Providing Whole Home Inspections & Consulting Services
across Westchester & Orange Counties, NY and Fairfield County, CT
Providing Whole Home Inspections & Consulting Services
across Westchester & Orange Counties, NY and Fairfield County, CT
A home inspection in South Blooming Grove, NY has to answer two questions at once: is the house sound, and is what comes out of the tap and up through the slab safe? The EPA puts all of Orange County in radon Zone 1, its highest risk category, and the village supplies homes from five municipal wells that have been under mandatory watering restrictions since 2019.
Before you close on a village home, Chris goes through it top to bottom: roof, framing, electrical panel, plumbing, heat, and every place water likes to sneak in. You walk with him the whole time, so questions get answered at the defect instead of by email a week later. The report, reaches your inbox within 24 hours.
Bidding gets competitive in this corner of Orange County, and some buyers waive contingencies to win. A pre-offer walkthrough puts Chris's eyes on the roof, foundation, and mechanicals before you sign anything, so a waived inspection becomes an informed gamble rather than a blind one.
The full evaluation for buyers already under contract. Chris documents the structure, mechanicals, attic, and grounds, and because the village sits in a Zone 1 radon county, he can run the radon test during the same appointment. Everything ends up in one report you can hand straight to your attorney.
New homes fail inspections too, and with a 600-unit project approved inside the village, a lot of fresh framing is on the way. Chris checks new builds before your walkthrough with the builder: flashing, grading, duct connections, and the finish work punch lists miss. A defect you catch before closing gets fixed on the builder's dime.
Sellers use this to find the surprises before a buyer's inspector does. Learning about a tired water heater or a damp basement corner in advance lets you repair or disclose on your own schedule. Deals fall apart far less often when nothing new surfaces at the eleventh hour.
An annual once-over for owners planning to stay put. Chris tracks the slow movers: roof wear, foundation cracks that widen, heating systems losing efficiency, grading that has started shedding water toward the house instead of away from it. Small repairs stay small when somebody is watching them.
Plenty of inspectors will drive to Orange County. Here is what arrives with this one.
The village has its own inspection math. Municipal water starts at five village wells and travels roughly 20 miles of main, some of it old enough that the village has been hunting leaks with cameras, and outdoor watering has been restricted since 2019. That is why Chris runs water quality testing at your tap: what leaves the well field is not always what reaches your kitchen. And because the EPA rates all of Orange County Zone 1 for radon, radon testing belongs in the conversation for any house here with a basement or slab.
Hiring four specialists means four appointments, four invoices, and four reports that never talk to each other. Chris folds the general home inspection, the radon test, a mold assessment, and a full heating and cooling evaluation into a single visit, with water sampling riding along in the same appointment. You get one report, and one inspector stands behind every page of it.
We handle the rest of the town too, from Blooming Grove to Montgomery, NY; the full coverage list is here.
Forty-five years of crawl spaces and attics teach you where a village like this hides its problems.
The EPA maps every square mile of Orange County as Zone 1, where predicted indoor averages exceed the 4 pCi/L action level. Basements cut into the slopes around the village are exactly where readings climb. Chris sets a continuous radon monitor during the inspection itself, so you are not booking a second visit to learn the number.
Village water comes from five municipal wells and about 20 miles of main, and the village has reported cutting a roughly 20 percent annual water loss rate in half after camera leak surveys, with the most breaks in older Worley Heights lines. Aging mains can shed sediment and lose pressure. Testing at your tap shows what actually arrives, not what left the well.
The village is rehabilitating its sanitary sewer system, a project the NYS DEC notice describes as replacing failing infrastructure and building a new treatment plant. Homes outside the sewer lines rely on septic, and a tired leach field rarely announces itself before closing day. Chris flags the tells: slow drains, lush green stripes over the field, odors near cleanouts.
The DEC approved the 600-unit Clovewood project in October 2024, and building at that pace stretches trade labor wherever it happens. On new builds Chris routinely finds missing kickout flashing, unsealed duct joints, and lots graded toward the foundation. A certificate of occupancy confirms code minimums were met. It is not an inspection.
Much of the village climbs, and water coming off those slopes eventually presses against somebody's foundation. Chris checks gutter discharge, swales, grading, and the efflorescence and staining on basement walls that show where moisture has been getting in. Caught early, the fix is downspout extensions and regrading. Caught late, it is excavation and waterproofing.
The questions village buyers actually ask Chris, answered without the runaround.
Schedule Your InspectionReal Google reviews from clients of Longs GCS Home Inspections.
“Chris did an excellent job with our home inspection. He was professional, honest, and extremely thorough. He took the time to explain everything clearly and answered all of our questions, which made the process much easier for us. We truly appreciated his transparency and would HIGHLY recommend him to anyone needing a home inspection.”
Delores McAllisterGoogle review
“I am really happy that Chris was recommended to me. He was incredibly thorough in his inspection of my pending property. I would recommend him to any one. Thanks Chris.”
Matthew HupeGoogle review
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The guides we hand clients most often, along with our own service pages.