This is one of the rare finds where the people love what they do. I will definitely call…read moreChicagoland Home Inspectors before buying a home. If I were a contractor, I would look to get an endorsement from this company. Frank Dattalo was great on-site. The follow-up call with Charles Bellefontaine was very insightful. The combination of the two... 1) saved us additional time and money, 2) gave us confidence to not second guess walking away (we thought we had found a home that we would live in for decades), and 3) was a learning opportunity as we continue house hunting. I would highly recommend Chicagoland Home Inspectors, especially if you are purchasing a home that is 100+ years old. Even more so if the home is for sale by owner. They provide the information that you need to hear before making such a substantial commitment. You may be disappointed but purchasing a 100 year old home without this type of thorough inspection is akin to closing your eyes and taking a leap of faith that the seller wants what's best for you and your family. For context, the home was built in the early 1900s, three-stories, brick, original hardwood floors. The seller presented the home as being fully renovated with a new roof, electric wiring, plumbing, HVAC retrofit, etc. Frank called days a head of the inspection to ask some questions and discuss what services were needed. He removed one of the services, and the extra cost, because it wasn't needed. Frank arrived early and was already scanning the roof (via drone) when I arrived. He was more than happy to answer any questions that I had and he made a point to show me areas of major concern in-person. When I pointed things out Frank was more than happy to take a look and answer my questions. On the follow-up call, Charles took the time to further explain the findings, provide input on priorities and talked us through estimating tools. He also provided a different perspective and opinions. Talking with both Frank and Charles was incredibly valuable. Charles was surprised that our realtor recommended Chicagoland Home Inspectors and was quick to tell us that's a great sign that our realtor has our best interests in mind. If your realtor tries to steer you clear of this firm, definitely inquire why. You have to live with the consequences, not your realtor. Some Inspection Findings: - Licensed contractors didn't perform work properly - Major systems (which are new) were functioning but had potential issues that could shorten lifespan/void warranties - Source of moisture intrusion hadn't been identified/repaired - Attempts to clean up mold - Potential safety hazards Other Details: Inspectors are only required to check one electric outlet per room, this firm checks all of the outlets. They found the one that was incorrectly wired and posed a safety risk. When they tested the water pressure they made sure to turn on multiple faucets not just one at a time, identified a pressure issue. One thing to note, make sure the seller or broker has everything prepared. Any water valves that are shutoff equate to a sink that cannot be inspected. All appliances and systems need to be fully operational to be inspected.

Tim Heise was phenomenal! He checked everything. Even our realtor was beyond impressed with Tim's…read moreattention to detail. He discussed any issues, no matter how small, while he was there so he could answer questions. The written report we received the next day was incredibly thorough. I will recommend Chicagoland Home Inspectors and Tim to everyone I know! Certainly worth the money and have is piece of mind about the home we were purchasing!

Joe was great to work with and immediately put us at ease. He was incredibly easy to talk to and…read moredid an excellent job explaining what he was seeing during the inspection. At the end, he walked us through everything verbally before sending the written report, which was extremely helpful. He explained what really mattered, what was more routine, and what we should keep an eye on, all in plain language. That conversation alone made the whole inspection feel much less stressful. Joe was also very flexible and accommodating with our tight schedule, which we really appreciated. When the written report came through, it was thorough, clear, and matched exactly what he had already explained to us in person. On the scheduling side, Christina was fantastic. She was professional, responsive, and quick to follow up. Coordinating the inspection was smooth and efficient, even with a compressed timeline, and communication was clear every step of the way. Overall, we had a really positive experience with First Choice Inspectors. Between Joe's knowledge and communication and Christina's excellent coordination, everything felt well organized and well handled. We'd absolutely recommend them and would happily work with them again.

We had a great experience with First Choice Inspectors. Kim was timely, pleasant, and very…read morethorough. She explained any issues to my husband in detail and answered any questions we had. Would highly recommend Kim and would use her again in the future!

Jason was super thorough, friendly, and patient! He answered all our questions about the house in…read moreaddition to looking through everything. His prices are very very reasonable.

A to Z did a very thorough inspection on a house we were under contract to buy. He discovered…read moreseveral things that are quite costly to repair, and we decided not to buy the home. The price was very reasonable and he saved us from some big surprises. He's very punctual and professional. I would highly recommend.

I highly recommend Greg Bradle and Lucent Property Inspections. I needed a home inspection and was…read moreable to line one up almost immediately. Greg's communication was lightning-fast and clear, which made it easy (particularly for someone who hasn't gone through this before). When he did the inspection, he was happy to have me tag along and provided incredibly helpful information (which gave me confidence about the state of the house and a useful idea of what I should work on in the future and when). The inspection was extraordinarily thorough. The resulting report was clear, with tons of detailed photos and the ability to organize it into specific action plans. Overall, the inspection was a great deal in terms of price and value received.

Greg was super professional and easy to talk to. We had a unique situation and he was able to help…read morewithout delay. His communication was clear and prompt. Our report told us what we needed to know and he was very fair and level in his evaluation. The report was even more helpful bc it added a timeline and suggestion to each presented issue to give you and idea of the level of concern (especially helpful for inexperienced buyers). His prices were given up front and understood easily. We were very pleased overall and would use him again in the future if needed.

I had a home inspection done in January on a home that I purchased. Closed in mid February…read more Work on the house began immediately and stove was removed and gas shut off at the stove. No structural repairs were done on the house. Moved in late May. Stove was installed and there was a smell of gas. Called Nicor and they discovered the entire gas line was leaking gas at every joint! Nicor immediately turned off the gas and an emergency repair was necessary. The cost was $2350! I contacted the home inspector and they were unsympathetic to say the least. They advised me that it was not leaking at the time of inspection and said they used the same gas detection meter that Nicor uses. I find this highly unlikely as every joint on the gas line was leaking! I was flabbergasted and quite upset that the inspector did not catch this highly dangerous and life threatening flaw! The lack of accountability for their negligence was appalling!

I'm a first time buyer on a shoe-string budget and I am looking at the world's biggest fixer-upper…read more~ in other words, I'm a complete idiot who knows nothing about everything and god help me if anything unforeseen occurs because I'll be beyond screwed. Therefore, I am thanking every deity in existence that Bill and Jan of Advanced Home Inspections exist! This is a husband and wife team, with Bill doing all the climbing, poking and prodding and Jan typing in information as they go on a laptop cleverly rigged around her neck. When Bill goes into crawl spaces and such, they use radios to relay information back and forth. When the inspection is done, they print up a very nice hard bound report for you on the spot, then take you on a walk through of the house to explain the results. Both of them are really great about explaining things and answering questions, and the report itself is incredibly thorough, clear and easy to understand. The report includes Bill's credentials (he is a member of ASHI and is licensed by the state), an incredibly easy to read room by room breakdown of the home, detailed information on home preservation and maintenance, and the standards for both ASHI and Illinois licensed home inspectors. Furthermore, Bill makes sure to give you EPA guides related to any issues located in the house and e-mails you pictures he takes as he moves through the house that detail any issues he locates. They spent nearly four hours working with me and walking me through the issues and only charged me $250 - well worth every last penny. For an incredibly thorough, non-sugarcoated, and professional home inspection, give these wonderful and friendly folks a call. Sure, the house I'm looking at has some issues and I'll be spending every cent I have for the next 5 years fixing it up, but at least I know that there won't be any surprises!

You know those annoying things in reviewing, right? Like... "I'd give this place NO stars, if I…read morecould" or "I'd give them ALL the stars." The overzealousness can sometimes read amatuer, less-than-thorough, so I get it, I do! Problem is... if I could, after working with Jon, I'd give Finest Home Inspection, Jon Ellis, owner, and his gorgeous wife, Jennifer ALL. THE. STARS! I'm buying a home as a newly divorce woman returning to Champaign after 12 years away! Part of the problem is that I'm doing this sight unseen. The other part? I've only ever purchased property with another human being! A compulsive, drill-down-fact-checker who basically built life to fit the way he wanted to live! Nothing wrong with that in theory, it just kinda left me without a ton of tools to do this on my own. First thing I learned in this process -- you CAN'T depend on anyone but yourself to do the legwork! My real estate agent, a fine enough person, said he'd hook me up with all his best people. I fell into the routing I lived for years pre-divorce! I let him make the decisions, let him set the appointments, and just got along to get along. The issues started when I got the first quote from his home inspector -- $600 to inspect a 1500 sq ft condo! That sounded high to me, so I went to everyone's best friend -- Google! -- and looked for awesome home inspectors in the Champaign area. I'll the truthful, there are plenty. But there's only ONE Finest Home Inspection. Only ONE Jon Ellis! So, the reviews (glowing as they are!) weren't wrong. For less than almost every other single home inspector (almost $200 less!), Jon went out to my property, went EVERYWHERE, took pictures EVERYWHERE, sent me a report that knocked my socks off (and did so in like... less than a day!), and then... offered to go over every single page of the 40+ he sent me so I understood all terminology, all requirements, all spaces and all his notes! Clearly this is my first home report on my own! If it wasn't obvious from the earlier read, with a pretty tightly controlling ex, this was my first chance to see the depth and breadth of everything that goes into choosing a home, buying a home, maintaining a home. I was concerned, immediately, when the report came back with a laundry list of fixes. But, later, when Jon and I spoke on the phone, he put my mind thoroughly at ease! Telling me that the repairs portion of a report usually looks like that -- or WORSE, MUCH WORSE! -- and so we went over the things I might wanna mention and the things I might just want to have a go with on my own, and Jon was nothing but kind, patient, understanding, and educational! You can tell that he was a home builder before he was a home inspector! And that's such a great thing I'm wearing out the !!! key. I also had the privilege of talking to Jon's wife, Jennifer. She's the other half of Finest Home Inspection. She was insightful, informative, generous with her time, and genuinely sweet. If she's got room for a new BFF, I mean! ;D There's still work to be done, for sure, but after the prior owner makes the adjustments and changes necessary, I'm happily spending the -- and yes, get this! -- less than $100 to have Jon go out and reinspect! One thing I know for sure in this process is this... I've never been so happy to spend like $450 (and that's all in, inspection AND reinspection with a report that came in less than 24 hours!) in my life! As a newly minted person, on a new path, with a new adventure ahead, I'm really looking forward to picking Jon's brain about making changes to my new home. Jon's like one of those all purpose tools you pass up your wrench, your screw driver, your hammer for! He's the whole package, like one of the most valuable members of your team. I promise if you trust him, you won't go wrong! =D

We used Finest Home Inspection for our recent home purchase in Champaign, Illinois and they were…read moregreat. Professional, thorough, competent and knowledgeable. Jon contacted us quickly to go over our inspection report and the inspection report told us so much more than just what needed to be repaired. We could not be happier with Finest Home Inspection and would recommend them to anyone who needs a home inspection done now and in the future!

We had these guys come out a few weeks ago just because we were about to purchase a home and I was…read morechecking out the home inspectors near me. The positives I will say is that Russ was very responsive from the moment we inquired about him and set things up and communicating with him. He'll even show up on time unlike most people nowadays. Russ did his job fine but me and my wife on site felt like he was not checking out other things that we noticed that were worth noting, picturing or documented so I could have a way to possibly get the owner to fix it before I purchase. All in all, Russ is friendly , his prices are fair and you'll learn a great thing or two from him personally which are great but just be vigilant to find and point out your issues and ask questions to make sure it can be documented.

Lack of attention to details, inept, mishandled paperwork, that's what you will get. Seemed to only…read morehave general knowledge that your dad or Uncle can probably address more pertinent issues. You might be better off watching a few YouTube videos then doing your own inspection. They missed 2 active infestations, Mud daubers (wasps) in the side attic. Carpenter ants in the basement. Both which we found about a month after we moved in, on our own. The exterminator said that had the inspector looked, there was no way to miss that they had been active for quite a while. I could maybe let the wasps slide, you would have to pay attention to general details to find it. The carpenter ants we found after cleaning. Had they looked at the joists in the basement they would never have missed the 2 spots. He also missed the flashing around the exhaust for the heat and fireplace while on the roof, had to have that repaired the 1st year we were in the house. Then there was the wood above the entrance that had it's own damage from the carpenter ants that needed to fully be replaced. He will point out some minor things, outlets in the bathroom, missing window cranks/ broken gear in window. Gutters needing more hangers... To top it off his assistant (wife) tried to turn us into collections for non payment, when I called and paid the day after the inspection. We emailed them the credit card receipt, and was I was right. That that kind of mistake doesn't often happen, and they would update their records. He couldn't even own that one and say they were sorry. I'm sure they would have excuses for everything they miss, and blame the homeowner or God. I highly recommend finding someone else or brush up on YouTube, you can only have better results. The one star is warranted, this has to do with your home. Good luck, and congratulations on your upcoming purchase.

My boyfriend and I are buying our first house and needed an inspector. Rodney was amazing! He was…read morevery polite, funny, and really seemed to know what he was talking about. He also made sure to take the time to explain everything to us that we either didn't know or needed to know for the future. He even got our inspection report to us within the same day which was really great. Not to mention his fee was much lower then other inspectors in the area. We appreciate how patient and knowledgeable he was and would highly recommend him to anyone looking to get a home inspection.

Extremely happy with the services Rodney he provided for my family! He came and did an inspection…read moreon our newly built home last April was extremely thorough, honest, and genuine! We recently had him visit our home again to check on a few things we had noticed since last April. He came the SAME day I contacted him, and didn't charge us anything!! He gave us peace of mind and a great inspection experience!

I'm not known for a complimentary personality, but I have to say that Jess and his assistant Tammy…read morewere very " Prompt, Professional, Detailed and Thorough". The company name truly reflects his business philosophy and ethic. Larry Jarosz Joliet, Il.

Jess was great. He explained everything and taught me a lot. I always said if I buy a house I would…read moremake sure to get a home inspection. Boy am I glad I did. There was a lot normal wear and tear. But the 4 or 5 major things he found I can not imagine having moved in and have my family be in danger. This is worth every cent you spend. Why make a major life purchase and not have someone look into it that doesn't have a clouded judgement. Thanks to A Plus!