Home Inspection

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. We suggest doing an initial assessment of the problem you perceive in your house. You see mold but don't know how serious it is or where its coming from. We can answer those two questions during our initial visit for less than half of what our competitors are charging. Thinking of buying a home? Is this your first flip? You need us more than you know. All bank contracts have an "as is" set of clauses. We can estimate the reconstruction, code compliance, and/or remediation cost for you.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Check their credentials. All contractors doing more than $600 of work must be licensed by the state. Check their insurance certificate. In today's economy many contractors have cancelled their insurance. Call the agent to verify the policy. Google the name of the company and the person you are dealing with. It is amazing at what you can find in less tan thirty key stokes.

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. Almost all professional have one or several national associations that certify their members. NACHI is the National Association of Home inspectors. IAQA is the Indoor Air Quality Association. Each organization has a list of current member and their status on their web site. Ask your professional which agencies certify their knowledge base? Do they require continued education in their field? What was the last course you took? How does that training relate to my job? Have you ever taught your profession?

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. Are you the legal owner of the property we would be working at? Are there court rulings or divorce decrees that limit what we may do? Does a mortgage company have an overruling right to limit and inspect the project?
Do you have insurance enforce during the project? Will the city or township approve the project? If you need a variance, who will present that to the governing body? How much will your taxes increase? Have you decided on the cleanliness of what the contractor leaves you at the end of the day? Shop vac, broom sweep, or maid service? Who drug screens workers? Have you removed valuables from the house? Collections?

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. I know of no other contractor and/or inspection company that has multiple degrees and twenty four other certificates hanging on their walls. Come visit our office to see certifications in indoor air quality, industrial hygiene, mold, radon, asbestos, lead, construction, the building trades, etc. We have been in business for 38 years, with 9,002 customers. Many of these customers are return clients.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. When I was 12 years old Dad said your coming to work today. I thought he meant that day. That was 52 years ago and I am as exited about today's projects as I was 52 years ago. I have no regrets in looking forward to typical 16-18 hour days: six and seven days a week. When you need us we will be there. Very few week go by that I have not saved people's lives. I truly love what I do.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. Surprisingly many people in today's economy are not interested in what certification you have or how you do business. They want the cheapest price. They do not care is the company is licensed, insured, bonded, certified, pay more than a living wage, provide health benefit options for their employees, or verify the immigration status of people who are coming into their home. They just want the cheapest price. Life and business experience has proven to us there are not shortcuts. After all, we are an overnight 38 year success.

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. Sixty two year old man call me to report he cannot stand the smell of his house. He had his carpet cleaned five weeks prior. The carpet company told him to leave his windows open. Upon my entry into the house that afternoon I immediately recognized the smell a acidic acid. It was the carpet cleaner's first day on the job. Instead of mixing the neutralizing acid to a 5% solution he pumped all 165 gallons of acid on my clients carpet and furniture. Unfortunately the homeowner lost 42 lbs in the prior 5 weeks since the carpet was cleaned. I immediately got him to an industrial hygienist physician. I saved his life. The lawsuit is still pending.

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. May 26, 2011 three point five inches of rain fell in the Downriver area. One of our customers, we have been servicing them for 22 years, finished basement flooded. We were there within hours. Pumped the water out, wrote the estimate for the insurance claim, and proceeded to replace an 83 year old drain system. The claim was accepted as is. We are in many insurance company's data bases as preferred contractor. The basement was gutted. The walls were waterproofed on the outside. In total we move 62 years of dirt. Yes we broke an air conditioner thermostat wire and cracked one 4" x 7" glass block. The project passed inspection.
We got paid, and the client's house is better than it was prior to the flooding. Win-Win, all is well.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. Two national association required 20 and 40 continuing education hours to renew our certifications. We renewed our Certified Indoor Environmentalist and International Association of Certified Home Inspectors with 72 hours. At approximately 2 credits earned per one day training seminar that means I was in class 36 days over 24 months period. That is commitment to providing you with the most current methodology in resolving your problem. I am a Lifetime NEA member, a Lifetime MEA member and taught the building trades for eight year. Each teaching skill should allow me to communicate what needs to be done to resolve your issue.

Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?

A. The news media has been doing an excellent job of educating the public about indoor air quality. More people are conscious about their quality of life and are taking action to increase their longevity. You may spent 12 to 16 hours a day in our home. Today there are ever increasing ways to not only clean the air you breath at home, but insure the quality of that air for years to come. We are more than being green. What we do is green. If you or a family member has any respiratory condition let us work with you in presently the latest choices to maintain your family health.

Q. Describe your most recent project, what it involved, how much it cost, and how long it took.

A. The basement flood: We estimated the restoration project at $48,000. We were there for five weeks and brought in plumbers, drain cleaners, electricians, trash hauler, landscaper, our carpenter crew, and a Certified Indoor Environmentalist who monitored the project. No project gets completed overnight. Quality and attention to detail take time. We completed the project under budget for the project. Was the homeowner frustrated with the time it took? Watch the movie The Money Pit. We are unlike all the contractors in the movie.

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. Depending on how far your building is from our office, the initial assessment fee is between $135 and $195. Testing, if recommended, starts at $635 but we waive the initial assessment fee. Commercial building inspections start at $595 and home inspections start and usually are $295. Other services are time and material: negotiated for the size of the work to be performed. Our reports have stood up against the best of opposing attorneys. Yes, we are expert witness and have an outstanding track record with the 27 law firms who use our service.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. When you think you have enough education in your field: go back to school. When you have completed that course or degree: go back to school. When you think you know the answer: ask some one else. When you know you have the answer: sound it out to another professional in your field. It is so easy to change your mind before the work has actually begun. Admit your wrong and pay for your mistakes. It is surprising how many people will invited by back with that philosophy in mind.

Q. What is your greatest strength?

A. We have completed 9,000 of the 9002 project we started. If we contract for the work, we will be there. If we contracted for the work, we will finish. What about the other two? One customer said we lost her dog. Sorrowful as that is, a eleven year old sheep dog did not wander away from the house. We now have a pet policy. The other customer ended out contract when she thought I had no right to correct her or intervene when she did not pay a subcontractor who designed seven rooms of cabinetry in her new 7,800 square foot home.

Q. What are you currently working on improving?

A. My goal is to acquire a new certification every year and maintain the ones I have. Last year the business became an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm. Although not required we added HEPA air scrubber to the business inventor. Besides the containment of room that may have lead based paints we may/might disturb, we now have the capability in providing depressurization to insure no lead base paint is latent in the room or in the air. Our employees for their own safety are never resistant to setting up the machines.

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. Guarantees? Warranties?

Michigan law requires all contractors to provide an eighteen month warranty. We comply with the law. In fact we have gone back and provided warranty work as long as twelve years after the project. Can we warrant materials you buy? No. Can we warrant other contractors or installer you hire? No. Can we guarantee your cat will not get pregnant during the project? No. ( That was meant to be humerus.) But as reasonable people can we sit down and resolve a problem. Yes. Yes. Yes.