Recommendations for Home inspector and architect/designer?

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

Hi All,

I will search the archives/tags too, but i don't recall seeing anything go by recently. I find myself in the position of having placed an offer on a house and having it been accepted (yay! and scary!). Now I need to find an inspector. Any recommendations on someone who is thorough? What type of cost should I expect?

I also would like to contact an architect or designer about some remodeling work that will need to be done immediately after closing (if everything goes well, of course). I have no idea where to begin with finding someone who can help design a plan for knocking out several internal walls on the first floor. Any recommendations on people to contact? where to start? what to expect?

Thanks in advance, i'm a total newbie at this. Also, this is in North Cambridge, though I don't think that should effect recommendations...

Comments

[42itous.livejournal.com]

I can highly recommend Harold Pop at Mt Vernon Inspection Associates, (617) 548-5002, and www.myhouseinspector.com. He was very thorough with our inspection. We paid somewhere in the $400-500 range, but that was including termite inspection and radon test.

You may also want a real estate lawyer to look over your paperwork, and for that I recommend Chris Burt:
Christine Burt (Attny)
564 Main Street
Suite 301
Waltham, MA 02452
(781)894-9200
I spend hours with her on the phone going over the bits of legalese that I didn't understand, and she was very patient with me. You should know that she has a very deep voice, so don't be alarmed if you think you've accidentally phoned a man.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[unferth.livejournal.com]

I also used Harold Popp and was happy with the results.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recommendation, we are going with Harold. If anyone is interested, i'll update this post to reflect how we thought it went after we do the walk through on Wednesday.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

returning to add we were incredibly happy with Harold's inspection. With Angie's List membership, we got the radon testing for free, and paid $450 for inspection plus pest and radon testing. Well worth the money.