Red Star Professional Home Inspection, Inc.

Taylor was great, a true professional from the start. The whole inspection lasted 3 hours for our entire {tiny} home (2,000 sq. ft.). He was very thorough and found 2 immaculate findings; one being that the furnace was not turning on, and the air conditioner was taking too long to cool the house. Mind you; even though our house is new construction; did not undermine it one bit and treated it as if it was a 100 year old house but looking at every tiny detail. He also documented cosmetic items that are usually not part of the scope for a home inspection. I am definitely calling them again to do my 11-month home inspection.

It was very good.

We entered into a home purchase contract a day before the 4th of July weekend and needed to act quickly to get an inspection performed within our option period. I placed calls with several of the contractors listed in Angie?s List and a list provided by my realtor. One didn?t return my call, one was booked for 3 weeks, one was inflexible on removing a service that I did not want with the inspection and lastly one was way, way, way over priced with their quote. Red Star was also on my realtor?s list but had some bad reviews here, so I was a little apprehensive. I was also worried that since they are based in Katy, it could be a problem inspecting this house in The Heights. Not an issue? Tammy answered my call and was very pleasant and professional to talk to. Luckily, they had appointments open when I needed and they were able to provide a sub-contractor to perform a termite inspection at the same time. They worked with my realtor to schedule everything with the seller. Tammy even set it up so that the inspector would call me about 1 hour before he finished so that I could come over and talk to him in person. Christian was the home inspector and I feel that he did a thorough job. He was very professional and walked me through his preliminary report. He didn?t rush me and I felt he was willing to spend time extra time with me answering questions (I tend to be very thorough). Red Star sub-contracted with Larry from Life After Bugs to perform the termite inspection. Larry talked through his findings and sent his report the same evening. Of note, we had 2 previous inspection reports on this house in our possession from prior purchase inspections; one was only a few weeks old from another inspector and potential buyer. I?m glad that Christian went through the house with a thermal gun as he found a spot in the ceiling that indicated cold air was leaking from the ductwork. With this information, we are getting the seller to look into this and repair. I was expecting the report to arrive within 24 hours, but Christian sent it to me within a few hours! I?m very pleased with the overall service that Red Star provided, from the initial call, communications prior to inspection and the end product. Price was inline with what I expected to pay and feel that I received a very good value. I would recommend their services and I would personally use them again.

unknown

Went very well. We were pleased .

unknown

I dealt with Tammie and Chris. They were both outstanding and very responsive. I called Tammie a few times with questions and she was always quick to call me back. I ended up being caught up at work and they agreed to go to the build site and call me with an update and email the report. Chris was on time and thorough. He took pictures of all the problem areas and included detailed explanations. Chris was through in about an hour and called immediately and walked me through the report. I really appreciated the on time response and good communication from the company. I would absolutely use this company again. Thanks

I had Red Star Home Inspections perform my inspection prior to purchasing my home. He listed several issues in the report but said it was more of a "honey-do" list of handyman work. He did mention "excessive settling" of the foundation several times so I had a foundation company come check it and it was perfectly level. I thought I had nothing to worry about. Well, in the two weeks after my move in, I have had nothing but problems! I immediately noticed a leaky toilet valve in the downstairs bathroom that was missed in the inspection. I also noticed swarms of bees on the side of the house and dead bees in the master bedroom indicating a hive in the walls. The previous owners even had an exterminator come out two days after the inspection was done so I KNOW the bees were already there, they were just missed. So now I have a hole in the side of my house from the bee hive removal. That same week my downstairs toilet flooded part of the house/garage because there are tree roots in my main sewer line and it backed up into my house. The roots don't require a camera to see them; they're visible at the opening of the line. At that point I called them and they came back out and basically said, "too bad, so sad" because it all appeared to working at the time of inspection. The next day, Saturday, my AC went out and I have been without it for three days because there is so much "rigging" of the wires in the attic space that even my handyman and AC repair company are scratching their heads. Oh but the company adds that they recommend you hire a licensed plumber, or a licensed HVAC technician, in their inspection report to remove any liability on their part. If I needed to hire all these specialists then why did I hire an inspector? What a waste of time and money.

unknown

Red Star did a great job they contacted me back and booked me immediately, within three days of me calling them. Last second my lender wanted a termite inspection and Red Star had their termite guy, Larry, fit me in on short notice on the same day of my inspection. Greg Wiles was my inspector, He was knowledgeable and courteous, a consummate professional. He explained every test and walked me through every finding. I was able to pay onsite at the conclusion of the inspection and I had the report by the end of the business day. Great service, would definitely recommend them

I would use them again in the future.

The inspector arrived on time and completed a thorough inspection - except for the thermal imaging advertised on their website. The issue I have is that they advertised that they would do thermal image scanning to make sure there were no heating and cooling leaks. The report did not include any images or mention of the results - negative or positive. When I contacted the company they said that they only provide images of problem areas if they find one and that the inspector must not have found any problems. My wife (not I) was present during the inspection and she wasn't sure if she saw the inspector using a thermal scanner so I can't prove/disprove. I did however, work for the largest residential energy efficiency company in the US for 2+ years and we completed more thermal imaging scans in that time than any other company. After living in this house for 6 months I don't even need a thermal imaging camera to point out the issues. If he could not find them with a thermal scanner then he either wasn't trained properly or is not telling the truth about scanning the home. There are issues - most homes, even recent construction do - but luckily nothing unexpected or major. Getting some good thermal image pics is a layup for a home inspection and should be included, good or bad, in any inspection report. After all, if you are going to advertise something to differentiate yourself from the competition then make sure you put something in the report to prove you did it! If they would have just done that, I would give them an A.

unknown

Ultimately the inspection was completed and the report was provided to a high quality. I was very pleased with the level of detail and the professionalism of the inspector and scheduling staff, they were easy to work with and they found issues with the home that I had missed. The problem was with timing of the report delivery, this was incredibly important in keeping the home build schedule intact which was explained to all personnel involved. The inspection was performed on schedule and the report was promissed within 24 hours. The report was delivered several days later after several requests from me and from the builder. If your timeline is loose then go with these guys with no hesitation, just beware of delays.

unknown

Punctual and professional. Good report and feedback.

They were very good. It was a very positive experience. I don't know about the company overall but my inspector was definitely very good and very knowledgeable. The best compliment I could say is that they delivered what was promised. They set me up and the gentleman showed up at the right time. It took long as they that originally quoted me. There have been no complaints what so ever actually. I didn't check around for pricing but I thought it was very competitive. Quality of the service was very good. Everything was on time.

Service Rep was very tentative, thorough and friendly.

Jeremy inspected the property on a few days notice. He then provided a electronic report of the findings. I gave him a call for a few follow up questions and he was glad to help.

I walk in when he's almost done and he walks me through the townhouse to show me issues.

Tammy and Jeremy were kind enough to come on their day off to accommodate my schedule. They arrive early and did an very detailed inspection. They found things that took me 5 minutes to see after knowing about them. They provided me with a complete report by the end of the evening. When I called with some questions a couple of days later, they answered all of my questions completely. All in all a wonderful experience!