In my opinion Presidential Inspections (PI) did a poor job for us on inspecting our home. The report did point out some issues, and caught some problems that needed addressing, but there were some minor things not caught and one major thing not caught which brings my opinion of the job PI did down to 1 star. The major thing that they did not catch was a major leak in the ceiling of a bathroom. There was prior evidence of some sort of spill/splash, but nothing was noted on the inspection report. We detected it upon move in, but thought it was a spilled water bottle or similar. The next rain saw water dripping out of the overhead lights of the bathroom. We had PI come back to take a look and upon using their infrared sensor they detected water present in the ceiling of the bathroom. The roofer inspected the area and found that there was a large gap in the siding above the bathroom that you could see light through. This wasn't detected by PI and when asked about it their reply was that it was not detectable if it wasn't raining at the time of inspection. Moisture may not, but sunlight certainly is.
Minor things not caught included loose door knobs, loose door stops, a missing insert to an in-ceiling can light above the kitchen sink, a microwave vent that was obviously loose and upon minimal inspection found to be held together with rubber bands and cut up beer cans, and gutters that, while noted they had "some debris", were actually clogged completely full. This was visible and obvious when looking at where the downspout connects to the gutter, and was also obvious with a simple tap of the downspout with a screwdriver or wrench where one could detect a clogged "thud" instead of a hollow "clang".
I contacted PI about these things and the reply was that the house was older and they only look for major structural defects. In the 2 other homes I have bought/sold, it seemed every minor detail was caught. On the house I sold before moving into the one PI inspected (which was newer than this current one), I was even dinged for a loose outlet cover, which was barely loose at all when we tightened them all up. After seeing the inspection of my previous home, and how meticulous they were, I feel that PI did not live up to the same standards. PI did offer to come and inspect the water leak, but I was also told that he was very busy and didn't have much time to deal with this matter. I did miss one inspection time due to a work conflict, and I contacted him to apologize and reschedule, but never heard back.
Overall, my opinion is that there are better home inspectors out there than PI and I would not recommend PI based on my experience. read more
