WELLS INSPECTION SERVICE INC

Very knowledgeable about the builder and construction, missed LOTS: refrigerator didn't work correctly (cools, but won't get cold), water spot on bathroom ceiling, he assumed was from a leaking roof gasket he'd found, but when our agent asked him to measure, he discovered a hole in the roof. Missed cracks in the pre-fab fireplace, but home inspectors usually don't inspect fireplaces/chimneys. Also missed that the wood structure around chimney doesn't meet code. This is an architectural element that is not compatible with wood-burning fireplaces and should have been obvious. Told us how great the Apollo Hydronics system is for heat, but it's only the axillary. The main heat is fuel pump, which we discovered doesn't work - it had twice as much refrigerant as rated for, and that was burnt. It doesn't heat, and probably won't cool in the summer. Our experience is that he was careless and not thorough. Perhaps because he'd bought a beach house the day before.

He found several defects, mostly cosmetic. He missed as many as he found. There was a water spot on the master bedroom ceiling. He assumed it was from a gasket leak from the roof, but our real estate agent asked him to measure. Turns out it was from another leak that he wouldn't have found on his own. He missed that the refrigerator didn't work correctly. He missed that neither receptacle on the front of the house works. One essentially fell out of the wall when I opened it. Like most home inspectors, he does not inspect fireplaces or chimneys. The house has a prefab fireplace insert, and it has major cracks that even I saw just by shining a flashlight in. He missed a leaking pipe in the crawlspace. He's actually quite competent (he found things at the place we're selling that even we didn't know about), but he inspected our house a few days after he bought a new beach house, so I think he was distracted.