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Benchmark Home Services



Your Inspector:  Mark Bishton

 

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.

 



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