How To Choose A Home Inspector in the Rochester Hills Area

 

There are many reasons that people call a home inspector. The most common is, of course, that they’re about to purchase a home and want to ensure that there won’t be any huge surprises once they move in. Others call a home inspector because they’re building a home and want to have a new home inspection performed to make sure that the homebuilder is keeping up their end of the deal. Still others hire a home inspector so that they can fix any large problems with their home before they put it on the market, which helps most homes sell faster than they would have otherwise.

The need for home inspectors is obvious, but the process of actually picking a particular home inspector can be difficult. Because the services performed by a home inspector are largely invisible, it’s impossible for them to send you to a gallery page and say “take a look at examples of our work” as you might for a remodeler.

So, what are the steps you should take in order to get the absolute best home inspection services in and around Rochester Hills, Troy, and Sterling Heights? Here are some suggestions.

Check The Reviews

It used to be that you’d really have to do some real digging if you wanted to discover the reputation of a home inspector (or any other service, for that matter). You might start at the Better Business Bureau, then move on to talking to friends and neighbors about their experience with house inspections. Once the pool was narrowed considerably, you might have to get references from the inspector themselves…but, of course, they’d only give you the names of customers whom they knew would be positive about their services.

Today it’s so much easier. You can check Google reviews (we currently have 5/5 after 119 reviews), Facebook reviews (where were also have a perfect score), and review aggregators such as Top Rated Local. Remember, it’s not just the final rating that’s most important but also the number of ratings. We’d trust a house inspector who had 200 reviews and a 4.8/5 rating over one who had two reviews and a 5/5 rating…mostly because those two 5-star reviews probably came from the inspector himself and his mother!

Also, be sure to actually read the reviews. If a customer took a star off because the inspector didn’t perform a task that no inspector does, then their review might be suspect. If a customer complains that radon inspection or mold inspection wasn’t done, it’s because those are always add-on services. Knowing what is — and what is not — included in home inspections can help you know which reviews to trust.

Verify Credentials

After you’ve narrowed the viable home inspectors to just a few, make sure to check their credentials. Ensure that they are licensed and bonded with the state and follow all state rules regarding home inspections. Also make sure that they are a member of either the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (NACHI) or the National Academy of Building Inspection Engineers (NABIE). Total House Inspection follows the Standard of Practice Inspecting Residential Homes of NACHI.

Find Out How Long They’ve Been Around

Now we’re not saying that a home inspector needs to have forty years of experience in the industry before you hire them. But we also wouldn’t suggest that you go with one who just got started a few months ago and is relying on a flashy new website in order to get customers. Yes, they might be gung-ho about the process, but they’re also more likely to miss things that a veteran home inspector might not.

As we write this, Total House Inspection is coming up on our first decade of home inspection services, having been around since 2010. We think that’s a pretty good amount of time to be in the business: long enough to know what we’re doing, not so long that we’ve become tired of it.

How Friendly Are They?

Some people never meet their house inspectors, and others only see them for a short amount of time. While it’s not necessary for you to walk through a house inspection with your inspector, you want to be sure that your house inspector is nice enough to talk to and is available to answer your questions about the process. Yes we’re the professionals, but we’re working for you. A good home inspector should be perfectly happy to address any specific issues of a home and whether or not they might pose a problem to the sale.

Ready To Choose Your Home Inspector?

We hope that this advice has given you a good idea of where to start when searching for a home inspection expert. Of course we hope you’ll choose Total House Inspection, but more than anything we’re interested in you getting the best inspector who you’re comfortable with. Still, we hope to hear from you soon!