A few years ago, Phil Young saw a need for another honest and hardworking home inspector in our area.  He was working as an insurance agent at the time. He jumped in, founded Rendered Safe Home Inspections, and never looked back! Phil is a veteran, and we are proud to highlight him and his business this month.  The name ‘Rendered Safe’ comes from his military days. After diffusing an explosive device, they would have to write reports. They would typically end the report with the line, "Explosive device has been Rendered Safe."  He shared that the motto he learned and used during his military service was "Initial Success or Total Failure," and that's what Phil aims to bring to the inspection industry.

A home inspection is a comprehensive, detailed examination that provides an accurate assessment of a home's current condition. These inspections are typically used during a real estate transaction, although they don’t necessarily need to be. The common misconception is that there's a pass/fail system when it comes to home inspections, but that’s simply not true. 

In addition to home inspections, Phil performs insurance inspections, which include 4-point and/or wind mitigation inspections. A 4-point is an abridged version of a complete home inspection for insurance eligibility, and the wind mitigation helps with insurance discounts! 

At Rendered Safe, it's not about how quickly an inspection can be completed or how quickly a report can be generated.  Phil is hands-on throughout the entire process, whether it be the home buying/ selling process or the insurance process. He takes pride in helping in any capacity that he can. Having an insurance background has proved to be extremely valuable. 

One thing he loves about his job is meeting people and seeing how they live. Everybody has a story to tell, and he gets to hear about it in their environment. He joked, “It’s kind of like being an interviewer, only I’m also looking for plumbing leaks. The other thing I love is that everything is different. Every house has a story, and I get to be its author on a legal document.”

One thing people may not realize is that home inspection is not JUST about walking around and looking at things. It's actually very physical. They often find themselves in some sticky situations.  Phil shared a great story.  Once he was in the attic of an old house. He felt like something was staring at him. He looked up and saw the fattest raccoon he’d ever seen. The raccoon was just sitting there like Jabba the Hutt. He felt like he should pay this raccoon a toll or something for invading his space.

When he’s not facing off against raccoons in attics, Phil enjoys music.  He inherited a baby grand piano from his sister about a year ago. He shared, “There's something so therapeutic about sitting down after a long day and playing the piano...until you start believing you're playing at a piano bar, bashing out Piano Man.”

Phil wants all homeowners to know that you don't need to be going through a real estate transaction to get a home inspection. He recommends hiring a home inspector (preferably him!) to conduct a home inspection for maintenance purposes, explaining, “Everything in your home has a life expectancy. It's better to catch it early.”

Stroll Town of Tioga would like to thank Phil and all veterans for their service. We salute you and all the great work you’ve done serving our country and our community.