Knez Building Materials and Insulation...

The bid and process went well.

We got 3 bids and they're the most competitive and straightforward.

I recently discovered that despite a written contract that
all hot water lines to be insulated, the plumbing contractor failed to do that
when they replaced all the pipes in the house several years ago. Part of that contract was
to replace a perfectly good gas tank hot water heater with a "top of the
line" gas tank-less hot water with a recirculating system. The
recirculating system means that when you turn on the hot water tap anywhere in
the house that you have instant hot water. Unless you have a large family
and frequently use hot water, the tank-less hot water heater is very economical.
I called Knez about installing the pipe insulation. They said they would
be happy to do the job, but would use R-11 insulation bats per Oregon Energy
Trust recommendation instead of the form pipe insulation you see at Home
Depot. Steve emailed me the bid after he checked out the project and two
days later, two very nice fellows showed up at the door with stuff in hand to
cover the floor, ready to get to work. After about two hours, they were
done, including cleaning up.
After the fellows left, I went down in the crawl space to take picture and
document the work to use to go after the plumber. Frankly, I was amazed at what I saw. They had
not only wrapped the hot water lines but the cold water as well. All the
lines totaled around three hundred feet. Not only were the lines
insulated but they did a great job tiding up all the lines by fastening the lines to
the floor structure. Before, the plumbers had left much of the lines
sagging into the crawl space. The crawl space does not look cluttered and
is easier to move around in now.
I used Knez two and half years ago to insulate both the attic and under
the floor. They did a great job then too!

Knez's attention to the bid proposal process was very good. I compared several contractors, their bid was very good in the state requirements. To note, Knez was the most expensive at $2,500.00, but they wrapped the ducting with the best insulation and process, provided new visqueen and sealed any open foundation vents, etc. None of the other contractors were willing to do these things.

As mentioned above, the bid process went well. However, when I requested follow up, none occurred. I had to call the secretary, who called the owner to get the estimator to followup. Normally, I won't chase business, but in this case, their attention to the fine details compelled me to call them back on two separate occasions. I was not impressed with this phase of the project, as experience has taught me that it will most likely be this way throughout the process.

After accepting the bid and lining out a date, my wife was here when they arrived. They arrived right on time and very nice, polite workers. My wife felt very comfortable. They kept the outside and the house very clean (considering the process) while they brough insulaiton in. They had to also remove old ducting insulaiton. A two day project they completed the removal and floor insulaiton in one day.

At the end of one day, I crawled under the house. Pretty clean on removal, the sealed the ducting well for the most part and laid up the floor insulaiton prettty well. Note, soem of the twine to keep the insulaiton up under the floor was sloppily done, but overall, the insulation was up there pretty good. A few pockets sagging some, but they did address on day 2. Note, if your not willing to check their work (which was not fun), it's still "ok" but not A quality work, more B to B+.

The first day they also wrapped ducting in my garage. This was done terribly. The guys took pieces of insulation and "taped" them together to cover the ducting. I called the next day, I did not want to look at this for the next X years.

The second day the guys wrapped the ducting. I did go back down there a couple weeks ago, after the job had been done. They did a good job. Overall, the floor looked good as well as the ducting. They also laid down clean visqueen under the house.

They did fix the garage ducting. I called Knez, they were very upset and set out the estimator the very next day. The whole crew was on time and punctual. The estimator told the guys to never do that again, that if they ran out of insulation, they needed to get full pieces. He also had them fix a foundaiton vent I found that was not totally sealed. I asked for a bid on my attic, but never did receive it. The estimator is good, but his follow through was weak.

I'm giving them a "B" overall, due to the issues above. I shouldn't have had to crawl under my house and find a few things for them to address. Also, I had to remind them (via the bid) for them to lay down all new visqueen. As long as I monitored the project and kept them accountable of the small details, they did fine. The willingness to do it right for the customer was exceptional, probably what made me say I'd refer or use them again.

My wife and I noticed a significant difference in the temprature of our home, we are very pleased with the insulation. However, after two months (and the coldest time of the year) I was not happy with my gas bill. I began to re check all of my flooring ducts. The guys had knocked one of the ducting lines off of the vent. I was heating the underside of my house and letting cold air in the house. Needless to say, I was and am not happy with this. So, I crawled under the house and reattached the line and made sure it would not come loose again (which they should have done).

I think the last paragraph kind of sums it up on the down side. Overall, good company, great guys, good work, but high level attention to detail was just "ok" at best. Again, if you are willing to go under your house, monitor the details, not a problem. Overall a "B" in my book, but would use them again.

Hope this helps.

The Knez crew were entirely professional from the initial quote to the finished job. They communicated very clearly exactly what products were needed and why, as well as how the installation should be performed. The job was done on time-- actually a whole lot faster than promised or what I had anticipated! I thought their pricing was very fair, and our gas bill has gone down 1/3 to 1/2 of what it was prior to having the insulation installed.

I chose Knez based on reviews here on Angie's List, and I highly recommend using them.

I found Knez through Angie's List. We did get an energy refund. They were very professional and arrived when they said they would. They generally did what they said they would do. My husband found one thing they had done that we had not agreed upon and they came back and fixed it the right way very quickly. They are very responsive. When the energy trust people came they said their work was excellent.

It was excellent. They were easy to work with. They were willing to go the extra mile. We are very pleased with the finished job.

They were very prompt with scheduling and estimate. They came and surveyed the areas and then emailed an estimate. It took several months before we were done with other jobs and were ready for the insulation. I called them to check and see if the estimate was still good. They looked it up and called back the next day and said it was still valid. Set up a date the next week for the job. They showed up promptly and did an excellent job.

They were very businesslike. They knew the requirements for the energy trust standards to get a rebate. They gave me the paperwork for it when ti was all done. The post insulation inspection was also passed.

Their bid was very reasonable (and much less costly then others) and their process seemed appropriate for blowing the attic with more insulation. The guys that did the job worked quickly and were very considerate about not making a mess in the house which was greatly appreciated. They made sure the at baffels (vents under the eves airflow) were not blocked and blew in another 16" of insulation. I noticed that they also put batting down around the attic entrance which I also appreciate. This helps ensure that the blown insulation does not fall out of the attic when you push the hatch up to enter. They also put batting on the back of the attic hatch so that all parts of the attic were insulated. Lisa was really good to work with and helpful about getting me the required documents to successfully apply (check collected) for the Energy Trust of Oregon rebate!

The insulation was done quickly and well...except when the two guys that didn't speak English left the middle of the ceiling undone. That was odd. I called their manager to ask why they would do something like that and just leave...he said it was because they were "idiots". I appreciated that, and he sent two of his "A" team out to solve the problem right away. Other than that, they did a great job, and it was a great price.

We made an appointment for a company representative from Knez Insulation to come at 12:30 on Monday, the 12th of October, when my husband was off work in order to have an estimate done for upgrading the insulation in our attic. When no one had come 45 minutes after the scheduled time, my husband called the company and found out that the office didn't even have us on the schedule for the day. About 90 minutes later, a man from the company showed up and said that HE would do our estimate as the man who was to have done it was up in Vancouver on a job. An estimate was done that day (and done well) and we decided to go ahead and have the work done by this company. I then personally called that same afternoon and set up an appointment through Lisa, one of the office staff, for "first thing" the following Monday morning, Oct. 19th, which was a day off for me. The insulation men were to arrive between 7:15 and 8 AM. When no one had arrived by just after 8AM, I called my husband to see if I should call the company as I "just had a feeling". I waited until 8:15 and then called the office only to be told that they couldn't find our name on the schedule for that day and that Lisa wasn't available at that time. They put me on hold and then scrambled around the office looking for the estimation paperwork from the representative who had come to our home prior, then a gal (unknown name) came back to the phone to say he hadn't turned in our paperwork yet. She seemed a little brusk and "short" with me in her responses and didn't seem to care that I was upset about being "stood up" now for the second time. They called the representative who had come to our home, as did I shortly after talking to this office gal, and he said that everything had been turned in and that they just needed to look in a certain place in the office. I hung up and then called the office again a few minutes later and asked for Lisa who had been the one who had scheduled our appointment for the installation, and told her what was going on now. She was very nice and said that the paperwork HAD been turned in and that the reason someone hadn't come was because people had been sick in the office and things hadn't gotten done. She said that she would have two men finish the project they were working on, then come to our home next, and should arrive by 11AM. The two men arrived at around 10:25 and immediately went to work to lay out plastic to protect all our furniture and carpets before blowing in the insulation material. They let me know what they were doing, worked quickly and efficiently, cleaned up everything from the work areas. and had me look at the insulation after they were finished. I was extremely impressed by their cheerful attitudes despite being pulled from their regular schedule to do the work that we had had scheduled for earlier that morning, as well as their professionalism in doing the job. When I sent in the payment for the work, I enclosed a letter telling the office staff pretty much what I am saying here. I told them that these two men alone saved this company from getting a negative report after the two no-shows for which appointments had been made, and that they alone had "saved the day" for them! What I did not say was that we are left with the impression that their office needs someone very detailed-oriented to come in and organize things as they seemed very unorganized with following through on appointments made with potential customers. If I were asked if I'd use them again, I'd say a definite yes because the two men did such a great job, but I would also say to be very proactive in calling them the day before to verify all appointments!

Best responsiveness I've ever seen -- sent them an Email inquiry on the weekend, got a call a few minutes after 8:00 a.m. on a Monday, visit and estimate done that week and job scheduled. Workers were incredibly efficient, fast, knowledgeable and extremely pleasant. Also they were the only work crew I've ever known to arrive not just on time, but a few minutes EARLY. Job done quickly and my husband, who works at home, observed excellent work. The Energy Trust inspector that came around the first time had some additional requirements so there was a delay in getting approval, but this seemed more bureaucratic than a problem with Knez. In fact, the crew showed me exactly what they'd done and that the new insulation was as thick as had been required, but without argument they added what this one inspector had indicated should be done (thus avoiding a "putting-the-customer-in-the-middle" kind of situation that could have occurred with another company). Second inspector passed us with no questions whatsoever and we received our rebate.

I am extremely pleased with Knez. The bid was reasonable. The installers were on time, friendly, showed their work and made sure that they left our house clean.

Fine, minus the damage to my entry wall from pushing my door back so hard it bent the wall guard and thus damaged my wall. The quality of the insulation work was superb. We were audited by OR Energy Trust and even they commented on how well the work was done. We agree. We saw a 35% reduction in our heating bill the next month and our floors are appreciably warmer AND our allergies were significantly reduced with the musty air from the crawl space sealed out of our living space.

The project was done in a very short time. Mr. Benson also provided the papers for me to apply for a rebate through the Energy Trust Program. He made it very easy to take care of this.

They upgraded the insulation using energy trust. They were very helpful. They were very timely, and were good to work with.

They did a great job and they were helpful in providing information on energy assistance programs to help me get a rebate on the service. I was completely satisfied with their work.

They were very patient with us, as we had to cancel and reschedule our installation date a few times due to conflicts. They were understanding and when the day came they were on time and did the job very quickly and correctly.

The job went great! Since we have a grandchild with breathing problems the crew and owner were especially helpful and agreed to totally clean out our crawl space. This was quite a job, as a new subfloor had just been constructed and there was a lot of sawdust and some construction materials left behind. They removed and disposed of all old materials and cleaned up daily as agreed. While under the house they detected an especially damp area and they allowed us extra time before the new insulation was installed to dry it out. As it turned out a plumber found a cracked pipe which had to be repaired, or our new hard wood floors would have been ruined, not to mention other possible future problems caused by a buildup of moisture under our home. The crew was careful not to damage our new floors. They wore protective shoe coverings and covered all floor surfaces they crossed. Jeremy Thrope from KNEZ was especially attentive and followed our developing water problem carefully before advising his crew to proceed. The 2 man crew worked quickly and efficiently, were respectful of our surroundings, and acted in a very professional yet sympathetic manner while attempting to anticipate and correct any possible areas that might affect our granddaughter's well being.

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When I first called, Jeremy answered all my questions about the process and the product to be used, referred me to useful web sites, and gave me a phone quote. This was followed up with an email quote the next day. Since the email quote said it was subject to a visual inspection, I called Jeremy back and he scheduled a time the next day to come over and check it out. After the visual inspection, he confirmed the bid at the previously stated price. We also had two other companies inspect and bid on the project. Jeremy at Knez was knowledgeable and professional, and the price was a bit lower than the other estimates. Knez was also able to install less than a week after we made the decision to go ahead. The installers showed up on time, and had the job completed in less than an hour. I should mention that the house was built in 1964, has a low pitched roof, and the attic access is through a vent on the end wall over the garage roof. I spent a lot of time doing air sealing in there before contacting insulation contractors and this is not a pleasant or easy place to work. Since I had built a raised platform in the attic before the insulation was installed, I was able to go in afterward and inspect the job. The insulation was evenly placed and the depth was at least the amount specified in the bid. I should also mention that as the installers drove up the driveway, they noticed that the top of the truck was close to a cherry tree that overhangs it so they parked 50 feet from the house and worked from there so as not to endanger the tree. Oh, by the way, the price listed above is before the $450 rebate from Energy Trust of Oregon is subtracted. My wife and I were very pleased with the entire process.

I am actually grateful that they found the problems. If we had not decided to replace that mess under the house, we would not have known that our expensive heat was blowing into the air, and that sewage was actually draining under the house! Bad news, and extra money, but would have been worse not to know. Once the pipe was repaired and the duct work replaced, they returned to finish the insulation and did a great job. Very clean, laid plastic over the carpet and cleaned up nicely. I can see why this company has such a good reputation.

It went well. Someone came out to do a quick inspection and bid on the job. I had an estimate faxed to me that day and they came out less than a week later to install. Installation took about 1.5 hours. I will be getting about half of the costs back in refunds.

Knez did a great job. Phil provided a very accurate estimate over the phone and had a crew to my house the next day. This was a difficult job because the duct work blocked many areas. They had it completed in one day and the final cost was slightly less than the estimate.