Advent Home Inspections

Advent Home Inspections is a one-person shop in Boxborough that Dan DeStefano has run since he founded it in 1980, after more than a decade in home and commercial renovation and restoration work. He inspects houses across Massachusetts and Maine and describes his focus as antique, historic, and otherwise complex properties, with pest, radon, water-supply and commercial property condition work offered alongside the standard inspection. The credentials he lists are specific: ASHI Certified Inspector #1388, membership in the American Society of Home Inspectors and its New England chapter since 1986, charter membership in the Historic Building Inspectors Association, and, by his own account, Massachusetts home inspector licence #288. He also states he passed the EPA's written radon-testing exam and formerly held Massachusetts Title V septic inspector certification. Homeowner feedback is thin and dated. In a February 2015 Google review, a client described him arriving on time, working down to the smallest detail while explaining what he was looking for and why, and sending back an extremely detailed report with photos in under a day. That is the only written review, and Google shows a 5-star average from one rating. The Better Business Bureau, which opened his file in 1990, grades the business A+ and lists no complaints and no government actions against it, while noting it is not BBB accredited and carrying no customer reviews of its own. BBB also lists it as a sole proprietorship with a single employee, the owner. He suits a buyer of an older or unusual house who wants a long-tenured inspector doing the walk-through personally. Because everything runs through one person and the account of his turnaround is now a decade old, ask about current scheduling, report turnaround, and the fee for the property before booking, and confirm his Massachusetts licence is current.