Advanced Inspections

Five years later we are finding out that he was not at all thorough with his inspection of our home. We recently had to replace a $950 part on our HVAC unit. We were told by the servicing company that the unit was almost 10 years old! I reviewed the inspection report and he didn't have the serial number listed nor did he have that that unit was 4 1/2 years old. I called him to discuss this issue and he said that he would have checked the age of the unit and noted it, but instead had it listed as 0-1 years old. I would not recommend this company if you would like a thorough inspection of your home.

I'm not going to blame a home inspector for things went wrong with a 25 year old house, but I will point out significant things he missed. Bottom Line: Forrest Minschke goes through the property too fast. You're probably one of four or five properties he's inspecting that day. In fact, during my inspection he commented that he was in a hurry, as he had to inspect a property out in Chesapeake. Two significant things missed... extension cord in the attic powering a ceiling fan in a bedroom. You had to move it out of the way to turn on the light to look at the furnace in the attic... Out of code, and aside from being painted orange and hanging over your head, to miss it is simply sloppy. Second item missed was evidence of water damage in the ceiling directly under the master bath. Not a cheap repair which I could have written into my contract... Home inspectors can get a bad wrap for things that go wrong, but when you openly tell me "I'm in a hurry and have another property to inspect" and miss a major electrical and plumbing issue, that's enough for me to take my story to Angie's List. Forrest, slow down. You're making $300 per hour for heaven's sake.

House was 30 years old. Inspector, Mr Minschke, was recommended by my realtor. Summary of his comments: "this house is in great shape, last homeowner took good care of it." All comments and recommended repairs were minor. One year later I can say that the house has been a maintenance nightmare with multiple leaking facets, leaking appliances, electrical shorts, etc. Most egregious miss by the inspection was that the home has a split bus electric panel, which was code at the time the house was built but is not code now. It is likely overloaded and I have had two separate electricians state that it needs to be replace. Cost to repair will be about $1500 and not a single mention by Mr. Minschke. OOOPS! Advanced Inspections produces a slick report binder and clearly greased the skids for my home purchase but the inadequate inspection has left me wondering for who, the heck, Mr. Minschke was actually working.

Overall, all went well. No complaints and well worth the money spent for our peace of mind. This home was the first one that he had inspected 13 years prior and had found dry rot damage under the house. He had my husband crawl under the house with him to show him where the old damage was and how it had been repaired. I was impressed that he remembered this home from 13 years ago and remembered the damage under the home.

It was a complete home inspection before the purchase of the house. They inspect the inside and the outside of the house. I used them on a referral from the realtor that I used, and the individual who did the inspection was Forest Minsky. He was very straight forward and honest. He walked around and answered any questions that I had. He was very thorough, efficient and quick about it. He is good. I thought it was fairly reasonably priced for the square footage.