"We were sceptical about hiring a Home Inspector as we generally prefer to do things ourselves and cannot afford unnecessary add-ons. We nonetheless decided to hire one, as this is our first home purchase and we felt it was worth taking every precaution on such a big investment. We are very glad we did. We learned a great deal about this house in particular and about all houses in general. The knowledge will serve us well for a lifetime.
Prior to this experience, we visited potential homes looking only at the obvious aspects, such as location, living space, lighting, parking, appliances and condo versus freehold. The Home Inspection gave us a much-needed education about the real long-term costs of home ownership. Now our standards have changed. We take several other factors into consideration, such as the age of the furnace, the type of electrical wiring in the house, the health and safety issues, etc.
This was the best $345 we ever spent. Without the Home Inspection, we might have purchased a home that would have ended up costing us thousands more than we had planned to spend. It was definitely worth it. It should be mandatory by law for new potential homeowners to hire the services of a Home Inspector at least once, for their own protection.
The Home Inspector, Garnett Hamilton , is respectful, knowledgeable and a consummate professional. He encouraged us to ask questions and he answered them all clearly and patiently while simultaneously making his inspection. Our multitude of questions and interruptions caused the home inspection to last almost 3 hours. By the end, we had serious reservations about purchasing the house. During the following days, we concluded that we were no longer interested in going forward with the purchase of the house. That decision was based entirely on the results of the Home Inspection. The sellers tried to convince us to change our minds by agreeing to fix several of the defects in the house at their cost and to our specifications, and by throwing in additional appliances. They even offered to lower the cost of the house. This only reinforced our realization of how close we came to making a huge mistake.
Although we made our decision before having the chance to read the actual written report of the Home Inspector, we'd like to mention how detailed and thorough it was. It even included several pictures of some of the key parts of the house and its defects. We highly recommend hiring the services of Hamcrest Inspections for all your home inspections. We plan to reuse their services the next time we need a home inspection."
- Patrice & Ruvina Bouthillette, Ottawa |
