National Property Inspections

Professional, knowledgeable, thorough, and friendly!
I contracted Mr Nelson to perform a warranty inspection on our new home in Woodbridge at the advice of our realtor. He arrived on time and answered all of my questions, which, as a first-​time homebuyer, were numerous.
John provides a detailed report with photographs that he compiles with a tablet computer as he performs the inspection. I was impressed with his organization and knowledge. For example, during his inspection of our dishwasher installation, John identified a likely installation error on our Whirpool dishwasher drain hose. Instead of «winging it», John referenced the Whirlpool manual directly from his tablet and confirmed the installation error and showed me the diagram. His cited the page number of the Whirpool manual in his discrepancy report which will make it easier for me to have the builder correct the deficiency.
While our home was well built, he did find a few small deficiencies (door stripping, outlet insulation, fireplace leaks) that would have cost me the equivalent of the inspection fee to correct – assuming I had the knowledge and insight (and infrared camera) to discover on my own. Of course, I wouldn’t have. Now it’s on the builder to fix them, so the inspection was money very well spent!
We also opted to have the radon levels checked in our finished basement, and thankfully the levels were below what’s considered dangerous. Regardless, we’re glad we paid the additional fee for peace of mind.
I highly recommend contracting with John, and can’t thank my realtor enough for the suggestion!

Excellent service, extremely thorough, and very knowledgeable! I was very impressed by John Nelson, the owner, and his professionalism.
I selected John because he has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau _​AND_​he charges significantly less than other inspectors. I also liked that John performs radon inspections but does not offer mitigation services, which means he has no conflict of interest (i.e., some inspectors claim your radon levels are high and then try to sell their radon mitigation services to you). Most importantly, John has over 15+ years of experience as a general contractor and has inspected thousands of homes.
John arrived 30 minutes early to inspect the exterior of the house, including the roof, porch, and windows. John inspected the house for 3 hours and found numerous hidden issues, including several major ones that I will definitely be raising with the seller. One of the issues involved insufficient insulation in the walls and roof, which he detected using an infrared scanner — this is technology that many home inspectors do not have.
Bottom line, I cannot recommend John highly enough. My realtor was also impressed and mentioned that he will be contacting John in the future.
Btw, National Property Inspections is a franchised operation, so each inspector runs their own business. John is located in Manassas but was willing to drive out to Arlington for our home inspection.