DICKEY INSPECTION GROUP

When the inspector Jim Dickey arrived at our "soon-to-be" first house, he seemed very professional and cordial. My realtor advised us to show up close to the end of his inspection, but I'll remember to show up before in the future. After his "detailed" inspection of our house, he determined that it was in immaculate condition, and found almost no issues at all. He went through each and every line item of the inspection, pointing out the very trivial few issues that we needed to address. After going through everything with him, I looked at everything myself (I'm no professional inspector), and agreed with his report. After closing and moving into our house, we noticed a few issues a few weeks later. First, there was a HUGE crack in the porch foundation that wasn't noted on his report. Second, there were drainage issues in the back by the garage that he didn't notice. Also, our dishwasher was barely attached to the inset and had screws coming out in several places (something we didn't notice until we were taking dishes out after cleaning them). We sent him a very nice and kindly worded email about the few issues that we noticed and asked his opinion on what his thoughts might be. He wrote back an incredibly rude email telling us that if we had problems with our house, they were caused by us in the past few weeks and we should hire professional repairmen. SERIOUSLY??!! WARNING!!!!! He may have a nice demeanor and come across as professional, but he doesn't care at all for your well-being and only wants your check.

For a company that services homeowners, Dickey Inspection Group knows very little about customer service and doing its job. For starters, after Jim completes his inspection, he hands you a 3 page document to sign before reviewing his inspection. This document should be provided for review before he goes to the home. Second, in my opinion, his inspection are not/was not thorough. About 4 months after we purchased our home we identified several issues we felt he should have been found during the inspection. When I called Jim Dickey to discuss, he refused to speak about it and just kept referring to his "contract" alleviating him from any responsibility. In fact, he also refused to come to the house to even look at the issues. Only after prodding from the real estate agent that referred him did he agree to come to the house. The entire time he was at the house he acted like he was being inconvenienced and would not even inspect all of the areas of concern. Before leaving, he offered a resolution. I informed him more than likely it was not going to be acceptable, but asked for him to send it in an email. Several weeks passed and I did not receive the email, I contacted him asking for it and he sent me an email stating he was not going to honor the offer and it was only good for that day. By the way, he never mentioned this because when he left the my home he said he would send the email. My advise to anyone buying or selling a home is to stay away from the Dickey Inspection Group and any real estate agent who recommends him.

If only there were more businesses like Dickey Inspection. Modern, skilled, professional, prompt, and reasonably priced. Dickey was the only inspection company I found that allows customers to schedule services online, but you can also call and schedule if you prefer. The follow-up report was sent to us very quickly (less than a day). Jim kept his work and report within the scope of his expertise (general home inspections). For example, Jim detected foundation movement in the house we're looking to purchase, but so did the last inspector. The BIG difference between the Jim Dickey and the last inspector is that Jim reported the foundation movement and made the only correct recommendation - hire a structural engineer who is qualified to measure and make an accurate assessment. The previous inspector, who was not a structural engineer, reported that, despite the foundation movement, the foundation was basically fine, and did not recommend escalating the matter to a certified structural engineer. Dickey handled the matter correctly, the other guy did not.