Vesta Home Performance Retrofitting

Vesta was easy to contact and generally communicated well with us.  Nairns is very friendly and helped with all aspects of the project.  Sadly, we don't feel much of a difference in the temperature regulation of our house.  It is probably a reflection of the house rather than the quality of work that was done, but after $10k, hoped to see a real difference.  The new screen door does seem to have helped.  It did take a long time to get the screen door installed, and we were not kept abreast of delays which was frustrating.  That being said, I would have no hesitation using Vesta, would just be more cautious about what to expect as far as improvements.

We hired them to remodel our bathroom in June. It was supposed to be a 3-month project, but it took them 6 months instead. During the last 3 months, Yves, the field manager, stopped giving us much update. We often had to remind him what else needed to be done. When we asked questions, he often ignored our questions or not email us back at all. His lack of involvement and attention frustrated us so much, and we believe that was why it took 6 months. The completion date changed 3 or 4 times, and every time it changed he did not give us any explanations why. The biggest problem started after the vanity we chose arrived in October. It was damage when Yves picked it up. Instead of ordering a replacement of the whole vanity, he chose (without talking with us) to replace just the damaged side panel. He told us the replacement panel was ordered but he wasn't sure of the arrival date. After waiting for a couple of months, we called the manufacturing company to get the status of our replacement order (because Yves wasn't giving us any update). We then found out that he never actually placed an order, and replacing a panel was not even possible. We needed to replace the whole vanity, which we would have wanted to do in the first place if Yves had given us that option. In the end, we argued over when the final payment should be made. We wanted to pay him after he installed the new replacement vanity because we had no guarantee that he would come back and do it after paying him. He wanted to get paid because the project was nearly done and the bathroom was functioning. We didn't want to work with him any longer, and it was very clear to us that he also didn't want to work on our project. They gave us a discount on the final payment, and we agreed to pay and deal with the damaged vanity on our own. We now have a beautiful bathroom with the damaged $2000 vanity. 

We have a 100-yr old house that was cold and drafty, and given all the great rebates and incentives out there decided it was time to act. We started with a home energy audit from an independent auditor (not Vesta). He recommended air sealing as the first best step to take. He gave us names of 3 vendors he likes. The other 2 spent a lot of time inspecting our home and writing up proposals, then seemed to loose interest, maybe when they saw we only wanted to spend a few thousand. Vesta wasn't the cheapest, but they were willing to work with us on such a relatively small project.
In terms of the work itself, Yves the project manager was fantastic. He is incredibly knowledgeable about houses, and how air flows in, out and around them. He listened carefully to what our needs and wants were and made sure they got addressed within the scope of the SWAT Day.
I came away a big believer in air sealing. All the energy retrofit experts I talked to said in old houses its almost always the best bang for your buck. Besides the estimated 5-10% heat bill savings, the big benefit is that the house is just less drafty. Sitting in our dining room you don't feel the cold air swirling around you the way you once did. We'll see what the actual heat bill impact is -- I'll try to update this review once we get the December bill.
And to us the big bonus benefit of air sealing was air quality -- keeping bad stuff from seeping into the living space. We had several old heating ducts and registers with asbestos tape or lining. Vesta sealed over those (they are trained in asbestos abatement too). And sealed up places where musty/moldy air seeped in from under the front porch (a favorite hangout for neighborhood critters).
Vesta seems to have focused in on air sealing, with the SWAT Day their specialty. I'd highly recommend them, and Yves especially, for this service.

As part of the home air sealing, we also needed a new roof on the house, so Vesta worked closely with Crown Roofing (another company I highly recommend) to manage the attic project in tandem with the roofers. It could not have gone smoother. Both had worked together before and had the routine down. The quality of work was excellent.
Yves Vetter at Vesta is a consumate professional -- he has a general contracting background, so he understands the structure of a home and was able to point out things that even our home inspector missed -- like a major fire hazard in our attic. He also freely admits when things don't need to be fixed (a rare quality in contractors). If you've seen "Holmes Inspection" on TV, imagine Yves as a more soft-spoken version of Mike Holmes. He and his team are thorough and won't leave a job until they make everything right.
Since a key part of remodeling a home starts with the heating and cooling environment, Vesta understands the value of recommending good partners to build upon the work they started. They have a list of trusted professionals they use -- from roofers to plumbers to general contractors and it's been a huge help to us.
Home performance audits and air sealing may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you're remodeling, but I highly recommend it. We had a lot of work done, which is why we spent just over $10K, but most homes can get away with less work, and still see big results. It underpins everything you do afterward -- replacing windows, the roof, remodeling bathrooms, adding an addition, etc. If you handle the home performance piece right, everything else falls into place. We also participated in the Communty Power Works program, which resulted in a $1000 rebate on our bill. Vesta handled the whole process, so it was seamless.

Do the easy stuff yourself, don't waste them .. They are expensive
Do have them come in advance and see the house

Don't have them work on French doors unless you must

They didn't do any audits. They do actually do audits like the blow door and stings. However, we had actually had somebody else do that. They came in and addressed some of the things that came up in the audits. They may have done their own audit also. In that visit, they were professional. The quality of the assessment was excellent. The price was excellent. The punctuality and responsiveness was excellent too.

They did what they call a swat team so they did it one day. They did weather ceiling. They did various other things sort of, whatever was the highest priority and quickest things they could do to improve the energy efficiency of the house. We had them come back later to redo insulation in the attic. They did that as a separate job. We have used them before at our old house. We originally found out about them at the Hill Fair, that was a few years ago. I know other ones that would do it cheaper but I chose them for their quality. They actually had a problem with their truck during the insulation so they had to come back the next day but I don't think I want to downgrade them on that. They didn't do any audits, we had someone else do the energy audit. They came in and addressed the issues that turned up from the audit. They may have done their own audit, I think.

well.