BRIAN O'DONNELL QUALITY HOME IMPROVEMENTS INC

FANTASTIC! That’s the best way to describe the service I got from Brian O’Donnell Roofing. I had a major ceiling leak in one of my bedrooms, and the water actually seeped down the wall and separated the paint from the sheetrock, forming a huge bubble. It eventually broke, but I was worried about the next time it happened. I immediately called my “go-to carpenter” who has done a slew of work for me in the past including roof work. His prices are very reasonable compared to the “big guys” and he came right away. He examined the roof looking for cracks in the shingles, broken tree limbs that may have fallen on the roof, vent problems, loose nails, etc. He found none, and concluded that he needed to replace the shingles on about a third of the house. His price for this was reasonable -- $1,600 – but I couldn’t accept the premise that a huge piece of the roof needed to be replaced for a leak that probably had a very specific cause and might be fixable with much less effort and cost. I felt I needed to get a second opinion. I knew of Brian O’Donnell because I drive a school bus in Simsbury and see his signs on people’s lawns all over town. He also had an “A” rating on Angie’s List. I called him and explained the problem. He came the next morning and the first thing he did after seeing the ceiling stains was to go into my attic to see if he could find the source of the leak. Within two minutes, he yelled down to me that he had found the problem – and it had nothing to do with the roof! Apparently, my central air conditioning unit is located right above the ceiling that was leaking, and the condensation pan was overflowing because the two hoses that take water from the pan to the ground outside had been clogged. The A/C system is 24 years old and has never been serviced. Since Brian charges a minimum of $240 for two hours of diagnosis and repairs, and realizing he had plenty of time left on the clock, he decided to unclog the hoses himself. He used a long rod and also a drain snake to clear the hoses, and water came gushing out onto the ground outside the house. With still time remaining, he proceeded to clean out the two side louvers at each end of the house at the top. It was somewhat of an odd sight seeing him climb 20’ up the ladder with a leaf blower attached to his back, but he cleaned each vent of bee nests and lots of other debris that had accumulated over the years. He did this to allow better attic circulation and extend the life of my existing roof. He also gave me some other tips, such as having my HVAC contractor install a switch that would automatically shut off the A/C if the water level in the condensation tray had too much water in it. In summary, Brian was prompt, easy to work with, totally professional and incredibly competent to diagnose roof and/or leaking problems. Total charge was $240 which was a bargain considering I almost paid almost seven times that for a roof repair and which would have done nothing to stop future leaks. Thank you Brian!

Brian's crew did top-notch work. They were slow, methodical, and took the time to do it right. They were not cheap.

But their work has stood the test of time and survived 6 years and at least 2 absolutely horrendous winters with ice dams galore with ZERO leaks or problems.

They only do things right, like removing the siding in valleys to get the flashing and ice-shield high up on the wall abutting the roof. Things like this take a lot of time and are almost always skipped by the faster and cheaper guys.

One of their guys took the time to use copper flashing around a particularly tricky chimney. It was slow and tedious work but my guess is it'll still be there in 30+ years.

Hired Brian to fix some small and not so small issues with a generally successful roof replacement. He is a very bright and capable guy, articulate and knowledgeable, and he and his people were a real help in finding and fixing some tricky defects and minor (but hard to diagnose) leaks.
Make no mistake, Brian is the rarest and best of breed these days, a true professional that goes far beyond common trade knowledge. To be fair, we've recently been informed by a very reliable source that some other "goofs" on our roof, one of them a big deal, were missed by Mr. O'Donnell. But until I get confirmation on this report, I'm not jumping to any conclusions.
 
It's been a few years, and we have another issue we'd like him to look at. But, we can't get him to come out.
This would be fine if he simply said, "I'm too busy from now till forever" or simply "I can't because...", but he'll sort of "string you along", making intimations he'll get in touch that he never intends to honor.
That's really my only criticism. If he's not responding, don't bother waiting. You might be waiting forever.
##### WARNING: brief philosophical digression, tangentially related #####
Unfortunately, the contracting industry is so rife with incompetence these days, you'll soon learn to talk in relative terms such as  "generally successful", "mostly what we wanted" or "it leaked a lot less after that", too.
And it's not all the contractors' fault. When a society stops respecting its makers and doers, the people who go out every day and do concrete things like carpentry, roofing, flooring, building and teaching, and begins to place too much emphasis and reward on college training that's more geared towards the needs of life's talkers and thinkers, no one except the less intellectually gifted will aspire to be a maker or doer anymore.
This trend of disrespect towards those who want to simply hone their craft, forcing the ambitious to abandon their skills and seek respect elsewhere by ascending into today's overpopulated and generally useless supervisory ranks, can only leave us without any competent tradesmen or engineers.
Yes, even in engineering, that "doer" class of "thinkers" that gets things done with applied science and technology, very few want to remain practitioners, because there is no respect for being a task worker. If you're not bossing people around, or maybe some superstar who doesn't fit the mold, you're likely to get no more than grunt level respect. I've seen Ph.D.'s treated like kindergarteners, unbelievable as it is.
So, when your roof is leaking, your toilet's stopped up, or it's time to design an ignition switch for your Chevy that won't kill you, do we *really* want all the smart kids up on Wall Street, trying to hatch financial catastrophes, or lost in and rendered ineffective by the bloated Adminisphere of your averge modern megacorp?
Just sayin'.

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Brian did what he said he would do. He showed up on time and was very professional in his work. The work took a little longer than he initially expected, but we were actually glad at this as it showed he and his worker did not rush the job, but did quality work. We were very pleased.

Brian was on time, thorough, professional, and competent . We would call him again and recommend him to anyone needing roofing services.

unknown

I received a clear, thorough and accurate quote from Brian O'Donnell. He was the only roofer who pointed out all potential extra costs so that I had a full picture of the total cost of the job. He was also very knowledgeable in how a roof should actually function and how to install a durable roof. His crew was clearly skilled professionals and they did an excellent job. The roof was done in the spring and Brian was responsive in coming back a couple of times to fix a couple of small cosmetic blemishes over the summer.

We had a great experience with him; he didn't try to over sell us. He was very courteous and polite and also very professional. I would definitely use him again in the future.

Brian O Donnell s is very professional and they use their own workers and not sub-contractors. They are licensed and they make sure they have all the permits that are needed before starting the job and I found that very impressive. What I liked the most about them is that they are very careful about not doing any damage to my property.