RICHARD D MALIN & ASSOCIATES INC

Terrible...still paying for everything he never told us...16 years later. Absolutely horrible! Don't use ever!

BEWARE! This home inspector does not disclose important information about houses. Sixteen years in our home, we are still finding items that he never disclosed that he knew about. He took advantage of out of town buyers. Have spent over $60K regarding items he should have disclosed. Pool, Electrical. Plumbing. Sewage. Tree removal. To name a few! Be careful if your realtor recommends him. Find someone else! No joke! Other reputable home inspectors have heard the same things about Malin. And check out the reviews. All of them are true!

From start to finish, the inspection of the home we recently purchased was disappointing. First, Mr. Malin could not be bothered to check the condition of the roof, except by peering through his binoculars from the road far below. We have purchased several homes and every inspector of those homes produced a ladder from his/her truck, scaled it, and examined the roof. Second, be warned, this inspector "doesn't do appliances." Again, all of the other inspectors we have worked with fired up the dishwasher or ran the clothes dryer to see that the appliance was in good working order. Third, Mr. Malin randomly checked just one outlet in one room in the home to see if it was properly grounded. Other inspectors will undertake a far more thorough effort with respect to checking outlets and otherwise assessing the electrical system in a home. Fourth, when my wife brought a clearly damaged heat/ac vent to Mr. Malin's attention, he simply dismissed her concern by saying: "What do you expect, it's not a new house." While that is indeed true-the home is not a new home-it was his condescending attitude that was uncalled for. Fifth, this inspector all-but flatly refused to enter two rooms in the home. The homeowner was in the home with her children. The children were occupying these two rooms. While this was not ideal, we accepted the situation. The homeowner, to her credit, was quite adamant that we could see the two rooms occupied by the children; she understood that it was our right to have these rooms inspected. Mr. Malin simply said he didn't feel like going into the rooms. When I insisted, he reluctantly walked into each room, pivoted, and walked right out. He did not inspect a thing. We paid him to inspect the entire home. He did not do so. At the conclusion of the inspection, Mr. Malin spread a bunch of materials on a counter in front of us. He noted how one of the items, a thick manual, was authored, in part, by him. In any case, the whole display was just that...an empty display, a whole lot of nothing. He gave us a nice stack of things and a fancy folder to store them in. However, his actual report was simply a template, barely customized, and disturbingly void of any meaningful detail. I regretted not being able to have Russ Kowalik of Three Rivers Inspection & Engineering inspect the home. Russ has inspected homes we previously purchased as well as homes friends have purchased. He is a structural engineer, he is meticulous, and he is a gentleman. He will crawl all over your roof like Spiderman. He will take photographs and include them in a very detailed report. Russ is a true professional.

Richard provided detailed information on all parts of the house. He was able to fit me in quickly and get everything looked at. This is the third home inspection he has done for me and all have been flawless. Also he provided the inspection report the same day!!!! I have not heard of any other inspector that is so prompt.

I was not able to attend the inspection as I was moving from out of town. Richard did not do a detailed job at all. He missed very easy - yet key things that anyone should have caught. He never went up on the roof (every inspector I have had in the past brought a ladder and inspected the room. Richard did a visual with binoculars. Richard missed a leak in the a/c unit that was VERY obvious according to the repair company (was oozing freon). Richard did not check closets. Lastly - like the other reviewer mentioned, I had rotting wood in some spots that he completely missed. Very unsatisfied customer

It was excellent. He told me everything about the things that he was finding wrong with the home and gave suggestions on how to fix it. He also told me about things that were correct at the home and how to maintain them appropriately. He was very honest. He found that the chimney flashing was leaking after the roofing work was done. The owner of the home is having it fixed. The furnace needed some maintenance that the home owner took care of for us and he paid for that too. There was a handbook that came with his report that explained how to do maintenance throughout the year. I was very pleased with the home inspection service since I got a lot more out of that.

The associate from Malin & Associates completely missed the existence of knob and tube wiring in the house. This was automatically spotted by our insurance underwriter who made us jump through a $440 series of hoops just to get insurance before our closing. They also missed an illegal gas line in the kitchen ceiling that our plaster contractor caught. He missed two apparent plumbing leaks, one of which resulted in the flooding of our basement the night after most of what we owned was moved into the basement for storage while our floors were being redone. All told, we're looking at tens of thousands of dollars to fix the items that Malin & Associates missed. They are terrible at inspecting homes and for a home inspection company, that's a pretty bad thing.

After moving into the property, I had the outside of the house painted and the painter obviously used a ladder to get to the 2nd and 3rd floors. (Richard never used a ladder) The painter pointed out that all the window sills are rotted away and water is getting in behind the bricks. I had the window manufacturer out to inspect the windows and the entire window is on the verge of collapse and need to be replaced. The cost of repair is $17,844.00. This was a TOTAL miss on Richard's part and since he never opened the windows or got up on a ladder to inspect it, I feel he is responsible for the replacement.

Very well. This is the 4th time I've worked with their company. The first two times I had Richard Malin and the last two I had Harel Schwartz. They are both well qualified, very knowledgeable, and helpful. They also did the radon test for two houses for us.

Richard was on time as was the pest inspector. All inspections were very thorough and any issues were explained to us clearly throughout the process. At the end of the inspection, Richard provided us with a binder on the results and some tips on home maintenance. He was very polite and easy to work with. The woman who owns the home is elderly, and he was very respectful of her as well.

Rich was professional and on time, but neglected to notice several flaws, including water damage that was listed on the disclosure. He also failed to mention that the blown-in insulation and active knob and tube wiring could be a serious fire hazard that warrants an electrical inspection.

Joel was very professional, arrived on time, already had radon inspection set up. Very thorough and talked us through everything. Encouraged us to go through house with him and take notes. Very up front & honest. At end of inspection gave us large binder all about the basic structure and components of homes in general, and it included his report & notes on our house. Very satisfied and would recommend.

Overall they were not that great. They missed 3 important problems. One resulted in having a major plumbing leak that was estimated at over $3000. The misrepresented the importance of a garage roof needing repair.

Easy to schedule, polite and prompt, great explanations, binder full of information. Binder has a summary section, and then individual sections with more detailed information, including structure, plumbing, electrical, etc.

RICHARD IS THE CONSUMMATE PROFESSIONAL. HE WAS ON TIME, HAD ALL THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT TO PERFORM THE DETAILED HOME INSPECTION AND PROVIDED US WITH A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE BOOK TO DESCRIBE HIS FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. RICHARD TOOK HIS TIME - INSPECTING THE PROPERTY AS IF IT WERE HIS OWN. WE WERE SO MUCH MORE CONFIDENT IN OUR HOME PURCHASE AFTER WORKING WITH RICHARD.

MR. MALIN NEGLECTED TO POINT OUT SOME MAJOR FLAWS IN EACH PROPERTY. HE WAS ON TIME AND VERY PROFESSIONAL.