Dynamic Inspection Services

We contracted to buy our house on March 5, 2015 while still living in Maryland, and continued living there for four months as we prepared to move, which we did on July 25, 2015. Since we were not able to be present when the inspection was made, we relied on Diane Lange of Remax Professionals to arrange the inspection and she chose Ric Holmes of Dynamic Inspection Services who inspected it a week later, on March 12, 2015. Ms. Lange verbally informed us that he was experienced, insured and bonded, though we have no written record of that point. In the next two years the presence of wall cracks became a problem and repairs of them proved to be a temporary fix, as they reappeared within another year or two. Other indications of foundation problems also appeared, such as doors becoming out of plumb and a sense of the master bath floor having a downward slope as you enter it appeared. After five+ years of increasing problems we had a foundation repair company analyze the situation. They found that, in addition to an inadequate support structure under the master bathroom, of the six major girder rows in the entire house, the two under the middle of the house were sub-standard, not nearly adequate for long-term support given that they were not resting on the masonry pillars that had been installed for that purpose, albeit in the wrong positions. That should have been obvious to any building inspector, given that they served no purpose and had not been used. The girders that were supposed to be resting on those pillars were approximately two feet away and—instead of masonry pillars—cheap jacks were installed, standing on small concrete slabs sitting atop the ground (i.e. there were NO footings). Numerous other illustrations of inadequate construction methods are documented, including placement of these jacks on concrete pads (i.e. nothing like the deep-set footings required by building codes in every state) were not only installed, but eventually approved by inept building inspectors during the construction phase in 2004-06. Still another example was how the girders were joined together with nails but additional support was not provided on both hanging ends. They should have been joined over a concrete pillar or supported on both ends with high quality jacks installed on footings. How all of that ever passed building code inspection is anyone's guess. When the home inspector we hired, Richard Holmes–-selected by the realtor, as noted above---made his inspection on March 12, 2015, he also failed to see any of it, despite including a photo of one of the girders involved with the jacks (which also shows the joined girder with inadequate support), then adding this: "There has been extra girders with bracing added to original floor framing - check with owner for their purpose." We did ask about this and received the answer back through the two realtors that, "the owner asked for extra support." We didn't know what to think about all of this but, in framing it (erroneously, as we recently found out) as "extra girders" it seemed like a rather benign issue. But it was obviously not "benign" then or now. It was clearly a deceitful answer by the previous owners ("for extra support") to a question that begged for such an answer. The inspector (Richard Holmes) should have stated that the supporting jacks, standing on simple concrete slabs placed on the ground were obviously not allowed in standard building design, anywhere. He has taken the position with me in a telephone conversation (Monday, June 28, 2021) that he's off the hook because he doesn't look for "code violations." One would think that these deficiencies went well beyond "code violations" and should be considered as major construction defects --- the kind that we paid him to find. He was very good at finding all sorts of inconsequential minor issues [going out of his way to list those, as if to prove how "thorough" he was, but blind to the single most critical construction issue upon which the entire house had been built. Another Point: I should also note that shortly after we bought the house I found that he had not looked at the gutters either, they were filled with debris, so my first job, before even moving in, was to clean gutters that had obviously not been cleaned since the house was built ten years ago! WARNING TO ALL: "Dynamic Inspections" means only that they will give you 50 pages of drivel, nicely presented with lots of color photos and recommendations like fixing small holes in "mortar joints on front steps." If you're looking for a meaningful and substantive house inspection report you should definitely look elsewhere.

I was very impressed by the thoughtfulness and professionalism of the inspectors that performed the inspection of my new home. They looked into every detail and provided me with a comprehensive, easy-to-understand report of their findings. They also were very patient, explaining each item to me in a lot of detail and answering my questions (I am a first-time home buyer, so I had a lot of questions). Price was very competitive. I would hire them again.

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Ric worked with us and managed to get inspection done in spite of several start/stops out of his control, and dealing with extremely adverse weather. Highly recommend. Worth every dime he charges.

IHow inspection was very through. The report was very easy to read and felt the inspector had gone into good detail. The inspector even came back to the home a few days later and went over the inspection with us and showed us what he found. I thought it was great that he took time out of his schedule to do that wih us. I would highly recommend Rick And dynamic inspection to anyone looking for a home inspector. The pro e may have been a little high but you don't want to take a chance on a home you wil purchase.