If half stars were an option, I would rank Buyers Choice as 3.5, but 4 seems just a touch too high, so I'm rounding down to 3 stars. I recently inherited a property, and on the advice of a real estate agent, decided to get a pre-sale home inspection done, both to help make the sale quicker, and also to help myself become more familiar with the property, since I had never lived there. I booked Buyers Choice as they were the company recommended by the realtor, and I didn't feel like shopping around.
It was very easy to book with Buyers Choice, and we were able to get an appointment for the inspection within a few days of calling. They take multiple forms of payment, and sent some pre-inspection paperwork by email immediately after booking the appointment. I also like the format of the inspection report, it was a full-color PDF of approximately 60 pages with loads of photos.
On the negative side though, I was surprised how short the inspection was. Based on previous experience as a seller purchasing a home, I was expecting to be there for the inspection for approximately three hours, or more. Our inspection took less than 90 minutes, which I perhaps attributed to having two inspectors on site instead of one. There are instances in the report that I feel were a little lazy though. For example, one of our vehicles was parked in the garage, and when we offered to move it out to the driveway, the inspector said it wasn't necessary, but there were multiple garage items in the report (such as the floor and garage attic) that said "couldn't inspect, homeowner property/vehicle in the way". I think it is absolutely reasonable that an inspector would not expect to move property at a seller's residence, but we were very clear this was our property. Another instance was in the kitchen, where we found a few days after the inspection that the dishwasher was having issues turning on, and the inspection report noted that there was a dishwasher but didn't test it. On previous home inspections we've definitely had inspectors test all the appliances. Overall, I think that they are very busy and trying to keep up with demand, but I wasn't as satisfied as I could have been. Finally, after the report was issued, I got multiple emails asking me to do a Google review - please don't beg for reviews. My phone number was given to a security company, who called and asked if they could come do an estimate for a security system for our new home, and my email was subscribed to a mailing list for sewage line insurance. This wasn't appreciated.
Long story short, the three star description of "Ok" sums up my feelings well. The inspection certainly met my needs, and the staff were professional, but there was also some aspects that were lacking, and I would have liked better attention to detail. read more