Long but worth the read if you want to save aggravation and money!
After interviewing the four inspectors referred to us by our realtor, we chose Biffs Professional Home Inspections. Being out-of-state buyers, we were entirely dependent on our inspector to give us the most thorough review that an experienced professional could. We spent time expressing our needs, and gave him many details from our experience to impress upon him the need to be meticulous in his inspection. The COVID restrictions prevented us from inspecting the home, hence the need for him to be extra vigilant. Biff assured us he was up to the challenge, but he proved the opposite, and we were left with the precise disaster we had taken all possible steps to prevent.
When we arrived for the pre-sign walk through, our amateur eyes found details which had gone entirely unnoted. There was a huge water stain on the unpainted wood floor under the water pressure tank, the kitchen counters were pulling away from the wall, as was the skirting on the outside of the house, and the deck steps were missing risers, rendering them unsteady and bowing with any weight bearing.
We contacted Biff about these concerns, and though he was very professional, he excused his misses on the outside as being due the snow around the house when he conducted his inspection. This was a legitimate impedance, but rather than reschedule due the snow, he proceeded with an inadequate inspection and submitted his report as complete. When questioned, he had no qualms about charging us an additional $150/hr for issues that had been missed because of the snow, when it should've been the seller's part to get it removed so we could get the full inspection we paid for. He explained away the water stain on the sub-floor because the wood was dry, and he waved off any concern over it. However, according to the water system expert we brought in, the water pressure tank does regularly sweat and would be expected to leak on the floor--again, something that is a real problem was ignored.
The final provocation was finding--after move in--that the well water was foul with sulfur and silt suspension. Now, we hadn't expected Biff to be our water inspector; however, the visibly gray water in the toilet bowls, and the inescapable smell when water is running is a red flag for any dilettante present in the home. When this was addressed with Biff, he admitted he'd noted a smell, but his co-worker didn't notice, so he blew it off and neglected to mention it to us in a conversation, much less his report. He admitted that he should have pursued it, but he dismissed it. We specifically and fervently expressed to him that because we couldn't be there, we needed him to be especially meticulous in his inspection, and this was what we paid him to do. Now, due to his flippant attitude and ignoring of the situation, we are stuck with installing a water treatment system costing $10,000.
Biffs Professional Home Inspections did not outright deceive us, but the cumulative weight of his omissions from the official report became a burden preventing us from exercising our due diligence in the inspection-negotiation period. He did apologize for his laxity with our case, but he kept his $450, and we lost our ability to negotiate on all these problems, leaving us shackled to the expensive process of fixing them. If you are needing relieved of $450 for a superficial inspection, then this is your guy. We came to him as out-of-state buyers, trying to enlist the full scope of his professional expertise, but he was only interested in getting the boxes checked. read more
