Comments | pittsburgh: Home Inspectors

ktknievel in pittsburgh

Home Inspectors

Jun 20, 2009 23:32

My husband and I are in the process of buying our first house (holy crap). Our offer was accepted this afternoon (OMG) and we're onto our next step of finding an inspector. Our realtor did give us a list along with her preference of companies, but as much as I like her, I need more opinions. This IS our potential home we're speaking of ( Read more... )

places: ross township, repairs: home, services, places: emsworth

Comments 24

su_carbs June 21 2009, 03:49:00 UTC

I used Structural Dimensions when I bought my place

Here's their contact info:

3077 West Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15216
412-531-3600
Fax 412-531-3760

These guys went through the entire place--all rooms, poked around the attic, crawl space, garage, etc. They even took the furnace apart, checked the appliances, wiring, etc. before making a detailed report. Since they saved me about $2300 in furnace replacement costs (the heat exchanger was cracked...which would have let dangerous fumes into the house!)...I can't say enough good things about them.

I should mention that the price of the inspection was about $400 or so. But, I felt that it was money well spent--do I spend the $400 now, or possible thousands later?

Anyway, good luck!

ktknievel June 21 2009, 12:36:42 UTC

I've read good things about this company, so thanks for the further recommendation. And I definitely agree about the price issue. I'm not going to try to find the cheapest, this is the deal breaker for owning a home, I'm not going to mess around!

myfavoritestar June 21 2009, 03:51:16 UTC

OMG... my fiance and I made an offer on a house and OUR offer was accepted this weekend too! :) Congrats and thanks for asking this question so I can learn too! Good luck!

sleepsong June 21 2009, 04:45:14 UTC

Oh my god, I can't stop watching your icon...

myfavoritestar June 21 2009, 16:31:13 UTC

yeah, it kind of puts you in a trance, lol.

ktknievel June 21 2009, 12:38:41 UTC

Congratulations! Are you 2 as nervous and overwhelmed as we are? Hand cramps from initialing and signing a thousand papers? heh. Hopefully everything works out well for all of us :).

Thread 5

sleepsong June 21 2009, 04:43:26 UTC

I really really really really really recommend Three Rivers Home Inspection. The guy was very knowledgeable, gave me hints and advice on how to maintain stuff while he was looking around, went over a couple of things twice, and actually did a repair on a (purely aesthetic) piece of one of my window frames that had popped out. He was straightforward from the very beginning about what he would and would not inspect, and gave me a written report within 24 hours that even included things like the fact that we'd discussed how it would be possible to redo the blower over my oven.

Overall, A+ for them, and the price really was right.

ktknievel June 21 2009, 12:34:37 UTC

Thanks very much :). I'm glad I thought to ask about this here before making a decision, this is exactly the type of information that makes me feel better about making such an important decision.

rufushonkeriv June 21 2009, 04:52:46 UTC

Congrats! We used Brickkicker and were very pleased.

amand_r June 21 2009, 05:25:11 UTC

I second Brickkickers. What I liked was that the guy told us about stuff that wasn't a problem NOW, but would have to be dealt with in the next few years, like the boiler.

And contrary the name, he did not kick any bricks while he was there.

ktknievel June 24 2009, 14:02:50 UTC

We're giving Brickkickers a call right now. Thanks to the recommendations here and some research I did they do seem like a good company to choose! Thanks very much for the info :).

Such a stressful process, heh.

ktknievel June 21 2009, 12:30:42 UTC

Thank you! I was curious who you guys used, as you just purchased less then a year ago. I was looking up Brickkicker last night and they seemed thorough and professional, 2 very important qualities to me.

nkdlife June 21 2009, 06:37:46 UTC

If you are from pit, you know how well regulated we are.
I own 4 places, 3 for rent, and actually the realtors Inspectors are fully screened and licensed.

what I am telling you? just find the best price. They all basically do their job well and if not, you could collect against their insurance. Just make sure they are registered and insured.

reeeeeeeeflex June 21 2009, 07:00:26 UTC

not sure I agree with this. I've used two house inspectors in my life. The first one did an adequate job, delivered a report that was maybe a few pages in length and talked about the various problems with the house as related to the purchase. The second one went above and beyond and delivered what was essentially a small book that delved not only on the problems noted above, but also gave engineering background on the why's and how's of the problems, how to deal with them, the various options for dealing with them, what kinds of problems might arise in the future, and so forth. It was much more thorough and useful than the first. Gave me a little history, on knob and tube (? is that it?) wiring, commented on the architecture of the house and why they built it the way it is, gave various solutions to solving a roofing problem and why some of them were better ideas than others, etc. etc ( ... )

nkdlife June 21 2009, 07:26:49 UTC

An assumption, Many houses have problems others simply do not, so why inspectors go over in details depending on situation. The local real state agencies always recommend top of the list. I have used several by price, they all have done an adecuate job.
do you work for this one?.

reeeeeeeeflex June 21 2009, 08:28:29 UTC

Call Sala up and ask if he has any assistants working for him; that will give you your answer. To my knowledge he has none.

Thread 6