Star Inspection Group

I have been a Realtor for over 35 years, way before we had real home inspectors. I have had the pleasure of working with Bill Londagin (and now his wife, Suzon Murray) for many years, too many to recall. More than a dozen, maybe two dozen. They are an amazing team. Bill is unconditionally the best inspector I have ever worked with. He is smart and he is honest. He is through and articulate in his presentation and his discussions with clients be they home buyers or sellers having him prepare a pre-​sale inspection to include in their disclosure packet. He is forthright and yet not overwhelming. You can believe that if there are problems Bill will find them and even better he will have suggestions for how to remediate them. Suzon knows details about where and how you can contact the people who Bill recommends and some of the appliances and gadgets that he thinks might be useful. She is windfall to talk with and to troubleshoot as needed.
Bill recently inspected my 16 year old home. I loved how he discussed it and how clearly he made recommendations.
Five stars are not enough for Star Inspection Group and Bill Londagin but that’s all that Unilocal allows so hats off and 5 Stars!

Bill was great! He was there early and very personable and easy to ask questions of! My last inspection person was so hard to understand, but Bill made it easy for me to understand what was wrong and what would need to be done and in what kind of time frame, which was so helpful!
I would definitely recommend Bill to all my friends!

I have been using Bill Londagin with Star Inspection Group for many years now. He’s not only a great inspector, but he is also now the owner of this business (perhaps in just the last year or so). What makes Bill stand out as a home inspector is not one thing but many. Probably the most important is his skill level. I don’t know how many decades Bill has been a home inspector but you can tell he is well seasoned (I mean that in the kindest way); his knowledge about the different systems of a home (or commercial property for that matter) come through not in a generic sense, but as it applies to each particular property. Every time I use him, I learn something new because there is something different about each property and he translates that difference into useful knowledge that buyers need.
Another way in which Bill stands out is that while you are meeting with him, you feel like you are taking a workshop or a class from a wise and thoughtful teacher whose goal is to empower you as the potential owner of this property. It is for these reasons that I have sent many of my clients to him over the years as a realtor and why I used him in the purchase of my own home.
In terms of price for home inspections, Star Inspection Group is perhaps middle of the road, but in quality they are at the top of the list. And regardless of price, when it comes to one of the largest transactions of your life, you want to go with one of the best. Call Bill.

Sloppy and unprofessional. My husband and I had a terrible experience with this group. Inspection report took forever. When it finally came in, it had the wrong address. It was sent back, and a more significant error this time, significantly delayed our getting loan approval.

Far too many problems missed that all subsequent inspectors said were obvious and straight forward. I am facing about 25k in unexpected expenses now. Was it worth it?

My husband and I have been searching for a home for nearly a year now and after soliciting a few word of mouth recommendations, we heard about Brian Cogley and have just recently hired Brian on to complete a general home inspection for us. After a previous negative experience with a home inspector in our first home purchase in Los Angeles, we were looking for someone who would be thorough, unbiased, and considerate of us and our needs in a home.
We found Brian to be both thorough in his inspection as well as his explanations of the entire process from start to finish. Brian was completely professional in his interactions with us, which left both my husband and I confident in his abilities. He took his time, carefully inspecting both the exterior of the home (thoroughly!) as well as the interior of the home (thoroughly!), leaving no stone unturned, no section of foundation left unsearched (and that’s saying a lot considering some of the crawl space that he had to get into) and no minor detail off in his inspection. All of this matters when dealing with additional inspections that needed to occur, repairs that needed to be done prior to the close of escrow, as well as the amount of credits toward the purchase of a home.
In addition, Brian was patient and clear in helping us to understand what needed to be prioritized in the consideration of not only the home purchasing process, but also as we move into the home and actually live in it, which I can’t wait to do, now knowing so much about the home. He even went so far as to show us the attic, indicating that for future growth, we could definitely build out that space if we chose, which is useful information to know when considering the purchase of a home. He also indicated to us minor improvements and maintenance that we could complete on our own as we lived in the house, prioritizing for us the issues we should be mindful and watchful of.
I feel thoroughly at ease knowing exactly what it is we are purchasing in the home we plan to buy. I had various questions for Brian regarding drainage, foundation, roof, etc. and he answered all of my questions in a manner that left me feeling confident that I knew exactly what condition the home was in, to the best of his knowledge, which is extensive. Brian is also knowledgeable in his level of understanding regarding other inspections and reputable inspectors/​companies that needed to done in order for a thorough inspection of those areas to be completed as well. I was also impressed by his knowledge of older homes, which number greatly in this area and are often are the go-​to choice for home buyers here. The home we are looking at is nearly 100 years old, so a thorough inspection of it was crucial.
I am a stickler for information and I need a lot of it in order to feel confident about purchasing something as major as a home, and Brian Cogley offered that to us.

When you hire a home inspector, you want to hire someone with experience and is exceptionally thorough. Bob Dullum from Star Inspection Group is exactly this person. Firstly, Bob was professional. He showed up on time, explained what he was going to do, asked if I had questions throughout the process, was connected to additional inspectors that we needed to bring on for their specialty (pool), delivered his report on time, offered up his personal contact info for post inspection questions and shockingly, even returned phone calls promptly.
Secondly, thoroughness. Bob was more anal than me (that’s saying a lot). Not only did he go through the usual easy stuff (water pressure, electrical) but he spent an amazing amount of time in the 2 crawl spaces of our property. He found a leak in one under a recently renovated bathroom that was only visible after getting under insulation. The sellers sent their contractor and own inspector in to see the leak. They claimed it wasn’t there. Bob stuck to his guns, we arranged a conference call; seller’s team went back and then found it. They repaired it. Bob at no cost went back and inspected the repair and found it wasn’t done right. Called the contractor and he came back to repair it again. Amazing and saved us lots of long term worry.
Bob, quite simply, is the guy you want for your inspection in the East Bay.

The seller had Star do an inspection and Star missed a bunch of problems.
For instance, there was one large active plumbing leak and one minor leak, both of which they missed! They said, «Portions of the steel pipe are in generally worn condition. The need to replace portions of the water supply piping in the near future should be anticipated.» While that is true, there is a big difference between the pipes are failing now, and anticipate problems in the future.
They also missed the fact that the roof was shot. They said it was in moderate to worn condition. The roofer said that the roof was well past its useful life and was likely to leak this season. He pointed out where the shingles were worn out so badly they had disintegrated (the entire top layer was gone). It goes on from there.
To be fair, they caught a few things, but missed a bunch of expensive things.

don’t bother with star inspection… the home inspector completely missed many areas of the house. esp the rusted pipes that were leaking underneath the house. they only refunded the home inspection cost to have this fixed. i could have had the owner fixed this problem and other areas around the house if star inspection did complete a «star inspeciton» on my home.
not worth the hassle and look for another home inspection company.

Being a (potential) 1^st-​time home buyer, having no clue what to do about ANYTHiNG, it’s always nice when those with whom you interact are patient, polite, professional, & seemingly competent. I don’t know the 1^st thing about homes, but Roger has reassured me that I can contact him with any concerns or questions, even long after our inspection date. Shooot… for $ 400 he better! Haha.
Seriously tho, a co-​worker of mine recommended Star Inspection Group after I had already made an appointment with them. I am happy to pass on the good word.
5 stars for Star! Woo hoo!

To say home-​buying is a scary process is as much an understatement as saying our national economy is in a bit of a pickle (*winks one eye, and cocks head cutely to one side*). As first time home buyers, we face with much trepidation and respect, the prospect of going into major debt for the next 30 years of our lives. As such, we find it prudent to do as much research as possible into our investment. This brings me to Michael Brady, Home Inspector Extraordinaire. (We found him via another inspector who is Unilocal loved, but who doesn’t do inspections in the area we are looking at.)
We hired Michael to do a second, in depth inspection (going beyond the standard pest report). The cost was $ 600, definitely the high end for this service, but again, we are talking about a major investment here. And let me now just gush and rave about how freaking worth it it was:
Michael Brady is calm, clear, extremely informative, and practical. I followed him around like an insecure 5 year-​old after a clever older brother, asking any and all questions that came to mind. Michael answered these with much more kindness and clarity than an older brother would have! He was extremely thorough with «our» house, climbing around on the roof, mucking about in the basement, carefully noting any and all signs of wear, tear, and damage. As a bonus, he provided sort of an off the record dialogue about which repairs he felt were more pressing, and which could probably wait a few more years. I felt utterly confident with his analysis.
The Star Inspection Group treated us well in other ways. We were under a time crunch, and not only were they able to get the God of Inspections to come out pronto, they were able to turn out our 30 page inspection report the very next day! Everything was as we had discussed. No sneaky added charges etc.
Also note: not all inspectors obtain all possible certifications because they don’t have to by law. My new hero has ‘em all it appears, including ASHI & CREIA. My understanding is that this means he has to take continuing education courses to stay current with new codes & laws that go into effect. Yep, I want that.
So, if you want a strong, supportive arm to help steady you along the nerve-​wracking process that is buying a home, I highly recommend Michael Brady. Damn! He’s good!