SEAVIEW HOME INSPECTIONS, LLC

home inspection

unknown

Inspection went very well and we had a detailed report within 4 hours of completion of the inspection with pictures and explanations in layman's terms as to what he found.

This was the second time I used Seaview Home Inspections, LLC. The first time was about 5 years ago and both times Michael Brisbin was the inspector. I have to say, I'm just as amazed with the quality of service, professionalism and thoroughness now as I was 5 years ago. Seaview is the very best in my book! Michael was on time but the builder arrived late. As soon as the builder saw the Seaview truck in the driveway he complained, and quot;These guys are nitpickyand quot;. I just nodded as I thought to myself... yes he is, and that's good for me! This inspection was on a new home and, even though it was new, Michael found several things that needed to be fixed. So if you're thinking you don't need an inspection for a new home, you may want to think again. I bet Michael saved me thousands of dollars in lost heating bills by finding the poorly sealed ducting. I never would have thought to look in all the places he did. Bottom line... Michael arrived early, explained everything thoroughly, worked quickly, answered all questions in detail and did a phenominal job! At the conclusion of the inspection he provided a me with a neatly bound and detailed summary of all findings including great photos. To top it off, Michael emailed me a complete copy of the findings. I was happy to forward a copy to the builder for some remedial action. Thank you Michael!

My wife and I are buying a home that we know needed some work prior to moving in. However, we didn’t know how much work until Michael showed up! I chose Seaview after searching through Angie’s list, identifying 3 from reviews, and then zooming into the background of each inspector. I ultimately selected Seaview because of Michael’s engineering background and length of time in the inspection business. Michael’s keen eye found a variety of issues that spanned issues from the date of original construction, through years and years of post-instruction changes. For example, I tagged along with Michael throughout his inspection, and he took the time to walk through me each issue, the magnitude of each find, and suggested fixes. For example, we ventured into the crawlspace where we found multiple puddles of standing water and dead mice. Normally, this would be alarming if I simply read this in the report. However, Michael took the time to traced some of the water/pest instruction back to the source (which was due to original construction issues and subsequent changes made by the homeowner), and articulated the remediation in a manner that soothed my concern by making the remediation highly actionable. Naturally, as a future homeowner, there are “day to day” maintenance that needs to be done. Michael walked me through these items, and I feel very comfortable in what needs to be done to maintain the home. As a non-handyman, I appreciated this. We received a very high quality report email on the same day, including high quality pictures of upper/under areas of the home that are normally out of sight. I intend to share the report with the seller to show that our inspection finds are solid. Anyway, I couldn’t say enough positive things. A++

After 16 years in my home and dozens of different contractors, I wanted someone to look it over from top to bottom to let me know if there were any problems or items that needed repairs so I can stay in the house comfortably and safely for another 16 years. Mike was very thorough and explained everything to me as he did his inspection, which took about 3 hours. He went into every nook and cranny and tested every outlet, receptacle and appliance. He left me with a copy of the report with pictures which he printed and bound on the spot. He gave me a summary with the most important items on it. The rest of the report covered every system in the house and told me the useful life of each component, anything that needed repairs and how soon, and general information about the house. It was extremely helpful and provided a blueprint for service and repairs. After he left he e-mailed me a copy of the report for my files. Mike and Jane were wonderful to work with and I would highly recommend them.

Michael is a true expert in home inspection. He very quickly found numerous deficiencies in roofing and flashing work done by the seller and significant damage to parts of wood structure. He also figured out that an old patio that was concealed by a new deck settled excessively, which explained some of the cracking and misalignment that was visible in the brick veneer. Based on the issues identified by Michael in the exterior of the house, we decided not to purchase this home. Michael submitted his report the next day. It was written very objectively, clearly, and with detailed descriptions and photographs of the issues. We are very thankful to Michael for his expert work and for helping us to avoid purchasing a house with significant problems.

The inspection was very easy to schedule. Mr. Brisbin showed up ahead of schedule. He was extremely thorough (so thorough, in fact, that he annoyed the sellers agent who had evening plans that were delayed). I have purchased several houses in the past, but have never had nearly as detailed of a house inspection as what he provided. While he was not overly chatty, he was very professional and polite. He discovered many problems with the house, both big and small. He was good at explaining the magnitude of the problems as well as the direction to go in for the potential remedy. I was very pleased.

Since the inspector for the home purchase process is one of the few vendors we got to choose ourselves, I wanted to find someone who had deep experience and knowledge, in particular knowledge of homes in our Lynnwood area. I read reviews on Angie's List and called 5 inspectors to see what their availability was, their pricing and what they typically did in the inspection. I was most impressed with Seaview, both on their responsiveness, knowledge and ability to both educate and assist new homebuyers like us through this process. The price was within $100 of other inspectors, and Seaview bases their pricing on the square footage of the home. I first spoke to Michael's wife who runs the office side of the business. She was helpful and very responsive to confirm when I asked to have the inspection done within just a few days of my call. I was thrilled to find that Michael arrived before the official start time of the appointment and since our agent was there, began his inspection of the house roof, even on a very rainy, windy day. Michael wore booties inside the house and let us know each segment of the inspection he was doing as he went through. He also typed up the inspection segments and uploaded pictures to the inspection document as he went from task to task. This resulted in a very very detailed report--both in the written document when we received it a few hours after the inspection, and as he went along he would explain the status of each area he'd just inspected. He was familiar with Washington State, Snohomish County and City of Lynnwood codes, and was able to let us know what areas of recent improvements did and did not comply. As a result we were able to go to the sellers with a very detailed list of items of concern, successfully negotiate to have the sellers repair the most egregious items, and we now have a comprehensive list of what we need to address once we take possession of the house. I can't recommend Seaview and Michael highly enough. Both our broker and our Realtor had never seen as thorough and detailed inspection (in fact is scared them a bit!). Thanks Michael!

Extremely impressive, highly knowlegible, amazingly thorough. Excellent value as well.

The initial home inspection took about 4 hours not because the house was so large but because there were so many things wrong with it (despite the fact that it appeared to be in great condition). We would never have known about the problems, or what to do about them, had Mike not taken extra time to carefully document and explain all the issues. Ultimately, the seller agreed to the repairs, and we asked Mike to return 3 more times ($150 each) to inspect the repairs in progress and when they were all finished as a way of guaranteeing the workmanship and also so that he could further diagnose the problems (wood rot was the major one--it was not possible to know the extent until the house was opened up). In addition to all of this, at our request Mike spoke with the contractor who was performing the repairs to ensure that the causes of the wood rot and the rot itself would be completely eliminated by proper design. We offered to pay him for his extra time in doing this but he did not charge us. Mike's vast knowledge, thorough attention to detail, and educational approach was worth many times what we paid him. In addition, we ended up reaching our goal: the purchase of a home that is safe, in good condition, and ready to be occupied so that future regular maintenance should keep it livable and enjoyable for years to come. We could not have achieved this without Mike's expert advice and are extremely grateful. We unconditionally recommend him to anyone purchasing a home.

He gets into the house, the attic the crawlspace, snaps photos, drafts report, etc. etc. He manages to get into really small spaces including going nose to nose with rats.

Mike was extremely careful, thorough, and helpful throughout the whole process. The initial inspection lasted several hours and Mike explained the whole process and answered all of my questions. In addition to providing advice on how to fix some small issues he noticed, he found a few larger problems which the seller agreed to fix prior to purchase. We had Mike come out again to verify the repairs had corrected the problems (the fee for the re-inspection was much lower -- I think around $125). It turned out that the initial repairs done by the seller were inadequate and additional work was required. Mike was also very responsive by e-mail to answer questions during the purchase process and even provided very detailed advice on a few general questions we had well after the purchase.

Mike inspected 2 of the homes we intended to buy. The first home he inspected, had supposedly been through 2 inspections prior and the problems "fixed". Mike found that they had just been covered up! Amazing what paint can do. He definitely saved us from a disaster! He knows his work and isn't afraid to say what's wrong with the place. We totally trust him and recommend him to anyone who wants to buy a place they know is safe, or, knows ALL of what's wrong with it before buying. He'll tell you what needs to be done now, or what can wait. Very honest and trustworthy.

He shows up, inspects the home from top to bottom, produces a detailed and summary report for you on the spot and is even available after the inspection to answer questions. He saved me from some money pits and helped give objective clear advice. Even when my realtor was encouraging to buy a home that had some major issues (he thought it was worth the remedy), Mike helped offer a more balanced view. After my last inspection, he noticed something new when he picked up his ladder, took pictures and added the report. Mike has a lot of integrity and seems to like his work.

HE TOOK A LITTLE LONGER THAN EXPECTED, BUT HE DID A PRETTY THOROUGH JOB. MOST OF THE ITEMS HE FOUND LACKING REALLY NEEDED A FOLLOW UP WITH AN ELECTRICIAN, WHICH HE STRONGLY RECOMMEND. I WAS IMPRESSED.