Inspection Services Northwest

Inspection Services Northwest came highly recommended to us from our realtor; some would say go with someone else, but we trust our realtor and after researching the company, we couldn’t say no.
Jeff was incredible; he was efficent, yet friendly; informative, yet not panic-​inducing. He let us walk through the inspection with him (as expected) and explained everything (good and not-​so-​bad in our case). He started on the roof and ended in the crawlspace — with everything in-​between. He used thermography to check for water leaks in the walls, etc. then showed us why he was doing that.
Not only did Jeff possess the technical knowledge; he explained everything in layman’s terms without being condescending. He also went through all the pictures he took and further broke down what was needed and why. Any question we had, he answered and any question we probably forgot, he anticipated. Experience is worth it.
To top it off, he was friendly. The inspection went well; the price was reasonable (and worth every penny); and I can’t thank him enough for making it a smooth and even fun process.

We just bought a house this week. Inspection Services Northwest came to our attention while we were looking for a house. There was a house we were interested whose seller contracted Inspection Services Northwest to perform inspection and then provided the report to us. Both my agent and I were very impressed about the details the report contained. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that house. After we found this house, we contacted Inspection Services Northwest to inspect it. The inspector Jeff did not disappoint us. At the time of inspection, he pointed out the most significant problems, and verbally provided estimates of the cost to repair. The report was as thorough as always. It greatly helped us in making the decision to buy the house. The cost for the 2450 sqft house was just $ 475. I will definitely recommend it to friends.

1.0 star rating 2÷23÷2015 Updated review
Update: Inspections Northwest received a disciplinary warning in 2006 from Inspector Dan Suomi, Wa State Dept of Ecology for failure to perform a pre-​purchase termite inspection for our house. Check here for other reviewers that have had the same experience. Buyer beware of this company

As a real estate broker of many years I have, of course, gone with a number of different inspection services. Yesterday I needed a last-​minute, end-​of-​the-​day inspection and Wade was able to hook me up with Matt. He did a great, thorough job, was prompt, courteous and professional and I’m very appreciative. This was the second time I have used them and will probably make them my first call from now on.

Used these guys for my first home. They were fantastic. Answered any and all of my questions even the dumb ones. The guy was very detail oriented and it took about 2.5 hours. My realtor was very impressed as well. I would absolutely recommend these guys to anyone who is buying a house and wants the inspection done for the buyer and not the seller. Typically a house inspection is done in the sellers best interest. Not with these guys… this inspection was done to ensure that I would be happy and satisfied with my new home and not have repairs pop up soon after the house was closed. Love these guys!

Not only do I recommend ISN to my clients (Realtor for 15+ years) I’ve hired them to inspect my own home! Wade and his crew of highly trained and experienced Inspectors are always prompt, thorough, and friendly. My favorite inspectors are Jeff and Dan but all of their crew has been great to work with. I appreciate how they include the buyer in the process of discovery if they are open to tagging along but are willing to fully explain their findings to those who are not as hands-​on inclined. Their reports are well organized and easy to understand with full color photos. Their Infrared Technology tools allow them to see ‘inside’ the walls to discover problems that might not be apparent. I never hesitate to recommend Inspection Services Northwest to my clients, my family or friends.

They sent two very professional, thorough inspectors, which we thought was great because they were so efficient. They only took little over an hour, contrary to the three hours we had booked. Then they spent time going over their photos and recommendations before we even left the home. They found things that ultimately caused us not to buy. We’ll use them again when we make an offer on our next one.
Convenient online payment system that prompts you to accept the appointment and remember to pay. You can also pay by check.

I am a real estate investor and after finding Inspection Services Northwest I have stopped using other inspection companies.
This particular review describes my first experience with them, to inspect a 32 unit apartment building with retail space, spanning 2 buildings. The cost was $ 1,200.
Coordinating them to inspect occupied units would have been a real challenge (not on their part, but dealing with all the residents), so they looked in a few apartments in critical areas to check for roof damage and I inspected the actual apartments myself.
They used their thermal imaging scanner to look for active and old roof leaks, and to also look for water intrusion in the walls. This was worth the price itself, very very useful knowledge. They thoroughly checked the roofs, and recommended I follow up with a roofer (which I did, I ended up needing to replace them). They inspected all the common areas and utilities. There were a lot of water heaters and electrical panels, and they checked every single one. They inspected the crawlspaces and grounds.
All in all, they did an amazingly thorough job. They gave me a 38 page report within a couple days. It had photos of every single problem area and comments on what the problem was. This turned in to my punch list for repairs after I closed on the building.
After the inspection, I was impressed because they gave me a very fast turnaround date for when the inspection report would be formally ready, and it was ready exactly on time for download. I am used to this taking forever and I have gotten some strangely formatted and hard to read inspection reports from other inspectors. The report Inspection Services Northwest gives is clear, concise, and just exactly what you need to know.
In general — the reason I keep using Inspection Services Northwest is because of the depth of knowledge with apartment buildings (Wade, the owner, was present in both times I used them for apartment complexes). The inspector I have used for single family homes has also been exceptionally knowledgeable. I love the fact that I can pay online with a credit card, and the woman who sets up the appointment and answers my initial questions was always very friendly and got back to my instantly. During this inspection and subsequent ones, I appreciated that they answered my many many questions about what they were seeing.
I highly recommend them!

My husband and I are going through the process of buying our first home. Our realtor recommended Inspection Services Northwest for the home inspection and we were very pleased. Jeff (the building inspector) and Todd (the sewer inspection guy, an additional service) were punctual, efficient, professional, friendly and very thorough. The thermography used to detect possible leaks was especially very cool (no pun intended).
We received a 73(!!) page report with all the details, findings and recommendations of how to proceed, with links to relevant sources — as well as a separate report and disc full of images of the sewer inspection. There were certain things that were outside the scope of their inspection (we read the contract, so we expected this), such as the current owner obviously hasn’t cleaned the roof all year, so Jeff could only report on the areas that were visible — but he told us to request the owner then pay for a separate roofing inspection and any repairs. Luckily the house is generally in good nick and we know what to expect.
TL, DR — I recommend ISN for your home inspection. I was very impressed.

I have been a Realtor for 10 years, and I’ve been proudly using and referring Wade and Jeff at ISN with complete confidence for the past 5 of those years. Prior to finding these guys, I experienced quite a few different inspectors… some better than others. However, none of them matched the complete package that I can expect from ISN.
They are true professionals, extremely knowledgeable, and they know what they’re doing. The experience they’ve garnered from completing 1000’s (and 1000’s) of inspections is evident. They are very thorough and methodical when they inspect, and they are clear and informative when they present their findings. One thing that I really like compared with many other inspectors is that they keep things in perspective, and they’re not alarmists. If there is a defect, they call it out. If that defect is fixed with a $ 5 trip to Home Depot, they tell you.
Another thing that sets them apart is the use of infrared cameras. How are all inspectors not using these, I don’t know?! I remember a time they did an inspection for buyers of mine that were purchasing new construction. Well, thanks in part to the thermal camera, they found that the washing machine drain in the wall was not properly installed, and thus, water was leaking in the wall when the washer ran. Whoops. Who knows how long it would have taken to figure that out, and how much damage would have been done?
As a real estate professional, it is critical that I have a group of other professionals that I can count on to take care of my clients. At the end of the day, the folks I recommend during a home purchase or sale reflect directly on me, so I am hyper vigilante that those people value the same level of professionalism and integrity that I do. In 5 years, Wade and Jeff at ISN have not let me down!

Just purchased a house in Des Moines after having Inspection Services Northwest do our inspection. They were pretty thorough. They did a good job and had a nice written review with tons of pictures when they were all done.

Don’t waste your money!!! We are purchasing a new house and found out from the neighbors to make sure we did an inspection before closing. Dan, the inspector, came early and he said he went on the roof already. (we just had pictures to show) He was nice and polite. I just felt that we had lead the inspection and that it was suppose to be him leading us. I asked questions, but did not really get a definite answer, just a vague answer. We are not quite sure that he did a complete inspection. He also took about 3 infrared pictures for the whole house. He did get a problem with the plumbing, but did not know quite what the issue was. I had call again to see if they would recheck the plumbing that the builder said they would fix and they were going to charge $ 275. Really, for something that they looked at before?!? It took 2 hrs to do a 2500 sq home and most of the time was us asking questions. Overall, I would not use them again. I would use someone that would care as if they were the ones purchasing the house.

Well I gave these guys a shot to come and see the issues before I wrote this but they wanted me to take pictures instead of coming to see what they missed. It was too late for pictures I had to make the fixes before it cost me more money.
Had an inspection last year for my new home. I knew it was gonna be crap when I found out the inspector had invested a whole 1 hour on a 2000 sqft house.
What a joke.
The first week we moved in it rained the entire week. Luckily I had the sense to climb into the attic to make sure the roof was leak proof. Well part of it was. I soon discovered water teeming down the pluming vent pipes. Put a bowl under them since there was only sheet rock paper left between the attic and kitchen, everything else had disolved away. Later I discovered that there was a glaring gap on three of the four rooftop went pipes that my inspector failed to even look at. Did he even go on the roof or just take some pictures?
Back to the inspection. Before I got there I failed to pull down a little old insulation in the garage. Make sure you do this because the inspector will do nothing but stare at the roof and suggest you get new insulation.
Under that insulation I later found a termite village. Subterranean termites love west Seattle. The pest inspectors that actually knew as much as I had learned about Sub-t’s think the insects had been here for decades. Tell tale signs were everywhere, but wait, the home inspection company has an out. «Outside the scope of inspection– Termites, pests, or other wood destroying organisms»
They don’t look for that kind of damage only suggest that the board that turns to dust get looked at. Well thanks a lot. They ate through 2 ft by 10 ft section of my dining room sub-​floor.
Anyway, too late now, they won’t do anything to correct the issues because I already did it.
My point is that for the rest of you looking for an inspection on your new home, make sure you find a company that will actually do the three hours of work and find the problems. These guys are not the ones.
My brother had a great inspection with a good company. They actually spent the three hours you pay them for to thoroughly look through your investment, gave him a nice binder with all the suggestions and made him feel like he was protected from costly repairs. ISN cost me $ 450 and they missed a bunch of stuff and now the pest guys will get another $ 1500 but at least it will be a one time thing.
Find a different company for your home inspection and I guess hire a pest inspector out here in West Seattle or an inspector who recognizes critter damaged areas of a home.

I have used them twice, I thought the first time they just had an off day, but they were worse the second time. I found them very unprofessional, showed very little respect for the home they were inspecting. No shoe covers, very rough on the home they inspected (caused damage,) poor communication before, during and after the inspection, forgot a number of things on the report (i.e. inspect the furnace) arrived too early and disturbed the owner occupant, made unprofessional comments during the inspection. I would not use them again. Left a message to speak with the owner, my call was never returned. And they charge $ 275 to re-​inspect regardless of the number of items, yikes!

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Wade in action during the process of inspecting homes. He has a very approachable demeanor that home buyers love and communicates well both verbally and in his reports. Wade also has an impressive use of technology as he employs tool that make the inspection process more through and comprehensive while at the same time being compatible with both high and low tech clients. My clients whom have worked with Wade have reported positively about the work they hired him to do and I consider myself lucky to have his expertise available for my clients

«I’ve had the pleasure of working with Wade on a few occasions. He is the ultimate professional expert in his field.
I highly recommend using Wade the first chance you have the opportunity. He is thorough, honest, easy to work with and has a great sense of humor.
You can feel at ease knowing that Wade is working for you and your clients. He is my go to guy if I ever have any building/​construction/​code questions.
He knows his stuff!»

Amazing experience! Our realtor was very impressed also. As a Bonus I got to use BizX$!

I have been in the real estate/​title & escrow industry for over 12 years now and I always thought all home inspectors were basically the same. NOT THE CASE!
Being that my husband and I are purchasing an older home, we wanted to be sure to check out every nook and cranny so that we were not surprised with any issues down the road. Inspection Services Northwest came highly recommended and now I know why. Thorough does not even begin to explain how good they are! The thermography imaging is amazing and can show any hidden problems or potential problems.
The report came to us as a link the next day and we devoured the content. The report was easy to read, comprehensive and very detailed. We would both highly recommend Inspection Services Northwest and their team of professionals. If we have need of inspection services again, they will be our first and only call.

We’re buying our first home and hired Inspection Services Northwest to do our inspection. These folks are amazing. Amy in the office answered all my nervous questions. Inspector Dan came and spent hours going over the 60 year old house with a fine tooth comb and an infra-​red camera to make sure we won’t be surprised by foundation leaks, missing insulation or mold. And then our report came in about 24 hours, even though it was Saturday night. The report was comprehensive, easy to understand, and was sent as an Acrobat file with embedded weblinks for more information. I could not have asked for a better experience.