Homeguard Incorporated

Follow up — HomeGuard did the inspections (home, roof and termite) recently. All the required repairs were done in a timely and professional manner. Jose who was on site most days was polite and explained what was taking place. I have already recommended them to a friend who needs work done on his house.

Always a pleasure working with Homeguard! The inspectors are thorough and knowledgable and the entire staff is very friendly.

Katherine Black and Brandon Lolling are the best! Going above and beyong to move up appointments as they become available and Brandon taking the time to stop by on his own time to do a pre-​check before inspection day to make sure everything is ok. They are definitely the TEAM we love to work with.

I was selling my house. The buyers chose this company. They installed a new garage door the workers moved my disassembled treadmill left it in the middle of the garage along with 4 closet doors and tools. The first day they left for the day without even letting me know. Like I said last day left a mess.
My house had termites I take it they did the job I don’t know I know longer live there. They had to pull up several floor boards and replace 4. The replaced boards were left unfinished they should have refinished them back to the original shade. The floorboards that were reinstalled were not placed evenly and flush with the existing ones, I was in the middle of moving I only noticed after the fact. The new owners it’s now their problem but I would complain. My neighborhood refinishes hardwood floors and said after the fact that they did a lousy job. Mediocrity for the grand sum of over 14k out of my money!
NOT RECONENDED and my agent gave it to them good. Never again.

Read the fine print, this company is in the business of denying claims and screwing over customers. We purchased their sham of a home warranty when buying our first house and the first time we need them, a failing water heater, they tell us it isn’t covered. Shady as all hell. I rarely write extreme reviews of companies but this place deserves every word.
When my wife spoke to them on the phone, the representative told her to «shut up and listen». Absolutely unprofessional.

We just recently purchased a house, and we had it fumigated, as well as all the termite damage repaired.
From beginning to end, everything was perfect.
The only issue we had was during fumigation, someone entered our residence and took some items, but that is a risk we knew we were taking knowing the windows were going to be left open during the fumigation.
The same thing happened a couple Street’s away from us during their fumigation as well.
As far as Homeguard, communication, ease of the transaction and all was smooth.
Thank you Homeguard!

I’m a local realtor in town and we try to spread the business around, but I keep going back to Home Guard beacaue they can always accommodate my buyers’ schedule. They show up on time, are always friendly and knowledgeable. They also have great customer service.

I have nothing but the highest praise for this company.
Response time was rapid, all employees were courteous and professional and able to accommodate my schedule.
Highly recommend!

This company did my inspection and also two of the main repairs. The inspectors were very thorough and found most of the issues with this house. I had them do roof repairs and fix a Section 1 piece of the structure and both were done exceptionally well. I’d be happy to have them inspect and or work on my home. They send good people to do both inspections and repairs.

OMG! I have NEVER gotten such great service from a Termite Inspection Company!
Randall was on time, he was fast, he was responsive AND he did the inspection at 10:30 AM and had the completed report to me by 12:50 PM. That’s INCREDIBLE!
Thank you so much. I will definitely refer you to others!

If I could give them –0 stars I would, these ppl have made my life a LIVING hell! trying to do a simple refinance through the VA, they inspected what I thought to be simple termites, well that’s where it all started, they inspected all kinds of things, things that are totally UNTRUE, they do this so they can BID for your job and take many homeowners to the cleaners w/​their outrageous prices. A job they bid on my house was 2K, I got it all completed by a contractor for $ 200. RIP OFF– DONT USE THESE PEOPLE, they put bogus repairs on your report just to make a buck. I am VERY sorry I ever called these clowns!!!

As a Realtor having competent, professional service providers is an absolute must-​have and Homeguard has it all! I love the fact that I can schedule multiple inspections on the same day. They have a large staff of inspectors to accommodate a client’s busy schedule. The reports are superior and easy to read. The quotes for repair work are never inflated like with some other inspection companies. They are rock solid!

I’ve come back to edit this review based on recent communications with Homeguard. It’s apparent to us that the company has high standards and really cares about the satisfaction of their customers by their proactively contacting me to inquire about more details of a recent home inspection. the company did not ask me to change this review and they were very diplomatic and sincere in wanting to improve their image. Hence, I have upgraded their rating as well. We think it would no be fair to for us to continue with a bad review due to one inspection gone wrong (in our opinion).
I’ll also say that as a buyer of a property, it is desirable to find as many issues with a home as possible, regardless of severity, yet it sometimes scares buyers, and a seller like me has to scramble to calm nervous buyers about the minor issues that arise.
My hope would be that ALL home inspection companies come up with a rating system like (1 to 10) for each issue they find and rate issues according to their view of importance. This will help a seller and buyer determine what really needs to be done. Example: maybe a rating of 8., 9, or 10 could mean a serious issue, while middle numbers are suggested but not a threat to safety, and lower number of minor importance yet should be attended.
SUMMARY OF OUR ORIGINAL COMMENTS
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A buyer of our house had Homeguard inspect our 19 year old home that I maintain very well. When I saw the company name, I knew it would be a stupid inspection.
On a positive, Homeguard found some things that need repair. In my case, out of 9 items, 3 were valid simple repairs. The other items are not valid in our opinion.
My report of questionable items: (not in any particular order)
Water heater improperly strapped: I called PG&E to inspect it. He left a clean report and said the it was strapped extremely well in 3 locations with strong lag bolts into studs of the wall as required.
Electrical Panel «Double Taps: This is where a circuit breaker should have only one set of wires attached and goes to circuits in the home. My panel had a «double tap» at the bottom breaker, but in this case was legal, inspected, and approved by the city building inspector. The reason is the «tap» is a surge protector to prevent electrical spikes from damaging sensitive electronic equipment. It is not a tap to supply current to another circuit in the home. The HG inspector may have never seen such a device because panel surge protectors are rare in a home.
Exposed wiring above range hood: It is insulated Romex with internal shield specifically for this purpose. It was inspected and approved when the house was built, inspected again when we bought the house, and inspected a 3^rd time during a refinance. A call to my building inspector with a photo was said to be «fine».
Roof «J-​fold» problem: This is a metal flashing around a roof jack to prevent water from seeping into the roof near solar panels. Our building inspector approved the flashing, AND the solar installer inspected the installation before listing our home for sale, and another third party roofing company inspected all the flashings and approved them to be the best method for our style of roof tile and solar installation.
Loose toilet: The toilet was installed new during the last year and we wiggled it as hard as we could and barely could get it to budge. We really couldn’t tighten it much. I called the installer to check it, and he was also puzzled as to why they say it was loose. Maybe they wiggled the lid which appears loose but that’s because the lid is on rubber grommets to allow some movement without breaking.
Evidence of rodent droppings near water heater: We think they mistaken some spilled pellets of a pellet gun from a small nearby can of pellets to be rodent droppings? I guess that is where they are used to seeing rat droppings, so assume here as well. They could be right though.
I removed a video that was taken.

I just realize that there are so many negative reviews (one star reviews) here. I wish I read them earlier so I can avoid using homeguard. Now, I really regret of choosing homeguard. Here’s my true story. Please learn my lesson!
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I’m a first time home buyer and I know very little about house in general so I naively hope there is an experienced specialist who can guide me when I buy a house.
Instead, what I learned is that homeguard didn’t do their job right (giving me an inaccurate report).
My agent recommended HomeGuard for the home/​termite experience, so I ordered the inspection before buying the house. At the day of inspection, they (Oscar Fregoso and a gentlemen he is training) are 40 min late and the entire inspection took 2 hours! The report suggests the house is in a good condition in addition to some very minor improvements. However, after purchasing the house, at the time we are painting the wall and installing the flooring, we realized the AC unit is broken!
Here’re some facts:
1) No one lives in this unit between the inspection day and now (about 1 month long in between, eating the loan takes about a month). The seller didn’t live there, and I didn’t move in yet, therefore, the condition of the AC reflects to the day of inspection. There is no way that the AC will break in 1 month when no one is using it !!
2) I’m not paying the inspector to train a new employee. When it happens, then I expect the inspection should reflect the highest standard of their work.
3) There is no words in the report that accurately state the condition of the AC. The duty of the inspector is to report accurately on the condition of house (including AC since it is a fixed unit in the house), and that allows the me (the customer) to make decision on whether I want to buy this house or not.
4) After complaining, HomeGuard sent Oscar Fregoso and the gentlemen in training back this morning. I originally espect the company to sent another team to re-​evaluate the work (so it will be unbiased). However, the company sent the same guy back, and of course, they said, there is nothing wrong with their report! Gosh! how can I trust his words again? of cause he is not going to claim his own mistake.
5) So I called HomeGuard and talk the manager (the VP, Curtis). He kept telling me that they are not responsible for this. He has been arguing with me that the inspector was following the procedures. So… If the inspector is following the procedure, then there is a serious problem on how they inspect the house in general.
Customers don’t care how you do the job, we care whether you can do it right.
If there’s a latent defect of a fixed unit of the house, the inspector is responsible on pointing it out. The sole purpose of getting a home inspection is to guide the buyer to make the right decision. When their work fails to do this, they are responsible for the repairing, not the buyer. And clearly, they are not helpful on this at all.
Hope the above can be informative and help you make the right decision on whether you should chose homeguard. I will never use homeguard again. My agent and and other real estate agents in her company will never use homeguard again.
Truly from my agent’s perspective, using homeguard’s service is not only hurting her client, but also hurting her own reputation.
Stay away from homeguard.

The wood contractors came were good and completed on time in the same budget.
Termite inspection was ok but they gave hard time to accept other company Termite fix so i have redo /​pay again with homeguard for the certification. Thats fine i accept that they have rules about other company work.
Working with accounting department is nightmare. They gave so much hard time. I told them to process my payment multiple times still the threaten me saying they will put Mechanics Lien on the property.
— I send the check to there office, they say never received it.
— And there credit card processing take more than 2 days to get idea whether they are going to process or not.
What a way to waste customer time and i never going back again to them.

I had a great experience with Homeguard from start to finish. They worked with my tight schedule to get the three inspections done, walked me through each report, and sent the finished reports to me very quickly. It was a painless process.

I’m a 35 year veteran real estate agent. I have been using HomeGuard for about 12 years. I am very satisfied with them. I always have a separate roof, termite, and home (property) inspector. They are on time, professional and knowledgeable. Like any company, every once in while a small error is made. Very rare, but they always correct it. They are easy to work with, write clear and concise reports with photos and are very accurate. When I have them do work, it’s always good and I like the way the office runs. I’m a fan! I use their VIP program whenever I take a listing and also order my NHD report and home warranty from them also.

If there was a minus 10 I would give them that.
I have been a Realtor in my area for more than 10 years now. We have a Facebook page for our local Realtors. You should SEE the negative reviews! NOT ONE POSITIVE REVIEW FROM ANYONE!!!
I recently had a lisitng in Oakley that the buyers agent had inspected from Home Guard. Mind you we already had a CLEAR SECTION ONE from another company…
Home Guard came in and found $ 1300 worth of section one repairs to be done. I hired two seperate LICENSED contractors to come out and do the work Neither one could find work to be done. I called HG on it, they never returned my calls. They would not issue a clearance unless they did the work. So in essence we were being extored by them to the tune of $ 1300. To do work that did not need to be done.
Eventually I called Bongiorno Termite out to do a reinspect. They did so and repaired the ONE section one item they found the same day they found it. They charge $ 230 for the repair.
Home Guard would sitll NOT issue a clearance. The man from Home Guard, whose name I can’t remember, came out and was ENRAGED that someone else did some of the work they had called for. He then took a SCREWDRIVER and dug into the badger rafter in the front of the house (he is supposed to use an awl) damaging the rafter to pull out perfectly good pieces of wood and shoved it in the face of the homeowner saying «SEE! DRY ROT!» Mind you, this is a very strong man and he had to DIG and GOUGE to get that wood out.
I would never ever ever let them on one of my listings again and in fact will be borrowing an addendum from fellow Realtor Nicole Caballero to cover my clients best interest.
If you see their truck pulling up to your house, LOCK THE DOORS, SHUT THE BLINDS, CALL THE DOGS!

Homeguard Incorporated is a joke. The buying agent hired them to do home and roof inspection on the house I was selling. They sent out a single inspector to do both home and roof inspections.
Said inspector was not certified to do roof inspections and never set foot on the roof to complete his inspection. Despite this fact, he provided an inspection that resulted in additional work being needed. Thankfully this cost was shared by buyers and sellers.
During the home inspection, he indicated that there was a leak in the shower head which there was not. I had to return to the home to take pictures and video of the shower head NOT leaking while water was turned on to prove this to all parties involved.
He also indicated in his report that the hood over the range was not vented to the outside. The proof of this was his picture of the cabinets over the hood which showed no vent duct. What a MORON! The industry standard includes top and back venting range hoods. The hood vent ducting from the back of the range hood would have been obviously visible if he had gone into the attic (which is easily accessible as there are pull down stairs, adequate attic lighting and room to stand up and walk). Clearly he never set foot in the attic. He could have also pulled off the range hood filter screens to see that the vent hole was connected to the back of the hood… a 15 second operation that any other inspector would have done.
My experience shows that Homeguard is unprofessional and unqualified to do what they claim to do. They do not provide service at the level expected.
Avoid Homeguard like the plague.

This company is unprofessional with its customer service
My husband called in a claim to report 2 issues cover by this policy and when the technician finally came, only one item was shown on the work order
Since there’s a deductible with each visit, we have been saving up minor items until this call.
When I contacted Homeguard and spoke with a supervisor named Wendy, she insisted that her claim rep only receive an order with for issue in our kitchen.
I felt that a company which doesn’t value customer service and would argue over a claim called in is not worth working with.
I suppose I am spoiled with Nordstrom and may wonderful companies.
I intend to take this to the business bureau and report the extremely unsatisfying service I have received with Homeguard.