PILLAR TO POST

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At first all was well. I was pleased with the apparent thoroughness of the inspection and report. However deficiencies came to light long after the inspection. First was the fact that the inspector completely missed that the two natural gas hot water heaters were vented into a chimney that was sealed off at roof level, even though he included photos of the sealed chimney in his report, noting that the flashing and mortar was deteriorated but not that there was any chance that it was still in use. The deteriorated mortar joints were the only thing that kept flue gases from accumulating in the basement: if not for the gaps between the bricks, the chimney would not have been removing any combustion gases from the house. That cost about $2,000 to fix. That was followed by the discovery that the two furnaces (one for each unit) were not even close to the 15 year age that the inspector estimated, they were 30 years old, a fact a furnace service technician alerted us to by reading an inspection date from 1982 on a label that the Pillar to Post guy would have been able to see and read. The furnaces also were not vented to a properly-sized flue, permitting combustion gases to bypass the flue and accumulate in the basement.! Now I'm looking at $$ thousands more to replace the furnaces far sooner than I had expected. It would have been bad enough if this was my own home, where I was the only one affected. But this building is an investment property with tenants for whose safety I am responsible. This situation could have had a tragic outcome for those living in this building. If not for the 100+ year age of the structure and the tendency for homes of that age to be far from airtight, the people and pets living there could have experienced great harm. I will not be using Pillar to Post again, will not recommend them, and have told the agent who sold the property about all the problems so she can warn the rest of her agency and any other agents she does business with.

The service was horribly inferior. First, the man who did the inspection (nice person) arrived a bit earlier than the time arranged (about 15 min. or so?). I arrived punctually - and not one minute late. Since the real estate agent also arrived early, the real estate agent told him to begin without me, and the inspector did, even though I was paying for this inspection. I was paying and wanted to be there for the full inspection. This was extremely irritating. Next, the inspector used some sort of an electronic recording notepad on which he wrote all observations, and kept that in the kitchen. When he went to the basement to inspect the area, he had to go all the way back to the kitchen to record his notes. When he inspected outside the home, he had to go all the way back inside and return to the kitchen to record his observations. Items were forgotten by the time he got back to the kitchen to record his observations, as I discovered in speaking with him later. The whole process was extremely inefficient. His notes, due to his manner of recording, were very general and superficial. After the inspection was completed, I never got the results. Finally, I called and learned the company sent them to my real estate agent rather than to me, even though I was paying for this! This company will also arrange for a radon inspection, if you want it. I had that done, too, but again - the company did not report the results to me. They gave the results to my real estate agent even though I was paying for the evaluation. This did not seem ethical - more like a conflict of interest since the agent obviously wants to make the sale. I have now lived in the townhome I purchased for approximately 2 months, and have had multiple and costly problems that were missed (exterior wood rot never noted, appliance problems, toilet leaking). The repairs would have been covered by the previous owners, but they were missed by the inspector, and so they ended up becoming my expense. I've lived in several homes and always had an inspection prior to each purchase. This was the worst I have ever encountered, as well as the most expensive. I do not recommend this company to anyone.I wish I'd known about Angie's list before I hired this company.

They person who did the inspection seems to have a lot of experience in construction business. He was very helpful and explained things in detail. He also suggested many things that would help me prevent any issues in future. He did a great job and I got the home inspection report on the same day.

This company is horrible. I would not only NEVER recommend them, I am planning to contact the BBB and local realtors in the area to warn them against recommending this company. My husband and I were moving from out of state. We hired them to do the inspection. Since moving, we have had continual problems with aspects of the house that they missed entirely and areas they noted were fine that we have since had to repair. We have spent close to $2,000 for those repairs! Given that we were moving from out of state, we could not attend the initial inspection. They missed a clearly visible hole in a bathroom sink, a leaking faucet in the kitchen that caused warping of the cabinet (which we had to fix the day after moving in), and problems with our furnace that required THREE house calls from a heating company. This was bad enough - as they would not even entertain a refund after being called twice - once for the kitchen, and once for the bathroom and the furnace. The worst was just this week. Our automatic garage door opener broke and we called a service for help, we were informed that it had not only been installed incorrectly, but that is was dangerous! It had to be completely redone, costing us more that $500. Given that another issue had come up with the door when inspected - at least this should have been caught! Given my previous experience with them on the phone, I am not even going to bother to try and call about this last issue.

Charlie Gutridge was our inspector, and he was fantastic! We can't say enough good things about him. He was there early and spent more than 3 hours with us, explaining the positives and potential pitfalls of our new home (80+ years, 2800 sq ft). He reviewed the structural engineering reports describing work done by the previous owner, then went back and confirmed that everything checked out. He offered opinions about the ability of the house to withstand renovations, and recommended other quality vendors to perform specialized inspections. His advice was right on -- the chimney that he voiced concerns about (based on a little bit of loose clay liner) turned out to require $5000 worth of work, something we were able to negotiate in the contract. Truly educates you about the home you're buying.

Charles did a phenomenal job inspecting our new house. The inspection fee included termite inspection and radon testing. We had a friend come over and to walk around with our inspector and he was blown away at how thorough of a job Charles did. Charles pointed out even the tiniest issues we should be aware of. He took the time to talk about how much certain upgrades would cost and give his opinion on making certain renovations. He took digital pictures and had the entire report printed out for us by the end of the inspection, including a list of items we should take a look at on a yearly basis and a copy of the home depot's 1-2-3 book on CD. He also worked seamlessly with our real estate agent to make sure she had everything she needed to present the sellers with the issues we would need resolved before finalizing the purchase.

He was very professional. He gave good advice and was very knowledgeable about signs of trouble and household maintenance. He gave a very thorough report with a very polished presentation. We were very pleased.

THE GENTLEMAN WHO CAME OUT WAS VERY PROFESSIONAL. HE EXPLAINED EVERYTHING HE WAS DOING AND WHY. EXPLAINED HIS FINDINGS CLEARLY.

RADON TESTING IS ALWAYS AN 'IFFY' THING. FELT THEY WERE A BIT HIGH IN PRICE, BUT GAVE DETAILED RESULTS.