The Home Inspection Co

Hi Tina,
It took a while but all journeys come to an end at some point. I believe you landed a solid home that typical of its age requires some TLC and upgrades but all in all a far site better than the previous 3 homes.
In this crazy market I am glad you were able to land this house, I believe you were well trained from our previous adventures to land a solid contender. Now that you have conducted a thorough home inspection you now know how to proceed.
I feel so sorry for homebuyers who are so intimidated they don't want to risk losing the house to another bidder. That is fine, go ahead and buy the house without subject to an inspection. When you buy a house based on their property disclosure they are liable for all omissions, it might be up to you to prove that they knew about problems and that's where a thorough home inspection comes in. When I find a defect I can generally tell quite a bit about its history which can place the seller squarely responsible for concealment.
Sellers accepting a purchasers bid without subjects are playing a dangerous game especially when they are painting and repairing prior to a sale. Legally they have to disclose all known deficiencies. I have found that this is not the case, sellers like to play dangerous and I believe they are being coached with the realization that no one hardly ever sues so why not throw the dice.
A home inspection simply protects everyone from liability from nondisclosure. Why a home seller would accept a buyer with no subjects is beyond me, it simply makes no sense other than the lack of complications to the sale.
Wishing you: Happy Trails...
Ted Gilmour

Hi Shawn,
I’m happy to hear from you. With all the good things you've had to say I guess you've got everything under control. Oftentimes it's not that the house has problems, every house has problems, it's that you are made aware of them so you can either negotiate for them or take care of them once you own it. In some cases people have found that their prospective home has some serious problems but after evaluations and discussions on remediation costs and logistics homebuyers feel confident to close the deal. I'm very pleased that you commented on what constitutes a quality inspection. To be thorough and thoroughly understood requires time. When most inspectors are doing inspection turnarounds including the report in 4 hours or less, I'm happy to say I'll be there for 6 to 8 hours and more but then will spend another 10 hours or so composing a friendly but critical custom written report.
You are right about agents thinking they can discourage homebuyers from hiring me by saying things like: he charges too much, he's very nitpicky, he takes too long, etc. My client feedback, when agents are doing their best to discourage hiring me is: “yes that's exactly what we're looking for”.
The way for home inspectors to get hired these days is to be cheap, as home inspectors fees have been gradually rising, a new group of inspectors are anxious to gain market share by creating a race to the bottom. They are very successful and have made a leap into the elite categories on referral websites. Simply most homebuyers have no yardstick to measure the photo inclusive boilerplate service they get and will rate these inspectors 10 out of 10 or 5 stars. It's not hard to impress homebuyers with a little bit of building knowledge and obvious observations, thankfully for a lot of home inspectors, homebuyers don't have the depth of knowledge by which to measure their inspector’s competence or actual experience. One of the most important questions you could ask your inspector: do they have new home construction experience but also how many yrs, do they have any experience doing renovations, how many yrs? One of the biggest questions would be: do they have a sample inspection report?
Thanks again,
Happy Trails ...
Ted Gilmour

Hi Michael, I really appreciate the feedback and account of your inspection experience. As you found out, even in a red-hot market you can still do a pre-open house inspection (do a 3 to 4 hour inspection prior to the hordes arriving at 1 or 2 PM. ) Fortified with my conditional assessment you were able to proceed with confidence. You knew exactly what you were purchasing and made your offer based on, well based on everything like the fact that it's very difficult to purchase anything these days, calculated cost of repairs, aesthetics and other amenities. For a 100-year-old house you are lucky that nothing serious had happened to this home. Other homes of this vintage are often a patchwork of Jerry-rigged repairs ready to self-destruct just from looking too closely. We did an open house inspection which is a one day abbreviated inspection process, my full inspection is a 2 day process. This is what purchasing real estate has come to, every time the market turns red hot a 1,000,000 people come out of the woodwork wanting to get a piece of the action, it's like one of those migratory or cyclical insect swarms or when a cicada brood matures and emerges by the millions. It seems like everybody else frantically runs around and through every open house as if the sky was falling. Do yourself a huge favor, keep your head from blowing up by getting an open house inspection. Deborah, Thanks again, you were a real pleasure to work with, instead of getting into a crap-shoot you approached purchasing with informed confidence. Sellers are more likely to choose a buyer who has taken a good look at the home prior to making an offer. People purchasing blind (no inspection) might experience buyers remorse and try to sue the seller for undisclosed deficiencies. A detailed home inspection can protect everyone.
Remember to contact me and with photos so I can direct and monitor your projects to an efficient and cost effective solution. Happy trails ... Ted Gilmour

Hi Martin,
I have a confession, I can usually figure out who wrote the testimonial but in this case I suspect all my files are in your wife's name. I could not find Martin anywhere. I do recognize the things that you talked about as being me e.g.: inspection which we tagged along on, service and ongoing support, 8 hr inspection, delivering the report binder the next evening, an eye for identifying past repairs and fixes, report assisted with negotiations, giving us confidence with starting repairs and screening potential service providers, etc.
Yup, that's me. If you happen to read this, please send me a note so I can update this review to be more specific.
Thank you Martin,
Happy Trails....
Ted Gilmour

Hi Flo, So good to hear from you from our September inspection adventure. Now that you're settling into your home and are taking care of some of the deficiency discoveries, we will need to continue our photo advisory, back-and-forth practice for a while yet. Although the home has many attractive features, those features belie the true nature of the overall condition of the home. Thankfully we were able to discover most of the shortcomings and deficiencies. The builder has been relatively cooperative in repairs but I believe he's more interested in appearing to do things properly than actually doing so. In some cases to make repairs the builder would have to do a major retrofit which he does not appear to be willing. That's why we need to hold his repairs to the light and his feet to the fire. Yes he is a sneaky fellow. People tend to believe that a new home will be relatively problem free and that a thorough home inspection would be a waste of money. As you have mentioned you have saved many thousands of dollars that would likely not have been possible with a 5 hour turnaround inspection. The inspection on your 4500sq. ft home was 9 1/2 hours, your report was approx. 14 hours, I believe your report review was another 2 to 3 hours. Buying a home is a huge investment, why would anybody look for a cheap, fast inspection when a professional inspection can provide substantial savings and endless utility.
Roughly speaking 4-5hr. Home Inspectors like to make around $100 an hour and they do. Why make only $500 a day when 2 inspections per day will fetch $1000. It makes me dizzy to think that an inspector could do 10 or more inspections a week. A two-day inspection allows me considerable inspection follow-ups regarding the seller’s disclosure, building code, builders and insurance. People consider a home inspection as producing a product from which the homebuyer can proceed with a certain level of confidence that they are well informed. The actual reality is the discovered information about the true condition of the home is simply a point of departure for: financial compensation reflecting deficiencies, negotiations with the seller to make repairs/replacements for items demonstrated to be faulty, there will be code noncompliance, there will be insurance issues that need to be resolved to even get a mortgage. Many homes are not insurable as they stand. Yes you can get and pay for insurance but your insurance would likely be void should you experience a calamity for undisclosed conditions such as electrical done without permits, plumbing done without permits, decks installed without permits, etc. Noncompliance is what insurance companies dream and pray for.
Flo, thanks for the opportunity to be of service, I thoroughly enjoy a good challenge, your inspection was a real treat.
Your advocate,
Ted Gilmour

Hi Asingh, I was very happy to get your testimonial. I really appreciate you contacting me to verify required work. Sometimes my customers will proceed with repairs and even new projects on their own or at the mercy of contractors. Often I find contractors are not current with building science and will make repairs or new installations as they would have 10, 20 or 40 yrs ago which can actually be a waste of money and work against the function of the house components. When you change anything in the home you affect the total home as a system. Just as a house can function with poorly designed or substandard subsystems and do just fine, all it takes is for a different family to move in with different demands on the house’s functionality. For example some people do not use their bath exhaust fan but that particular bathroom only sees one or two shower a day whereas a different family might use that same shower 4 or more times a day while not using the bath fan because it's too noisy. It doesn't take long but you will start seeing mold growing on the outside walls, ceilings and window frames from condensation. If you have aluminum windows you might find black mold growing around the aluminum frames, even vinyl windows can grow mold due to high humidity in the home and air leakage around the window frame. A possible easy solution: install a whisper quiet fan to all bathrooms. (Noisy bath fans do not get used). My clients often mention their house inspection binder, and refer to it as their Bible. That's because everything in the report binder is custom written and specific to their home rather than being filled with generic, one-size-fits-all house maintenance and repair information. It's impossible to provide meaningful inspection and maintenance information in a 3 to 4 hour inspection turnaround. Yeah, after the 3 to 4 hours the inspector is off to another inspection. I believe; initially people think that all the information in their inspection binder or package has been carefully compiled to meet the homebuyers needs. How would that be possible. For myself when I read something that’s generic boilerplate, I basically discount the whole thing as filler. I have no time or patience to discriminate what is real and what is generic filler. That's the difference between providing a professional service to a homebuyer and merely appearing to. Trouble is most homebuyers do not have a yardstick, even if they have had other inspections they would be comparing lowball service providers against other lowball operators. There are inspectors who provide a more thorough inspection and detailed report, but not many. Happy trails... Your advocate, Ted Gilmour

Hi Carole,
Yes your home was one of the more interesting subjects for an inspection that I’ve had the joy of exploring. Although, as we discovered, most of your suspicions were confirmed. Pretty much everything we observed was at and even beyond its serviceable life. Except for some foundation settling the actual structure was relatively good. This is the good news, the bad news is that you already own the house. For a little bungalow I wonder if it would be worthwhile to bring up to speed, euthanasia would be the kindest thing to do. If you made the required imminent repairs like the copper piping and eradicating the mold in the basement bathroom, you could maintain the house as rental until more serious maintenance becomes impractical. The house has served you well over the many yrs. Renovation or rehab to me would seem impractical due to the overall square footage. Yes you could make this investment but in the long run it’s still a relatively small house compared to what the future selling price might be. Whatever you decide to do remember to contact me with any plans for repair/improvement so I can assist you in making good choices and verify what contractors have to say.
Happy trails,
Ted Gilmour

Hi Graham, Thank you for the inspired testimonial, I couldn't have written it better myself, you do sound like an apprentice. It's been a pleasure working with you on both homes. You’re the type of person who wants to know everything about his house and fortunately I'm the type of person who measures his success by his client’s involvement in the inspection process. Basically a win-win for both of us. That truly makes me happy. Up until recently inspectors discouraged clients from showing up except for a ½ to 1hr walk-through review at the end. Inspectors didn't always meet their clients and would drop the report off at the brokerage and pick up the check. A process of limited involvement that prevented homebuyers from learning anything but the obvious from the inspection. Exactly the way everybody involved with real state sales preferred. I believe this changed slightly due to homebuyers requesting more exposure to the process. Fortunately one of my 1st inspection jobs, back in 1998, when I was getting started in the business, my client asked if they could attend the entire inspection, the idea made me a bit nervous but thankfully it worked out really well- a valuable, firsthand information exchange and I've been requiring that of my clients ever since. Having the homebuyer shadow the inspection actually adds at least an hour and more to an inspection due to discussions. So when home inspectors are spending 2 ½ to 5 ½ hours on an inspection turnaround you have to appreciate that some things might be glossed over for time efficiency. It may seem weird but I tend to treat my clients like apprentices, I book the entire day for our inspection so we are not rushed. (I tried to sell this type of client involvement and inspection duration to both home inspector associations back in the year 2000, basically they told me to shut up and sit down saying the industry isn't broken so why try to fix it. In my opinion it was broken because it did not involve the homebuyer, the complete inspection standard turnaround back then was 1 ½ - 2 ½ hrs. Home inspectors were just another outstretched hand wanting to get paid, that mentality is still present in the industry) I wanted homebuyers to see firsthand while I discuss what we are looking at, why it might be a problem, what the causation factors could be, when the item needs attention and some discussion on cost. In other words; become involved in the discovery process and function of their home and what steps to take next. The time just flies by when you're involved, when you're invested. For the most part, the information is easily digestible, if I see a clients eyes glaze over we can always take another run at it. You are absolutely right, where do homebuyers get it in their heads that a home inspection should only cost $500? They get that little seed planted in their head by everybody involved with real estate sales, inspector websites, agent websites, even CMHC used to say most inspections could be had for under $500. Nobody really realizes how powerful a lobby the real estate sales industry is. Basically the real estate industry has dictated that inspectors need to be: 1. cheap, 2. Fast, 3. and somewhat blind. A 2 to 5 hour inspection turnaround fulfills those 3 requirements of a “ good” home inspector”. Over the yrs, agents have commented that I do not do standard inspections. Agents thinking they are chastising me, in front of my clients, saying things like: “you're taking too long, nobody does the degree of investigation that you do, your inspection goes above and beyond every inspector I've ever seen.” When my clients hear that their hearts are filled with glee. Me too. Graham as always I'm just a call or email away. Happy trails... Ted Gilmour

Hi Mike,
It's always difficult to decide on an inspector, most of the inspectors are priced within the $350-$550 range and their websites don't really say much, they all appear to be very similar in content, they claim a competency next to none (I say where's the beef). In some cases home inspectors do not have to advertise or even run a website they are so favored by real estate agents. They simply show up for an inspection by the realtors arrangements, very slick, many homebuyers think one inspection is the same as another or they simply don't see the value of a home inspection , choosing accordingly.
Being on a tight budget you decided you wanted the unvarnished reality of your purchase by having a thorough and well-documented inspection. I'm pleased to hear the discovered deficiencies were negotiated for. Lately people writing my testimonials have been mentioning how expensive I am when in fact I'm probably the least expensive inspector of the bunch when you consider the financial leverage of our discoveries. Generally speaking when I get cold calls one of the 1st questions is: “how much?” After I mentioned their fee will be approx. twice what everybody else's is. They often tell me it's more than they wanted to pay and hang up. Guess who has determined what a home inspector should charge. Real estate Agents are always trying to “help” homebuyers get good deals or so it seems. The real estate sales community all across North America has decided by their referral practices to patronize the lowball service providers with their referral practices. Home inspectors know that if they can't do a complete inspection turnaround within a day they will get no agent referrals. Approx. 95% of all home inspectors in North America are wholly or to some degree dependent on agent referrals. Incredibly no one seems to think this is a conflict of interest, only a couple of states in the US have adopted a virtual firewall preventing agents from referring their favorite home inspectors. I'm sad to say there are very few real professional home inspectors in North America, most of the true professionals cannot compete with the flood of agent compliant lowballers.
Why don't home inspectors put samples of their work on their websites? This is the most critical tell of the inspector's competency and demonstration of the utility of their service.
Thanks Mike, you are a good man to work with.
Happy trails...
Ted Gilmour