Carnes Home Inspections

Our move was from Chicago to Indianapolis, so we had very limited time to be at our new house to oversee an inspection and all the other work involved in the home buying process. We talked to Kim, who was able to give us an inspection on pretty short notice, and we appreciated that since we were short on time. The first phone call with him lasted over an hour and he gave us tons of information (we were first time homebuyers) told us the process step-​by-​step, and was very up front about pricing. One of his selling points was that while most inspections take 2 – 3 hours, he was committed to staying as long as necessary to get the job done right. This was important to us because the house we were buying was a foreclosure and not in great shape, so we wanted someone thorough.
Kim told us that he would get to our house at 9:00 on the day of the inspection and that we could come by at 10:30 to begin going through things with him. When we arrived at 10:30, he had done almost nothing. It seemed like he had been waiting for us to get there to sign the contract (understandable, but he shouldn’t have told us to come an hour and a half later if that was the case). Once we got the utilities up and running, Kim set out to do his work. Our biggest complaint is that he was not methodical at all – he sort of aimlessly roamed from room to room checking things with no sense of order. It was not a matter of «Let’s check all of the electrical work in every room, now let’s check the plumbing in each room» etc. We tried to stay out of his way, but he kept getting side-​tracked and before we knew it he was telling us stories about houses in Carmel with trees growing out of the gutters and chipmunks coming in through the fireplace in his own house. He brought his college-​aged son along to help (generally fine with us) but it was the son’s first day on the job, and he significantly slowed Kim down. It wasn’t very professional. Because of his haphazard movement through the house, we were very, very concerned that he was missing things. He spent a lot of time giving us tips on home-​owning (how to unclog different types of drains, how the garbage disposal works, etc.) but not a lot of time actually inspecting. The whole ordeal took almost 6 hours, and if he had been more focused, it could have easily been done in 3 hours max. He emailed us the report a few days later which was very average in terms of organization and pictures.
The cost of the inspection was outrageous. To be fair, it was exactly what he quoted us, and we knew that it was on the high end of what was acceptable, but we were crunched for time and he was our only option. We ended up feeling a little taken advantage of. The high price was mostly attributable to the fact that Kim had to «de-​winterize» the house, which consisted of lighting the pilot lights on the furnace and water heater. He told us in advance that if this was necessary (we didn’t know whether or not it would be, since we were out of town) it would cost $ 150. He said that he understood that this was a very high charge, but as a home inspector, he’s not really supposed to do this, and he charges such a high amount so that if something ever goes wrong, he can compensate for it since it would be his responsibility. In terms of economics, I understand. In terms of legality, it doesn’t seem like this is OK. The general inspection did not include testing for radon, mold, or environmental contaminants. The overall price breakdown was $ 480 for the inspection (which included a termite inspection… we think the general inspection was $ 400 plus $ 80 for the termites) and $ 150 for the de-​winterization, for a total of $ 630. Wow.
In summary, Kim did what he said he would do and charged what he quoted us, and we can’t fault him for that. We ended up not buying this house (he did find some pretty scary things during the inspection) so we are thankful that his expertise helped us make that decision. However, when we found another house and purchased it, we used a different inspector who was much more professional, thorough, cheaper, and provided a better report in a shorter amount of time. Kim was a nice guy, but there are definitely others out there who are better.