The House Detectives, LLC

What a disappointment. I struggled with writing a negative review here but finally decided that the point of Unilocal is to share our experience so others can try to make informed decisions.
1) After inspecting our electrical panel, Jon improperly re-​assembled the panel door askew, sandwiching the breaker handles against the door, preventing the breakers from opening or the handles from being manually turned off. He had permanently forced the main disconnect in the on position. This was a DANGEROUS situation and patently obvious. Jon issued no apology when I pointed out his obvious error.
2) Jon left our house a mess. He tracked dirt and insulation throughout, then REFUSED to clean up his own mess. To quote Jon’s comment to the realtor: ‘its not a big mess’.
3) Jon opened the fence gate, then left it swinging in the breeze.
4) He parked on our front lawn in spite of an empty 3 car driveway.
5) When his Radon test ‘failed’, Jon blamed it on tampering even though the home was vacant during time of test. This was particularly offensive that Jon immediately concluded a sinister ‘tampering’ had occurred rather than a simple machine failure. And his recommendation was that buyer should purchase additional testing (rather than Jon offering to re-​run test for no additional fees in case it was a prior equipment malfunction).
6) Documented lack of adequate access in crawl space even though an entire construction crew and the County inspector had successfully navigated the crawl space. Jon might find more comfortable access if he were to lose weight.
7) Report was filled with mountains of information making it difficult for the reader to distinguish germane facts from the quantity of opinions and marginally useful information.
I think there are way better choices than the House Detective out there: Jon’s report had loads of information, was rife with opinions, and was difficult for the buyer to separate the pertinent facts from the volume of data. Jon left our house a mess and left the electrical panel improperly re-​assembled in a dangerous state.

Excellent home inspectors! This is the second time I have had a house inspected and my dad (very hard to please) recommended them because of the great work they did on his new home. They did a great job at explaining the issues and their report was very thorough. They wore booties when walking around in shoes and locked back up every window and door after inspecting. I would highly recommend them.

Wow just wow. I had the House Detectives inspect the house I was going to buy by referral from my real estate agent. It cost me $ 700 to get them out there to inspect that included a sewer scope and radon check. I’m a first time home buyer and I couldn’t be at the inspection since we are stationed in Hawaii but I had a family member attend for us. Wow was their report thorough. They covered every single issue I was worried about and more. I even had questions which they were happy to answer and contacted me with additional information. They where prompt, polite and professional. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a home inspection.

I am shocked at Katie’s experience! As a Realtor, I have attended many home inspections with Jon and his team at House Detectives over the last few years. In addition to thorough inspections, I have always found them to be respectful of the property, wearing booties or shoes off, attention to doors etc. Where was your Realtor? They are the first ones in and out of an occupied property. I cannot imagine how this could have happened. I am very sorry you had this experience as opening your home to others requires trust that it will be respected. Elaine