Pinnacle missed some major issues with my home. I probably would have walked away from the deal or…read moreseriously revised my offer had I known them.
It cost me around $13K to fix all the items that they missed. When my dad visited, he found all these problems within 5-10 minutes of going around the house (he's not even any type of tradesman or inspector!) Stacey seemed pretty dismissive about it on the phone. I would not recommend their services to anyone.
Update: I was fine leaving this a little vague as a professional courtesy, but since Stacey think's it's acceptable to fabricate information, I'll spill the tea. This time, I'll attach the proof for good measure!
First issue Pinnacle failed to identify was a crack in the foundation. Imagine buying a new home only to have your basement flood a few days later. At first I thought it was a broken sump pump, but when an expert came out to the property, he quickly identified a vertical crack in the foundation. Total cost $1,735 for the repair. Plus a few hundred for the shop vac and fans to dry out the place to prevent further damage.
Second issue Pinnacle failed to identify was dangerous wiring in the kitchen. Multiple lights and appliances were on a single circuit. When you ran them simultaneously, the lights would flicker, and sometimes the circuit would trip. There were no more spots left in the panel, so an upgrade was needed to put each appliance on it's own circuit and bring it up to code. Total cost $4,250 and countless hours of sleep lost wondering if an electrical fire would start in the house.
Third issue Pinnacle failed to identify was the removal of a load bearing wall. The home when originally built had a division between the dining room and the kitchen. A few weeks after moving in, I noticed that the ceiling started to crack in the kitchen area. The cracks continued to grow and I went into the attic to figure out what was happening. Up there, my dad and I found no additional support for the joists. They were thin and spanned the entire kitchen/dining room area. I had a structural engineer come out to evaluate, and he confirmed additional support was required. Total cost $5,900, and not being able to use 1/3 of the house for 4 days. The engineer's report was about $1,290, but I guess we can leave that off.
the contract language is confusing as to whether they are required to inspect and identify this type of issue. In all honesty, if I knew my inspector wouldn't check for things like this, I would have picked another inspector. I don't care is an outlet is broken, or some paint is chipping. I want to know major defects or damage to the property.
Fourth issue (new!) that Pinnacle failed to identify was a leak in the water line to my house. I signed up for a city service that warns you when your home uses excess water (sing of a leak). I got a few of those notices, and then called a plumber. The plumber found a gushing leak in the line on my side of the meter. Meanwhile, Pinnacle's inspection report claimed that I didn't even have a meter! Had the inspector found the meter, which was in the parkway and not hidden, and looked at it, he would have found that leak. After that gushing leak was repaired, the meter was still running when the water was off. This mean I have a leak somewhere between the meter and the house that I'm the process of fixing. Total costs so far is $1,058.55. This doesn't include services for leak detection and repair coming in the next few weeks.
Stacey falsely claims that my damages are inflated, but you can add all of that up. At the time I wrote the original review, it was about $13K. It's definitely going to get pushed higher once the leak is located and repaired. So not only did Pinnacle royally screwed up my inspection, they also felt the need to disparage me online. Consider that if you want to give them your business.
