Sound View Home Inspections

I am a first time home buyer and I was impressed at the level of customer service that I received from James. James was very through and impressed my dad, who has 30+ years of experience as a general contractor.
His documentation helped me negotiation the seller to pay for repairs and saved me a few thousand dollars, a rarity in a sellers market. To top everything off, James surprised me with a complementary home gift (I recommend taking the hair wig if it’s available).
I will recommend Sound View Home Inspections to friends and family in the future!

My husband and I are buying our first house and hired James for our home inspection. The house is an awesome old house, key word being OLD. As in: older than my great grandmother. So James had a lot of history to sift through. Well, by the time he was finished, my husband and I were jokingly referring to him as The House Whisperer. He sees and interprets things we wouldn’t even notice. Example: a light swirl of discoloration in the cement basement indicated that it had flooded at one time, but drained out of the proper drain.
He went through the house top to bottom, inside and outside, and photographed everything. He explained all of the problems in terms that apartment dwelling computer nerds (like us) could understand.
He showed up on time and worked tirelessly for three hours until everything was covered. He even fixed a little leak under the sink. He told us how to fix things that we could do ourselves, and referred us to people who could fix the things we couldn’t do ourselves. His rates were beyond reasonable, and he was incredibly knowledgeable, honest, and personable.
I would absolutely recommend Sound View Home Inspections to anyone needing a home inspection.

James performed a comprehensive inspection on a home that we were thinking of purchasing. I thought he did an excellent job. James was there for approximately 3 hours, and continually brought specific details (both positive and negative) to my attention during his inspection. He ventured into crawl spaces, the attic, and on to a scary-​looking roof, all to take photos and gather information. James noticed a number of things that I had not, which is exactly what I wanted, including an oil tank buried in the yard (he traced all of the copper pipe lines in the basement, and realized there was one that was unaccounted for). He was even able to scan for moisture damage using his equipment.
James sent me his report within 24 hours; It was 25 pages long, and included approximately 40 small pictures to illustrate his points.
Because of James’s inspection, I will be withdrawing my offer on the home. He highlighted several foundation issues which are beyond the scope of what I’d like to do with the house. I feel that his observations (and reasonable fee) may have just saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I will call James to inspect the next home that I make an offer on. I’d highly recommend him.

Whether you are buying a new home for you, or trying to find the source of an odd sound in your home, James Beck at Sound View Home Inspections is your guy. He uses his knowledge and any tools at his disposal to find a solution to your problem. Recently, my friend was feeling a cold spot on her wall. James came is and used his infrared «gun» and discovered there was just a gap in the insulation. That saved her from destroying the wall.
Not only is he knowledgeable (beyond what I would expect from a home inspector), but he is friendly, on time and always goes the extra mile for his clients!

James was friendly, courteous and conscientious. I especially liked it when he took the time to walk through with me and explain the problems that he saw. He was also patient in answering some questions pertaining systems and/​or mechanicals of the building. I have recommended him to several friends, and so far I have been getting awesome feedbacks from them. I would highly recommend Sound View to other friends.

I found Sound View through a friend. I was purchasing a condo and needed an inspection in order to get a heads up on any problems I might expect, as the unit was priced to sell in a buyer’s market. The building is fairly new construction, so I anticipated no major problems. This was my first home purchase.
James arrived, was on time, friendly and courteous. He spent about 60 minutes inspecting the unit, which had been vacant for some time. I accompanied him for much of it, but also had to fill out paperwork with my realtor while he did some parts of the unit. The unit had not been cleaned at all, and was actually extremely dirty. I noticed many dead insects, but saw no live ones and assumed that they were the remnants of some extermination efforts. Otherwise the unit was in good condition. In his report, he made no mention of the potential of serious pest issues, or any other non-​obvious issues.
After I began cleaning the unit in preparation for moving in, I noticed that behind and underneath the stove in particular were extremely dirty with pizza crust remains and other crumbs. The cabinets had a lot of what appeared to be spilled rice and other food matter, and the bathroom drawers, cabinet bottoms and sink were covered in hair clippings. After some cleaning, a day or so later I noticed what appeared to be a small brown and yellow lady bug.
I had never seen a carpet beetle, but it was in fact the first of a series of them I would find in various places around the apartment over the next few days. The kitchen cabinets, beneath the stove and bathroom were filled with what I realized later were the casings the larvae leave behind when they mature. There were so many, in so many places, that anyone with any familiarity with them should have been able to spot them immediately. Either he had not thoroughly looked through the cabinets and under the sinks, or didn’t know what to look for. He checked the electrical outlets and wiring and water pressure, but didn’t look behind any of the appliances, which roll out conveniently, did not look behind the stacked washer and dryer because it was «inaccessible,» and reported no hint of what would turn into more than two weeks of discomfort in my new home and nearly $ 300 in pest control services, and probably an equal amount in dry cleaning bills alone.
When I emailed to tell him about my disappointment with the quality of the inspection, and the discomfort I experienced based on his total failure to alert me to the problem in advance, before I had moved all of my belongings in, he said he was sorry I was «experiencing problems with my unit» and told me to let him know if I needed anything. It seemed lost on him that the problem I was experiencing was a direct result of the incomplete and careless inspection he provided. I am extremely fortunate the pests were not something much more virulent and harder to control. From my other friends who bought recently, I learned that there are other much better, much more conscientious inspectors out there. I suggest you use them, and not Sound View.