A Buyer's Choice

I am very disappointed in the home inspection service provided by Mark and do not recommend his services to anyone. We purchased our home in April 2013, and the home inspection was completed by Mark on April 2, 2013. The home was not well taken care of and we knew there would be updates and renovations required. As well, there was a distinct odour in the home that we thought was a result of pets. When Mark arrived to complete the inspection, we advised him that our main concerns were if there were any issues with the foundation or any water damage/moisture problems with the house. We said that we knew the house needed work and renovations, but we wanted to make sure it was solid and that the smell was not a result water damage or mould. Mark completed the inspection and advised us that the house needed some work and repairs, but it was all relatively minor and that overall it was a solid house with no major problems. This could not have been more wrong - we took possession of our house on May 29, 2013, and found out that day that we had issues with the foundation and that there was water damage and black mould in the basement. We have also since discovered black mould in the window casings of the upstairs windows and none of these problems were identified in the home inspection report. When I contacted Mark in June 2013, he came back to the house to look at the problems. I was concerned that he had not used a moisture meter or a thermal imaging camera during the inspection to identify these problems when we had specifically stated that our concerns were with possible water damage and foundation issues. He advised me that if he had used the moisture meter and thermal imaging camera, the inspection would have taken him all day. We have attempted to negotiate with Mark and his insurance company for failing to identify these major issues, however, they have denied all responsibility. Because these issues were not identified, it has caused us a huge amount of stress and cost us a significant amount of money to repair the problems. It has been a nightmare to live in this house and try to repair it at the same time. We relied on the home inspection to give us accurate information to help us in our decision to purchase, and it was very inaccurate. Had we known about the significance of the damage to this house and the cost to repair it, we would never have purchased it.