Home Performance Solution

unknown

When Marty did our energy audit he was very nice and did a good job. He then made recommendations to remedy the various leaks around the house to improve our energy usage. The remedies included encapsulating the crawlspace and sealing and adding additional insulation to the attic. I had a number of questions about the methods and procedures they were planning to use in the crawlspace. It did not sound very thorough and I wanted to clarify that they were going to do the work to my satisfaction before agreeing. I had researched encapsulation and they were not planning to replace the current moisture barrier or properly seal it. There were also several hard to reach areas that I wanted to know how they planned to approach. On our last phone call I asked about these issues and if they offered any kind of guarantee on their work. Marty responded in a very rude and offensive manner. Shortly thereafter I suddenly received an email that said not to bother any further because they had decided they did not want to work for me. That is the last I heard from Marty so I assume he did not like the questions I was asking. The reason I have taken so long to write this review is I wanted to wait until I received the rebate from Dominion, which took a long time. I would not recommend trusting this company to do any work for you.

It went ok, big disappointments were that he could not seal the skylights in the room over the garage, he couldn't seal anything in the room over the garage. All he did was shoot some insulation there and hope it worked. Well it didn't. The room while warm-er, is not even close to acceptable. When I asked about it, he said that it was impossible, I asked why couldn't you just cut the drywall, and his response was to only negate it by saying it won't have an ROI for that much work. I'm just going to have to figure out someone else to come fix this problem now and pay more money. ROI is return on investment but there is a consideration for comfort.

The energy audit was very thorough. The first thing Marty found was that I had 3 small gas leaks in the basement near the water heater. He turned off the gas immediately. (A plumber came the same day to do a and quot;temporaryand quot; fix so gas was back on.) He did the door blowerand the infrared test. He found many ways I could improve the efficiency of my house! I contracted his company after checking with LEAP on their reputation for followup work. They workmen were prompt, but initially they told me they couldn't tent the opening in the attic because the floor wasn't even. They said they would report that to Marty, but when I mentioned it to him they had not said anything. Marty sent someone out to install the tent right away. As a result of all the work I had done my electric bill was reduced by 1/3. (Note: the air duct cleaning was not part of the energy efficiency, but due to allergies, I decided to have them do it anyway.)

I did not like working with the man. I did not personally choose this company L.E.A.P. ( Local Energy Alliance Program) did. Marty Valentine was his name and he treated me like I had no brain. He wanted me to sign a very lengthy contract to do work that would cost an additional $2500.00 to insolate my attic. I had to call a different contractor on the LEAP program to finish the work. He just did not try to explain in terms that I could understand what it was I really needed done.

They were great. They took into consideration the fact that we have pets. They also took into consideration the fact that we have a daughter. They were very good about cleaning up after themselves. They were very conscious of our two cats and every time they went out, the door got shut behind them and when they came in, they shut the door.

He cleaned up his messes and he was respectful. However, once he did the part of the energy assessment, he gave me a quote for two services that he could provide. I felt like I was paying $375 for him to tell me about more work that he could do for me rather than recommending companies that can do that type of work. He quoted me $800 to put insulation in my attic. However, I did it myself for $300.

My representative, Jerry, was very informative and responsive. He spent time explaining the process and the results. We decided to go ahead with the improvements recommended and he was onsite while the contractors were performing the work. Another electrical issue was identified that they were not authorized to repair and he took the time to speak to the electric company so it was clear the issue and what needed to be done. Overall, we were very happy with the review performed and the follow-on work performed. I would highly recommend them.

They inspected the house for places of energy inefficiency. At one point this involved constructing a curtain in place of my front door and putting a large fan in the middle of it. They turned the fan on to determine pressure differences to see how air tight the house was. They also used an infrared tool to see temperature differences in areas of rooms.

I would highly recommend this company to anyone considering energy improvements for their home. After my initial inquiry, they were extremely responsive to my emails, often responding after hours and early mornings. They explained what they were going to do and did not try to oversell me. For instance, there are different levels of energy audits, based on whether you have gas appliances. Since I did not know whether I had a gas oven, the auditor tested it. When he discovered that I did not have a gas oven, he charged me for the lower level audit. Once the audit was completed, I received a complete audit report that included detailed descriptions of the findings and pictures of where there were issues. They were very upfront about the amount of time that it would take to realize a return on investment for energy improvements (typically 24 - 30 months). The audit results described steps that I could perform on my own and where I could find the materials. For the improvements that required a professional, they provided a detailed breakdown of what they would do and what it would cost. After completion of the improvements, we noticed an immediate improvement in our home's comfort and it has been reflected in much lower utility bills. They also assisted me with instructions on how to apply for the energy improvement rebate that the state of Virginia was offerring at the time. Overall, it was the best experience I have had with a contractor. I have recommended them to friends and family.

unknown

They put us on the road to understanding what encapsulation is. The older homes with encapsulation will be more in the news in the coming years as they begin to meet new houses who receive the green certification. They help us understand what it took to take an older home and bring it up, closer to the neighborhood, of the standards of newer homes; when trying to seek energy efficiency. Part of the problems with the homes build in the 1950s that upgrading them to the extent that we did is a costly process, although ours was compounded by the fact our drains were broken and had to be completely replaced.

He was very good. He was very thorough, organized, and friendly.

It went well - the tech showed up on time and did a good job overall.