ABOUT THE OWNER

Tom Speerstra was born in Grand Rapids Michigan in 1951 and grew up in the southwest Michigan area. As a youngster he learned the ins and outs of home construction working with his father who always seemed to be building a home here or there for someone.

Tom attended Ferris State University and furthered his mechanical knowledge, this time learning the operation of diesel engines and heavy equipment.

As a young man he became interested in aviation and soon earned his private pilot license on the small grass strip located across from the family home in Lowell, Michigan. The seed of aviation took root and Tom soon found himself earning all the ratings needed to make a career in aviation. For the next 25 years he piloted freight, baggage and people for a variety of aviation companies. The flying business took him far from home and allowed him the opportunity to live in such places as Florida and Hawaii. In 1999, Tom returned to southwest Michigan to take a training position at Western Michigan University’s International Pilot Training Centre in Battle Creek, MI. There he trained cadet pilots to airline standards for companies such as Aer Lingus, British Airways and Delta Airlines. Most of his former students now fly the world in Boeing or Airbus jetliners!

Throughout his career in aviation Tom continued to buy and sell properties as a hobby and used the construction talents he had learned as a young man to refurbish these investment homes. It was during this time, while he was both flying and building, that he first conceived of himself as a Home Inspector.

The flying program at Western was winding down and Tom was winding up his training as a Home Inspector when 9/11 shocked the world. After 9/11 the Western contract training program was canceled. It was time for Tom to put to use what he had been training to do.

HOMEWISE was born the very next spring and has experienced unparalleled acceptance and growth since its beginning. Since then, the fastest growing Home Inspection Company in the South West Michigan area has added the services its customers needed most, and provided a level of quality and commitment the inspection industry has never seen.

Tom continues to base the business in the Battle Creek / Kalamazoo area and is very proud to have earned the support and trust of the people in the area.