BPG Property Inspections of Cincnnati

Cincinnati OH Gary Otten's incompetence cost me the sale of my house. The house is being sold "As Is" for cosmetic repairs. He told the buyer the foundation was continuing to move & The Basement Doctors did not use peers in the repairs. I have proof (including pictures)that is not true with documentation from The Basement Doctors. The cracks are still there because that is part of the cosmetic repair needed to be done when painting. Gary Otten also reported that the SEPTIC needed to be inspected. We have CITY SEWER-NOT SEPTIC. Gary couldn't fit through the hole into the crawl space yet could see (psychically?) that the sump pump was full of water. You can't see the sump pump from the entry hole! This last part is sad because Gary said the hot water heater wasn't working. WE TURNED OFF THE HOT WATER HEATER BECAUSE NO ONE LIVES THERE CURRENTLY. Gary obviously doesn't know where the ON/OFF switch is on a hot water heater.

Unprofessional, rude, not helpful. Claimed there were structural problems that were inacccurate. Inspector had to be shown where he was wrong during the inspection. Self proclaimed know it all.

$500 for an engineer inspection with questions about why the floor in one room of my 1950's built house was sagging and bouncy. Received the report and it made no reference to what was causing my issues nor recommendations how to correct. Just that the floor was sagging a little and that it appeared serviceable. I requested an engineer so that I would have the information needed so that could pay a contractor to fix the sagging/ bouncy floor in my old house. Contacted BPG, and they have continued to give me the run around. I have to find a different engineer.

This part of the project went well.

Was there on time. Gave me everything I needed. Efficient and good design. I just thought the price was high.

They did a good job, I was very happy. I've used them before and I will use them again. I've always been very satisfied with their services. Mike Montgomery does a great job.

It went well. They were very timely and the inspector was very observant. There were some things that I would not have thought that an inspector looked for, which helped us.

Very well. They do a wonderful job. Trust them

Top notch inspector, Mr. Montgomery, did an excellent job. Thorough, detail oriented, and passionate about his work and his clients' best interested. Ask for him.

He was very professional and very detailed in his work. I would recommend the specific inspector that I had, Gil Hendricks

Mike, the engineer was on time. He was professional and answered all my questions. He gave me suggestions for inexpensive fixes that I could do myself. I would definitely use this company again.

Michael arrived on time and quickly assessed the root cause of our problem. He provided a report that explained the issue and have recommendations to fix them.

Mike Montgomery - very punctual & courteous. He examined the area inside & out. Recommended I start with the least costly type of repair as there was no structural damage and concrete lasts an extremely long time.

Mike arrived on time and listened to my concern before he began the inspection. He explained his findings and answered all my questions. He is great at what he does - $300's not a lot for a peace of mind.

The inspector was older and i didn't exactly trust his report. He had a difficult time locating certain items especially having been in the home inspection business for over 30 years. I had to point things out along the way, he didn't even open the windows to make sure they were functioning properly. He did not document what he told us regarding the structural integrity of the home. He was vague in his findings and I had to have him rewrite the portion to clarify what he had told is. Would not recommend, not worth the money.

Mr. Montgomery, the structural engineer, was very knowledgeable and completed a thorough inspection. I received his recommendations, including a drawing of the recommended solution to my problems within a day of the inspection.

Mr. Becker was extremely meticulous and thorough in his inspection as well as providing advice towards resolving the many issues which he found in regards to the house. A previous inspection, performed for HUD, ailed to disclose some of the issues Mr. Becker discovered.

He has done inspections for my house and fifteen other houses that I have sold in the past. He found a crack in the foundation in my house which I might have overlooked. He also spotted a few electrical issues. He did a thorough job and provided a twenty seven page report on every aspect of the house. He just did a phenomenal job which was extremely helpful for me.

See above for start of story. Montgomery said he will send me an email with access to his report and plan to fix the 3/8 inch cracks and void. When I checked my email, it appeared he had sent the email while he was still at my house or soon thereafter. I had made an appointment for the day and time I preferred, Montgomery arrived on time. He charged about $320.00, the original quoted price for the examinatioin of the cracks and void. The total cost was about $465.00, which included the examination and (by email access) a report and plan sketch showing how to make repairs. I was pleased with the price, because a newspaper article about this firm had indicated these services could cost about $1,000.00. When I looked at the plan, it showed two different angles to insert two rods to tie the cracks together to prevent further movement in the area of the cracks, with epoxy being used to fill the cracks. I emailed Montgomery to find out if both angle methods were to be used on each crack, and if only method was to be used, which one was the preferred method. Montgomery promptly answered that I should use only one method on each crack, but did not state which one was preferred, so I am assuming either method yields approximately the same results.

The inspector indicated he could not tell from the paperwork I had from the contractor, what had actually been done, so could not comment on the quality of the work. He got a verbal report from the tenant of her recollections of how far the contractor had dug down outside, etc. The inspector looked all around the house, outside and in the basement and answered questions, addressed the tenant's concerns re: cracks in the walls and windows which are out of align (which were to be remedied by the contractor's work and were not). He was very informative and chastised me for not having called him BEFORE the work was done. (I plan to take his advice as this was a very costly mistake I made in not calling ahead of time. Overall, it was a good experience. The inspector was obviously very knowledgeable and willing to share his knowledge. I knew up front what the cost was, but was disappointed that I could not get my main question/concern addressed (not his fault) and it still cost me $290.

Mr. Drummery was very thorough and provided a complete report covering all pertinent issues. He explained everything he was checking and asked if I had any questions.

The engineer, Mike Montgomery, was on time and he inspected the house well within the hour we had booked. At first, Mike was a little bit dismissive of my concerns, saying that the cracking didn't seem that serious - even being a little flip about suggesting that I can dig up my foundation to fix the problem if I wanted to spend $20,000 or so, possibly thinking this was humorous. After we talked for a while I think he realized it was frightening to not know if my house had serious structural problems. He inspected the basement and made some more reasonable suggestions to put some steel beams in - uncertain exactly what was causing the problem, but speculating that the unusually dry summer along with a weak floor beam, could be causing the foundation to settle. The extra $150 I paid for a custom drawing seemed a little much for the simple plan I got that had a cut and pasted graphic of a beam, but perhaps this is a standard fee for any plan.

Great job! Saved me a lot of money, very honest.

The work was very complete. They communicated clearly all the issues, and I felt they were working for me, not the realtor. There was one issue with the report being uploaded to the website, but that was handled quickly.

He told me that washer/dryers are not particularly heavy, and it is rarely a problem. However, our bathroom was 16 feet long, and the joists were 2'' X 8'' with a room that wide he said it really should be 2'' X 10''. I felt frustrated, though, that I couldn't always figure out exactly what he meant. I know that he was saying we needed another support beam under there and 2'' X 8'' joists should go no further than 13 feet. But what I wanted to know was, if we did that, could we put the washer/dryer up there? When I asked that question, he just repeated that they are typically not particularly heavy or a problem. It felt as though he may have been avoiding giving me black and white answers. I know there is no guarantee, but we spent all that money to get a sense of what the most likely scenario was. Then the written report we received contained almost no information. I definitely felt like I didn't get much for all of that money!!