I've bought and sold a lot of houses over the years, and have hired a lot of home inspectors. Some were good; some were awful; some were in-between. Note that it's the job of a home inspector to find something wrong. That's what they do. If an inspector declared a home to be perfect, the customer (buyer or seller) would feel cheated.
Not long ago, another family member had hired a home inspector for a pre-sale inspection, and that inspector found a plumbing issue in her home. Well, you'd think he'd found a herd of flaming, rabid buffaloes stampeding in the basement. His inspection report was downright alarming. In the end, a consultation with a plumber resolved the issue, but the inspector would not change anything in his report. He was asked to provide solutions or options for resolution, but he refused. It almost seemed as though he wanted to "prove his expertise" by declaring the issue he'd found.
This time, we hired Steve Huddle of Amerispec Hamilton to perform a pre-sale inspection of my daughter's townhouse. Steve showed up with Des, and they were both great. They were definitely thorough, spending several hours combing through the home, looking at the roof, peering in the attic, beneath cupboards and sinks, testing the furnace, the smoke alarms, and the appliances. Their inspection was methodical and in-depth.
Of course they found a few outstanding issues, but the final report was not at all alarming (i.e., they didn't need to exaggerate problems to "prove their expertise").
One item that Steve and Des found was a lifted shingle and corresponding leak in the attic. They explained the issue and suggested a solution so that it could be repaired and documented before the house sale. A few other items were noted in the report, but the language was not distressing or alarming. Their verbal comments were that the home was in generally good condition.
Steve's final report contained a binder with all sorts of documentation and instructions for various home maintenance projects, which was useful to the eventual buyer.
I'd hire Steve (and Des) again in a heartbeat. read more