Pacific Northwest Building Inspection

John came as a recommendation from our realtor as we began our search to buy our first home. Given the recent craziness of the Seattle real estate market, time was not on our side, but John was always willing to work with us to get an inspection done on time.
Not knowing much about the home-​buying process, he was great in explaining all of the elements he inspected. He was always open to a dialogue about what he was looking for, any notes he had during the inspection, and helping us have an idea how severe some of the (inevitable) home issues we ran across were and what they would end up costing us to fix. Unfortunately, no home is perfect, but John’s knowledge helped us whittle our way through the buying process and after nearly half a dozen offers, we got the home of our dreams.
Post-​purchase we’ve been calling in specialists to address some of the issues John called out during his inspection. Without fail, every specialist has told us John’s assessment was spot-​on. I’m also happy to say some of his cost estimates were on the high end, costing us less to repair than what we were prepared/​budgeted for.
I’m not sure where some of the negative reviews about John’s work come from, but assume it may come down to a personality issue. John doesn’t flood you with information if you don’t show an interest in learning what the problems he finds are or how to go about fixing them. But when being inquisitive, he’s great about explaining things in an easy to understand way, and always has suggestions and referrals to offer.

We hired John Langmeyer to perform a home purchase inspection for us. This was my first home inspection, so I trusted that he knew what he was doing. Boy was I wrong.
John totally missed HUGE insulation issues both in the attic and under the house (costing thousands to fix). Most of the issues were visible with just the turn of a screw. The worst was the big louvered cover that he verbally said was an air return for the heating system. When we had the weatherization company here they said that nobody who knows what they’re talking about would think that was an air return because it’s nowhere near any ducting. They said that any decent inspector would have at least shone a flashlight in or removed the cover. Either of those actions would have led him to realize that it was essentially a giant hole into the attic. Just the turn of four screws and he’d have seen the inadequate insulation and scorch marks on the light fixtures (we replaced the bulbs with LEDs which do not heat up).
Under the house were LIVE substandard extension cords apparently used to heat some kind of tape that kept the pipes from freezing. I am unclear exactly what the purpose was, but the cords were starting to melt. The smell from these melting cords is what prompted us to call the weatherization expert… that and the draft that didn’t go away when we replaced the aluminum windows and sliding glass door.
Though he was seen on the roof, he missed that none of our bathroom exhaust fans were actually vented out of the house, they were vented into the attic. Again, these problems were easily visible to the weatherization experts. One of the vents is simply non-​existent, another had been sealed and painted over.
Bottom line is, we spend several thousand dollars that could have been negotiated off the price of the house fixing the easily visible issues he didn’t investigate.
When we notified him of these issues, he simply said that his contract stated that he is not responsible for these items. This is a contract that I was presented with when he arrived and either I signed it or he left (no inspection) and I was not given a copy. If you are buying a house you know how much coordination it takes to get an inspection scheduled and this kind of delay can be a deal breaker. If you sign a contract with him, you may as well throw money at him as he walks away, because he has ZERO responsibility to actually inspect your home.
I agree with others that he is friendly and approachable but not worth your time and money. If you go with him you may as well not have an inspection at all.

We were forced to hire John Langmeyer when our two preferred inspectors were unable to accommodate us on short notice when buying a 8 year old townhouse. We should have moved onto our fourth choice.
First off, john was friendly, approachable and did solicit questions from me. Unfortunately, john is not a good inspector.
I understand the limitations of inspections, and how some negative reviews are based on an unreasonable expectation of thoroughness or investigation. This is not one of those reviews.
We have found several easy to spot issues which were not remarked upon or reported by john, and would have influenced our purchasing decision. Major ones being:
A. The hot water heater was extremely corroded, had leaked, had damaged the drywall, and required immediate replacement. The hot water heater was set to maximum when inspected, and although he mentioned a safety issue, he DID NOT discuss with us the fact that the seller maxing the hot water heater output would significantly shorten the life span.
B. Several, easily visible holes in the roof. Poorly sealed furnace vents, and rvo’s covered by plywood and not venting correctly. The teams installing additional rvo’s and patching these nail holes asked why my inspector did not go into the attic space and highlight these very obvious deficiencies.
C: John did not fill up our tubs to test them, which I did not comment upon, and felt like it perhaps wasn’t necessary. I spoke with our neighbor after purchase, and she mentioned her overflow drain had not been hooked up and had resulted in a bunch of water damage. Not testing the tubs evidentally was important.
D. A thorough inspector would have checked the serial numbers off our hot water heater and hvac to run checks on recalls. John did not, and certainly didn’t even look close enough to see the condition of the hot water heater.
John is what I call a ‘checklist’ inspector, and he’s there to softball houses to retain broker references. He’s very concerned with sticking to the script and following his checklist. He did solicit questions from me which I appreciated, but there were several issues with our home which would have given us significant bargaining power.
If you value the peace of mind of a thorough inspection, and the ability to strengthen your offer by knowing the true condition of steucture, I would keep looking.

I didn’t hire John for his home inspection services, but he did do me a great kindness. Shortly after I moved into my new place, my idiot cat disappeared. I love the heck out of that dumbo, so I spent hours upon hours hunting for him. Living on the 16^th floor of a high-​rise with solid concrete between units, I couldn’t fathom where he’d gone off to. He couldn’t get to the balcony. It was like a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery. Short of being escorted down the elevator and out the secured entrance, the only plausible option seemed to be that there was a hole in the wall somewhere. Pretty panicked, I searched the internet for someone with a heat detecting device to check the walls.
A lot of the plumbers I contacted just didn’t have one, but John did. I was totally prepared to fork over $ 150+ (the going rate) for the privilege of possibly finding the ridiculous little litterbox-​filler. But, when John came over (from Bellevue nonetheless!) and (unsuccessfully) looked for my cat, he charged me only for gas money, parking, and a beer — about $ 10. Of course, he got a big tip. He also followed-​up to make sure I eventually did find my cat. Nice, nice guy.
For the record, the furball was behind a kickplate, in the one place in the apartment where heat radar couldn’t possibly pick up his signature. Naturally. Damn cat.

Too late in my Seattle home buying process, I read an Angie’s List article advising AGAINST using a home inspection contractor recommended by your realtor. I was very disappointed with the inspection conducted in early Nov. 2013 by Pacific Northwest Building Inspection. I wasn’t able to be present for the inspection (had to return to D.C. while buying a house in Seattle). I felt pressured by the deadlines and there were other offers waiting in the wings on the house I wanted. Still, I should have taken the time to research Unilocal or Angie’s List for a Seattle contractor rather than just accept the realtor’s recommendation. Compared to the written reports I’m used to (this was my 4^th home purchase), Pacific NW’s seemed very «thin” – a lot of just noting what was present with no evaluation/​comment or a comment of «not reviewed», or «purchaser should check into this further.» The following items were missed by this contractor:
1) the water connection for the faucet to the jetted tub is connected backwards (hot/​cold reversed from faucet settings)
2) the door to the frameless shower makes a horrendous «crack» noise when opened; upper hinge is broken and door is out of alignment which is likely going to be a few hundred dollars to repair
3) drain pan to the shower is cracked
4) garbage disposal locks up about every 3^rd flip of the wall switch
5) very strong gas odor from an exhaust pipe at the front entry of the house when the hot water unit is engaged, not noted
6) hot water delivery to washer severely restricted for some reason (replacing hoses hasn’t helped)
This contractor also had a more extensive list of «exclusions» of things they would not look at for the basic $ 425 price than I’ve ever seen (including water softeners and furnace heat exchangers… really? Those are pretty big infrastructure items.
Hard lesson learned…

Thank you Thank you, Thank you. In this day of crazy bidding on houses John and Pacific NW Building Inspections saved me from making the worst mistake in my life. My dream house that I had my heart set on turned out to be a house of horrors. The house was a «flipper» and so many things were done wrong. His Infrared camera showed me that although it was a” studs out remodel” there was no insulation in the walls. I was just amazed on his vast knowledge of construction as well as his eye for details. I have bought other houses in the past and used other inspectors but no one is better than John

I hired John to inspect my first home due to my Realtor recommending him. I put my trust in the inspector, being a first time home buyer i had no idea what i was doing!
The house i purchased was a manufactured home with a crawlspace. I found it odd that he only crawled a couple feet into the crawlspace and shined a flashlight around. He said it all looks fine except some chewed venting insulation from a rat which the seller agreed to repair. Now that i have been in my home for over a month I hired a crawlspace company to come preform exclusion work so rats getting in wont be an issue in the future. What i learned is about 6 foot of the rodent barrier is falling down (which the rats have been getting into as well) and The ENTIRE insulation under the home is compromised and needs to be replaced which will cost a small fortune.

I tried to contact him to schedule an inspection. I never received his services so this review isn’t on his services but his untimely and poor communication skills. I am not too sure how he runs a business the way he does. I had another inspector come from Olympia who responded not only timely but gave a great report, provided insight, and tips… for the same price!

We hired the services of John Langmeyer of Pacific Northwest Bldg Inspections for a commercial property purchase. John was very professional and knowledgeable. We had several inspectors to choose from but chose John and his company for several reasons: timeliness of response, thoroughness and detailed description of charges and scope of work and his professionalism. We are also impressed with the state-​of-​the-​art Infrared Thermography equipment he uses to detect leaks and other electrical and heating/​cooling problems. His report is timely and very thorough and detailed and complete with color photos. I highly recommend John and Pacific Northwest Building Inspections.

I used this inspector, John Langmeyer, a while back, and I cannot express how disappointed I was with the results. While he spent lots of time pointing out minor flaws, he missed some much larger (and far more costly) issues. As a first time home buyer I put too much faith in an inspector I did not know enough about. I would strongly encourage anyone considering Pacific Northwest Building Inspection and John Langmeyer to seek a different inspector.