We used this company to inspect 2 homes we were interested in purchasing in November, 2013. In both cases their inspectors missed or misrepresented major items, and we needed to get separate inspections done of these items as a result. The first house needed an entirely new roof (estimates for this were $20-$25,000) while the second house already had the 100 amp service it required although the inspector "estimated" that it only had 60/70 amp service. As serious as these concerns were, the response from the franchise owner was even worse --- he was defensive and disrespectful, absolutely refusing to admit any shortcomings or to suggest anything to make up for his inspectors' shoddy efforts. Highly UNrecommended!
Quite frankly, the company's response is misleading and
untrue in several ways:
1. At NO time did the company try to 'resolve the issue' as they claim;
2. At NO time did the company's inspector recommend that we contact a
professional roofer --- in this instance the inspector left the property
without revisiting the roof even though he was asked if he could do so and
the snow cover there was melting very quickly because of changing weather
conditions. Instead, we contacted 2 different roofing companies on our own
to inspect the roof and estimate the costs of repairing it.
3. It was NOT because of our experience with the first inspector that we
sought to have this company conduct the inspection on the second house ---
but rather only because of the recommendation of our realtor
4. The second home actually DID have 100 amp service, NOT the 60/70 amp
service the company's inspector claimed. The company DID NOT "hire a Master
Electrician at its own expense" to help here ---- again, WE did this on our
own, and this is how we found that the home indeed did have 100 amp service.
It was also this electrician, and NOT the company's inspector, who pointed
out other issues with the home's electrical system as well as ways to
rectify them. We find this final point especially grating, as the Company
would not have had access to the home for its own electrician to look at it,
and neither did it at any time indicate to us that it was interested or
willing to do this.
For these reasons, I would STRONGLY like to add the terms "dishonest" and
"misleading" to my comments regarding the franchise owner (if indeed it was
he who submitted this response --- although HomeStars' policy is to reveal
the name and position of the person making this response it is NOT visible
on the website.)
FYI we used a local, independent inspector to look at the home we eventually
purchased, and found his services to be night-and-day superior to those
provided by the HouseMaster franchisees. We have also become aware of
ongoing issues with this and other house inspection franchises, and that
Service Alberta has active files regarding home inspectors and inspections
provided by them.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $1,000.00
- Company Response
We do regret to hear this is how you feel regarding the services that were provided to you because we truly take our customer satisfaction very seriously. This is why an attempt was made to resolve the issue personally but unfortunately was met with hostility and no resolution was achievable. We do assume that upon recommendation by the inspector due to the limitations of snow cover and lack of visible roof area that a professional roofer was contacted where they confirmed that indeed there were issues with the roof, as stated above $20000-$25000 worth of repairs, and that this was a large factor in not purchasing this particular home and why our services were again sought to conduct an inspection on another property. It is unfortunate that the second home was falsely listed as having ‘upgraded’ electrical services when in reality it was not the case. After the inspection we were contacted to be told that our inspector had given incorrect information. He had stated it was possibly a 60/70 amp panel but not determinable due to the many obscurities found throughout the electrical system and to have a qualified licensed electrician evaluation.
To ensure future customer satisfaction and rectify the situation at our own expense we hired a Master Electrician to visit the property to evaluate the electrical situation. Under his review he determined that indeed the homes electrical system was a 60/70amp service with a panel only rated for 100amp but not actually upgraded. He did state that this is a common finding in homes of that vintage where people believe they are getting a deal on having their electrical upgraded by an ‘electrician’. These ‘electricians’ will come in and change out the panel to one that has a 100amp rating without upgrading the actual service to the home to create the illusion to the unqualified person that the service has indeed been upgraded to code. He as well found this home to have serious concerns, all of which what were initially indicated by our inspector in the report. These concerns were that the main panel did not have a main breaker to shut off power in the event of an emergency and in addition the mast head was much lower to the ground then required creating a potential serious hazard in the backyard which are all required to meet code when a system has been truly upgraded to a 100amp service. We did take this as a learning experience for all of our staff to reiterate again our inspection processes and solidify our recommendations to clients regarding electrical in homes and do advise anyone looking to purchasing an older home that is listed as having upgraded electrical to educate themselves and speak to a qualified licensed electrician.