I Spent Over 20 Years Building Homes in NH. Now I Inspect Them.

Keene Is Close to Home

Resonant Homes is based in Alstead, about twelve miles north of Keene. I am in the city regularly for work, errands, meals, and most of the ordinary reasons people from the surrounding towns end up in Keene.

I also still operate my contracting business locally. At the time of this writing, I’m running two jobs in Keene. That gives me a familiarity with the city that goes beyond driving in for an inspection and leaving again. I know the neighborhoods, the local building practices, the contractors, and many of the ways houses here have been repaired, expanded, converted, and adapted over time.

Keene offers several very different versions of life within a relatively small area. Some buyers want to walk downtown without getting into the car. Some want a quiet street near the schools or Wheelock Park. Others want a view, more land, fewer neighbors, or enough distance from downtown to hear something besides traffic when they open a window.

Then there are the people who begin their search in Keene, look at the tax bill, and suddenly become very interested in Surry or the surrounding hill towns.

Whatever draws you to the property, my job is not to talk you into or out of it. It is to help you understand the house beneath the listing photos, fresh paint, furniture, and plans you may already be making for the place.

What My Building Background Brings to an Inspection

I owned and operated a general contracting business for more than twenty years, and that business remains active today. I have framed houses, renovated old buildings, repaired structural damage, installed septic systems, dealt with water intrusion, opened walls that concealed surprises, and corrected plenty of bad work.

That experience changes how I inspect.

When I find a problem, I am not limited to naming the component and recommending that someone else look at it. I can usually explain what appears to be happening, what may have caused it, how serious it looks, and what a realistic repair path might involve.

That does not mean guessing at exact costs or pretending a visual inspection can answer every question. It means giving you useful context instead of handing you a list of defects stripped of proportion.

My construction knowledge is also current. Building methods and science have changed a lot over the last number of years, just like everything else in our world. I am not relying entirely on something I learned in a classroom or work I stopped doing twenty years ago.

I do not bid on work at homes I inspect for at least twelve months after the inspection. There is no repair pitch waiting at the end and no financial incentive to make a problem sound larger or smaller than it appears.

Two Licensed Inspectors, One Appointment

Most of our inspections are done by two licensed inspectors. My wife and business partner Kayla has been building alongside me full time for years and inspects with me on most jobs. She’s meticulous and thorough, and two people never quite see the same house — every inspection we do together is better for it.

Every house is different, sometimes wildly so. A downtown two-family and a new build off Base Hill Road are not the same job, and neither one tells you much about the next place down the road. What stays constant is the patience available. Past a certain point, everybody standing around a house starts wondering when the inspector will be done, and a solo inspector who walks into a property needing more time than that has two options: run long, or quietly stop looking at things.

Two of us covers roughly twice the ground in the same appointment. The house gets the attention it actually needs, and nobody’s afternoon gets wrecked.

Buyers, Sellers, and Investors

For buyers, the inspection is an opportunity to slow the process down long enough to understand what you are actually purchasing.

That is especially important when you already love the house. Emotional attachment is normal. You may already know where the furniture will go or have plans for the kitchen before the inspection begins. My role is not to compete with that excitement. It is to make sure the physical condition of the property has a place in the decision too.

For sellers, a pre-listing inspection can uncover issues before the property is under contract and the closing calendar starts dictating every decision. It gives you time to repair something properly, obtain additional information, disclose it clearly, or simply prepare for the conversation that ensues when the buyer brings their own home inspector.

I inspect for investors looking to add real estate to their portfolio as well, with reports tailored to their needs. Keene has a meaningful number of multi-family, rental, mixed-use, and converted properties. Those inspections often involve several versions of the same building layered together: finished apartments over older infrastructure, chimneys that may be compromised, utilities divided or shared in unusual ways, electrical and plumbing work completed during different ownership periods, and repairs made with very different standards of workmanship.

I will not pretend to produce a full renovation budget from a visual inspection. I can help identify the systems and conditions most likely to affect your plans, negotiations, and tolerance for additional work.

Radon & Water Testing In Keene

New Hampshire sits on granite, and that bedrock is part of why the state runs some of the highest indoor radon levels in the country — roughly four times the national average. I include radon testing on most of the inspections I do around Keene, using continuous electronic monitors that log hourly readings for the full test period, and you get a complete report with the results.

Water testing depends on where in the Keene area you’re looking. In-town properties are usually on municipal water, but move out toward Surry, Roxbury, or the edges of the city and a private well becomes the norm rather than the exception. I offer several testing panels depending on what the property and your lender call for — bacteria and nitrates cover the standard requirements, and I can add arsenic, radon in water, or other parameters as needed.

Radon and water testing bundled with your inspection bring the combined price down by $100. Both are worth doing on most properties here, for the same simple reason: you can inspect a basement all day and still learn nothing about what’s actually in the air or the water. That’s what the testing is for.

Serving Keene and Nearby Communities

I inspect throughout Keene and the surrounding Monadnock Region, including Surry, Swanzey, Marlborough, Troy, Fitzwilliam, Winchester, Chesterfield, Westmoreland, Walpole, Sullivan, Gilsum, Alstead, Nelson, Harrisville, Dublin, Stoddard, Peterborough, and nearby communities.

I also cross the Connecticut River regularly for inspections in Brattleboro, Bellows Falls, Putney, and surrounding southern Vermont towns.

For a closer look at coverage throughout the region, visit the Cheshire County Home Inspections page or the complete Service Areas page.