I would never recommend Robert Johnson, Imperial Home Inspections. I told him I could not afford anything more then "negligible" problems with the house. The inspection appeared thorough. He told me the problems were minor & repeatedly assured me there was nothing major. "Would you let your wife buy this house?" "Absolutely." Based on his representations I went ahead and purchased the property. Within a month I hired an electrician to replace an outlet. To my horror he told me, "Lady, you have dangerous wiring in this house." Thinking he was looking to get a big job out of it I had 2 other electrical companies look All told me I had dangerous, "spliced and frayed" knob and tube wiring. I then had the house reinspected by another company. That inspector found other problems but the major one was that the electric was knob and tube and "dangerous" and "hazardous" I tried to get Mr. Johnson to deal with this. He refused. I hired a lawyer to send him a "demand" letter to get him to fix this. (He offered to reinspect, at his convenience and with people he insisted I have there. When I replied it had to be at my convenience not his he did not respond) The replacement of the electric would cost $15,000 - $20,000 which I did not have. Unfortunately 2 lawyers gave me the wrong statute of limitations in which I could sue (they told me 2 years not 1.) I missed that statute but still had hopes Mr. Johnson would show himself to be responsible as a person and businessman. He refused to do so. I went to the Pa AG's office.
They tried to get him to resolve it but even to them he was arrogant writing there is only "a one year statute of limitations" so therefore he didn't have to do anything. Johnson wrote in a reply to the demand letter: "Knob and tube wiring was not visible ON THE DAY I WAS THERE." Knob and tube wiring does not appear and disappear. This statement indicated his incompetence/lack of knowledge of wiring, how it works what it looks necessary info in evaluating the electrical system(s) in a house. This house was 100 years old. Knob and tube was in all houses from before 1950. He should have known that. Knob and tube wiring is very specific in its look. There were "tubes" throughout the basement ceiling and knob and tube switches throughout the house. I was trying to get this resolved in the courts through a different theory of law, breach of contract and unfair trade practices because Mr. Johnson's statement, independent of the inspection report, stating it was "not visible" the day he was there showed he either lied or was incompetent to evaluate the house, which his contract promised he was able to competently and knowledgably do. Despite that my claims were not based on the written inspection report but on his own voluntary statement K&T not visible the courts ruled against me declaring that they were based on the written home inspection report.
There were a number of other issues but the electric was the most major. I obtained insurance on the house stating the electric - copying from Johnson's report, was "romex" Once I learned it was knob and tube I had to inform the insurance carrier. Because I could not afford to replace it I lost my insurance, no other company would cover the house because of the K&T. The only option was Pa. Fair Plan which insures uninsurable properties but does not offer liability. For that I had to use a different company. The state plan offers no coverage for inside of the house. No one else sells separate coverage for the inside. When a ceiling developed a leak I was able to fix it because it was small however it was an indication other bigger things could go wrong. With no insurance coverage for anything wrong with the inside of the house (much less from the dangerous wiring he did not inform me) and worried what else could happen for which I had no coverage, strictly because of Johnson's lie/incompetence, I was forced to sell the house.
As a result I lost 20 - 50,000$ on the sale, based on the reduced price I was forced to sell at and the comparable sale prices of same and similar homes in the immediate area of mine, as well as other substantial costs relative to being forced to move As a result of Robert Johnson/Imperial Home inspection I was forced to sell my house, I lost thousands of dollars and lived in a house where I was frightened to live always afraid there would be a fire as a result of the dangerous and hazardous electric system that he did not find/declare. Because of his misrepresentation of his ability to properly inspect a house, at least related to his stated lack of knowledge re K&T wiring, he changed the entire trajectory of my life. The house was bought for equity. I would still be in it if not for his inaccurate inspection. Because of the money I lost I can no longer afford a house and will have to live in a one room apartment for the rest of my life. He did a terrible job, admitted his lack of requisite knowledge and refused to stand up, admit what he did was wrong, and made no attempt to try and right it, even when the state government got involved. As a result in my personal opinion based on my experience with him, I do not recommend Robert Johnson/Imperial Home Inspections of Harleysville, Pa.
Imperial HOME Inspections LLC Reviews
I would never recommend Robert Johnson, Imperial Home Inspections. I told him I could not afford anything more then "negligible" problems with the house. The inspection appeared thorough. He told me the problems were minor & repeatedly assured me there was nothing major. "Would you let your wife buy this house?" "Absolutely." Based on his representations I went ahead and purchased the property. Within a month I hired an electrician to replace an outlet. To my horror he told me, "Lady, you have dangerous wiring in this house." Thinking he was looking to get a big job out of it I had 2 other electrical companies look All told me I had dangerous, "spliced and frayed" knob and tube wiring. I then had the house reinspected by another company. That inspector found other problems but the major one was that the electric was knob and tube and "dangerous" and "hazardous" I tried to get Mr. Johnson to deal with this. He refused. I hired a lawyer to send him a "demand" letter to get him to fix this. (He offered to reinspect, at his convenience and with people he insisted I have there. When I replied it had to be at my convenience not his he did not respond) The replacement of the electric would cost $15,000 - $20,000 which I did not have. Unfortunately 2 lawyers gave me the wrong statute of limitations in which I could sue (they told me 2 years not 1.) I missed that statute but still had hopes Mr. Johnson would show himself to be responsible as a person and businessman. He refused to do so. I went to the Pa AG's office.
They tried to get him to resolve it but even to them he was arrogant writing there is only "a one year statute of limitations" so therefore he didn't have to do anything. Johnson wrote in a reply to the demand letter: "Knob and tube wiring was not visible ON THE DAY I WAS THERE." Knob and tube wiring does not appear and disappear. This statement indicated his incompetence/lack of knowledge of wiring, how it works what it looks necessary info in evaluating the electrical system(s) in a house. This house was 100 years old. Knob and tube was in all houses from before 1950. He should have known that. Knob and tube wiring is very specific in its look. There were "tubes" throughout the basement ceiling and knob and tube switches throughout the house. I was trying to get this resolved in the courts through a different theory of law, breach of contract and unfair trade practices because Mr. Johnson's statement, independent of the inspection report, stating it was "not visible" the day he was there showed he either lied or was incompetent to evaluate the house, which his contract promised he was able to competently and knowledgably do. Despite that my claims were not based on the written inspection report but on his own voluntary statement K&T not visible the courts ruled against me declaring that they were based on the written home inspection report.
There were a number of other issues but the electric was the most major. I obtained insurance on the house stating the electric - copying from Johnson's report, was "romex" Once I learned it was knob and tube I had to inform the insurance carrier. Because I could not afford to replace it I lost my insurance, no other company would cover the house because of the K&T. The only option was Pa. Fair Plan which insures uninsurable properties but does not offer liability. For that I had to use a different company. The state plan offers no coverage for inside of the house. No one else sells separate coverage for the inside. When a ceiling developed a leak I was able to fix it because it was small however it was an indication other bigger things could go wrong. With no insurance coverage for anything wrong with the inside of the house (much less from the dangerous wiring he did not inform me) and worried what else could happen for which I had no coverage, strictly because of Johnson's lie/incompetence, I was forced to sell the house.
As a result I lost 20 - 50,000$ on the sale, based on the reduced price I was forced to sell at and the comparable sale prices of same and similar homes in the immediate area of mine, as well as other substantial costs relative to being forced to move As a result of Robert Johnson/Imperial Home inspection I was forced to sell my house, I lost thousands of dollars and lived in a house where I was frightened to live always afraid there would be a fire as a result of the dangerous and hazardous electric system that he did not find/declare. Because of his misrepresentation of his ability to properly inspect a house, at least related to his stated lack of knowledge re K&T wiring, he changed the entire trajectory of my life. The house was bought for equity. I would still be in it if not for his inaccurate inspection. Because of the money I lost I can no longer afford a house and will have to live in a one room apartment for the rest of my life. He did a terrible job, admitted his lack of requisite knowledge and refused to stand up, admit what he did was wrong, and made no attempt to try and right it, even when the state government got involved. As a result in my personal opinion based on my experience with him, I do not recommend Robert Johnson/Imperial Home Inspections of Harleysville, Pa.