Decent inspection but incredibly poor follow ups. I would have rated them higher but they missed a gas leak and when I notified them that their inspector missed a gas leak, they first asked me to fill a feedback form, then later a rude gentleman called to interrogate me about the story (repetition of the same questions answered in their feedback form) and inform me that if their inspector cannot smell gas there is nothing they can do (even when 3 others in the room can smell gas) read more

Terrible. Missed obvious issues that resulted in costing us thousands of $ & possible health issues. Owner came to review & "APOLOGIZED". Offered a remedy but never followed through and did not refund $. Complete sham. Coldwell Banker agrees and gave a poor review as well. STAY AWAY. read more

These folks are great. Ask for John Marino. He obviously knows what he's talking about, he was very good at explaining things to us first-time home-buyers, and he's very personable. read more

These guys are on top of their game. The appointment was made the same week I contacted them. Paul, the inspector, was there early and on the roof by the time we arrived. He was patient and took his time to explain everything to me. As a first-time home buyer, he was ideal and made me feel comfortable with the many elements that make the house work. We had the inspection report by 8am the next morning! The report is well organized and included a lot of photos and will be a helpful resource as I make the little repairs. read more

I would give this service 5 stars because he was extremely thorough and wow, what credentials -- knowledgeable doesn't begin to cover it -- BUT Shaefer has the inspectors fill out the report as they go along which ended up making the inspection take nearly FOUR HOURS (3 hrs, 50 mins). Inspectors need to fill out those reports on their own/company time, not mine and my clients' time. What should have taken a maximum of 2 hours wound up taking 4. This is a major reason that as a realtor I will NOT be recommending your service to my clients going forward. Competent and knowledgeable, but my time is worth something too. Even if these inspectors fill out the report immediately after working on the house, at least everyone else doesn't have to stand around waiting. read more

A home inspection, as these folks point out at the beginning of their inspection reports and agreements signed in connection with the inspection, is a moment-in-time snapshot covering only things that are readily observable and accessible and excluding a number of things (that may or may not meet that particular criterion). They can't tell you if your roof leaks-- you've got to have a qualified roofer do that (or an honest seller!). (Makes sense: you have to put a roof through water tests or observe it under the condition of heavy or prolonged rain to actually know if it leaks.) Among items excluded from the purview of Schaefer inspectors, the one that mattered for us is MOLD. A series of professionals later in our house to evaluate the condition of our basement said that they immediately smelled and tasted mold upon entry and found several places with visible black mold growing on basement walls. Each, to a person, expressed surprise that our inspector hadn't mentioned these in our home inspection report. You see, they hadn't read page 2 of the Home Inspection Agreement where identifying the presence of mold is listed among the 33 things that apparently aren't included in the Connecticut Home Inspection Standards of Practice. It may be that this is par for the course. Another inspector might have failed to comment on the very same set of things (per CT Standards). But it caught us by surprise that black mold on a wall less than ten feet from where our kids would otherwise play pingpong for several hours a day wasn't the sort of thing that gets mentioned. Your basement might be absolutely full of mold. These guys aren't saying (or at least aren't obligated to say so). In our case they didn't. Our inspection covered a lot of things (and took more than 4 hours). But we were wrong to think that we had a pretty good idea of what we were dealing with in our basement as a result of that inspection. Buyer beware. read more

Schaefer Inspection Service - Black mold on basement wall - Home Inspectors Near Me - Woodbridge, Connecticut

This company was in charge of doing my home inspection prior to me purchasing my home. The gentleman who came was nice enough, but several costly things were missed, most importantly and obviously to any home inspector would be that there is no hot water coming from the furnace. It was not possible to get hot water. There are 100lbs of pressure coming off of the street heating the coil in the furnace too fast that the water does not get hot enough for a shower. That's one point. The other was that I had rotted pipes with five leaks under the kitchen sink. Had the sink been plugged or water run through, it would have been found. And I have pictures of this. Also, there are broken windows. I can keep going. But there's no point. Inspectors are like weather men. They get paid no matter if they are right are wrong. STAY AWAY read more

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I used Schaefer inspections for inspection and engineer's report of house. The engineer was 40 minutes late and did not come with necessary equipment. He said that he rushed from office and forgot it. He came with a tennis ball. He spoke most of time with agent and assumed that I was the agent since I am female. .It was a waste of $850. Office tried to send him back after 4/5 days. I requested refund but did not get one. As for general inspection the inspector missed a 10 foot deep hole at driveway and shed. He missed repair for chimney. I did not use this company again when purchasing another house. This company was recommended by realtor. read more

Schaefer Inspections was very communicative, clear, and helpful. For first-time homebuyers, any attention to our lack of knowledge is appreciated; our inspector, John, took the time to carefully walk us through everything he did and reported, so that we felt confident in our understanding of the situation and how to resolve it. I cannot begin to describe the peace of mind that can give you in such a chaotic process as homebuying! Every member of the staff we interacted with demonstrated that same caring professionalism, from booking the appointment to explaining the radon test results. I cannot recommend Schaefer highly enough! read more

The inspection was thorough. They checked the electrical, the plumbing, the heating, the attic, the roof, the sinks, tubs, windows, appliances, etc. Also had a radon test. I didn't see anything that I was unhappy with. The inspection was $385. The radon test was $155. read more

Schaefer Inspection Services scheduled the inspection for 3:00 pm on a Friday. According to the town's official property listing report, there's over 6,400 square feet they needed to inspect and they wanted $640. I agreed, it's an all wood house, with three full stories. I have been involved with 5 other thorough inspections and anyone with experience knows what's involved. The actual inspection was done in under 2 hours, I was stunned, that was for $640. I got a confident man as an inspector. First thing he says after he arrives and that he had a semi business type relationship with the seller. I was the buyer trying to negotiate a fair price and I expected a full, complete inspection. I didn't know what to do, the owners had vacated the house, and the 2 realtors were already there, isn't that a conflict of interest? The guy proceeds to feed me line after line. I have renovated multiple houses and this Schaefer inspector would repeatedly avoid answering my questions by changing the subject, his tactics were obvious after just a few minutes. Here's one example, I noticed he hadn't turned on any of the 4 heating zones, so I asked him, and he said he didn't have to, because he could hear the circulator working on the water heater. Then I point to the radiant heat pipes which was one of the zones that he hadn't been aware of, and he says that would need special equipment to measure the heat in areas of the floor. I am looking at him thinking, gee, there are 2 manifolds, intake and outtake, right here next to us, with all the radiant heat tubing. An easy and quick test would be to touch each tube, the heat should be warmer on the outtake and cooler on the returns, and measuring the temperature would be simple and easy too, and also there should also be plumbing to mix in cooler water to get a lower temperature, the other 3 zones are baseboard and run at a higher temperature than radiant heat. Anyway, if the Schaefer inspector had turned up the thermostats in the house for each zone, he would have discovered some serious and very costly issues in less than one minute. The inspector did not use binoculars, which caused him to miss other serious issues. Don't most inspectors use good binoculars to inspect high areas? These are just 2 examples out of many issues missed by Schaefer Inspection Services. I contacted the business owners providing all the details and invited them over to see all the issues they have with their inspector. They didn't accept my offer. I lost a lot of money, I had a sales contract and if I had known about the issues, I could have addressed them before the closing. The owners are nice people, but they have at least one inspector not up to the task and this guy is still listed on their website many months after explaining this guy is a problem, so I felt it's appropriate to share my experiences, so that other people looking for inspection services can make an informed decision. read more

Scott was our inspector on a prospective home, and it was a great experience. It took only a couple of days to get the inspection scheduled, and the report was incredibly thorough and very prompt. Scott provided a lot of additional information when we sent him a list of questions, and also offered to explain anything in detail via phone. The report included a lot of photos also, which made it much easier to understand some of the issues/concerns. read more

Tom was excellent, very pleasant easy to Understand and fair and honest . Did not inflate any situation was completely honest and that's what I wanted. read more

Sadly, the service that you provide should improve as the years go by, but my son's recent experience with your company leaves me thinking your service has both declined and become complacent. I used your company when purchasing my home in Woodbridge in 1984. Now, 34 years later a simple act of running a DW to determine functionality was simply omitted. Yes, as other posts state, the report was very timely, but no test of the DW ? On the day before my son was to move in, he went to run the dishwasher. The DW never filled with water and when he resorted to hiring a repairman, he was told the wiring was not properly connected. Then, when it did begin to fill with water, the water connections in the basement began to leak all over !!! Totally furious that this was omitted and is now costing him money that could have been negotiated at the closing. read more

We used Schaefer on the recommendation of our real estate agent, and while the actual inspector Eoin was timely on the day of, and pleasant as he completed the walk through, the customer service from the business owner has been less than ideal after we moved into our new home. An issue a few weeks after we moved in occurred with with our ejector pump caused by the float being stuck. This of course is not part of the inspection, but a flag to let us know an alarm should be installed should absolutely be part of the visual inspection. The owner has dodged our calls now for two weeks or calls and says he'll call back (never does), basically refusing to take responsibility that his team should've alerted us to this. While the company seems nice enough, they don't have the customer's best interest at heart and unfortunately we are now stuck with a basement project to fix a flood we should've been able to avoid.. read more

My inspector Ron was extremely thorough and professional. He answered all my questions and spent a lot of time at my new house.

Every interaction I have had with Schaefer Inspection Service has been very pleasant. I was able to get an inspection scheduled in just a couple of days and at a time that was very convenient. I am a first time home buyer and was assigned Jim as an inspector. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and incredibly thorough. He didn't rush any aspects of the home inspection and took extra time to address my concerns! The inspection report was submitted to me within hours of the appointment as well. He gave me the information and confidence I needed to purchase a home for the first time. read more

Used this service to inspect a condo in Hartford. Jim was knowledgeable and answered all our questions. Very straightforward inspector. Wanted to make sure we understood everything. read more

My experience with Schaefer Inspections was very good. When I first called and spoke to a female, she was extremely nice and polite. Ron showed up to my inspection early and was ready to rock and roll which was fantastic. What I will say though was Ron did miss a few items that my grandfather and I saw. First, he missed that the railing bar on the main steps was slanted. When we asked him about the railing, he said it was very solid. We showed him that the top post was not fully secure and it seemed to be a bit rusty. Next, my grandfather who is an electrician asked how the amp circuit was. He told us fantastic. But when we showed Ron the amp circuit we quickly showed him that the amp circuit was not up to code and there was a violation in regards to a low voltage transformer was in a high voltage panel box which is a bit of a hazard. Lastly, we asked him about the washer and dryer which he found one flaw with the dryer pan. But he also missed the fact the washer machine drying pan was not connected and had some damage to it. The report that Ron sent me was very thorough and I was extremely satisfied. The report came quickly the next day with pictures and great details. Bottom line is, Ron is extremely nice, polite, and a great all around guy. When we pointed the three things out that he missed, he quickly noted them and took photos. He owned up to making the mistake and even said he learned some things from us. He spotted multiple things, but missed three things that I wish he did identify because had my grandfather whose an electrician wasn't there, I would have never even known about those three things. At the end of the day, I would recommend this company but I would also check there work because sometimes multiple eyes could be better than one set. read more

I used Schaefer inspection for the recent inspection of my home. Due to work constraints I was unable to be present for the full time of the inspection, but immediately after closing I did a walk through with a contractor and we immediately picked up on a handful of significant and costly problems that were not included in the inspection report: blatant asbestos, dry rot in the attic, and broken windows. Thus, I would say their inspection was useless and costly. When I called to discuss these misses with the owner, she was aggressive and defensive. Do not recommend for your home inspection. read more

I had both Bruce and Ron do inspections for me on two different property's and they were both amazing. They both did a great job. I would highly recommend Schaefer inspection Service.I feel very confident in both of there abilities. read more

Bob Diamond did an excellent job and was very detailed but also made sure he took the time to explain what he was doing, and cover anything I, the future homeowner, should know about my new home. As a first-time home buyer I felt it was a very good learning experience for me and Bob was very informative and understanding that I knew very little about the ins and outs of a home and its various systems. I highly recommend. read more

John came to inspect our house for our potential buyers. When we returned home after the inspection we came back to a mess. There were soot handprints all over the house. He had clearly checked the fireplace first and never washed his hands. He also put a whole in the wall trying to remove a panel, also leaving a mess and debris all over the floor. He also changed the settings on the air conditioners, and turned on the heat, obviously to check it, but never turned it off or the a/c back on so we returned to a 100 degree house in August. read more

I was very satisfied with the thorough, professional inspection and report provided. The scheduling, followup and overall client service from Schaefer Inspection Service was outstanding as well. read more

I would give them NO stars, but that is not an option. We had our inspection done on Saturday by Tom Begg- who I advise you to NOT use. He showed up and was not very friendly, had an attitude, and every question we asked we never received a straight answer for. The basement had water damage, but there was "no evidence of water damage" to Tom. I wish I could post pictures on here because we took picture of the 2X4's that support the walls in the basement deteriorating, but Tom did not find that, m y dad did- I should have saved $400 and had my dad (who is not a certified inspector) do the inspection- he would have done 100 times better! Called to complain and the company refuses to give me any of my money back- GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE (NOT). Jill told me that "maybe Tom was having a bad day" well I didn't spend $400 or Tom to "have a bad day." Thanks to my dads great find we are not buying the house now.. no thanks to Schaefer or Tom. read more