We used Inspection Services Northwest as we were searching for a new home, so we were repeat customers. I can't speak highly enough about the level of Service from Annie in setting up the appointment, through to the staff who showed up to perform the inspections. Everything went well and the resulting inspections were very complete and professional and gave us confidence in purchasing our home. In the rare event that Inspection Services Northwest was unavailable, I had to use an alternative service and they very much paled in comparison. read more

Anne & Randy had great customer service. Randy was a very knowledgeable inspector and explained the details with me.

I had the delight of having an inspection conducted by Jeff Longaker. He he was professional, friendly, knowledgeable, and a great explainer of new construction. Jeff was meticulous with his inspection and as someone who is emphasizes attention to detail, I was BEYOND HAPPY, when Jeff was pointing out small details that the builder eventually fixed. I was geeking out on some of his equipment and he took time to chat with me about it and about the new technology that is coming out. I definitely learned A LOT about our new home. read more

If I could leave negative stars I would. We used Inspection Services Northwest to inspect our property. There are three portions of the house that extend out and beyond the foundation. Unfortunately these areas were not enclosed by the builder so the insulation was exposed and also opened up so rats could gain entry into the crawl space. There was yet a 4TH location left open underneath an exterior deck that also allowed rats to gain entry. NONE of this was picked by this inspection company. What was the result you ask? $4,200 in repairs to remove the vapor barrier and the damaged insulation and replace with new vapor barrier and new insulation. What was this company's response? Oh well, sorry about your bad luck. Have a nice day. No offers of support whatsoever. If you want to avoid unnecessary repairs down the road due to a shoddy inspection, then avoid this company at all costs. Gone are the days when companies stand behind their own negligence. read more

I used this outfit to Inspect a house we're buying with a full remodel and they were able to improve on the improvement ! I got Jeff, who was very professional, courteous and knowledgeable on all aspects of home construction. Having built 3 homes I was able to test him in a subtle way :). Jeff showed up on time, paid good attention to all parts of the house and had some very high tech tools that he demonstrated for us. It helped boost our confidence that nothing will be missed. Home inspections have skyrocketed in cost since a few years ago and it's important to carefully choose your outfit. I can vouch for INW. They're based in Bothell but they gladly accommodated my call to the spot in Des Moines and my free time schedule. A+ read more

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Well I gave these guys a shot to come and see the issues before I wrote this but they wanted me to take pictures instead of coming to see what they missed. It was too late for pictures I had to make the fixes before it cost me more money. Had an inspection last year for my new home. I knew it was gonna be crap when I found out the inspector had invested a whole 1 hour on a 2000 sqft house. What a joke. The first week we moved in it rained the entire week. Luckily I had the sense to climb into the attic to make sure the roof was leak proof. Well part of it was. I soon discovered water teeming down the pluming vent pipes. Put a bowl under them since there was only sheet rock paper left between the attic and kitchen, everything else had disolved away. Later I discovered that there was a glaring gap on three of the four rooftop went pipes that my inspector failed to even look at. Did he even go on the roof or just take some pictures? Back to the inspection. Before I got there I failed to pull down a little old insulation in the garage. Make sure you do this because the inspector will do nothing but stare at the roof and suggest you get new insulation. Under that insulation I later found a termite village. Subterranean termites love west Seattle. The pest inspectors that actually knew as much as I had learned about Sub-t's think the insects had been here for decades. Tell tale signs were everywhere, but wait, the home inspection company has an out. "Outside the scope of inspection- Termites, pests, or other wood destroying organisms" They don't look for that kind of damage only suggest that the board that turns to dust get looked at. Well thanks a lot. They ate through 2 ft by 10 ft section of my dining room sub-floor. Anyway, too late now, they won't do anything to correct the issues because I already did it. My point is that for the rest of you looking for an inspection on your new home, make sure you find a company that will actually do the three hours of work and find the problems. These guys are not the ones. My brother had a great inspection with a good company. They actually spent the three hours you pay them for to thoroughly look through your investment, gave him a nice binder with all the suggestions and made him feel like he was protected from costly repairs. ISN cost me $450 and they missed a bunch of stuff and now the pest guys will get another $1500 but at least it will be a one time thing. Find a different company for your home inspection and I guess hire a pest inspector out here in West Seattle or an inspector who recognizes critter damaged areas of a home. read more

I purchased a home near North Bend one year ago and my realtor strongly recommended these guys and the individual inspector we waited to use. The inspector missed a ton of small items, however, I am pretty handy and was able to repair the majority of these for about $2,000 total. The big problem is an entire set of windows were damaged and leaking around the frame area. The inspector mentioned caulking some, but nothing about the failed windows where a leak had gone Down the wall and damaged the windows themselves. While I purchased the home during the dry season, the people I hired to replace the windows told me a 5th grader should have seen the problem even without rain. Thus I had to spend over $10,000 to replace windows when I could have negotiated for this when purchasing the home. The bottom line is I will never use these guys again nor the realtor who recommended them. Since I used their supposedly best inspector, I would stay away from these guys. read more

I have been a Realtor for 10 years, and I've been proudly using and referring Wade and Jeff at ISN with complete confidence for the past 5 of those years. Prior to finding these guys, I experienced quite a few different inspectors... some better than others. However, none of them matched the complete package that I can expect from ISN. They are true professionals, extremely knowledgeable, and they know what they're doing. The experience they've garnered from completing 1000's (and 1000's) of inspections is evident. They are very thorough and methodical when they inspect, and they are clear and informative when they present their findings. One thing that I really like compared with many other inspectors is that they keep things in perspective, and they're not alarmists. If there is a defect, they call it out. If that defect is fixed with a $5 trip to Home Depot, they tell you. Another thing that sets them apart is the use of infrared cameras. How are all inspectors not using these, I don't know?! I remember a time they did an inspection for buyers of mine that were purchasing new construction. Well, thanks in part to the thermal camera, they found that the washing machine drain in the wall was not properly installed, and thus, water was leaking in the wall when the washer ran. Whoops. Who knows how long it would have taken to figure that out, and how much damage would have been done? As a real estate professional, it is critical that I have a group of other professionals that I can count on to take care of my clients. At the end of the day, the folks I recommend during a home purchase or sale reflect directly on me, so I am hyper vigilante that those people value the same level of professionalism and integrity that I do. In 5 years, Wade and Jeff at ISN have not let me down! read more

I have been in the real estate/ title & escrow industry for over 12 years now and I always thought all home inspectors were basically the same. NOT THE CASE! Being that my husband and I are purchasing an older home, we wanted to be sure to check out every nook and cranny so that we were not surprised with any issues down the road. Inspection Services Northwest came highly recommended and now I know why. Thorough does not even begin to explain how good they are! The thermography imaging is amazing and can show any hidden problems or potential problems. The report came to us as a link the next day and we devoured the content. The report was easy to read, comprehensive and very detailed. We would both highly recommend Inspection Services Northwest and their team of professionals. If we have need of inspection services again, they will be our first and only call. read more

I am a real estate investor and after finding Inspection Services Northwest I have stopped using other inspection companies. This particular review describes my first experience with them, to inspect a 32 unit apartment building with retail space, spanning 2 buildings. The cost was $1,200. Coordinating them to inspect occupied units would have been a real challenge (not on their part, but dealing with all the residents), so they looked in a few apartments in critical areas to check for roof damage and I inspected the actual apartments myself. They used their thermal imaging scanner to look for active and old roof leaks, and to also look for water intrusion in the walls. This was worth the price itself, very very useful knowledge. They thoroughly checked the roofs, and recommended I follow up with a roofer (which I did, I ended up needing to replace them). They inspected all the common areas and utilities. There were a lot of water heaters and electrical panels, and they checked every single one. They inspected the crawlspaces and grounds. All in all, they did an amazingly thorough job. They gave me a 38 page report within a couple days. It had photos of every single problem area and comments on what the problem was. This turned in to my punch list for repairs after I closed on the building. After the inspection, I was impressed because they gave me a very fast turnaround date for when the inspection report would be formally ready, and it was ready exactly on time for download. I am used to this taking forever and I have gotten some strangely formatted and hard to read inspection reports from other inspectors. The report Inspection Services Northwest gives is clear, concise, and just exactly what you need to know. In general - the reason I keep using Inspection Services Northwest is because of the depth of knowledge with apartment buildings (Wade, the owner, was present in both times I used them for apartment complexes). The inspector I have used for single family homes has also been exceptionally knowledgeable. I love the fact that I can pay online with a credit card, and the woman who sets up the appointment and answers my initial questions was always very friendly and got back to my instantly. During this inspection and subsequent ones, I appreciated that they answered my many many questions about what they were seeing. I highly recommend them! read more

LOVE! LOVE! LOVE THIS COMPANY!! They are my ONLY go-to inspection company for BOTH my buyers and sellers. ISN supports their inspections with a very detailed report that creates a roadmap for my clients; issues that need to be handled right away and others that they need to keep an eye on. If I could give them 10 stats, I would! read more

Inspection Services Northwest came highly recommended to us from our realtor; some would say go with someone else, but we trust our realtor and after researching the company, we couldn't say no. Jeff was incredible; he was efficent, yet friendly; informative, yet not panic-inducing. He let us walk through the inspection with him (as expected) and explained everything (good and not-so-bad in our case). He started on the roof and ended in the crawlspace - with everything in-between. He used thermography to check for water leaks in the walls, etc. then showed us why he was doing that. Not only did Jeff possess the technical knowledge; he explained everything in layman's terms without being condescending. He also went through all the pictures he took and further broke down what was needed and why. Any question we had, he answered and any question we probably forgot, he anticipated. Experience is worth it. To top it off, he was friendly. The inspection went well; the price was reasonable (and worth every penny); and I can't thank him enough for making it a smooth and even fun process. read more

To say we were disappointed would be a GINORMOUS understatement... it was an absolute NIGHTMARE. The inspector (who was pleasant and seemed knowledgeable) missed three different spots during the inspection that should have triggered additional investigating BUT instead we were told (in front of our realtor) that the house was in good condition with normal "wear and tear." SOOO we proceeded with the purchase of our house... made an early offer and over asking... we LOVED the house. Upon move in, we discovered mold/dry rot in the storage closet (that was hidden during the inspection by the Seller) which ended costing us over $16,000 to remediate/remove the mold and dry rot, repair and put our house back together. When we contacted ISN, the office was very responsive, apologetic and requested us to send photos. They further assured us and our realtor that they would "work with us." Once we ended up dealing with the owner of the company, the level of professionalism and customer service tanked and I can honestly say I have never dealt with anyone LESS professional. He showed up at our house to take a look at what was missed, he was red faced, pissed off and ended up telling our contractor to "fuck himself" and refused to discuss the situation further. He is a bully, rude and incredibly unprofessional. We considered a lawsuit but decided to let it go and ended up accepting a pittance of a settlement just to end the nightmare with this jerk. read more

They sent two very professional, thorough inspectors, which we thought was great because they were so efficient. They only took little over an hour, contrary to the three hours we had booked. Then they spent time going over their photos and recommendations before we even left the home. They found things that ultimately caused us not to buy. We'll use them again when we make an offer on our next one. Convenient online payment system that prompts you to accept the appointment and remember to pay. You can also pay by check. read more

Used these guys for my first home. They were fantastic. Answered any and all of my questions even the dumb ones. The guy was very detail oriented and it took about 2.5 hours. My realtor was very impressed as well. I would absolutely recommend these guys to anyone who is buying a house and wants the inspection done for the buyer and not the seller. Typically a house inspection is done in the sellers best interest. Not with these guys... this inspection was done to ensure that I would be happy and satisfied with my new home and not have repairs pop up soon after the house was closed. Love these guys! read more

I have used them twice, I thought the first time they just had an off day, but they were worse the second time. I found them very unprofessional, showed very little respect for the home they were inspecting. No shoe covers, very rough on the home they inspected (caused damage,) poor communication before, during and after the inspection, forgot a number of things on the report (i.e. inspect the furnace) arrived too early and disturbed the owner occupant, made unprofessional comments during the inspection. I would not use them again. Left a message to speak with the owner, my call was never returned. And they charge $275 to re-inspect regardless of the number of items, yikes! read more

I've had the pleasure of seeing Wade in action during the process of inspecting homes. He has a very approachable demeanor that home buyers love and communicates well both verbally and in his reports. Wade also has an impressive use of technology as he employs tool that make the inspection process more through and comprehensive while at the same time being compatible with both high and low tech clients. My clients whom have worked with Wade have reported positively about the work they hired him to do and I consider myself lucky to have his expertise available for my clients read more

Our Inspection was very detailed. Our inspector(Dan) was great! He was detailed and explained every thing as he went along. We are purchasing a house (2600 sq ft) on Star Lake. I asked him to look @ the house as if he was purchasing it and he did! The inspection started @ 2:00p.m. and ended @ around 5:00pm. I originally met Dan during my nephew's inspection the week before ( My nephew is purchasing a starter home in Federal Way). I am confident to personally refer Dan to all my family and friends that are looking for a home inspector. I also spoke with Ms. Toro @ Inspection Services Northwest office. She was very customer oriented and wanted to make sure our experience was positive. If you order an inspection from Inspection Services Northwest be sure to ask for Dan! read more

We just bought a house this week. Inspection Services Northwest came to our attention while we were looking for a house. There was a house we were interested whose seller contracted Inspection Services Northwest to perform inspection and then provided the report to us. Both my agent and I were very impressed about the details the report contained. Unfortunately, we didn't get that house. After we found this house, we contacted Inspection Services Northwest to inspect it. The inspector Jeff did not disappoint us. At the time of inspection, he pointed out the most significant problems, and verbally provided estimates of the cost to repair. The report was as thorough as always. It greatly helped us in making the decision to buy the house. The cost for the 2450 sqft house was just $475. I will definitely recommend it to friends. read more

Amazing experience! Our realtor was very impressed also. As a Bonus I got to use BizX$!

As a real estate broker of many years I have, of course, gone with a number of different inspection services. Yesterday I needed a last-minute, end-of-the-day inspection and Wade was able to hook me up with Matt. He did a great, thorough job, was prompt, courteous and professional and I'm very appreciative. This was the second time I have used them and will probably make them my first call from now on. read more

I've used them twice. Jeff was our inspector both times. Good, thorough inspection from a friendly, helpful person. I really like the infrared camera to detect hidden water leaks and missing insulation--two things that matter a lot in the Northwest. The reports are wonderfully thorough but -1 star for the poor formatting. Everything important is entirely in all-caps and bold-faced. Makes it quite tiresome to read. A weighted summary would also be helpful. For example, the following items are Critical/Urgent: 1... 2... 3... ; these are Very Important: 1... 2... 3... These are items are Important But Less Urgent: 1... 2... 3... etc. I hope I don't require their services again soon, but will use them if I need another house inspected. read more

Our Real Estate Team has used Inspections Services Northwest for 20+ years! They give in-depth, honest, and thorough inspections every time. We would highly recommend Inspection Services NW to any home buyers or any agents looking for a top notch inspection firm! read more

Don't waste your money!!! We are purchasing a new house and found out from the neighbors to make sure we did an inspection before closing. Dan, the inspector, came early and he said he went on the roof already. (we just had pictures to show) He was nice and polite. I just felt that we had lead the inspection and that it was suppose to be him leading us. I asked questions, but did not really get a definite answer, just a vague answer. We are not quite sure that he did a complete inspection. He also took about 3 infrared pictures for the whole house. He did get a problem with the plumbing, but did not know quite what the issue was. I had call again to see if they would recheck the plumbing that the builder said they would fix and they were going to charge $275. Really, for something that they looked at before?!? It took 2 hrs to do a 2500 sq home and most of the time was us asking questions. Overall, I would not use them again. I would use someone that would care as if they were the ones purchasing the house. read more

I wouldn't recommend them. They show that they use thermography to detect water leaks/damage. thats all they got. They didn't even check if the the exterior outlet in the backyard is connected to water source or not. If it is winter I understand not missing in spring is very bad inspection. Same thing they did with Data port. I asked many times and the inspector said yes I checked an all data ports are working but when we moved in we found that they are phone ports which needs to converted to data port with different outlet. we spend over $1K to get this fixed. wish we new earlier to negotiate with the seller :-( read more

This site inspection was done for home purchase. The report failed to note evidence of pest infestation. A few weeks after we moved in our carpenter showed us the marks on basement beams indicating prior pest damage. The inspector and company owner, Mr. Wade Pennington, was notified of the omission. His response was to deny that his inspection should cover a pest exam. We contacted the Washington State Dept. of Ecology, which did their own inspection. On the basis of what they found, they issued a disciplinary warning into the file of this company. read more

Really not happy with the unprofessional attitude of this business. They came and inspected a property I had for sale and found a few defects for me to fix. That is not my beef. My beef is: 1) They let my dog into the house and did not shoo her out or called me to let me know that she was running amok in my home. The dog (bless her heart) pooped on my living room rug and tore up a pillow. I don t hate the dog, that s why she s mine. HOWEVER, I DO NOT let her into the house unless she is supervised. 2) They left the crawl space open in the garage. Didn t even try to pull the opening back up into some sembleance of closure. If the dog (as previously mentioned) had gone under the house, instead of into the living room, we would still be trying to pull her still lifeless body out. WHY DO YOU THINK IT WAS BLOCKED TO BEGIN WITH????? WTF? Are you stupid? Number 3) Pulled the chain soo hard on the bedroom levalor blinds that them fell down in a heap on the floor. Left them there... Seriously? We have lived here for 20 years and never had that happen. WTF? Are you people neathanderals? I don t have a problem with their inspection report but I DO HAVE A SERIOUS PROBLEM with their care of my home. No respect!!!! read more

Just purchased a house in Des Moines after having Inspection Services Northwest do our inspection. They were pretty thorough. They did a good job and had a nice written review with tons of pictures when they were all done. read more

We're buying our first home and hired Inspection Services Northwest to do our inspection. These folks are amazing. Amy in the office answered all my nervous questions. Inspector Dan came and spent hours going over the 60 year old house with a fine tooth comb and an infra-red camera to make sure we won't be surprised by foundation leaks, missing insulation or mold. And then our report came in about 24 hours, even though it was Saturday night. The report was comprehensive, easy to understand, and was sent as an Acrobat file with embedded weblinks for more information. I could not have asked for a better experience. read more

We are selling a just vacated rental in Des Moines and needed to know what wasn't working and needed repairs. We were referred to Inspection Service Northwest by our Realtor Tony Heffler. We were short on time and were very pleased when we called and they made an appointment for the following day. The inspector was obviously knowledgeable and very helpful. He checked more than we would even have ever thought of. He was very professional and friendly. He was able to show us everything on his computer right after he did his inspection and we had the full report later that day. We can't praise them enough and would recommend them without hesitation. read more