Aurora Home Inspections LLC

larry went through the house i'm buying with a fine tooth comb. he showed me things i never would have noticed and explained every little thing to me patiently and completely. he went through all four stories of the house slowly and methodically leaving no stone unturned. at almost every turn he showed a complete understanding and familiarity with all the materials and technologies used in the construction and explained their strengths and weaknesses. overall, larry has made buying my first home a much less terrifying and overwhelming experience. i only wish everyone i've dealt with during the process was as good at what they did.

Larry showed up on time and did a very thorough inspection. His report was very detailed yet easy to read. He also included pictures which are very helpful as I was not on site for the inspection. He also recommended other vendors for inspection services that he did not provide.

I don't know what went so wrong that Larry will not communicate with me, will not send me a report or his bill. He arrived, was pleasant and professional, and was full of very useful information as he went around the house. This was not about selling or buying the house, so it was not a typical inspection--but he has so much knowledge he could not help sharing it. Great! I did not take notes, for he said he would include all this in his report. He was going to give us the names of some good chimney people and some good window replacement people. He was able to give us just the type of info we needed. He went up onto the roof near the end of the visit, taking a camera with him to record some recent roof repairs we had had. He was not up there very long. Just as he came down from the roof, my tenant appreared, very upset. His DISH signal had just stopped transmitting. I looked at Larry--did you touch the DISH? No, he said. I believed him. My tenant was really angry, and the timing was too clear to make any other conclusion: Larry on the roof>>DISH signal stopped>>Larry must have done something. But I took him at his word. We shook hands amiably, he had to go, he gave me some last minute instructions to call his office and leave my email address so he could send me information. Bye Bye, and he was gone. (I dealt separately with my tenant, and arranged for a service call from DISH and told him I would pay for any costs incurred). I called Larry's office and left my email address, and waited for him to contact me. And waited...nothing came. I called his office, twice more...but nothing came. No bill, no report, no call. I have tried to contact him through his website. But there's been nothing. No bill, no report, no call. Just nothing. The fellow who came to repair the DISH said he found it lying flat on the roof (not tipped up, pointing to the sky as it should be). He also said it looked like it had been hit with a sharp, heavy object. I KNOW Larry did not do that. I think our roofers did that when they had to shovel snow off the roof. But I suspect Larry just touched it, and it fell over, and he was too embarrassed to admit it. Maybe he was worried he would be asked to pay for the service call. Note to Larry: The service call and DISH replacement were free. NOW WILL YOU CALL ME??

Good, overall. Larry was there early and had the opportunity to go up on the roof and had parts of the inspection done. Noted problems with the roof that proved themselves later in the attic. We were fortunate enough to have been there during a termite swarm (does not last too long, but definitely the most dramatic way to find out a house has termites). As first time home buyers, he was happy to answer all our questions (we had tons) and spend an hour with us after our inspection to do so.

Larry Smyj and his student came 50 miles to come and inspect the home we were purchasing. We showed up at 9:45 Am for a 10:00 inspection only to discover Larry and his student were already hard at work inspecting the outside grounds and detached garage. This is the second time we had used Larry, having passed on a house due in large part to his thorough explanation of pitfalls and troublespots in another home we had considered purchasing. Larry is a pleasure to speak with; he explains and marks everything, and takes the time to describe what he is doing and why that is important. I agree with one of the other listers who says that he treats it like he is the one buying the home. On the day of the inspection, it was in the middle of one of those huge NJ rainstorms that caused a lot of problems in the state. He still took his time, even though he was travelling back to North NJ one of the hardest hit locations during that storm. He spent his time explaining every room, heating systems, explaining the hot water heater installation that needed to be made, and the areas that he thought were highest v. lowest priority. Larry is an absolute pleasure to work with, and talk to. He is kind-hearted. It is our duty to report, in the interest of what this Angie's List is trying to accomplish that we echo another lister's statement about a radon test. It took several phone calls to Larry's phone, which was not receiving messages for some reason to try and track down the radon report. However, once we called Aurora to alert them to this problem, we had talked to Larry within the hour, and had the report we needed on my fax machine the following morning. It is the only reason why we had graded responsiveness as a B. Overall, Larry's responsiveness to questions, and phone calls, and emails are impeccable. Overall, we rate Larry with extremely high marks. I can not say that I have ever heard of anyone in this particluar field of business who does such a thorough and accomodating job. We would recommend Larry to anyone.

After Aurora saved me countless dollars and hours of angst, I found another unit for them to inspect before going into contract. As always they were prompt, attentive, courteous, educational and gracious (not to mention good at what they do). My attorney received their report 24 hours after the inspection. Class act and I HIGHLY recommend they be used if one is considering a home purchase!

Larry invited me to go along with him as he inspected every part of each house. He gave us a discounted rate on the second and third inspections. It was great for him to be able to compare the houses. While the first house failed Larry's inspection, the second house passed. However, soon afterwards we found the third house, in a much better location. Larry thought this house was the best of the three. We ended up purchasing it, even though it needs renovation. Larry also offered some good renovation suggestions. Soon after each inspection, he provided detailed inspection reports, including the many (many) photos that he took during his walk-throughs. In these reports, he made lots of helpful recommendations about what we should look into further (such as the sections of the fireplace flues that he could not see) before making an offer. Larry was always available by phone or email to answer any questions we had about the houses. For instance, he gave us great advice when the boiler broke down in the house we were about to close on and the sellers replaced it before they told us that it had died. He then returned to conduct an inspection to make sure that the sellers had installed a decent new boiler and that they had done it properly. Larry even offered not to charge us for this final inspection if we could not get the sellers to pay for it.

Larry from Aurora Home Inspection returned my inquiry within an hour or 2. He quoted me the price and handled himself in a professional manner. He told me he is not only an Home Inspector, he also teach home inspection classes. We scheduled the appointment that day for 4/1. Because of the homeowner I had to change the time twice and Larry was understanding and very accommodative. I was 15 minutes early and Larry was already there raring to go. Larry proceeded to meticulously comb over the whole house top to bottom. He left nothing to unchecked explaining everything as he went along. At that point I was thrilled I didn't have to pay him by the hour. He was there for hours. he made suggestions as how to save money on repairs and upgrades. He even made suggestions on donating things to get tax write offs. I couldn't have been happier with his service. He is a home buyers dream and the home sellers nightmare!!! A few days later I received a 30 page fully detailed report WITH pictures outlining everything through out the house. As far as I am concerned there is no other choice of Home Inspection Company to use when buying a house. Now I can only hope when it comes to selling my house I do not see Larry and Aurora!!!!!

Based upon reviews from other Listers, we selected Larry as our inspector and he was kind enough to accommodate us although we were a bit out of the geographical area his website indicates he covers. He arrived promptly at our current apartment instead of the inspection site, due, as he explained to some software glitches in the new program he was implementing. Luckily the two locations are only about 8 minutes apart. On the day of the inspection the home abutting the rear of our inspection property was having its roof redone which was a little concerning to us as the homes are approximately the same age. When asked, Larry informed me that he would not be able to go onto the roof of our home for the inspection due to the pitch but based upon visual inspection he didn’t see any issues. After observing the crew of men at work (about 8 guys), Larry informed us that that was the proper way to have the roof done if we ever needed to do so. Throughout the inspection, Larry continuously pointed out things and informed us whether they were done well and why. He provided valuable tips and tricks to aid us first time homebuyers in maintaining the home and a lot of stories from his experiences. He was very adept at working around the Seller who insisted on accompanying us during the inspection. At the conclusion of the inspection, he provided us with a book so that we could "Learn How Our House Works". Although we were promised the inspection report over that weekend, we didn’t actually receive it until three days later due to some technical issues with Larry’s computer system. To date we have not been notified of the results of the radon testing.

The inspection itself went well and the report itself was very thorough. However, as part of our price he included a radon test. He left the capsule to be tested and indicated he would get back to us with the results of the test. Since then, we have called and emailed him for the results of the test without response many times? Take the money and run? Regardless, we are not purchasing the home we inspected and appreciate the actual inspection. But, we are just confused by the unprofessionalism. Being that we are not purchasing the house, we were excited that we thought we had found a home inspector that we could use should we find another house, but now we dont know what to think. LARRY - CALL US. WHAT'S THE DEAL?

It was very thorough and the guy came out at very short notice. I would refer them to someone.

They were good. The guy who came out spent about 4 hours around the house, and walked through the process with me. He explained what he saw, and got out on the roof when he could. I thought the price was good.

This is the second time we have used Aurora Home Inspection and again found the service provided by Larry to be extremely professional and thorough. He again was very methodical and precise in examining every aspect of the property. Larry's work is far superior to others I have engaged for such service. He thoroughly examined each area covered by the inspection and offered advice and information on the seriousness of the item(s) and how they might be re-mediated. I definitely feel that Larry gave us a fair and honest appraisal of the condition of the property. I am totally confident that if we address the issues he identified we will not have any "surprises" at the time of sale. I am a repeat customer and would definitely recommend Larry and Aurora Home Inspection to anyone buying or selling a property that needs to be evaluated.

The overall experience was extremely valuable and educational. Larry took the time to explain all of the things he was looking at and potential issues or qualities within them. His expertise was clear from the start and he conducted himself in a professional matter at all times. Larry absolutely made it clear that he was on my side as the buyer and laid out all of the potential issues. That said, he made a clear distinction about the "little" issues and the "big" ones. He was not an alarmist and approached the inspection in a very common sense way. On top of that he made popcorn! (a great way to test the microwave). I would strongly recommend Larry to anybody in need of home inspection and testing services.

Other than a brief spat of missed communications, this was a pleasant experience. Larry does his continuing education at the start of each year, and his online calendar indicated days he was available for inspection where he was actually in school. Once that was cleared up and he arrive, he showed up early, but did not impose, instead walking around the outside until my wife had joined us so she could be present for the inspection. He was very thorough, if maybe a little chatty, but super friendly as well. He caught several issues we had overlooked resulting in us purchasing our home with much more knowledge than we would have oherwise had.

The person who came out was extremely knowledgeable and gave good information. He was professional, responsive and punctual. I was satisfied with his service.

He was very good and I would highly recommend him. He was very detail-oriented and a very friendly guy. I thought the price was very good and I would use him again.

My experience with them was horrible. They were quick to respond to the first appointment, but the execution and follow-through was poor. The inspector was very knowledgeable and easy to deal with. He returned the call right away until the moment that he had to deliver something. He left the canister for the radon test behind. He left it there for a week when he was supposed to pick it up two days later. He picked it up and then lost it, so we had to redo the whole thing. Then we actually had to get our agent to call him to give us the health report. Usually the standard time is 48 hours. They took 5 days to get it to us. The price was average. The mold testing cost us $450 and the total cost was $630. The quality was poor.

The inspection went great. Larry is very professional and has a great personality. If he had felt like you were nervous he'll tell a couple of joke to break the ice. Also he is very knowledgeable about he work, he told me about some thing that will need to be replace first and what can be replace thought time. If your looking for inspection to be done with person that is thorough and friendly, I can't stress that Larry is the way to go. Look at his reviews that says enough.

They were very knowledgeable and thorough. They were friendly and easy to get a hold of.

I needed an inspection done immediately and even though Larry was leaving town later in the day, he came out to do my inspection in the morning. I had to wait a few days to get my report, but he explained so much to me during the inspection that I was able to move forward with other paperwork knowing what I was getting into. Larry arrived at least 10 minutes early and got started on the outside of the house. Over the course of the next couple hours he went through the whole house, explaining to me everything he was doing and everything he found. When I asked questions or asked for advice he was happy to stop what he was doing to go into more detail. When it was all over I felt educated in my decision to move forward with buying the home. Larry noticed some mold in the attic and recommended that I have an additional inspection done by a roofer since he was not able to see some areas due to the pitch of the roof. I learned a lot about the house I am buying from Larry's inspection, and his final report was not only thorough, but he offered advice, instruction, and suggestions. I showed the report to a few family members and they were also very impressed with the amount of information he provided.

We scheduled the appointment at 9:00am, but he showed up at 8:50 and just walked around the house for a bit. I met him outside and he was very warm and honest from the get go. We walked around the house and he was literally snapping a digital photo every 5 seconds and making me laugh at the same time. He was telling me every single thing about what we were looking at, down to the names of the small plants on my property. I was getting an education just walking with him. We then went to the basement and checked out the heating and plumbing systems. We then proceeded to the first floor, checked every room, including my fireplace, then we went to the second floor and he showed me a crawl space/attic that I never even knew I had. He took over 3 HOURS to finish this inspection, giving me recommendations and tips on how to upgrade the house because that is what I wanted to do. Even though he did not have to, he told me how to avoid scams and save money on renovations -- it literally blew my mind. I gave him a generous tip and thanked him heartily. A brilliant experience and it was the first thing I used Angie's List for!!! UPDATE (9/16/11): Larry was great, however, in retrospect and to be completely honest, he did delay in sending me my report for several months, and offered excuse after excuse. Also, after receiving the report, I realized that it wasn't as thorough or convenient to read as I would like. It was rather confusing and seemed cookie cutter. His face to face interaction is great but his professionalism post-inspection is poor. I realize I am updating this more than two years after the inspection, but I really felt like I got carried away by my great in person experience, not realizing that the end-to-end experience with Aurora was less than satisfying. I do not believe I was jipped though, but just wish he had followed through better.

It went very smooth. As I said, there was not much to report but Larry did a professional job--from start to finish-- and I am confident that I am buying a great apt.

Larry was fantastic! Prior to inspection, he always responded with unbelievable speed. He took great care to explain everything to us as well as look after the well being of our young son, by asking me to take him upstairs when he came upon a significant amount of mold in the basement, which did in fact test positive as a health hazard. We will use Larry anytime we need a home inspection, he was great!

Aurora Home Inspections is a great company to use if you are considering a home inspection. You will note that we scored Larry A's Across the board but only scored Larry a B for punctuality. I would like to include an asterisk with that remark. While we could not give Larry an A in this particular category..he agreed to come about 60 miles to do our inspection even though it was not listed within his response area. His dedication is unquestioned. Starting with the first phone call to his cell phone at 8:30 in the evening, to the confirmation calls thereafter, to the tons of positive feedback on Angie's..needless to say we felt comfortable from the beginning. After reading all of the positives, we asked the question about whether he would be willing to come so far out of his way..once you meet Larry you are no longer surprised he would make that effort. Our inspection began outside with a thorough inspection of a crawlspace under an addition. Larry brings one of those papersuits to put over his clothes, and gets right underneath all of the tough areas..no hesitation. Camera in hand, he called me down, explained some things about the wood, and some of the siding stored underneath the house. He inspected the wooden deck, and the balcony, and made some notes with regard to structure. It then became a bottom to top inspection. Every room of a house that had a large in-law suite addition. We inspected the laundry room he answered questions about an old boiler, discussed its lifespan, and what it would take to convert to a more efficient model, and also easily identified the types of animals that had been crawling under the house at one point in time, making specific references to dampness and the possiblities of mold. We paid extra for the mold tests because they are analyzed in a lab requiring specific lab fees, but he provides so many services within his inspection, that you do not need to coordinate 3 different inspectors. Larry tested every electrical outlet, and the grid, removing the outside casing to even look at the quality of the wiring within the electrical box. We eventually moved upstairs to the master/in law suite where he looked at all the work done during the addition, and made comments where work was done well, and not so well. Spending time with Larry will make it possible to know about the house that you buy from top to bottom, and help you analyze what types of jobs and projects you could consider taking on in your new home. The inspection ended with a trip into the attic crawlspace where Larry identified the presence of some mites. Larry stayed extra though he was committed to be at a seminar that evening. I make mention of this not only to highlight his commitment to stay with us and "finish the job" but to highlight his commitment of continuing to learn. His report which was delivered two days later, was thorough and all inclusive; he is polite, knowledgeable, and overall a nice guy to do business with. Do not hesitate to call.