Techcon was recommended to me by my parents, who had a good experience with their home inspection several years ago - probably because the house they were buying was already in excellent condition. I WOULD NOT recommend this company to anyone looking at a fixer-upper or starter house... The inspector (Michael) pointed out very obvious issues - missing insulation, overgrown yard, soft spots in wooden deck. He was unable to find the home's crawl space access (it later turned out that the access door was actually an area I pointed out and specifically asked about since the floor tiles were cut and it looked like some type of well-hidden trapdoor - he didn't even try to investigate the area to see if it was an entry point. Of course I'm not an expert by any means, but I feel our inspector should've at least checked carefully to see if it was a way in when there were no other obvious access points).
Without even seeing the crawl space, the inspector speculated that it would be overgrown with tree roots, the foundation would likely be collapsing, the pipes would likely be cracked and corroded, and that we'd have to rip up the entire floor anytime there was a pipe issue. Basically, he told me to run for the hills and don't look back... who would buy a house with a report like that?!
I was a bit skeptical since all of these assumptions were made without actually SEEING the crawl space. Luckily I went with my instinct and hired a plumber to come in and hoped for better luck finding the elusive crawl space. The plumber quickly confirmed that the area that I had noticed was the crawl space access door and pried it up in about 2 minutes. Upon close inspection (over an hour down there!), not only was everything fine, but most of the pipes and the foundation were actually relatively new. Even better, the crawl space was dry and sealed with concrete walls - no evidence of rodents or water damage in sight. You can imagine my reaction to this report after what I'd been told by Techcon! And all of this for only $100 - a bargain after the $500 that was already wasted on our inspection.
Had I not gotten a second opinion, I would've passed up on a perfectly fine house for a great value! You shouldn't have to get a second opinion when the inspection already costs $500. I wish I had chosen a different company and wouldn't use Techcon again.
Edited: Rob, your extremely rude and unprofessional reply speaks volumes for your company. Everything I said is 100% accurate. I hate giving negative reviews and always think twice about doing it, but in this case I'm so glad I did! Well deserved! read more
