Criterium Liszkay Engineers

They are a great company to work with! I very much appreciate the ease of scheduling ( I submitted an online request Sunday late evening and I had an email Monday morning with a couple inspection times that were available), the quick responses, answering questions thoroughly, and being so helpful and friendly! The inspector was so easy to talk to, knowledgeable, and gave us all the information we needed. Very professional , punctual, and so nice to work with. As a former Realtor, and hearing this company's name over and over again, I knew I wanted them to do this inspection. They helped us make the decision we needed to make, regarding some extremely important repairs. Thank you so much!

This is a fantastic company. Everyone from office staff to the engineer himself was responsive, professional, accommodating, and patient with all my questions. I had a written report the next business day and found their price to be quite reasonable. I would hire them again in a heartbeat!

The engineer, Gary Wilhelm, did a thorough inspection and recommended new bracing for the I-beams. They had been done about the time the building code changed and were done to the old code. He provided a detailed report with drawings on how the bracing should be done. The report was received three days after the inspection as an e-mail attachment, which was very convenient for sending to contractors for estimates. Mr. Wilhelm was very knowledgeable and easy to work with. He arrived exactly on time for the inspection. He has many years of experience in structural engineering. I definitely recommend him and his company.

Don examined the area carefully and gave advice on how to handle the problems. Very professional.

They were prompt and professional and provided a verbal and written report of their findings gs.

Extremely well. I had suspected that the quote I was given was highly inflated at the very least and possibly that the work wasn't even necessary. It turned out that my feelings were correct and verified by Criterium Liszkay. The fee I paid for the peace of mind provided by Don Liszkay was absolutely worth it! I highly recommend this company!

we decided not to purchase the townhouse based upon the inspection

We were able to schedule the inspection for the next day. Gary Koonce met us at the appointed time. This was a $500,000 plus downtown condo that appeared to be solid, but we always have a home inspection before a home purchase. Gary found a number of minor repairable issues but he also discovered a major system flaw built into the desing of the HVAC ventilation duct work : the 2 story condo lacked a return vent downstairs. We knew from experience and knowledge of physics that we would have either a cold living room downstairs or a hot bedroom upstairs during winter without a cold air return vent downstairs. It was a lovely condo, but perfect HVAC was what we expected in a 10 year old building at that price. We rescinded our contract as this we not something that could be fixed. Gary then had to face hostile email from the agents; he defended his findings and used logic, science, and sound reasoning against some crazy attacks that they employed to try to save the deal. He saved us from making a half million dollar mistake and we are very grateful.

They did a good job of structural evaluation of a house we were trying to buy.

Don did a very thorough inspection of the problematic area in our foundation, and gave an honest assessment of what he felt needed to be done. This was extremely helpful, as our previous meetings with two foundation repair companies led to two distinct interpretations of the problem (and notably different proposed solutions). Don went further to inspect our entire foundation, pointing out some areas for us to keep an eye on. Written report was thorough, and very helpful as we are negotiating with the repair companies to come up with a reasonable solution. Cost was a little high, but worth it.

Unfortunately, we thought we needed someone to come out and look at our basement support system as soon as possible as I was convinced we were under threat of imminent collapse. I called the office in a slight panic and both Don and his colleague Gary were unavailable for the next week. However, Gary stayed on the phone with me for 20 mins or so talking through the situation to assess if we even needed them. It turns out we didn't! :) I didn't get a chance to talk to Don but Gary was VERY professional, and ended up saving us money. I would trust them absolutely! And will be using this company for any future structural needs. THANKS GUYS!!!

Don came and looked over some termite damage repair performed by our new home's seller. He quickly identified the issues and needed corrections, then also looked over some other specific inspecion items. All observations were promptly written up in a report and we had what we needed on time! I highly recommend this company for home inspections and Don in particular, who can also provide structural reviews.

Gary came out on short notice to do an assessment of our foundation and provide a structural report. He came out, checked out the basement, let me know what needed to be done and provided a list of contacts. He provided the report the same day! i provided the report to a contractor he recommended who stopped by the following morning. It was very professional and timely.

This is the second inspection I have had Donald do for me. He is very thorough and very professional in his inspections. He arrived on time and quickly started the inspection. As I walked with him as he inspected the house he shared everything he was finding and writing down. I liked that he took his time and did not quickly skip any detail that needed inspected. He pointed out items I had not noticed when walking through the house with the real estate agent and even the second time with family members. The best aspect of his thorough inspection was it helped me be more objective about the potential purchase of this house. I also like the fact that Donald is a Certified Building Inspection Engineer. The inspection was conducted on a Wednesday afternoon. The typed inspection report was sent to me by e-mail the next day. The excellent feedback was well worth the price of the inspection.

Excellent. Are very happy.

It went very well. I have talked to basement repair companies in the past, and their focus is on selling basement repair services. Hiring a structural engineer provided me an independent analysis of the condition of my basement. Now I can decide what I want to do without worrying that I am being "sold". Gary was very professional and experienced.

I believe our inspector was Don and he was very polite and explained things thoroughly during the inspection process. The seller was present at the inspection and Don even explained to the seller that he basically needed to stay put as Don is representing us. I appreciated that as it was weird having the seller there for the inspection. The only thing I wish that would have been done was he did not have any fancy instruments that could tell you if there was a gas leak in the house or any mold or moisture in the walls. The price was more expensive because he is a structural engineer but another company I used before had the special instruments to measure gas leaks and moisture and they took lots of pictures which were included in the report. I wish we would have also gotten this with Don.

In retrospect in seems as though the engineer/inspector (Don) was working for the home seller rather than us, the buyer. We have uncovered numerous very significant issues with the home we purchased that were apparent at the time of the purchase but not mentioned in the report. Unfortunately we purchased our home long-distance, relying entirely on the expertise and opinion of the engineer. A simple example would be that floor level discrepancies of > 2 inches over a distance of less than 10 feet were not even mentioned. Another example; we had a specific concern about moisture damage that we suspected during our short and only 30min visit to the home, when we initially toured the house with our realtor. We asked the engineer to examine this specifically, which was done. We then paid an additional fee for engineering advice to estimate the extent of the damage and what would be required to repair and restore the structure, so that we could use this information to obtain costs estimates for the repair. Unfortunately this report also grossly underestimated the damage and what was required to repair same. Overall the assessment was inadequate and incomplete. I can not recommend this provider.

The original appointment was scheduled for a Wednesday as we were just getting back from vacation and I could not do the Monday appointment. They gave me Wednesday but left Monday in the books. We rescheduled for Friday and due to a work conflict (I travel frequently out of the country as I work in marketing in the retail industry) I had to reschedule again for the following week. Miriam, the secretary was extremely unprofessional and rude. She called me ridiculous for having to reschedule and that it was not her fault that I couldn't plan accordingly. She proceeded to hang up on me. Apparently change agility is not something she can manage. I then spoke with the actual engineer (recommended by my attorney) and he asked for me to go ahead and reschedule for the next week. When I called back, Miriam told me she would not schedule it and that I needed to work directly with the engineer. I told her he had requested that she do the reschedule and she said she wouldn't and to call back on Monday. I asked her if there was a problem and her response was "Yes, you are the problem!" and hung up on me AGAIN! I work in a very fast paced environment and am a single mom of an active 6 year old boy. Change happens daily in our lives and anyone managing customer service should be able to work with scheduling changes and with speed. It's unfortunate that at $350.00/hour the customer service and secretarial team is such a negative experience. I wish the engineer the best but with that type of service, he probably won't get too much work.

Don did an excellent job in the hour to inspect externally and internally and from floor to floor. Provided the report on time you gave us a few suggestions of a couple of locations in the basement he felt should have some additional support. We highly recommend this vendor.

My complaint is the report from the inspection. The home had poured concrete walls and engineered floor trusses. When we received the report the remedy was for a home with 2 x 10 floor beams and concrete block walls. An engineered floor truss is very different from a 2 x 10 beam. After receiving a report we had a basement contractor come in to estimate the amount of money it would take to re-support the basement walls from further movement. He stated that the drawing was not something he could use. It was the basement professional who had to tell us the drawing would not work because we did not have 2 x 10 construction. IT TOOK 3 DAYS AND 3 E-MAILS BEFORE WE GOT A DRAWING OF HOW TO SUPPORT THE STEEL BEAMS AGAINST THE FLOOR TRUSSES. $400 for 2 and a half hours and the report was wrong. Also, don't get the home inspection he didn't even start the back up generator or the fireplace. He told us we would need to hire an electrician to start the back-up generator. WE WOULD NOT HIRE THIS MAN AGAIN. I would like to say his office staff is excellent and they did a great job scheduling.

Our realtor recommended CRITERIUM LISZKAY for our home inspection in the Bexley area. Carl was our inspector and we were very impressed with him. He was very thorough, explained everything clearly, and answered all of our questions. His report was comprehensive and helped to give us peace of mind on our home purchase.

Don is professional, knowledgable and answered my questions. I received my very thorough report within two days with sketches and recommended individuals to make the needed repairs. I definitely would call Don again and recommend him for inspections. Great job Don and thanks Angie's List.

I had some small cracks in the basement wall and he was able to tell me that it did not affect the home structurally. He gave me very professional opinions about what he could and could not assess. I really appreciated how quickly and courteously he and his office responded to my initial call and followup questions I had after the inspection.

It went very well. Our inspector was a licensed PE. He was very experienced, and crawled into the attic, crawl spaces, and inspected everything. We were very satisfied with the inspection report. Didn't make mountains out of molehills, and prioritized findings for us. We love our new home and are comfortable knowing it's in excellent shape.