Originally Posted By: Ray Holt
This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Hello,
we purchased our home in Feb 2003, we hired Bob Holly from US Inspect who was referred to us by a local RE agent as someone who was honest, thorough and diligent for the buying party.
Mr. Holly spent 4 hours at our home before escrow closed and said that the home was in overall excellent condition and stated in his report that the roof was very good with at least 10 years left on it. He further stated to me while the inspection was taking place, that he walked the entire outside of the roof and inspected the inside of the attic looking for problems but that he found none. I took him at his word and trusted his judgment that the roof was in good shape, so I didn't inspect it myself.
We moved in on March 15, 2003 during a horrendous rain storm that lasted all day. About 2:30-3:00pm I received a phone call from a contractor who had done a ton of work on the house after we closed escrow because of undisclosed mold, water, drywall and dryrot damage that was covered up by the previous owner. The only room that we didn't touch was the master bathroom because we didn't have the money after having to resheet 1/2 the house, retexturing, paint, carpet and mold repair. We figured that since the previous owner had just repainted the master bath, we could use it until we had saved the funds to fix it the way we wanted to which was going to take awhile.
On moving day, my contractor called to tell me that there was a very large bubble in the master bath ceiling and that he suspected it was water trapped behind the paint which was just done by the previous owner to hide the persistent water staining & damage, we found out later. My contractor popped the bubble and approx 5 gallons of water poured out of it. When I got to the house, all of the walls & ceiling sheetrock were soaking wet to the point that it was starting to crumble. At that point it was obvious that there was a major roof leak somewhere and that water was going to be a constant problem. I was already very concerned about the extensive mold that I cleaned in the kitchen, both bathrooms and 2 of the bedrooms, so I told my contractor to rip out the entire master bathroom to the studs to prevent any further mold. I figured that I would have to repair the roof to prevent any further damage, but that the water damage was so extensive that I had no choice but to rip the bathroom drywall out to make sure that the black mold didn't reappear.
About 3-4 days later when the rains stopped, I had the opportunity to get on the roof to examine where the leak could be coming from and I was shocked what I found. A section of roof 10ft x 3ft had been previously repaired years earlier with clear indoor silicon caulking. It was obviously an old repair that was very poorly done, the caulking was split & broken by the sun damage, it was a horrendous and obvious oversight by the home inspector. Furthermore it's painfully obvious that he didn't bother to walk the roof because if he would have, he would have needed a seeing eye dog to miss the terrible patch job on the roof. When I walked the inside of the attic to see if there was any water damage visible on the inside, there were extensive water stains on the wood where the leak was and it was again very obvious that it had been a long term leak by the dried stains on the wood.
There were other problems like he missed a drain that was clogged shut by rust for the washing machine that cost me $150 to have cleared on a Sunday. Then he missed the other bathroom's bathtub porcelain which was so badly scored that rust stains are appearing over 30% of it. It another obvious oversight by this inspector who at the time I thought was doing a good job.
I contacted the company by phone to explain my problems, they told me to send a letter of complaint which I did, then Mr. Holly came back to the house to reinspect the problems. US Inspect then sent us a letter claiming that Mr. Holly had done a good inspection and that they weren't going to do anything to help with his poor inspection.
I know I have no claims against US Inspect for undisclosed or hidden defects. The mold issues aren't covered either because they weren't visible and their contract specifically excludes mold from being something that they have any liability for. However, it seems to me that the bathroom roof was such a terrible & obvious oversight by Mr. Holly and had I seen it myself or he had informed me of it, I would have either had the previous owner repair it or I would have made the repairs to it myself, which would have taken 30-40 minutes.
As a result of Mr. Holly's terrible inspection of my house, we've been without a maste bathroom since March 15, 2003, I'm so angry at US Inpect's careless attitude towards us that I'm spitting fire. I've taken ton's of photographs & video of the damage by the leaking roof and of the exterior silicon patch job that stands out like a sore thumb. The fact of the matter is because of Mr. Holly's not bothering to check the outside or inside of the roof, it's cost us $20,000 in damage and it seems that the only remedy I have is to sue US Inspect.
I'm thinking of suing US Inspect but I'd greatly appreciate any feedback on input by the members of this board and what you think of this situation. Is there a place I can post on a website my complaint of Mr. Holly's poor inspection and the way US Inspect has treated us. Is there a complaint form I can fill out so that others can know how bad these people are to their customers and that they won't stand by their clients? I'm happy to explore any other avenues but since US Inspect won't admit that Mr. Holly screwed up badly, I don't think I have any other choice but to take them to court.
I'd appreciate any help and thanks for your time,
Ray Holt
--
"There are only 2 things that are infinite, the universe and mans stupidity.........but I'm not so sure about the universe". Einstein