We hired Brown Dog Inspection due to a recommendation from my realtor.
Some of the pros before I list the cons:
- In a busy market they were available to give an appointment on short notice.
- Arrived on time. Finished work on time.
- Answered all our questions patiently. Texted is the list of issues that need to be addressed (We chose a verbal inspection).
Cons:
They missed leaks in the roof. The leaks were happening on the roof at a location close to the exterior wall of the house and at another location about 4 to 5 feet away from the ridge line. The leaks were pretty big as the water has seeped through the roof into the insulation all the way up to the sheet rock. The sheetrock was filled with mold. The plywood under the shingles and the sheetrock on ceiling were completely saturated and were falling apart. We came to know about this after we bought the home and were getting popcorn ceiling removed. I am surprised that the inspection did not catch such a big leak. We were told by the inspector that he entered the attic and they did not find any leaks. However, it is hard to believe that such a big leak can go unnoticed. Specially, with so much mold it was clear that the leak was happening since a long time and it was not new. The insulation in the attic was also wet. We called them when we found out about it and asked them how such a thing was missed. Their answer was that the inspection was done after sunset and it was dark. Attic is always dark so I am not sure how that would matter. They said that they will go to the house to check on it. Since then we have not heard from them. I tried calling them once and texted them once but they did not respond.
We were also told that the roof was inspected and that there were no issues. The roofers who came to fix the leak told us that roof was not installed correctly. There were tens of locations where the nails were exposed and there were visible holes/cuts in shingles. The chimney flashing was completely damaged. None of these were pointed to us in the inspection. The roof inspection was done after sunset so these things could have been difficult to notice. However, if that was the case, they should have disclosed to us that they were unable to inspect the roof properly due to lack of light. Instead we were told that the roof was fine.
We ended up bidding a lot over list price not knowing about all these issues.
Many other minor issues were also missed. For example, the bathrooms did not have any exhaust fans or vents installed. This was no where mentioned to us after inspection. We should have noticed it ourselves. It was our fault too for not noticing them. But we pay the inspector to look for things we might have missed.
Home Inspection is probably one of the most critical steps before buying a home and these kind of errors are not acceptable. read more