Paul Galvin Residential Home Inspections

Used Paul Galvin's services in 2014. While he is certainly very friendly and pleasant, his failure to detect a a variety of problems with the house have led to what will ultimately be $15,000 - $20,000 in repairs. Within weeks of moving into the house we discovered that much of the upper floor of the house was serviced by old knob and tube wiring. While, true, this was not easily detectable on the upper floor of the house without removing ceiling fixtures or lifting insulation in the attic, it was immediately evident - when pointed out to us - that you can see the very old wire coming into the breaker panel in the basement AND that a home inspector SHOULD have noticed this during his inspection of the breaker panel.

Mr. Galvin's report states that "attic insulation appears adequate and well placed." In fact, I have now had three contractors who confirm that there is a fraction of the insulation that SHOULD be installed AND it has NOT been properly placed - having been blown in around and blocking all the soffit ventilation.

The most critical flaw missed was a structural roof issue that, in the word's of one contractor/carpenter is "carpentry 101" and that he would "expect a first year apprentice to immediately identify the problem" - even upon the "limited visual inspection" Mr. Galvin performed. Particularly as Mr. Galvin advertises that he is a carpenter with 10+ years of experience "in all aspects of residential home construction" my contractors, and I, remain dumbfounded that he failed to see the sagging roof (visible from within the attic), the improperly joined roof structures (old part of house and newer addition) that are now coming apart causing the roof to sag. There's also visible daylight coming through holes in the roof AND through a makeshift ventilation hole (which was presumably opened up when whomever put in the insulation blocked all the soffit ventilation holes).NONE of this was in Mr. Galvin's report to us, and ALL of it would have been evident to him upon his attic inspection (even the "limited" inspection that he conducted).

Subsequently I have attempted to contact Mr. Galvin, and he has ignored by attempts to contact him by refusing to accept/sign for a letter which was mailed to him. We will now be seeking redress through Small Claims Court as a result of what I believe can only be described as total ineptitude, professional negligence and/or willful blindness.

If Mr. Galvin has caused you a financial loss I encourage you to make use of Small Claims Court - even if you bought the house years ago, you have two years "from the time that you became aware of the problem" within which to bring an action. If your damages are higher than the Small Claims Court limit then I recommend that you consult with an attorney outside of Peterborough - as too many local lawyers deal with Mr. Galvin on a professional basis (i.e., real estate transactions) and because "he's a nice guy" are loath to become involved. Indeed Mr. Galvin may be very nice, but nice is not what one is paying for when hiring a Home Inspector - you are paying for competence and professionalism.

I also note that our real estate agency (RE/MAX Eastern Realty of Peterborough) lists one and only one Home Inspector on Broker Dan Grady's website ... and that inspector is Paul Galvin. Our specific real estate agent, Debbie Foley, did not suggest any other inspector and, indeed, made the arrangements with Paul Galvin directly herself and we met him at the property. I also find it deeply concerning to see that a Mr. ANDREW Galvin (who happens to look very similar to PAUL Galvin - like he was Paul's brother) is a Broker with the same RE/MAX office.