Nice to hear

Two of this week's clients made a couple of nice comments after their home inspections. One, a young engineering student buying his first house, said, "Wow, you know so much more about houses than all of the engineers I know." And another client said, "Thank you for being so thorough. I can really see why our real estate agent recommends you!"

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or text today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

Great Idea

Several recent clients bought their house during the real estate boom earlier this year. In order to make their particular offer seem more attractive to the seller, they waived the Home Inspection clause at the time of purchase. But now, after living in the house for a while, they wanted to do an inspection to find out exactly what they bought.

It's always better to have a Complete Home Inspection done BEFORE you buy so that you know the condition of the house before you commit to it. But, it's a great idea to do one now, after your purchase, so that you get the peace of mind that comes from having the house inspected. Find out about the systems of the house - electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling - as well as the condition of the roof and foundation. Learn how to change your furnace filter, where the main water shutoff valve is, and other maintenance tips. Plus, your list of Recommended Repairs gives you a handy "To Do" list. You've made the purchase, now find out as much as you can about what you bought.

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you, before or after the sale. Call or text today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

New podcast

Here's a new podcast that explains yet another reason you need to have a house inspected BEFORE you buy it, no matter what condition you may think the house is in. You have enough other things on your mind when you're looking to buy a house. Let me handle the little details for you.

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

"New" Ain't Necessarily So

An interesting day today inspecting furnaces. First, a vacant house had a new-ish furnace that was installed in 2016. It had stickers all over it from the local heating, cooling, and plumbing company that had installed it. They're going to have to come back and fix it. The inside temperature of the house was 42 degrees, though the thermostat was set on 70 degrees. There was power to the furnace, but nothing was working at all. Later in the day, a second house included a brand-new gas furnace in the basement. Sadly, it's an all-electric house.

The description of the house you're looking to buy may say that a furnace, or air conditioner, or other major appliance, is "new". But that doesn't necessarily mean that it has been installed correctly and is working as intended. Yet another reason that it is critically important for you to have a house inspected before you buy it.

You're not looking at the furnace when you're touring the house. You shouldn't have to look at the furnace to determine if it's functioning or if it's even the correct type of furnace. You have other things on your mind. So, let a trained professional with more than 25 years as a certified home inspector take care of that for you.

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

New houses need to be inspected

In one week recently, three different clients had me inspect the newly-constructed house each was buying. It's easy to think that a new house won't have any problems or issues for me to find. Sadly, that's not the case. So please remember that a new house needs to be inspected just as much as an older house does.

Previous posts on this blog have detailed some of the problems I've found in newly constructed homes. Here's a quick recap of inspections of different new houses: the water supply valve on a toilet didn't work so the toilet didn't work; the kitchen exhaust fan wasn't connected to the vent so turning the fan on blew drywall dust all over the kitchen; no insulation in the attic; the kitchen sink spray hose couldn't extend from its resting place, the dishwasher's drain hose and the spray hose were tangled up under the sink; the drain pipe of a whirlpool bathtub in the master bath hadn't been connected to anything; no heating or cooling in the laundry room on the second floor, floor tile covered the air vent; the control wire for the furnace had been connected to the doorbell instead of the house's thermostat; no power cord was connected to the kitchen garbage disposal.

Yes, your builder's warranty covers things in your just-built home. Yes, you have a year to make a list of what needs to be repaired. Getting a Kansas City home inspection from Complete Home Inspection BEFORE you move in, though, gets you a jump start on that list and allows you to get many of those things fixed before you take occupancy. While warranties may protect you, the time lost, the inconvenience and the frustration you'll experience can only be handled by getting a Complete Home Inspection for your new property. So let me handle your final walk-through for you. Put my experienced eye to work for you and your family.

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and new construction final walk-throughs, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

People are talking

It's fun to often follow the connections between my Kansas City home inspection clients. Last week, my client worked with a man who had me do two inspections for him. Years ago, I inspected the house he was buying. A few years later, he left town. Then, I inspected the house he bought upon his return to KC. When he found out that this woman in his office was buying a house, he told her to have me do the inspection because I was "very thorough". She told me this story and added, "He was right. You ARE very thorough."

Then, I was hired by a couple who had just seen me inspect the house they were selling. They liked the way I treated my client who was buying their house, and the way I treated them during that inspection. So now, they wanted me to inspect the brand-new house they were buying. They wanted me to do the same thorough job on their brand-new house that I had done of the one they had been living in, though they originally had decided that the new one didn't need an inspection at all.

That's one of the great things about Kansas City - it's a big city and a small town.

Also, this past week, two different clients replied by E-mail when they received their written home inspection reports. One wrote, "Thank you very much for your prompt and helpful report on this condo!" and the other, "Thank you for your thorough report. I feel comfortable in making this my new home."

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

"Remodeled" doesn't mean "fixed" - once again

This is so commonplace that blog posts from 9/14/13 and 3/29/14 addressed it, too - the words, "remodeled" and "rehabbed" don't necessarily mean that things were done correctly. Last week, a house featured a "newly remodeled and updated kitchen". Sounds great, right?

While you're looking at the kitchen, you're picturing the workspace, the traffic flow in the room, and whether it's big enough for your needs. You might notice that the remodeling included beautiful new wooden cabinets throughout the kitchen. But what you might not notice is what jumped out at me during my inspection.

A wooden shelf spanned the area over the sink, connecting the cabinets on either side of the sink. Sadly, the lighting fixture over the sink was now above this solid shelf. Turn the light on and it shines down on top of the shelf. It no longer illuminates the sink area. In order to be able to see at the sink, someone would need to cut a hole in the new shelf. That's not the kind of detail you're looking to find when you're looking to buy a house. And that's why it's so important for you to get a Complete Home Inspection before you buy - even if the house is "new", "remodeled", or "rehabbed". Know the condition of the property before you buy. Don't take someone else's word for it.

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

Reason #5,804 to have your house inspected

A brand new house, costing $300,000, was in beautiful condition. Until I poked my head into the attic during my recent inspection and saw that there was no insulation whatsoever.

So many misconceptions exposed in just one inspection:

1. A new home doesn't need to be inspected
2. An expensive home doesn't need to be inspected
3. The builder is offering a one-year warranty, so I don't need an inspection
4. No one has ever lived in this house, so there can't be anything wrong with it
5. Newly constructed houses don't need to be tested for radon - this house was tested and has a radon gas problem

Imagine your reaction when your heating and cooling bills were, literally and figuratively, through the roof in your brand-new, expensive home. And, the builder's warranty might eventually get you some insulation but it won't reimburse you for your gas and electric bills.

New houses can have as many defects as older houses. Sales price doesn't indicate quality. Warranties simply mean that you will live with problems before they are discovered and corrected. And all houses, new or existing, should be inspected before you buy so that you know the condition of the property at the time of the inspection and can negotiate to get necessary repairs done before you move in.

You're focused on floor plans, aesthetics, neighborhoods, and other factors when looking to buy a house. Let me look at the other aspects of the property for you and then give you a complete, written report (including photos) detailing my findings. Unless you want to climb a ladder, squeeze through an attic access, and see for yourself if there's adequate insulation in the house.

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

Million-dollar home

A couple of things from this past week's inspection of a house costing more than $1 million -

1) It is a brand-new house replacing the house that had stood on the lot for years. A brand-new house with a million-dollar price tag. Why have it inspected, right? Well, among other things, I found that the hot and the cold water pipes were reversed on one of the bathroom sinks. I also found that one of the ground-fault interrupter (GFI) outlets didn't work. You'd think for $1 million, you might get better quality than that. Not in this case. And it goes to show, once again, that no matter the age of the house you're looking to buy, no matter the sales price of the house you're looking to buy, it should be inspected so that you know the condition of the property at the time of the inspection. In a follow-up phone call, my clients asked me to pencil them in for another inspection of the house eleven months from now, just before their twelve-month builder's warranty expires. Good thinking.

2) My client's realtor for the million-dollar house had never seen a Complete Home Inspection before. He said that my name was on the top of his office's list of home inspectors, but we hadn't yet met. Following the inspection, he said that he could see why I was at the top of their list because even he learned some things during the inspection. He liked how quickly the inspection went, while still being thorough (see #1 above), compared to other inspections he had seen. And he said that he would be using Complete Home Inspection in the future because he liked the way I dealt with his client. I'm now at the top of his list, too.

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

New houses need to be inspected, too

Recently, a market analyst on cable network CNBC mentioned that, nationwide, there haven't been a lot of new homes constructed in the last five years or so due to the economy. That's why the inventory of available houses has been so drastically reduced and it's what's led us to the current "seller's market" in home sales. And that is particularly true in Kansas City, especially based on the January numbers just released. Now, as the economy recovers, more and more new houses will be built.

So, it's important for you to remember that a new house needs to be inspected just as much as an older house does. Previous posts on this blog have detailed some of the problems I've found in newly constructed homes.

The brand new house pictured here didn't have any insulation in the attic.In another new construction, I couldn't get the kitchen sink spray hose to extend from its resting place. The dishwasher's drain hose and the spray hose were tangled up under the sink. Further, the dishwasher was susceptible to backflow from the sink's garbage disposal because of the way its drainage hose had been placed. One new house featured a whirlpool bathtub in the master bath, but the tub's drain pipe hadn't been connected to anything. Recently, I inspected a new house that had no heating or cooling in the laundry room on the second floor. Turns out the floor tile had covered it up. And yet another new house had the control wire for the furnace connected to the doorbell instead of the house's thermostat and no power cord connected to the kitchen garbage disposal.

Yes, your builder's warranty covers things in your just-built home. Yes, you have a year to make a list of what needs to be repaired. Getting a Kansas City home inspection from Complete Home Inspection BEFORE you move in, though, gets you a jump start on that list and allows you to get many of those things fixed before you take occupancy. While warranties may protect you, the time lost, the inconvenience and the frustration you'll experience can only be handled by getting a Complete Home Inspection for your new property. So let me handle you final walk-through for you. Put my experienced eye to work for you and your family.

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and new construction final walk-throughs, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

New or Existing, get it inspected either way

The March 2013 issue of Money magazine included an article examining the pros and cons of buying a just-built home versus an existing home. While the article focused on Sales Price, Speed of Transaction, Cost of Ownership, and Chance for Near-Term Gains, what it didn't talk about was that just-built homes and existing homes each need to be inspected by a certified home inspector before you buy.

A March 2012 post on this blog showed the attic in a new house I had inspected recently -

No insulation at all. Now, is that something you would check as soon as you move into your new home?

Probably not. Instead, you'd be wondering why it cost so much to cool and heat your new place.

In another new construction, I couldn't get the kitchen sink spray hose to extend from its resting place. The dishwasher's drain hose and the spray hose were tangled up under the sink. Further, the dishwasher was susceptible to backflow from the sink's garbage disposal because of the way its drainage hose had been placed. Again, you don't usually move into a brand new house and immediately check under the kitchen sink.

And a July 2009 post on this blog detailed a new house where I filled the whirlpool bathtub in the master bath as part of the inspection. As the water drained, it ran out all over the bathroom floor and flooded the rooms underneath. The tub's drain pipe hadn't been connected to anything. In another new house, I found that the control wire for the furnace had been connected to the doorbell instead of the house's thermostat. A couple of weeks into your first winter in the house, you'd wonder why the house only felt comfortable when the pizza guy rang the doorbell. And one more just-built house horror story for you - the kitchen garbage disposal had no power cord connected to it.

Yes, your builder's warranty covers things in your just-built home. Yes, you have a year to make a list of what needs to be repaired. Getting a Kansas City home inspection from Complete Home Inspection BEFORE you move in, though, gets you a jump start on that list and allows you to get many of those things fixed before you take occupancy. While warranties may protect you, the time lost, the inconvenience and the frustration you'll experience can only be handled by getting a Complete Home Inspection for your new property. So let me handle you final walk-through for you. Put my experienced eye to work for you and your family.

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and new construction final walk-throughs, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

Yes, even a brand new house

It's easy, with a newly constructed house, to think that there's no reason to have Complete Home Inspection inspect it for you. Think again.

Here's the attic in a new house we inspected recently -

No insulation at all. Now, is that something you would check as soon as you move into your new home?

Probably not. Instead, you'd be wondering why it cost so much to cool and heat your new place.

In another new construction, we couldn't get the kitchen sink spray hose to extend from its resting place. We found that the dishwasher's drain hose and the spray hose were tangled up under the sink. Further, the dishwasher was susceptible to backflow from the sink's garbage disposal because of the way its drainage hose had been placed. Again, you don't usually move into a brand new house and immediately check under the kitchen sink. Why not have Complete Home Inspection do that for you?

Yes, your builder's warranty covers things. Yes, you have a year to make a list of what needs to be repaired. Getting a Kansas City home inspection from Complete Home Inspection BEFORE you move in gets you a jump start on that list and allows you to get many of those things fixed before you take occupancy.

Whole house inspections, condo inspections, new construction inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and more, we do it all for you. Call or E-mail today to schedule your Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222, www.completehomeinspectionkc.com.

Home Inspections 101

This video, excerpted from a TV show broadcast recently in Kansas City, answers many of your questions about home inspections, from choosing an inspector to what you can expect from your inspection.

First-time buyer, repeat buyer, seller, or real estate agent, you'll learn the basics of your home inspection and the importance of including a home inspection in your home buying process. Any further questions? Give us a call at Complete Home Inspection, 913-268-0222. Whole house inspections, radon testing, mold testing, educating you about your new home, and more, we can do it all for you.

"What about a new house?"

It's easy to think that a newly constructed house doesn't need to be inspected before you buy it. It's brand new, right? Well, here are a couple of things to consider. First, you might hire us to inspect the house DURING the construction to keep an eye on the progress and catch problems as they occur, making them easier for the builder to fix. Or, as most often happens, hire us to inspect the property as you do your final walk-through. We see things you're not trained to look for, and can save you a lot of time, hassle and irritation.

Examples? In one new house, we filled the whirlpool bathtub in the master bath as part of the inspection. When we drained it, and the water ran out all over the bathroom floor and flooded the rooms underneath, we discovered that the tub's drain pipe hadn't been connected to anything. In another new house, we were able to determine that the control wire for the furnace had been connected to the doorbell instead of the house's thermostat. A couple of weeks into your first winter in the house, you'd wonder why the house only felt comfortable when the pizza guy rang the doorbell.

One more horror story for you, a new house's kitchen garbage disposal worked beautifully, once it was plugged in. No power cord had been connected to the unit until we figured out what the problem was. While warranties may protect you, the time lost, the inconvenience and the frustration you'll experience can only be handled by getting a Complete Home Inspection for your new property.

Call today to schedule your inspection, 913-268-0222. Whole house inspections, radon testing, mold testing, and termite inspections, we can do it all for you.