You know those annoying things in reviewing, right? Like... "I'd give this place NO stars, if I…read morecould" or "I'd give them ALL the stars." The overzealousness can sometimes read amatuer, less-than-thorough, so I get it, I do! Problem is... if I could, after working with Jon, I'd give Finest Home Inspection, Jon Ellis, owner, and his gorgeous wife, Jennifer ALL. THE. STARS! I'm buying a home as a newly divorce woman returning to Champaign after 12 years away! Part of the problem is that I'm doing this sight unseen. The other part? I've only ever purchased property with another human being! A compulsive, drill-down-fact-checker who basically built life to fit the way he wanted to live! Nothing wrong with that in theory, it just kinda left me without a ton of tools to do this on my own. First thing I learned in this process -- you CAN'T depend on anyone but yourself to do the legwork! My real estate agent, a fine enough person, said he'd hook me up with all his best people. I fell into the routing I lived for years pre-divorce! I let him make the decisions, let him set the appointments, and just got along to get along. The issues started when I got the first quote from his home inspector -- $600 to inspect a 1500 sq ft condo! That sounded high to me, so I went to everyone's best friend -- Google! -- and looked for awesome home inspectors in the Champaign area. I'll the truthful, there are plenty. But there's only ONE Finest Home Inspection. Only ONE Jon Ellis! So, the reviews (glowing as they are!) weren't wrong. For less than almost every other single home inspector (almost $200 less!), Jon went out to my property, went EVERYWHERE, took pictures EVERYWHERE, sent me a report that knocked my socks off (and did so in like... less than a day!), and then... offered to go over every single page of the 40+ he sent me so I understood all terminology, all requirements, all spaces and all his notes! Clearly this is my first home report on my own! If it wasn't obvious from the earlier read, with a pretty tightly controlling ex, this was my first chance to see the depth and breadth of everything that goes into choosing a home, buying a home, maintaining a home. I was concerned, immediately, when the report came back with a laundry list of fixes. But, later, when Jon and I spoke on the phone, he put my mind thoroughly at ease! Telling me that the repairs portion of a report usually looks like that -- or WORSE, MUCH WORSE! -- and so we went over the things I might wanna mention and the things I might just want to have a go with on my own, and Jon was nothing but kind, patient, understanding, and educational! You can tell that he was a home builder before he was a home inspector! And that's such a great thing I'm wearing out the !!! key. I also had the privilege of talking to Jon's wife, Jennifer. She's the other half of Finest Home Inspection. She was insightful, informative, generous with her time, and genuinely sweet. If she's got room for a new BFF, I mean! ;D There's still work to be done, for sure, but after the prior owner makes the adjustments and changes necessary, I'm happily spending the -- and yes, get this! -- less than $100 to have Jon go out and reinspect! One thing I know for sure in this process is this... I've never been so happy to spend like $450 (and that's all in, inspection AND reinspection with a report that came in less than 24 hours!) in my life! As a newly minted person, on a new path, with a new adventure ahead, I'm really looking forward to picking Jon's brain about making changes to my new home. Jon's like one of those all purpose tools you pass up your wrench, your screw driver, your hammer for! He's the whole package, like one of the most valuable members of your team. I promise if you trust him, you won't go wrong! =D

We used Finest Home Inspection for our recent home purchase in Champaign, Illinois and they were…read moregreat. Professional, thorough, competent and knowledgeable. Jon contacted us quickly to go over our inspection report and the inspection report told us so much more than just what needed to be repaired. We could not be happier with Finest Home Inspection and would recommend them to anyone who needs a home inspection done now and in the future!

I worked with John on my home inspection on 3/17/2016. He was very knowledgeable and efficient. He…read morewalked me through everything he was doing and every concern he had. He had no issues of me shadowing him. I thought his report was accurate and fair. After the report came out he was easily available to answer a few more questions I had on the phone. Other Facts: I was able to schedule the inspection with a 10 day notice. It cost 415$ They do Radon Tests too I got the full report about that night (6 hours later) I would recommend this company for a home inspection

BUYERS BEWARE!!! John inspected our split level Urbana house we purchased in 2021. We chose him…read morepurely off our realtor's recommendation as this was our first home purchase. The first red flag was that he insisted that we did not attend the inspection. Now, this was 2021 and COVID-19 was still somewhat of a hot button issue, though with a vaccine out and available to anyone by this point, it should have been more obvious that this was going to be some sketchy work. He said in the email that he cannot legally keep us from attending, but would essentially have to remain out of the same room as him as he did the inspection. Nevertheless, we figured he was just still super cautious about the disease and wanted to keep more than the recommended distance at the time and decided we would comply with his request. Inspection came and went and we went through the buying process with few concessions. After close, we started to see how he missed stuff as well as blatantly lied on the report. I almost got electrocuted trying to install a new dishwasher because he failed to notice uninsulated wires pulled out of a electrical box under the sink. Had an electrician put wire nuts on the wires and close it up. We went to start the hot water heater, which he said in the report was functioning properly, and the pilot light would not stay on. Had a plumber come look at it and they said the thermocouple was broken and would kick out the pilot. I asked the plumber if this would have broken in the 2 weeks or so since the inspection and he said it was very unlikely. The worst ones are to come. John noted that there was no roof damage. Two weeks in, water started leaking into our kitchen. Had a roofer look at it and they said there was rot under that area of the roof. Asked if a home inspector should have know about it and they said absolutely, no possible way it developed between the inspection and then. If john had actually looked in the attic, he would have seen that plain as day. Had to pay a roofing company nearly 3 grand for that one. Most frustrating one, which full honesty, cannot be 100% the liability of the home inspector as we took his advice and should have checked it with others, was the crawlspace. There was a broken sump pump in a bucket buried in the dirt at the lowest part of the crawlspace when we moved in. John noted that it did not work, but was not needed. This caused us to not concern ourselves with fixing or replacing it with a proper sump. Four months after closing, we started noticing that our basement carpet kept getting wet, but we thought it was the dog at the time. Poor puppy as it was actually the crawlspace next to the basement filling up with water and flowing over and down into the basement! We didn't know this until the entire carpet was wet! I ran to the store and grabbed a pump to start getting water out of the crawlspace. We had to rip up all the flooring and replace it, as well as installing a proper sump in the crawlspace. Unfortunately, our HOI did not cover these expenses and we were out another 3 grand in repairs, plus the sump install. Note: we did reach out to john when these issues started happening (before the roof leak or crawlspace issue) and he offered to refund us, but only if we signed a very shady document where we could not sue him for any future issues due to his negligence. We obviously saw right through that one and did not sign. Tried to reach out to a number of lawyers and no one was interested in taking the case, my guess is because the settlement would be relatively low in the 10's of thousands and not worth their time. The cherry on the cake is that our realtor sent us a bottle of wine after closing with his and Pristine's logo on it. Obviously they get some kickbacks from working together and are probably just drinking buddies. Bottom line, if you are a buyer and your realtor recommends Pristine, fire them and find someone else! TO Sellers: You probably can't go wrong getting a pre-inspection done by Pristine. They will make sure they find nothing wrong with your house and hopefully your buyers don't read this review!

I used AA Marshall to inspect the home I was buying on the recommendation of my real estate agent,…read morehaving heard nothing about them previously. They did the inspection with the water turned off and failed to notice that the dishwasher was disconnected and would not work. Worse yet, about 6 months after moving in my new house I found a large spot of water damage behind the furnace, which was quite easy to see and had been there for a few years (according to my contractor). It is full of mold, plus the damage goes into the floor and drywall. Since the inspection warranty expired 7 weeks after I closed, they will do nothing about it, even though I can prove the damage was there when he did the inspection. Now I am stuck with a repair bill of about $3000. Use someone else.

Aaron inspected my house I bought. He passed the home. We moved in March 11th 2021. On March 12th,…read more2021 the shower in the main bathroom leaked and ruined the kitchen ceiling below. The electrical outlet for the washer sump pump was defected. I had to replace them. Since the shower happened over the weekend, we coukd not shower since it is our,only one. We are unable to shower. When using the sinks in the same bathroom, the sinks would not drain and began to leak.

They are prompt, professional and know their stuff. I had work done on my sump pump and it was not…read morean easy job and they were great!

Outstanding! The technician who came out was so knowledgeable and helpful. Our toilets were…read moreoverflowing and it turns out there were roots in the pipes and he solved it all in one afternoon! (After we paid a different company $1100 this morning to disassemble our toilet and tell us they couldn't do anything today because they need to break up our concrete patio and rent a back hoe.) We are so grateful for Lanz Plumbing and their expertise. We are customers for life.

UPDATE: MIKE kindly reached out to me and asking about the…read moreissue. I forwarded him the two versions of home inspection reports, repair quotes from different electricians, and the actual repair invoice. He believed that the items the other inspector pointed out to be not meeting the city code were relatively minor and unless it was broken he would not include. And he concluded this was an unfortunate situation.

Mike was incredibly helpful and took the time to answer questions my wife and I had. I'd highly…read morerecommend this company, and will be sure to use them again whenever we purchase another home!

Jimmie did an awesome job with our home inspection!! Very professional. He took his time to make…read moresure he explained everything and to answer all of our questions. He was very knowledgable and can tell he is working in your best interest. I HIGHLY recommend him!

Jimmie has a really good eye. Great attention to detail, very thorough, excellent report and takes…read morehis time to explain everything. He's been a tradesman in many of the fields he inspects so knows what he is talking about. It's just plain foolish to not have a home your going to throw a pile of money at inspected. It's just as foolish to "bargain hunt" to save a few bucks. With this being said, his price was very reasonable and even came in under the other person my real estate agent initially suggested. And he identified a very big potential problem for us which we are investigating now. Glad I used him! And he's a great guy too. Couldn't ask for more.

Jeremy is awesome! He was not only thorough in the inspection, but also the explanation. He…read morewalked us through the house, telling us what he saw and which items were big issues and what we needed to keep an eye on. We are so thankful that we chose Jeremy as our home inspector!

Very thorough and awesome service! Would highly recommend!! Explained in great detail the whole…read moreprocess and had plenty pics and video for visual. Was available to answer all questions, even after the inspection. Very professional!

I asked Illini Home Improvements to insulate a room that is above our garage. This room was very…read morecold in the winter, and very hot in the summer. They came out and inspected what insulation I already had, and explained clearly why that insulation wasn't working. Basically, the builder had not insulated properly, either due to not knowing the proper way to insulate this type of room, or due to cutting corners. They explained to me what they would recommend, and why, and gave a firm estimate and time frame for when they could do the job. I agreed and their team showed up when they said they would, did the job, and cleaned up after themselves. They stuck to their quote even though the job took a significant amount more of insulation than expected. I was able to inspect their work via the attic, and they did exactly what they told me they would do. So far this room is warmer in the winter, but will never be as warm as the rest of the house due to being over a cold garage, and due to having inadequate heating vents. But at least the room is usable now and we can use a space heater as needed. My thanks to the team, and I'll call them again when I need something insulated. Note that despite the name of this company, they don't do EVERY kind of home improvement; this company specializes in weather-proofing/ insulation.

Had a multiple door install job for them, since the job was "too small", they recommended one of…read moretheir contractors. I was unhappy with the way the installer (his name was Chuck) handled the job. The screens were torn (not his fault), but instead of replacing them and coming back to finish the job as he said he would, he returned the broken screens to my porch about a month later with a note taped to it with a disconnected phone number. He didn't leave the packaging materials or instructions, so returning them to the company wasn't an option for me. I had to pay $90 for replacement parts, and Illini Home Improvement refused to accept responsibility for the job since the contractor was no longer employed with them. Frustrating to say the least and my doors are still not in working order.