Home Inspector (Columbus, Worthington: house, buying, construction)

[JayLynn]

Hi!
I am in the process of purchasing my first home. I have been unsuccessful at receiving a referral for a home inspector. I refuse to anonymously choose one on-line.
We all know how important finding a trustworthy inspector can be.
Does anyone know of a good home inspector in the Columbus area that they would recommend?

Please include a brief explanation of why you would recommend them.
I would really appreciate your help.

[Midwest girl at heart]

Originally Posted by JayLynn

Hi!
I am in the process of purchasing my first home. I have been unsuccessful at receiving a referral for a home inspector. I refuse to anonymously choose one on-line.
We all know how important finding a trustworthy inspector can be.
Does anyone know of a good home inspector in the Columbus area that they would recommend?

Please include a brief explanation of why you would recommend them.
I would really appreciate your help.

Hello,
We are fairly new to Columbus (just under a year) and used Mark Wing of the Wing Inspection Group (Mark@thewinginspectiongroup.com)

You will find him to be very very detailed--he's the type of inspector who will tell you like it is (your realtor won't like him).

Coming from a situation in Houston where we got scr@wed he was very meticulous and we weren't here for the inspection (a relative was).

Good luck!

[Sondra Johnson]

Larry Stumph of WIN Inspections 890-2800. Has both national designations ASHI and NAHI, did construction for many many years, been an inspector for 15++ years, very professional- I recommend him a lot (and no, I get no compensation for it, other than knowing a good job will be done). About $300 for a home inspection, not including radon if that's wanted......

Did your realtor have any recommendations?

[ninety]

Originally Posted by Sondra Johnson

Larry Stumph of WIN Inspections 890-2800. Has both national designations ASHI and NAHI, ......

This guy did an inspection of a house I was involved with and he thought flux on the floor under a copper pipe was evidence of a leak, he also thought that salt stains on the garage floor from snow that had melted off of the cars was evidence of past standing water. (It was winter.) I would NOT recommend him. It was as if he were looking for something to justify his existence. If there's nothing to remedy, just say so.

[darlameow]

Just used Craig Carson ... I highly recommend! Craig F. Carson, P.E. | Craine Engineering Consultants | Worthington, Ohio | ASHI, American Society of Home Inspectors

[Tenzo]

Originally Posted by Sondra Johnson

Larry Stumph of WIN Inspections 890-2800. Has both national designations ASHI and NAHI, did construction for many many years, been an inspector for 15++ years, very professional- I recommend him a lot (and no, I get no compensation for it, other than knowing a good job will be done). About $300 for a home inspection, not including radon if that's wanted......

Did your realtor have any recommendations?

This guy inspected a home for me and found that the owner had done a good job of covering up a lot of stuff.

He found the the siding was capped wrong
Found that the roof was done incorrectly
and most important, found black mold in a house.

He saved me from bying a bad house and I could not appreciate that more.


So I used him on the next house and he found incorrectly installed flashing that caused a leak in a brink home in bad rain. He also found termites in the garage and a chimney that needed to be re-tuckpointed.

Everything he found in both homes was true and needed fixing. The guy I did buy a house from complained that he had inspectors come through before and none of them had mentioned anything that WIN found.

Yeah, the guys a real home inpector nazi.
But when I'm buying, that is what I want.
From the guy complaining about WIN, it looks like he was on the receiving end of one of those inspections.

So, if you are buying, hire WIN. If you are selling, maybe not.

[GeminiGal]

Wow - this guy (Larry Stumph) must be busy because he did ours as well (as buyers). He was very good and thorough, came HIGHLY recommended from our realtor AND DH's work associates. I would recommend him

[ninety]

Wow, looks like all of Larry's relatives have started posting. Anyway, no, I was not the seller of the house I mentioned. I was actually a contractor who did some work in the home so no bitterness here. The seller wanted my feedback on a couple of items and I got a chuckle out of those things in the report.

[GeminiGal]

Originally Posted by ninety

Wow, looks like all of Larry's relatives have started posting.

[Columbus Lawn Sprinkler]

A good way to find a good home inspector:

Ask the Realtors who is a real PITA. Most realtors will tell you since I am sure any realtor that has been around may have had a deal or two almost fall apart due to a picky inspector.

Find FHA approved inspectors and have them use FHA guidelines. My parents sold their home to a FHA qualifying couple and that inspection report was crazy long and indepth. I was really impressed with the report.

I made the mistake of just calling someone from the yellowpages.

Next time I am going to do a lot more research before hiring someone.