I hired Ted last year to do inspection of a house after an internet search and also based on HomeStars reviews. I was specifically looking for an independent home inspector who is not associated with any realtor. I have told Ted during inspection that if I write a review on his work, it will be at least six months after I moved in, so that I have enough time to evaluate his work. It is slightly more than a year after we moved in and during this time I have witnessed a couple other inspectors doing work for my friends. I can very confidently say that Ted is probably the best home inspector one can get in the lower mainland. Here is why. I had very much decided on the purchase of the house at the time of inspection. I wanted my home inspector to do three things - 1) find out any serious issue that can kill the deal, 2) not-so-serious issues that I need to take up with the seller and 3) give a TO-DO list of home maintenance for next few years. Ted clearly understood my needs. At the time of confirming inspection, he had two conditions - 1) he does not want my realtor to be anywhere near (luckily I did not have one) and he wants full access to the property for at least six hours. Ted arrived promptly at 8:30 AM and started the inspection even though I was delayed for an hour. When I and my son joined him at 9:30, he had an overview of the progress so far and took us around to show us whatever he has observed until then. The inspection lasted until 4:30 PM during which he had a through inspection of the entire house from crawl space to the roof. He also gave us an overview of service connections, electrical panel, emergency shut-offs etc. I was most impressed by his inspection report and the way he presented it. The report was very meticulous at the same time he was careful not to scare me with a flood of issues. He was not like - here is a list of issues now go figure it out. He took time time sit with me (about three hours) and explain each issue and prioritize them. Even now he is keeping contact with us to follow up on his recommendations and provide advice. Report was custom made (not any software generated) and each item was described in detail with multiple pictures that he had taken during inspection. Luckily for me there was no deal breaker issues but there were a couple of issues that I could take back to the seller and successfully negotiate a price reduction. Above all, his report helped me to get an idea of my maintenance cost for the next few years and to plan accordingly. Ted would have put at least three times effort compared to a normal inspector for the entire inspection. Initially I was thinking he is a bit expensive but in the end I was convinced he is less costly compared any other inspector out there if you calculate hourly rate. Ted is a true professional and I highly recommend his services to all potential home buyers, especially first-time home buyers. My advise to first-time buyers though is not to get discouraged by Ted's exhaustive report because no house will be perfect. Take time to study it and make an informed decision on not only the purchase cost but also the carry-on costs.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $1,200.00
- Company Response
Hi Sudhir,
I like the fact that you are a hard-nosed skeptic, most people don't realize how difficult it is to be independent from realtors. If you don't go along to get along in this business, you might as well hang up your flashlight. I've been doing home inspections for 17 yrs full-time and the 1st 5 yrs were extremely difficult with agents interfering with potential client’s choosing me as their inspector. Most home inspections are by realtor referral, to get on an agent, preferred, referral list (“their chosen inspectors”) you have to be part of the team, ... the sales team. Obviously inspectors can't paint the house as perfect but they can point to problems with a kinder eye and a misdirecting vocabulary. If the house sale fails for whatever reason that inspector will not be their 1st choice for subsequent inspector referrals. House sale failures are never associated with failures of the house its failures of the sales team. A home inspector can soon fall out of favor and even be blackballed. So there is a lot riding on every home inspection an inspector does. The trouble with today is that with the Internet that inspector's name is shared throughout the industry. I have seen exceptional inspectors bite the dust simply because they were squeezed out. I'm lucky I survived, I had very little overhead in my lean beginning yrs.
On the 2nd point of not having a real estate agent follow us around during the inspection, it's written in the real state standards and practice that an agent cannot interfere whatsoever with the inspection or inspector. Most inspectors allow the agent to shadow the inspection when the client is there so they can: #1- when the inspector says something is bad; the agent will pipe up and explain why it's not so bad and that all houses have these same problems, inspectors will not stand up to the realtor because that's where their work comes from. #2 just by being there within earshot the home inspector is intimidated and will coach his language so not to raise any alarm bells, wouldn't want to upset the agent. #3 to remind the inspector that the realtor needs the inspector to finish up ASAP. #4 by being there the agent will create a distraction, engage the homebuyer so that the homebuyer is not listening to the inspector and the inspector cannot get a word in to explain what he's looking at. Yes it all looks rather natural but every part of the Home inspection with an agent present has been carefully crafted to support the sale.
I seem to be well known to most real estate agents because now they leave me completely alone and simply ask when they can come back to lock up.
Your comments on your report: the whole idea behind having you with me during the inspection is so that you have had firsthand knowledge of our discoveries, we discussed the issues at the time. The report reviewed the 2nd day further consolidated your understanding so that the volume of information was not overwhelming. The cost of most home inspections have been controlled by real estate agents, you charge too much you don't get referrals. So the home inspection industry has been designed and controlled by real estate agents from the very beginning and through agent referrals, most home inspectors are willing to go along with this arrangement.
So yes I'm glad you carefully scrutinized your choice of home inspector.
Happy Trails....
Ted Gilmour
