Safeguard Building Analysts, Inc

When you’re buying a home, your inspector is the most important player in the process after your realtor. To us, James Otting was one in a million.
We were blown away by how carefully he inspected our circa-​1940 home from top to bottom, including crawling under the house to inspect the foundation. Every item was meticulously documented with well-​lit photos in our report. He explained technical details well and personally walked us through every operational feature on our property.
Even better, James has served as an invaluable resource any time we need a referral or have a question (which has happened frequently in the past 3 ½ years). He has integrity and is calm, smart and trustworthy – all rare qualities in today’s business world. We highly recommend him and wouldn’t hesitate to use him again.

James was very thorough and gave us a great oral report followed by an extremely detailed written report with pictures of what he was referring to. I would absolutely recommend James to anyone looking for a trustworthy inspector, to aid them make a smart real estate decision.

James inspected my house last year. He was recommended by Coldwell Banker MDR/​Venice. The report was thorough regarding my foundation, but he did not point out a hole in my roof, termite damage in floors and front façade of the house, eave metal drip edges missing all along the roof line, rotting eaves, nor did he write or say anything about possible asbestos in my furnace vent pipe. Also, turning the water off is outside the boundaries of what he inspects, so only later did I discover that the water shutoff doesn’t work at the house, and I have to turn it off from the street. I should have had my doubts when I saw that the report said my yard was in good condition when it was full of weeds. Maybe these good experiences were for sellers/​homeowners. I was a buyer.

James did an amazing job for our small condo association. He put together a very thorough report, including pictures, and the price was several hundred dollars cheaper than any of his competitors from the quotes we received. He sent us the report the same afternoon he completed the inspection and it explained, in detail, what needed to be addressed in the immediate and the lifespan of all of the major common areas on the exterior of our building (balconies, driveway, roof, water heater, etc.). Really helpful in trying to plan and budget our reserves and would recommend to any HOAs in need of updating a reserve study or looking for a thorough property inspection.

I called James on a Friday to see if he was available the coming Sunday afternoon to inspect our newly purchased condo — and he was. I’m surprised there aren’t more reviews here! On the phone, James asked me the right questions (it was a new building, and he told me to make sure that all the utilities were turned on for the inspection, etc.).
On inspection day, he was on time, and was extremely patient and thorough. He even gave me some practical advice that exceeded the scope (in my humble layman opinion) of the inspection; for example, he told me that the water flow from the faucets for the kitchen and bathroom sinks may be slowed down over time, but I just needed to unscrew the faucets to rinse the filters inside when that happens.
He also took lots of photos which were incorporated into his home inspector’s report — which was e-​mailed to me the same day, so that I could give it to the sellers as soon as possible. He made the whole process as painless as possible. I highly recommend!

I have worked with James over the last 6 or 7 years. He’s extremely thorough and will take the time to explain everything that he finds. He’ll tell it to you honestly. I would not hesitate to work with him again.

We were extremely happy with James’ inspection and report. He was extremely professional both in his inspection and in helping to explain it to us. He took time to answer our questions and didn’t mind that we followed him around. His report was complete with pictures. It was very easy to read as well as providing all the information we needed. Our house is a 1920’s duplex hence it came with both known problems and new ones that James found. Although I hope not to be inspecting any homes in the near future, I would certainly call Safeguard immediately if the need arose. High Recommended!