RESIDENTIAL INSPECTION SERVICES

After 18 months in my new home I finally feel like it is time to leave a review for Residential Inspection Services. I could make this review 10 pages long but instead I'm going to keep this more general so people understand what you are getting from your home inspector. This was my second home purchase and I fully understood going into the process that no home inspector could ever spend a few hours at a home and discover every problem with it. My view of a home inspector is that they are the expert who helps protect you while you prepare to make the largest financial decision of your life. I wasn't looking for someone to point out every minor detail with the home, I wanted someone to look at my home and tell me if it had been taken care of and would be a safe place for me and my family to live. Unfortunately we got the exact opposite. When you are going through the process of buying your home you will be inundated with requests from banks, realtors, lawyers, etc. It can be a very fast paced experience where you don't really have time to fully process everything that is happening until it is over. With the home inspection piece you need to understand one very important fact... the home inspector is responsible and liable for absolutely nothing. The report will be riddled with comments telling you to have licensed electricians, licensed roofers, licensed plumbers, licensed HVAC specialists, etc come out to your property and take a closer look at things. The inspector doesn't have to be an expert on anything because they can just relieve themselves of any responsibility by telling you to call someone else. If i could go back in time I would have hired 10 separate experts to look at each piece of the house and skipped my inspector all together. The cost probably would have been comparable and I would have gotten useful information. If your bank gives you this option do it and skip the inspector unless you have someone you can trust and rely on. Our 10 year old home turned out to be an absolute disaster. When confronted well after the fact David had an excuse for everything and took responsibility for nothing. A direct quote from David was that I didn't have a problem with him I "had a problem with the home inspection industry in general". Unfortunately I'm the one that has been paying the price for David's incompetence and "the home inspection industry's" incompetence for the last year and a half. I think David looked surface deep at our home because it was only 10 years old and he figured there couldn't be anything seriously wrong with it. Unfortunately there were glaring signs of neglect in our home and because he only looked surface deep he missed them all. He also didn't take into account that the house was pretty much vacant for several months prior to the inspection. There were also major issue with the home like a leaking AC evaporator, sewer leaks, exposed energized wires in the yard, standby generator with no oil in it, broken fireplace, and dryer vent issues that could have burned down our house. There were gaping holes in an improperly installed egress window that caused a mouse infestation. We even discovered a few weeks after being in the home that the plumbing system (Kiltec) is currently under a class action lawsuit due to fitting failures. These issues add up to thousands and thousands of dollars. David caught none of this but was quick to inform me that it all either happened after he left the inspection, or the report clearly stated it wasn't his problem. He didn't even properly state that our AC unit was actually a heat pump which was the primary source of heat for the house. I will close this by saying if you are forced to use a home inspector do your research and find someone you really trust. If you can't find someone you trust find the cheapest person you can find then go out and hire a bunch of specific experts. No matter what you do, in my humble opinion, you should avoid David and Residential Inspection Services.

The inspection far exceeded my expectations. Dave walked me through the inspection, talking me through what he was doing and answering any questions I had. By the time we were done I knew exactly what my family would need covered by the seller prior to us committing to the house. Residential Inspection Services' detailed report easily laid out exactly what needed to be done, illustrated with photos, including estimated costs for each defect. This inspection led to us getting a credit from the seller of almost $12,000. I can truly say that if I would have gone with a different inspector there's no way I would have identified and/or had the support to get the cash at closing for the defects. I give them my highest recommendation.