Would not recommend for first-time homebuyers or those looking for honest guidance on purchasing a home. My husband and I had Stuart inspect our home and asked about specific cracks in our garage and outside wall. Stuart said they were cosmetic and normal and gave us a report saying the house was sound to purchase (with unrelated marginal repairs). With the years of experience Stuart says he has, and the amount of homes he says he inspects, we took him at his word.
Within less than six months, we started to see a lot of cracks appear internally that had been painted over before with tape and a door that started to jam. It made us nervous, so we called a foundation company to see if there were any issues. Lo and behold, we're now facing 16-24k in foundation repairs. While it's debatable on whether Stuart should have seen the 20+ painted over cracks (they're easily seen with a flashlight against the wall - something we learned from the foundation specialists), two of the three issues we're facing relate directly back to the cracks Stuart said were cosmetic- according to one structural engineer and four foundation specialists.
Since finding out these repairs, we've contacted Melanie and Stuart. They blew us and our realtor off for about two weeks as she tried to schedule a time for Stuart to come look at the house - per his request. Then when Stuart finally did come to the house, his response was "well I'm not a foundation expert". My husband then asked "if you were us, would you have purchased this home based on what you saw?" And Stuart said "I don't know". He couldn't say he'd purchase it, but showed zero hesitation during our inspection. Not once did he ever say, "I'm not a foundation expert, maybe you should have someone come out to be safe."
Because my husband and I were waiting for the structural engineer report and had an upcoming trip, the conversation ended with Stuart saying let's continue the conversation after we return and discuss "in a perfect world, what would happen".
I reached out to Stuart and Melanie on May 31 with three repair estimates and the findings from the structural engineer report. An hour and 52 minutes later, I received an "auto reply" out of office saying they'd be out of the office and reply to emails on June 10. I followed up on June 11. My husband called June 13 and left a voicemail. My husband called again June 14 and left another voicemail. They refuse to get back in contact with us and are making zero effort to put closure on this situation.
I guess in their perfect world, they ignore the customers asking them for some sort of accountability.
They say they're committed to the customer, but their actions clearly say otherwise.
Additional info based on Spradling's response posted on reviews elsewhere:
The issues we're facing were proven to have existed well before our purchase and are directly related to what Stuart marked in his report as cosmetic. Our inspection was in April 2018, and we have proof of contacting foundation specialists in October 2018. We finally had official estimates as of April 2019 and contacted our realtor to let her know. She reached out to Spradling to inform them, not me or my husband.
This review is based on the fact that once we told our realtor about the issues, Stuart requested to see our home - not to help us, but to see the issues two other foundation companies said should have been seen in our inspection. Once he saw our home and the issues, he asked for us to send him the estimates and the report findings so he and his wife could discuss how to move forward. Once I sent the estimates and reports, they refused to respond to emails, phone calls and text messages.
They responded to this review within an hour. They also responded to my Facebook review later that night, but since I was able to respond and point out the fact that THEY requested all of this, they deleted both their comment and my reply.
To be clear: My husband and I have NOT asked for a refund or any sort of compensation and this is the "commitment" we've received. read more
