Crawlspace Medics

Adam was so easy to work with. He’s affordable, timely, professional, and treats his workers well. Great experience!

You get what you paid for. Adam Forrest was the cheapest option for removing current moisture barrier in crawl space, removing current air ducting, and installing a new moisture barrier and airing ducting. Adam Forrest and his associate lack professionalism, ownership, and pride in their work. They have a lack of respect to the customer, their home, and belongings. There was no contract/ scope of work/ liability waiver drafted or signed prior to work beginning, and no invoice when work was concluded. My husband hired Adam Forrest, so my initial meeting was on the day of our appointment. In my home Adam Forrest yelled at my very friendly dog, complained about working on a Sunday (the day he agreed to schedule the appointment), and accuse me of drinking (it was a vitamin C packet in water for my immune system). My husband had specifically shown them the appropriate restroom they may use in our home. Once work began, Adam Forrest consistently left the front door open; which allowed my dog to wonder outside. They did not use any sanitary shoe coverings or lay tarps. They tracked in rainwater, mud, and other outdoor debris. While Adam Forrest and his associates were in our crawl space they began to scream, and Adam crawled out from under the house in search of my husband. They had leaned on a pipe and disconnected it causing rapid flooding under my home. They damaged my property. My husband went into the crawl space to find 3” of water around the pipe. Adam and his associate began stabbing the new moisture barrier to allow the water to seep into the soil under the house. Initially they were not going to replace the damage moister barrier, but with my husband under the house, holding them accountable, they removed the damage plastic and replaced it. We had to shut off water to the house in order to stop the flooding from the damage they caused. At this point my husband ran to the hardware store to buy supplies to fix what Adam Forrest had done to our plumbing. Adam would not pay for these supplies nor would adjust the price of services to accommodate the damage he caused. Adam Forrest and associate completed the moisture barrier and left the crawl space. At this point my husband was in the crawl space attempting to fix the plumbing. Adam Forrest told me the billed amount, and I informed him that he will not receive payment until the issue is resolved and the damage was fixed. At this point he was taken aback and said it was not his fault. I understand he did not intentionally damage my home’s plumbing; however, his negligence did cause damage. There was no liability waiver discussing damages, so I held him responsible. In frustration he went back under the house to assist my husband. It took two visits to the hardware store. While we were waiting for the new sealant on the pipe to dry, with no running water in our house, Adam Forrest used the master bedroom restroom, which we requested for him not to use. When Adam enter the restroom my husband requested, he did not use the facility since the water was shut off due to the damage Adam caused. Adam still used our restroom, left urine in the bowl and the seat up. For the actual quality of work, we hired Adam Forrest for I would provide a B- grade. The new moisture barrier is overlapping itself and can be easily pulled away from the border of the house. The work was acceptable, but not what we wanted, and will need to be redone in the future. Overall this was a waste of money and he should be ashamed of his work. I am providing a 2-star rating since he did complete the job he was hired for. Adam Forrest did not bring the supplies to replace our air ducting. We initially were going to employ Adam for a later date to complete the ducting, however after this horrible experience we will be searching for another reputable company to work with.

Excellent job

We had originally asked Adam to insulate our ducts as well, but when he started touching them he found they were too far gone and needed replacing by a hvac contractor. I really appreciated his honesty and candid ideas about getting the best results without having to spend more. We had a difficult crawl space so it did take longer than expected. But overall we are happy with him and his crew.

plastic sheet on ground required removal of trash left by original DIYer (previous owner), replaced plastic with thicker material as required by code by previous inspector, dug out footing and extended footing removing rotten wood, wrapped and sealed all ducts, used extra insulation due to size of ducts, removed all debris.  only complaint is that new insulation is a different outer color.

Long story short:
Adam et al were very conscientious, hardworking, timely, pleasant, and best part - they rat-proofed my crawlspace! It's been over a month and no sign of rats (or anything else).
Long story:
My crawlspace was disgusting - most of the insulation had been pulled down and used as nesting material. There were well used rat tunnels in a couple areas by my house - about seven inches in diameter. Rats with bodies the size of my foot (size 8) have been living under my house unhindered for a long time - I hate to admit that. So fixing the problem ASAP was a high priority for me.
On Tuesday 5/7/13, I got a couple quotes. On 5/8/13 at 8:40 am, Adam sent me a quote. I hadn't heard from THE OTHER COMPANY so I called them on Thursday and Friday. I was impatient about getting the rats out, so I accepted Adam's bid on Friday. (The other company did not respond until 5/13/13 in the afternoon.) Work was scheduled for Tuesday 5/13/13 and 5/14/13. (My time is very valuable so being on schedule is important to me.)
On Tuesday 5/14/13, they came out for about half a day and pulled out all the disgusting rat-infested insulation and vapor barrier. It was not a pleasant job to do. They worked hard and got that job done.
The next day they came out to replace the insulation and vapor barrier AND do the rat proofing (I didn't think they could get it all done). The seven-inches-in-diameter holes went down more than four feet. And apparently at sometime there was a ridiculously small addition put onto the house which left gaping access for rats. Those two issues required a different strategy than merely wire. Adam kept me updated on everything (A for good communication). They worked hard; took no breaks and were completely done and out by 7:15 pm. They were done in the amount of time Adam said they would be.
It has been a little over a month since the work was completed. Had an independent pest control contractor check out the crawlspace - there has been no activity at all. Adam cleaned up the crawlspace and kept out the rats. Which is what I hired him for. I'd say that's a A!

After the initial inspection, which took only 10 minutes, Crawlspace said there was no standing water, no rodent activity, and there was no insulation currently installed. I later found out (see below) that there was rodent activity, and there was insulation wrapped around most of the duct work.

The overall experience and professionalism bad grades are due to the trash (insulation bale wrappers, gloves) that was left behind, and the awful disconnection of the majority of my duct work. Crawlspace claimed they tried to fix the duct work (that kept falling apart each time it was bumped) but were not able to due to how old it is, and because each section of duct tubing did not overlap with crimped edging to connect (see below, this was disputed by the HVAC agent).

I did not know how bad it was until I had a plumber go in there and he said it looked like a war zone. I had him take photos, and I was shocked by the mess they left behind (trash), the multiple disconnected duct work tubing, and evidence of rodent activity. Also, remnants of insulation was stuffed inside the disconnected duct work tubing.

Crawlspace owner Adam Forrest said he did not know about the trash, which makes me wonder why the owner/operator, who was also in the crawspace with his crew, did not perform a final inspection before leaving, and did not wonder why he wasn't hauling off as much debris left from the site.

Crawlspace claims no responsibility in everything falling apart down there. Crawlspace claims they tried to reattach the duct tubing with metalic tape, but was unsuccessful. I was under the impression that just a couple of areas were disconnected, but found out, via the photos taken, the majority of it was disassembled. I have since had a licensed plumber, the Orkin pest control agent, and a pest removal agent in the crawlspace, and an HVAC agent review my photos. They are all saying the same thing, that it is quite a mess down there, and unprofessional for a licensed contractor to leave a site like that. Also they did not see any evidence attempts were made to re-assemble the duct work by the Crawlspace crew. There is more destruction down there than he led me to believe and he is not claiming responsibility for it. Into the project he notified me that the duct work was fragile. I knew there was a problem under there, but it was much worse than he led me to believe. If he would have advised me how it was impeding his progress causing this magnitude of damage, I would have had him stop so we could reevaluate what to do. The more the crew (4 men) went down there and worked, the more disturbance was made and the more damage was done. This project too 3 full days.

I have scheduled another HVAC company (the first one I contacted said, after reviewing the photos and assessing the damage, wanted to refer me to someone else for specialized service) to fix the duct work mess. This HVAC agent evaluated the situation and assessed the tubing is in good re-usable condition, and each section does have crimped edging to make it possible to effectively overlap then tape and screw each section together. I will not incur around $2000 in fixing the disconnected duct work.

In summary, Crawlspace claims to have experience and expertise in their field, but to me, they were negligent and lacking in judgment to have not evaluated the condition of the duct work. I give them the benefit of the doubt, if it was overlooked during the initial inspection, that once discovered into the project, a professional would have been more conscientious to reveal to the customer any further work on the project would cause considerable amount of damage. I believe their frustration with the duct work falling apart led them to hasten to finish on time, moving away any barriers (duct work), carelessly leaving trash behind, overlooking the rodent mess, and leaving the site without a final inspection. On a personal note, I had provided the crew with bottled water, baked cookies, and set out lawn chairs so they could relax comfortably during their breaks. I feel disrespected when these men left behind the trash and not willing to accept responsiblity for the duct work mess.

I don't think there is another service that would have dealt with the raccoons and repair the damage. If I hadn't used Crawl Space Medics I probably would have to hire an exterminator for the raccoons and a heating/cooling company for the repairs. For the positives, they dealt with a nasty problem and repair quality looks good. The negatives, punctuality was not terrific, but did not cause a problem for me. And the price seemed a little steep.

I had a hard time finding anyone willing to work in our crawlspace. Adam's bid was half of the alternative. He came and bid one day. We scheduled for the following week, as we were on a tight schedule due to our house sale closing. He did have to delay one day, which ended up being a bonus, since he helped out our movers by jump starting their truck.

Adam responded promptly to inquirey, inspected crawl space and identified work that should be done. He along with his assistant performed difficult work professionally with high standards at a fair price.

The owner and his technician were punctual and placed plastic down on the floor while removing the old insulation. They also vacuumed the walk way afterward. They also took all the garbage with them when they were done. For the amount of crawl space they had to work with they did an excellent job. The even found two pipe leaks and a couple of screens that needed fixing. We will have them back to put in new installation this summer.

They did an excellent job of removing raccoons. I would use them again in future.