We had a stucco inspection on our home completed by Tom Southwell of Inspection Professionals on May 21, 2021. At the time we were prospective buyers and were very concerned about a crack in the stucco of the pop-out of our row-home. After a $400 stucco inspection Tom's recommendations on an official report were: "Based on the feel of the sheathing and the moisture measurements, no action is necessary at or to the stucco." We were quite relieved and moved forward with the purchase of our home.
Fast-forward to March 2022, ten months later. We saw water leaking down from the stucco after a storm and out of concern called in another company for an inspection. This inspection company found severe water damage using the same inspection methods that Tom supposedly used. The new inspector had enough concern that he warned us that we were likely in for a huge repair that would potentially entail going all the way down to the studs of our home. He also let us know that based on the spots Tom chose to check, he would not have gotten a proper reading and definitely did not know how to do a stucco inspection. In addition, he reiterated that there was absolutely no way that this happened in the ten months between the two inspections, this had most definitely been present when Tom came to our property.
I have attached photos of the damage for reference as well as our stucco inspection report from Inspection Professionals. This ended up a $40,000 repair on a house we would have never purchased if we had a proper stucco inspection by someone that knew what they we're doing in the first place.
I spoke to the owner of inspection Professionals, Steven Hunn , and his answer to this issue was to try to have us sign paperwork to keep our mouths shut (an NDA of sorts that he wanted notarized) and receive our $400 back from the initial inspection. We obviously declined. He also tried to use the gap mentioned above the door in our report as defense that they recommended something. This was nowhere near the stucco, was easily repaired by our contractor with a single piece of wood, and had absolutely nothing to do with the stucco. If I were you I wouldn't risk using their services. If nothing else I hope that this review can keep a few people away from this company and save you from the terrible consequences of a negligent inspection. read more