SE Michigan's Best Home Inspection and Commercial Property Inspection Value
Certified Michigan home inspector, offering home inspection, condo inspection, commercial building inspection, apartment building inspection, and industrial building inspection services for all of SE Michigan, including the Detroit, Pontiac, Monroe, Brighton, and Mt Clemens areas.
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Evergreen Home Inspections
313-320-6514 (cell)
email: evginsp@outlook.com (please call or text for a quicker response)
call and compare!
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Very thorough home inspector, easy to understand reports, reasonable rates
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InterNACHI certified home inspector since 2004 - Licensed Builder - Insured
Computer-printed photo report - major issues can be reported on site.
Exceptional photo quality for home inspections.
Flexible scheduling – same day possible, available 7 days/week
Satisfaction Guaranteed! if you are not satisfied with the quality and
competence of your inspection, I will pay for another inspection
by an InterNACHI certified inspector of your choice.
Customized, not just generic software-generated, comments on findings
Very low cost options (such as "run through" inspections, verbal reports
with emailed photos, etc.) available for investors, pre-offer inspections, etc.
Frank Bartlo
InterNACHI Certified
Inspector ID# 04081281
Michigan Builder’s
License # 2101157200
Best Metro Detroit Home Inspection, Apartment Building,
Industrial Property, and Commercial Property Inspection Value
Evergreen
Home Inspections specializes in residential home, condo, commercial,
industrial, and multi-family apartment building inspection services in
Detroit and SE Michigan, including Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties,
and the Monroe and Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti areas. My commitment as a home
inspector is to provide an accurate, extremely thorough inspection with a
very easy to understand report at a reasonable rate: not the cheapest, but the extra tens of dollars you invest in a truly thorough inspection could save you from dealing with thousands of dollars of undiscovered issues. Budget
inspections in which only items pertinent to a buyer's contingency
are reported are available at a lower cost. For more detailed rates
click the link to the following page: Home Inspection
Services and Fees.
Many of my clients who have bought homes
before have told me they were amazed at the difference between my
inspection and the prior inspections that were done for
them. This has usually been followed by a discussion about all the problems
they've been dealing with in their house their prior inspector who was
"in and out in about an hour and a half" failed to mention.
If you are not satisfied with
the quality of your home inspection, I'll pay for another (see
above). This has yet to happen. In most cases your inspection
will pay for itself many times over.
I enjoy doing property inspections. Every building is an adventure in
itself, especially the older homes. This enthusiasm translates into a
good inspection.
Flexible scheduling 7 days/week -- same
day scheduling possible
Available on short notice, including evening
and weekend appointments, with same day appointments possible, subject
to scheduling conflicts and/or daylight considerations. Available
weekends. Call 313-320-6514 (cell phone) or 888-320-6510
(toll-free from long-distance land lines) to schedule your inspection. However, due to my thoroughness, I cannot accommodate as many appointments as other inspectors, so it's best to call as soon as you're ready to set up an inspection.
Qualifications: InterNACHI Certified Home Inspector, Insured, Licensed
Builder, and Experienced Renovator
Michigan
has no licensing of home inspectors, so it is important that you check
out the credentials of any home inspector you wish to hire. While
credentials certainly don't guarantee the quality of someone's work,
they're a good place to start. Here are some of my
qualifications:
1)
Certified by the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors
(InterNACHI, ID# 04081281) for over 10 years. InterNACHI "front ends" its strict membership
requirements, which can be found here: InterNACHI certified home
inspector requirements. This link includes the InterNACHI home inspector exam that
InterNACHI members must pass, which you can take yourself at no cost. InterNACHI
inspectors must observe the strict standards of practice and code of
ethics and keep their skills up to date with ongoing training. Michigan
has no licensing for home inspectors at the time this is published
(Dec. 2010), so it is important to make sure your inspector is
qualified. InterNACHI provides extensive support, including a message board
on which any member can get expert input on the most unusual and
puzzling inspection findings. So when you hire a InterNACHI inspector, you're
hiring a team of hundreds of experts! InterNACHI: "Inspected
once, inspected right."
InterNACHI vs. ASHI vs. NAHI? There are
several home inspectors' certification organizations, and their members
often get into squabbles that I think are downright silly. Back
when my home inspection business got started I chose NACHI, (now known as InterNACHI) and I've
remained loyal to them because they’ve been very good to me, and good
for my clients as well.
To see what my clients have to say about my home inspection work
(including one of my first few clients), see the following link: Detroit home
inspection raves.
There is virtually no difference between the standards of
practice for ASHI, InterNACHI, and NAHI, but none
of them are up to my standards of practice: they only
require an inspector to test "a representative number" of electrical
outlets, probe "a representative number" of structural components where
deterioration is suspected, etc. Testing a
"representative number" of electrical outlets, structurally
questionable areas, etc. just will not do for my building
inspections: I check out everything that is accessible and safe
to inspect. Everything. My property inspections don't just meet
InterNACHI, ASHI, or NAHI standards of practice; they go
well above and beyond these standards!
For example, occasionally electrical outlets are found in the course of a
property inspection that look perfectly OK, but are dangerously
improperly wired, sometimes with a "hot" ground wire, or other
problems that can cause an electric shock, damage electrical equipment,
and/or even burn a house down! Chances are most of these would not even have been
found had only a "representative number" of outlets been
tested.
2) Licensed builder (Michigan
builder's license # 2101157200). Trained at Middleton Real
Estate Training, and passed the Michigan licensing exam to get the
license.
3) Home renovation experience
since 1989, full-time from 1997 to 2004, including maintenance
of numerous residential rental properties. This experience has taught
me about older systems and construction practices, and has given me a
great deal of practical knowledge of what is expected in the
normal aging of buildings and systems, as opposed to which conditions
really need attention. Most Detroit, Pontiac and Ann Arbor area homes
were built before 1970, and many still have older systems. I've also
learned many low-cost property repair and maintenance techniques, which
I'll pass on to you.
4) Insured. Though I don't ever expect to have to use
it, Evergreen Home Inspections is insured for all
typical liabilities a home inspector may face. I will answer any
questions you might have about the policy and/or provide a certificate
or copy thereof upon request Furthermore, no client or agent shall be
liable for any incidental loss or injury I may incur during a home
inspection.
Honest, Balanced, and Very Thorough
Inspections
I inspect all features of the house
that are accessible and safe to inspect for safety, structural
soundness, and functionality. Click the following link to the Scope of the
home inspection page for more detailed information. I have a
reputation as an extremely thorough inspector.
I do not cut corners. My aim is also to put our findings in perspective: to give important
matters their due consideration, but also not to overstate conditions
that are unlikely to affect your enjoyment of your future home. I will
report every visible defect, point out positive attributes of the house,
and will always emphasize the distinction between major safety issues
and matters of little consequence, costly necessary repairs and easy,
inexpensive fixes, and will give you a straight and honest call as to
what to expect and prepare for in the future.
A vast majority of the serious safety
issues that are found in most inspections, such as incorrectly rated
circuit breakers or fuses, are very easy and inexpensive to correct. My
objective is to tell it like it is, not to make mountains out of
molehills. I've been a buyer, seller, and agent, so I know how important
it is for an inspection to be accurate and balanced.
Customized Reporting of Findings -- Not Just Generic Comments
In order to save time, many if not most inspectors who produce computer reports with pictures of the actual findings use software from which findings are selected from a menu of generic, "one size fits all" comments. While this is understandable, due to the amount of time and effort it takes to generate such a report, in some respects such reports are actually inferior to the old handwritten checklist reports that were more specific to the property. Many of these generic comments are too technical for people who are not in the construction field to understand, lack the specific information to be as helpful for do-it-yourself repairs as possible, and often don't even properly apply to the situation at hand.
For example, such software very often
recommends immediate replacement of old mechanical systems, such as
gravity ("octopus") furnaces and electrical fuse boxes that may be very
safe and in excellent condition. I report them as such, and state any
potential problems that may arise, life expectancy issues, and reasons
one might want to update them (lower heat costs for modern furnaces,
etc.). In fact, gravity furnaces -- however inefficient they may be --
have a very simple design, and could outlast a new furnace,
though the higher heat bills may cost several times the cost of a new
furnace installation during that period. Also, few people are aware
that properly rated fuses provide more reliable circuit
protection than circuit breakers. Circuit breakers are used in modern
household electrical installations because of convenience, and due to people using fuses rated too high, which is easily preventable with properly rated tamper-proof fuse holders.
My inspection of a 1500 square foot
house in typical condition is likely to take about 3-4 hours or more,
depending upon the property characteristics, what is found, and how much of the report is done on site. It does not make sense to cut corners on
evaluation of the biggest investment you are likely to make, upon which
your life and health may depend. You
and any interested parties are encouraged to accompany me during the
inspection, and record the inspection in any way you wish, subject to
the current owner and/or their agent's approval. I will answer any
questions you have and explain what needs to be done to keep your home
in good condition.
Serving all of SE Michigan and metro
Detroit home inspection and commercial property inspection needs.
Frank
Bartlo
Evergreen Home Inspections
Call (313) 320-6514 (cell phone)
9am-10pm Eastern Time M-Th
9am-5pm Friday
10am-5pm Weekends
evginsp@outlook.com