DEVERE INSULATION HOME PERFORMANCE

The entire process was great. From call to schedule an estimate, professionalism and knowledge of estimator Michelle, and professionalism, courtesy and knowledge of workers. My neighbor recommended this company in 2018 and we finally got around to getting the work done ourselves, We are very happy.

Excellent quality at 1/3 cost of a big area insulation company.

I got several estimates for this work and Devere was the lowest. The saleswoman was great and even came back out when I made additions to the scope of work. The 2 work crews were excellent and hard working. The job was done on time and well done.

After checking Angie's List and with the Better Business Bureau, I called DeVere. Within just a few days Joel arrived at our door to look at what was needed and to give us an estimate. At no time did we feel pressure to sign on the dotted line. Joel was professional and obviously knows the business. Once we received Devere's insurance certificate we scheduled the work. Armando and a helper arrived in their work truck and proceeded to rip out all the old insulation and replace it with the new materials they had brought. It was a horribly messy job getting rid of the old insulation but the crew did it without complaint. Once they were done not a trace of material was left behind. The new insulation not only looks great but it does a good job of keepint the bathroom much warmer than it has in the past. Armando and his helper also did a terrific job wrapping the pipes. Neighbors have experienced burst water pipes this winter due to the bitter temperatures and I have DeVere's crew to thank for not having to worry about ours. We could not be happier and just wanted to say thank you.

Very well. They accommodated my requests and performed with utmost professionalism. Cleaned up all debris.

Becky is amazing. She's working with us to create a project that fits in our budget. She's responsive, and genuinely cares about her clients.

The guys they subcontracted to did a great job, made some good suggestions.

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Representative was on time, very knowledgeable and helpful. She didn't try to up sale, listened to my need and provided a prompt estimate. The work was scheduled and the team arrived on time. They finished early. Job well done!

I was extremely pleased with Devere at every stop. The representative/salesman was knowledgeable and professional, gave good advice on level of insulation, never tried to upsell. The installers were just as good. Clean, professional work at every stage. I gave a D in professionalism, however, because they used my email address to spam me afterwards. I asked repeatedly for my email address to be removed from their spambot but apparently nobody in the company has the power to do this. I felt really double-crossed because I was assumed that would not happen. The salesman made a good faith effort, it seemed to me, to have the email address removed, but he was unable to do that. So my advice is that you do not trust Devere with your email address. In all other respects, this is a great company.

Our experience with Devere was very split -- some aspects were excellent and some were terrible.  

To begin, we wanted something that not many providers will do, which is blown-cellulose in our interior walls and ceilings for the purposes of soundproofing.  It is something that we knew well would only help somewhat with our interior noise problems, but we wanted it anyway.  We were relieved to find Devere after really struggling to find a provider.  And the pricing wasn't horrific, exactly, because there aren't a lot of good alternatives out there.  But there is quite a lot of overhead built in.  

Nonetheless, Devere has a very turn-key operation, and we appreciate that.  We scheduled them and moved their date twice because of business trips that popped up, etc.  They were very friendly and accommodating about that with us. 

On the day of the work, they showed up on time, came in with a big crew, and went through the work with impressive speed and coordination.  EXCEPT that they immediately made a very serious error on the 2nd hole that they drilled:  Having noted where our main electric line was located, they drilled beside it and promptly tore through our upstairs neighbor's main power line.  (We are a row house broken into 2 condos.)  

This was a VERY BAD mistake, but it was a mistake and mistakes happen -- especially in construction.  We weren't mad that it happened -- we were mostly concerned with the response to it.  Right away, the crew called me in to see what had happened.  That was good, since our neighbors also were pounding on the door at the same time to tell us all of the power in their condo had just gone out.  But when I asked the crew whether they had an electrician that they could call, they just shrugged and didn't know what to do.  So I started calling electricians at the same time that my husband was also trying to get ahold of the main office at Devere.

Because it was a Saturday, Devere's office line went to a call center, and that person relayed the message to an on-call manager with Devere.  We had to do that twice, because we didn't hear anything back for 3 HOURS.  Which was really not good.  Not only did our neighbors not sign up for this mess, but all of their heat is electric, in addition to the refrigerator, obviously, and everything else.  So they were completely disrupted by this.  Our only saving grace was that they were about to head out of town for the weekend, so that lessened how much it actively impacted them.

Once we got in contact with the on-call manager, they said they would hire an electrician and send that person out.  Here's where the problem primarily becomes with the people that they hired to fix the problem.  The electrician was later than he said he would be -- it was now late afternoon -- and once he arrived, he simply said "oh god, this isn't good" and "I'll have to go to the store tomorrow to get some things and work on this then."  I don't know why he couldn't go to the store then and work on it right away, but we weren't given any say in the matter.  

It wasn't until the next day, Sunday, when Devere sent out a project manager to our house to look at the damage.  He was great and attentive and assured us that he would take care of the situation.  But the electricians were sort of doing their own thing on their own schedule.  Our neighbor's power got fixed by the end of that day, but the electricians had to cut big holes in the walls of our condo and our neighbor's condo.  Then there was a dispute between the electrician and Devere over who was responsible for the drywall repair -- believe it or not, they both wanted to do it.  The electrician had a drywall guy who came that night, but he did a really terrible job, including damaging one of our baseboards and another wall, etc.  I complained to Devere about the quality of the work, and they promised to have the drywall guy return on Monday evening to fix his work.  I wanted Devere's painter to come that same night, because by this point, our neighbors had had their home ripped apart for 3 days already.  Monday night, Devere's painter showed up but the drywall guy did not.  So Devere's painter did some of the drywall repair but not all of it, because he wasn't getting paid for it / wasn't supposed to have to do it / whatever.  

Tuesday night, I checked on how the paint was looking in my neighbor's condo after drying.  Unfortunately, the painter had gotten some on the baseboard and, as Devere warned us, you could tell that an area of the wall had been repainted that didn't perfectly match the rest of the wall.  Devere had told us upfront that that could happen and they would repaint our neighbor's full wall if they wanted them to.  But our neighbors just were afraid that things would get worse rather than better if we kept going, so they decided to just live with an imperfect wall.

As for us, we just never insisted on our baseboards being repaired, and we retouched up our own trim ourselves.  There is a point at which you just cut your losses.  

In terms of the insulation work, I appreciated that they were so efficient about that and that they did a fairly decent job of cleaning up after themselves when they left.  But there were some things that were not communicated to us -- like the fact that they use styrofoam plugs for the holes instead of drywall plugs.  The styrofoam plugs are really difficult to hide well afterwards.  We had intended to spackle and paint ourselves afterwards and spent literally 30-40 hours just trying to get the styrofoam plugs to sit properly (some were too far in and some were too far out) and then seal them and compound over them in a way that actually hide the styrofoam texture and the edges of the holes, and then sanding and sanding and sanding.  We finally hired professionals to do painting after we had resigned ourselves to always being able to see the outlines of holes in the walls of our 1-year old home.  But the painter we have working on the house now thinks he can hide them better, so he's repairing all of them all over again.  All 200+ holes.  But both he and other contractors that we've had work on the house have warned us that these styofoam plugs will crack in the coming years and look terrible.  No one at Devere told us this.  And they left us with some really wonky holes to deal with.  

My takeaway is this:  They're very good at what they do, and when they screwed up, they did try genuinely and with concern to fix it.  But for how serious of a mistake this was, they showed up late and with an unreliable electrician / drywall repair person who then became our problem and our neighbor's in addition to theirs.  I expect that Devere lost all of their profit on our project and overpaid the electrician, but their desire to fix their mistakes didn't match with their capacity to do so.  Our neighbors were without power for 2 days, with a hole in their wall for 3, and ended up with an imperfect wall in the end.  We didn't lose power, but we certainly incurred wall damage.  And more than that, we lost 4-5 days just trying to schedule and reschedule electricians and drywall guys and painters and generally crisis control. 

Still, I would hire Devere again *if* I was in need of exactly their core service and nothing else, knowing in advance about the styrofoam plugs... AND I was highly confident that I could watch to ensure no mistakes were made... AND they had the cheapest price by far available.  :-P  They do their core work well.  There must be a way to cover the styrofoam properly.  But you don't want to end up in an atypical situation with them.  










 

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The site inspector who came out for the estimate was superb. But initially, the January work phase didn't start well when the crew was supposed to show up. A miscommunication caused them to be 4 hours late, leaving the time to insulate the crawlspace before January's huge blizzard very short. It was rectified, but it's sometimes hard to get a hold of office folks at DeVere via email, so you have to call them.
Thankfully, they worked furiously and intently on the removal of old batting and reinsulation of the crawlspace and DeVere sent out an additional crew or two in the late afternoon to expedite the finishing of the Phase 1 crawlspace & cantilever floor work in one day, as expected. They did a fantastic job, and the crawlspace looks so much neater and cleaner than before, and it properly insulates the base of the home, now. They finished two days before 30" of snow dropped on the area, and thank heavens. Lot of airflow stopped, and better envelope for the building.
In April, after fixing some electrical problems that held up the attic insulation phase of this project, DeVere's crew came back out to drill & fill with blown cellulose in the attic eaves, floor, and knee walls. They showed up exactly on time, and did their work in a dedicated and attentive fashion. They covered as much of the home as they could with dropcloths, but blown-in cellulose is just dusty and it does cover every horizontal surface despite best intentions. I wish DeVere had made it clear how messy this part was going to be, but no one mentioned it at all. It was an unfortunate surprise that literally everything in the house had to be dusted, and all linens & upholstery washed/vacuumed after.
The job finished up by late afternoon and they did a great job cleaning up, as much as feasible. The whole project reduced by home's air flow by 35% from before any work was done, according to the blower door tests performed before and after the project. A solid win for us, and good news for getting a $2k energy rebate from our electrical suppliers.
All in all, I'd solidly recommend DeVere for quality of work and reasonable cost. They know what they're doing, even if the office communications can sometimes be less than stellar.

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Everything was super smooth -- an estimator came out and we talked about the different options. He promised a quote within 4 business days and I got it in 3 days. I needed a small change to the quote which was processed in an hour, and then we scheduled a date for them to come out.
The workers were professional and courteous. They did a great job on the insulation, and they put down plastic tarp everywhere to protect the floors and furniture. The house feels significantly warmer as well.

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Joel gave estimate and provided me with great advice. The best was having the lights and walls sealed before the insulation was blow in. The crew knows exactly what they are doing and get right to work. It must have been 120 degrees in attic that day. The crew never complained did there job and made sure no mess was left behind. The difference it has made is unbelievable. I am a plumbing contractor myself on Angie List. I found Devere to be the best for my project. . I did plenty of research before I got pricing this company knows what they are doing. I have reduced my energy use by 35% and my system does not run as long as it used too. The comfort level in the house is 100% better.

Basically, I got three bids and DeVere was the cheapest.  On July 20, Joel came out to look at the job to provide an estimate.  I received the estimate via email from Ashley who works in the office.  I selected DeVere based on cost and scheduled the installation for August 14 but had to move it.  They were flexible and moved it to the 19th.  I was give a 4-hour start window from 10am to 2pm, and the two-man crew showed up around 1pm and worked all day installing the insulation and did a good job.  Ashley was pleasant and easy to work with.

Devere followed up on an energy audit that we had done through PEPCO's program (if anyone hasn't done this they should). The Energy audit identified air-infiltration as our number one problem and also identified insulation needs as well as leaks through a pull down stair to the attic. Devere's envelope specialist Joel Windsor assessed out problem which included a ventilated crawl space which was connected to an unventilated (yet very leaky so could be thought of as "ventilated") dirt basement, 120 years old). Joel was awesome, devising a method of both sealing the crawl space and basement and installing a vapor barrier in the crawl space and in a very unique and odd basement as well as the attic treatment. At our request, Joel was present on the first day to ensure his plan was carried out (crawl space and basement.) The crew was punctual, clean and professional. The 12 mil. vapor barrier was installed in a difficult space (crawl) and in a basement that had been partially dug out, left as 3/4 dirt that included a crawl area as well as a walk-about area, and had a 1/4 cement floor. Joel and crew foamed the sills as well as many random gaps and holes in the basement "ceiling"/kitchen floor. So far we have experienced only a cooling season and have been very pleased with the result. Gone are the stale musty smells that were drawn up from the crawl space and basement and we have experienced a greater ability of our AC to cool and keep cool the area over the basement. Previously it was a struggle for the AC and never really could overcome hot days. Obviously it was continually dealing with outside air being pulled into the house as well as damp air out of the basement.
Finally, Devere did a re-assessment, basically doing a follow-up energy audit to determine the effect of the installation and submitted the information to PEPCO for the rebate program. Devere did all the paper-work and we received our rebate. 

It was great