed significant damage. We waited for what we thought would be contact from his insurance company to cover the costs of repair. Weeks later, he wrote back and stated he was not responsible because, he claimed, he was not able to inspect the storage area at the time of the inspection because the owner had locked it. We were shocked. Not only did 3 people witness Mr. Ottowitz enter this storage area (including both realtors who attested to this with signed letters), but this was in direct contradiction to his inspection report, which stated that the storage area was and quot;in serviceable condition.and quot; In any case, if the storage area had actually been inaccessible on the day of the inspection, we certainly would have made sure it got unlocked, precisely to prevent exactly this type of problem from occurring. Denying that he ever entered the storage area was savvy from an economic perspective, because rather than be forced to cover all our losses, it meant we'd need to pursue legal action to get any sort of compensation. 1.5 years and thousands of dollars of legal bills later, we settled with Mr. Ottowitz out of court. Dealing with this issue -- including the financial costs, endless hours of pursuing remuneration, health effects, and stress of an unexpected and major home renovation -- has easily been one of the most stressful things we've ever experienced.

Nick Palmer arrived early and performed an exceptionally thorough inspection. I followed him around and asked questions, so it took longer than he had planned. His written inspection was excellent, with specific follow-up instructions on maintenance items. This is the 8th home I've owned, so I know that his inspection was unusually good. He gave me a book (that can be bought on Amazon.com) with good info for a new homeowner. Then he emailed me a a quick report for my use deciding whether or not to buy the house. Later he emailed a much more detailed report, with the detailed maintenance instructions. In the 6 months I've owned the home I've had a roof leak and a basement leak, both of which Nick had flagged as possible future problems. If I buy another home in this area I will definitely use Hawkeye and I will ask for Nick.

Peter performed the inspection on a condo I am in the process of purchasing. His expertise, experience and sense of humor was apparent from the beginning. Scheduling was very easy through Susana and I was able to get a convenient appointment time during a hectic time of the year. Both the scheduling and inspection were done outside of business (9-5) hours. The physical inspection and dialog was very informative and eye-opening to issues that I never understood before, but do now. The final report was provided in PDF format which was extremely helpful as it allowed me to more easily create a detailed response for the seller. It was very thorough and explained the recommendations well. The extras provided as part of the process, such as photo, binder, homeowners website login, and book, were both thoughtful and helpful. I would recommend and use Hawkeye Home Inspections in the future.

We were referred to Hawkeye home inspections from family members who had recently used them on their new home and gave us a stellar review. Nick Palmer was assigned to our home and we couldn't have been more grateful. As first time home buyers he walked us through the process, was warm, welcoming (even brought refreshments!) and incredibly thorough. He spent hours inspecting literally every corner of our home, explaining every issue (good or bad) in full detail and answering every question we threw at him. He was early to arrive and stayed as long we needed to make sure we understood everything from that day. He took the time at the end to do a full review; from well constructed points, to areas of concerns, to items that needed to be watched down the road. Our official report was delivered quickly in a timely manner. Nick was above and beyond wonderful and professional.

At first, we had a great experience with Brian from Hawkeye. He came recommended from our Realtor. It was easy to set up an appointment and he appeared to do a very thorough job. He did point out some issues that helped us get money back during closing and the report he wrote up was very detailed. We were first time home buyers, so we put a lot of trust in this inspection as the place we bought is and older home. The troubles began when we had the Mass Saves energy audit. Brian found live knob and tube in our attic, so we had an electrician give us an estimate on repairing this wire. Both Brian and the electrician seemed to think this was the only bad wire in the unit since the electrical panel looked good with newer wiring. We got a credit at closing and had this issue fixed when we moved in. Then we had Mass Saves do an energy audit. The person who did this audit was probably in his late 20s and he immediately found more knob and tube wiring in the basement that was out in the open. I have no idea how this was missed in the original inspection. I'm not sure why we didn't go back to the basement to re-check the wiring after we found the bad wire in the attic with Brian. He never suggested we go back down. I went back to Brian when this wiring was found to get a refund on the inspection and to see if we had any recourse as the additional repairs will cost between three to four thousand dollars. They submitted a claim for the warranty they buy on your behalf - which covers practically nothing and seems to be more of a marketing ploy. We did not get any money back from the warranty (the max would have been $500). Brian's company then said they would reimburse me for the inspection, but it would probably cost me more in attorney's fees to take them to court to cover the additional electrical work. They were very unprofessional in their response as they tried to blame the electrician instead of being held accountability to their obvious oversight. Today I set up an appointment to have my chimney swept. The chimney guy found major issues with our fireplace and flue. In the inspection report, Brian said the flue looked clean and was properly lined. He never took the time to look at other parts of the fireplace, such as the interior bricks. The chimney sweeper basically pulled bricks off of our mantle as they were obviously very loose. He also found other red flags such as a smoke screen and burnt marks inside the chimney. He said these are obvious signs of smoke entering the apartment due to poor ventilation. He said we essentially need to have the whole mantle rebuilt due to the brick/mortar issues and the settling issues in order to have a safe fire. I am getting an estimate on this in the next few weeks and am guessing this will be between 5-10k. Again, these were very obvious issues that should have been discovered in the inspection. He also said we will have trouble finding someone to work on the outside of the chimney because of the height. These are all things that I wish had been disclosed. As a first time home buyer, I would not recommend this company due to the very obvious items they missed. I would also recommend doing a second walk thru after the inspection to follow up on issues before finalizing a price prior to closing. Had these obvious issues been discovered, we would have asked for between 15k-20k more in closing costs. Now we are on the hook for these problems, many of which we do not have the budget to fix. The one word I would use to describe my experience with Hawkeye is disappointed.

To start, I should say this is the 3rd home inspection (each with different inspectors) I have had within a month. Peter was GREAT! He was early to arrive and made great use of our time for the inspection. He came prepared with beverages and snacks for everyone - knowing the inspection would take about 4 hours. We sat down and Peter walked me through everything and gave me plenty of time to ask questions and gain clarity on the process. Before the inspection even began, Peter had already taken an exterior photo of the house and presented it to me in a small frame. I walked through the house with Peter during the inspection and he graciously pointed out things to consider, things to fix, and areas of exceptional construction or quality. I learned SO much! Peter had a great sense of humor and really took care and time to go above and beyond during the inspection. I can't recommend Hawkeye enough for a fabulous job well done!

Hawkeye performed our home inspection 7 years ago and was great. I not only wanted to go with them again for that reason but Peter also does more in-depth inspections such as water quality, since we are buying a home with a well this was important. Unfortunately they are booked for the next two weeks which is great for them and not the reason for the poor grade. The poor grade is to reflect the person who answered the phone. She was abrupt and rude, certainly not a representation of the owner and his son who I had the pleasure of working with 7 years ago. I am disappointed that I will not be able to contract their services but hope that they retain better representation for their front office.

Peter Ottowitz and Hawkeye Home performed the most thorough, professional and enjoyable house inspection that I have ever done. In addition to the detailed report including multiple photos, they also gave me a binder filled with information that is sure to become my home ownership bible. To top it off, they provided refreshments! Truly superior service all around.

The entire process including the final report show a commitment to the homeowner--findings are explained; information is specific and thorough. The issues identified in the report range from health hazards that demand immediate attention to potential hazards that need to be observed over time to minor issues that can be addressed when convenient. I highly recommend Hawkeye.

I would give them high grades and use their services again in the future.

He was great and very professional. We look forward to using him again in the near future.