John Villella has personally inspected more than 15,000 homes since launching All Pro Home Inspection 23 years ago. And that's not including inspections done by members of his team. Those inspections have ranged from 600-square-foot lake cottages to 100,0000-square-foot plus commercial properties and everything in between, including a recent inspection of a shipping container home.

While many things related to those inspections have changed over the years, he says from a seller’s perspective one thing hasn’t.

“Homes sell for more money in less time with inspections,” John says. Seller inspections have a number of other advantages as well, including taking care of liability issues for agents and their brokerages. 

“Put the information up front and make it available for a prospective buyer,” John says. Along with visits to the property, a buyer will know whether to put in an offer or move on. Home inspections by sellers streamline the process, he says, and can significantly reduce negotiations because all disclosures have been taken care of.

As added peace of mind for sellers and buyers alike, All Pro has offered free warranties with its inspections for the past 15 years.

Since most of the problems buyers encounter when moving into a property happen in the first three weeks, they assume the inspector missed something, John says. But that’s not usually the case. 

Moving into a new home often means new demands on a house’s systems. For instance, a family of four moving into a house previously occupied by a single person can put significantly more stress on those systems. 

“You can't predict the future. Things fail, things break,” he says. The new homeowners are disappointed and “then everybody starts dancing back and forth on the phone. So instead, we offer solutions, not excuses. I just think it's the right way of doing it—have a solution.”

Free warranties that come with All Pro inspections include more than $100,000 in warranty protection. There is a one-year $100,000 structural warranty. There are also 125-day warranties covering sewer and mold, a limited home warranty and five-year roof protection against leaks. Upgrades to the free plan are also available. 

“The warranty game has evolved over the years and there have been changes both good and bad,” he says, adding All Pro will soon announce “an exciting change as to how we will offer protection with our inspection packages.”

With both John and his father being veterans and his dad a retired firefighter, too, it’s only natural All Pro also offers discounts to veterans and first responders.

Before starting All Pro Home Inspection, John was co-owner and general contractor for Villella and Son, Inc., which specialized in concrete construction and custom home building. “But after 20 years of construction, my body said it was time to change,” he says.

As to why someone should choose All Pro instead of its competitors, John says it’s “first and foremost, experience.” He also places a heavy emphasis on customer service and building relationships. “It’s about communicating with people the right way.  We do not sugarcoat what we find, but we will educate our clients,” he says. “I’ve always said if we stay loyal to the property we are inspecting and communicate our findings the right way, we are doing our job and serving all individuals fairly in the process.”

While John and his inspectors must meet continuing education requirements and renew their license every two years, his staff also completes an in-house training curriculum. While a large part of that training is the nuts and bolts of conducting inspections, a significant portion centers on customer service. 

“You never know how someone's day is going,” he says. “From the moment the phone rings, you need to make their day a little better. It’s just the way we work.” His staff also makes sure referring clients are appreciated. “The more success someone else is going to have, I believe the more success we are going to have,” he says.

One change John has seen in the industry over the years is the troubling trend for both buyers and sellers to forego home inspections, a trend the pandemic exacerbated. Some agents just give lip service to advising clients about home inspections, he says, but then tell those clients that doing so will significantly weaken their offer. “The idea of waiving the inspection is bad, for the buyer, the seller and agents and brokers involved,” he says, adding he expects major lawsuits to eventually result from the practice.  

When he’s not inspecting homes, you might find John and Lena, his wife of 33 years, on a bocce ball court. “I have a tremendous amount of fun playing it,” he says, adding he and his wife also play in tournaments around the state and in couples leagues a few times each week. “So that gives us date nights,” he says.

John also enjoys hunting, with both rifle and bow, not as much for sport as to simply get out in nature. And for the past four or five years, he’s gotten involved in dirt car racing, including car sponsorship and working on the car. “It’s fun, he says of Friday evening races with his wife and daughter, Amber, 24. John reports her twin brother, Andrew, says he’s “not interested in watching cars go around in a circle.”

There’s obvious pride when he talks about the children. “Some of the things we instilled in them as far as beliefs and work ethics are really paying off for them,” John says. Andrew is the IT Director for Amherst school district and Amber is a Physician’s Assistant. 

A former collegiate baseball player, John coached his kids and others in youth sports when they were of playing age and along with his wife traveled the Northeast while they played high-level soccer in a traveling league. 

While he doesn’t necessarily know what lies ahead for the housing market and his industry, John knows it won’t affect one aspect of his business. “We like to help people succeed and I believe the more people we can help be more successful along the way, the better it is for our business.”