Ken Larson's home inspection was professional, thorough, and saved me thousands of dollars. I would definitely use his services again, and I highly recommend him to anyone buying a home or condo in Austin.
I was buying a new construction condo in Austin, and wanted a good home inspector to walk through the unit with me prior to my official walkthrough with the builder. After reading reviews on Yelp, I decided to call Ken. His appointment system was very simple- I scheduled online at least 48 hours in advance.
Ken helped me find over 50 (yes, fifty) problems with my condo, from small things like (unsealed exterior junction boxes which can collect moisture if not sealed), scratches, non-working electrical outlets, defects around some lights...to large things like a safety hazard with the stairway railings and 2 windows were too hard to open. Ken explained everything to me on-site, wrote everything in his report, and provided me with photos that I provided to my builder for the official punch list.
The builder was reluctant to fix any of the major issues at first. "They are big windows, they should not be easy to open," said my builder. I argued, "they are 'windows.' By definition, they should be easy to open. I also have a report from a licensed inspector telling me if the windows are not fixed, the stress could cause major damage to the frames."
I was able to back up my statements by showing Ken's report, and finally, the builder agreed to fix the windows and all the issues.
Two tips to help everyone:
1) Ken's work is very thorough, but I do recommend that you show up BEFORE Ken arrives, and make your own list of issues that you found. That way when you walk through the unit with Ken, you can combine your efforts to find as many problems as possible which will all go into the report.
2) If you are buying a NEW home, schedule Ken at least a day BEFORE doing your official walkthrough with the builder. It will take Ken about a day to email you his report, and you want to provide that report to the builder during your walkthrough to ensure they have a complete list of everything you want them to fix. Many builders may schedule a walkthrough the same day as your inspection hoping you will ignore or not have an inspector's list of defects, but I suggest you insist they move the walkthrough AFTER Ken can inspect your unit.
I had a LOT of issues that would have gone unnoticed if it were not for Ken. I would guess it would cost me $2-3K to fix everything myself after closing, and if some of the major issues continued to have gone unfixed, eventually could have lead to structural damage that could easily lead to over $10K in repairs.
Thank you Ken. I have been living in a beautiful new condo for 4 weeks now, with no issues whatsoever. read more