|
He's been
providing building inspections to clients in Bloomington,
Monroe and surrounding Southwestern Indiana counties since
1996 and has worked with all aspects of home construction
during his 40+ years of building experience.
HIS CERTIFICATIONS:
American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) Certified Inspector
#200671
State of Indiana Licensed Home Inspector
#HI00500004
State of Indiana Certified 'Wood Destroying
Insect' (WDI) Inspector #F40252
Unfortunately Mark was not born with x-ray vision,
because he loves fighting crime and jumping tall buildings!
He does, however know how properly installed materials should
look inside building walls & assemblies, & what indicates are not. This isn't quite as good as x-ray vision, but he's
also not running around in spandex fortunately!
Every
building has an unique set of characteristics and, therefore,
risks due to its location,
size, age and other aspects. Identifying and understanding
these unique risks helps Mark determine where to look for the
sometimes subtle signs/evidence of hidden damage that may
exist in these places. Then, importantly, determine the next
course of action to restore proper function and reliability;
and,
finally, what areas deserve more frequent or more critical
maintenance!
If an
inspector doesn't fully understand what they find, the repairs
or corrections may only be "band-aids" treating symptoms but
not fixing the underlying
problem/s. If that happens it will only be a matter of time
before the "symptoms" are back!
We
do not want either case for you!
An inspector
who can't clearly explain what and why defects are present, to a 10 year old
probably doesn't understand that particular building system
well enough to be doing your inspection!
MOLD
Every inspector
should be looking for signs of mold, and most importantly,
conditions which are or have been conducive for wood molds and
fungi to grow. This is included in our home inspection service
without additional fee.
If Mark sees, smells
or suspects a significant mold/fungi problem is or has been
present, then he tries to discover why and determine what the
next steps or corrective measures should be.
Note that we do not recommend mold
measurement testing unless there is good
reason to, and there seldom is! You see, we think of molds
like criminals. If we find them in our house, we don't
care what their names are. There aren't any 'good names.'
We
simply want them gone, along with the conditions that allowed
them to develop and just as soon as possible!
In the
rare circumstance that Mark suspects mold is present but observes
no likely cause or location, he will recommend evaluation
by a qualified independent expert, probably an industrial
hygienist.
There are plenty of people in the
business more than willing to
propagate $fear$ in us and then sell us something to 'treat'
it. Some of them refer to mold as 'Black
Gold.' What's worse, some will charge thousands of
dollars and actually provide no reliable remedy or even make
things worse.
Since there is no government agency
regulating them, a "certified mold testers" may be a meaningless
qualification.
Some certifications just require giving a 'certifying agency'
a credit card number and having a printer to print off a
'certificate.' We try to keep a wide distance between
our clients
and these folks.
That said, there is no price for peace
of mind. Never hesitate to feel free to choose your own
professionals for mold or any other supplemental testing.
SERVICE FEES
We base our service fees on how much we
value Mark's time and the amount of it that we expect him to
spend providing this service. That is a function of the age,
size and complexity of the property.
All the other inspectors in this area
charge less for their services, as they should. Not
everyone needs or even wants a Benchmark Inspection, but don't
hesitate to ask for a quote or to discuss your inspection
needs or concerns.
To provide a quote, we typically just
need to know the address of the property so we can research
the building's details.
| 
.gif)