A to Z Inspections - Anyone have experience?

Question

Hi all,

Currently under contract on our first SFH rental property in OKC area.  I was doing research on angies list, google etc for a good property inspector in the area and found A to Z .   They have a lot of good buyer reviews.

When mentioned to our agent, he said "oh no thats the only company I wouldn't use".  And proceeded to say how they were overkill with their inspection reports (sounds good to me!), and tried to scare some of his buyers out of buying a couple houses so they could get repeat business ,etc.  I understand why realtors wouldn't like a detailed inspector..lol  But I am hoping to find some insight from people who have experience with them!  Thanks.

Levi Ballard · Answer

I have never used them personally - I have sold a house where the buyer used them. They are a very large company and I always thought that spoke for itself. In my personal experience (might have just been the individual and not representative of the company), they did not get up on the roof, they did not get into the crawl space, and they missed a handful of minor but worthy issues I would have noted inside the house. They seemed to wow the buyer (first time buyer) with a fancy IPAD app and printout report. I think they did a good job of relaying the issues they did find to the buyer.

Roland S. · Answer

I have used A to Z on all of my investment purchases.  I have been very pleased with them.  I guess it depends on who you get to do the inspection, but I have been satisfied with their work every time.  What I like is that they use 2 people to inspect so they are able to cover quite a bit of area very thoroughly.  I have heard that realtors don't like them because they will write down every thing that is wrong which may seem like overkill but I am fine with that.  They will price the repair out also if you ask.  There is an additional cost to pay for them to inspect the crawl space which saved me a lot of money when we saw the effects of the blowout underneath the newly floored bathroom and how they supported the floor with 2x4's directly into the ground with no concrete footings or anything.

The owner also teaches  at a local community college on how to inspect the different systems in a house.  So he is very involved and is responsive to the phone calls or emails.  Several of the inspectors are buy and hold owners (or had been) and were knowledgeable in inspecting the houses we purchased.