CORNERSTONE HOME INSPECTIONS

My realtor suggested hiring Cornerstone Home Inspectons to inspect a home that was unknowingly being flipped by a licensed realtor. Shortly after moving in the roof was leaking. We hired a roofer to fix a leak near the fireplace. When the 150lb roofer got on the roof, his foot went through the roof deck near the kitchen vent stack. He fixed both leaks and said that the roof deck in those places were very poor condition. In August of 2011 after the hail storms, my insurance totaled the roof which was installed in October 2009. When the roofer removed the shingles, it was discovered that the entire roof deck was completely rotted. Pictures can be provided!! I called Cornerstone to report the finding and - even though they say on their website, that, "On the flip side of this, if we inspect the roof and we note that is in acceptable condition, but it is actually damaged and/or at the end of its serviceable life, we are responsible for this issue. We will repair or replace the roof at no cost to you." Chad denied any and all liability and said that when they inspected it, "it looked like normal old roof decking." The report failed to mention that there were three buckets and a white foam ice chest in the attic to catch water - their picture shows the corner of the ice chest. Though when the pictures were viewed initially - it was believed to be a piece of equipment of the inspector. Had this been reported it would have been a reason to act for further inspection. Chad said, 'we told you to have it inspected by a licensed, qualified inspector'. Cornerstone states that throughout the report, basically excusing them from any incident you discover afterward, even blatant omissions, such as the buckets in the attic. The roof deck cost $2,500 out of pocket because the insurance company would not pay it, it was not the result of the hail damage. Chad offered to refund the $325 inspection fee.

As a result of the inspection we were able to identify significant issues with the first home we were considering, and actually canceled our purchase offer. Had we decided to proceed with negotiations I feel that this inspection would have provided us with plenty of evidence to use in demanding repairs/further inspections. With our second home inspection, on a new property, Chad was just as thorough and walked us through all the things that he found. He was very helpful and gave us great information with which to negotiate with the sellers.

Since I am live out of state from where the property is located. I needed to do most all of the negotations and review of the results online and remotely. I worked directly with Chad Ahlvers who is the owner and we were able to schedule the inspection within five calendar days of initial contact and they were able to even go over the next day to put the radon test kit in the basement so that result would be ready by the time they did the full inspection. Chad was able to coordinate not only with me directly but also worked with my realtor and brother-in-law to get access to the building, review the results in person with both of them and also conference me on the phone to review a couple of key findings. They also provided a email copy of the completed report the next morning and provided digital images of all the findings to demonstrate more fully their findings. It was the most comprehensive inspection I have seen and the commentary they provided was very custom to my house and not your standard checkbox inspection report. They really seemed to understand what to look for in old houses. The only caveats I had was that they didn't provide as much education on lead paint inspection options and the impact that can have on renovation. It seems that this area of inspection is still a little non-standard unlike Radon and Asbestos even though the EPA 2010 rules are much clearer. I assume the home inspection market will start to catch up with this. The Radon test seemed a little expensive given that the state provides heavily subsidized cheap test kits but I didn't realize that till afterwards but their quick turnaround was probably worth the extra price.