Wahl Home Inspection, Inc

I have provided copies of my correspondence with *** *** regarding theremodeling of his basement at *** *** *** *** *** hadcontacted me approximately four months after he had moved into the house andinformed me that he had found rust and damp walls behind the baseboardheaters at
the exterior wallsI got up to the house within a couple of days and hehad shown me what he had discoveredWe discussed it and we talked aboutme helping to defray some of the costs as he would have to replace the defectivesheetrock, the discussion ended with me telling *** I would get back to himwith and offerDue to an accumulation of unforeseen circumstances, I totallydropped the ball and forgot completely about the situation and never got back to*** so I am sure he was very upset with me and for good reasonThe realissue came about when *** had a waterproofing salesman come to the houseand tell him that he had major foundation issues and needed to have awaterproofing system installed because of the excessive moisture and moldthroughout the basement (neither of which were visible during the inspection), healso mentioned that the home inspector should have noticed this during theinspectionThe bizarre thing is that *** preceded to put as much as $30,000into the basement without ever contacting me and then calls months later andwants me to submit this claim to my insurance companyUnfortunately, I feel*** was conned by a very good salesman, had he contacted me I could haveeasily had gone toe to toe with the salesman to dispute his sales pitch andpointed out that there are several far less expensive ways to handle a moistureproblem than a $15,000-20,waterproofing system, also he would have beena whole lot less apt to blame me when I was standing next to him and could callhim out on his commentsI’ve seen people put some very expensivewaterproofing systems in their homes when a solution for under $solved theproblemsI feel as though *** got into a remodeling project way over his headand is looking for someone to help offset the costsAfter all who is going to lookout for ***’s best interests, a waterproofing contractor trying to land a $15,000-20,contract or the home inspector who is obligated by law and by a code ofethics and has an impeccable reputation in over twenty years of inspectinghomes.*** is mistaken when he said I refused to submit a claim to myinsurance company, the reason that I didn’t was because there is nothing for meto claim, there was no evidence of any mold, water staining (other than the minorstaining shown in report photo), ongoing seepage or high moisture at the time ofthe inspection as my basement photos will clearly showWhen I returned to thehouse for the second visit, (when *** called to say I need to submit this to myinsurance company), the waterproofing system had already been installed, thewalls were all gutted with new metal studs installed, the crawl space walls hadbeen covered up with a heavy duty reinforced plastic membrane and the moldmysteriously disappeared (*** indicated that he had scrubbed it all down so itwas no longer visible)The major problem with ***’s story is that mold takeshours to develop so how is it possible that he didn’t notice it until four monthslater, it doesn’t make any senseConditions in a basement can changedrastically from owner to owner especially if they are unaware that they arecontributing to the moisture problem, things such as not running a dehumidifier,not venting a clothes dryer, operating non-vented gas heaters, not maintaininggutter and downspouts, improper venting of a furnace or water heater,etcWhat *** fails to see is that a home inspection is a visible observation ofthe conditions at the time of the inspection, how do I observe something thathasn’t occurred yet.The reason I have offered $was because I felt so bad about thelong-time lapse between the first and second visitsAs noted earlier there was aseries of unusual events that led to me dropping the ball:I had shoulder surgery in April which required me to have an assistant forseveral monthsMy secretary of over years retired in May (as in most small businessesshe was the one that made it all run so smoothly)My stepson Kevyn joined the business and took over my secretary’sduties with the goal of becoming a licensed home inspectorIn July, Kevyn had to go through two unexpected surgeries and had tospend the next five months recuperating (once again I was without asecretary most of those days)My laptop computer crashed losing close to a month of inspections,including *** **so I didn’t even have a copy (*** provided mewith one).Things were out of control so it was a constant battle just to keep current as weare by far one of the busiest inspection companies in the areaI have a verysuccessful small business because I always try to do the right thing by my clientsbut I can’t submit a claim to my insurance for a problem that shows up fourmonths later (when mold only takes hours to develop), this is the same housethat *** walked through with me at the inspection, never a mention of anydampness, mold, water seepage etcand then four months passed before henoticed anything and that is with him living in the houseMy hope is that ***realizes that his waterproofing contractor didn’t do him any favors by trying to usesomeone else as a scapegoat just so he could land a job, in any event my$offer still standsSincerely, Tom ***Wahl Home Inspection Service, IncNYS License: #