Synergy Co

Would work with this company again. They were very transparent, responsive. All work was completed on schedule and at very high quality.

It has been over a year since I moved in, so the date of service is approximate, but everything went quickly, efficiently, and professionally. It probably helped that the house was empty, but the company came in and removed every speck of asbestos-laden popcorn and left the ceiling ready for re-mudding. There were, of course, some rough spots when the old popcorn came down, but nothing I wasn't warned about and didn't expect.

Unfortunately, a lot of pressure was required to remove the popcorn ceiling due to a previous owner having painted over it at least once. The higher pressure resulted in water bleeding on to the walls and staining them. They were very professional about it and had the damaged walls painted at no additional cost. It was a drag but an honest mistake they took responsibility for. Very professional staff. Jake went out of his way to ensure in the end we were satisfied.

They did a great job overall. My only complaint is that they left a small amount of adhesive on the garage floor and we had to wet it down and scrape/brush it up ourselves. (I'm hoping the adhesive didn't have any asbestos in it.) It took about 30 minutes, and I wish they would have taken care of this so we didn't have to. Other than that, the job was great. They isolated the attic and garage, used appropriate safeguards, and worked quickly.

Did not hire them because they did not respond.

We changed our work scope several times. Jake worked with us patiently. At the final work day they come on time and finished the whole work early than they expected. They called us while they are clean up the work area. When we arrived, everything had been cleaned up. They even found an extra pipe with asbestos and took it without charge. Overall, we are very happy on their service and will recommend to our friends.

All my interactions with Sal and his team were positive and very impressive.

They came when they said they would, put up appropriate plastic barriers and HEPA filter and removed the blown on ceiling from the sheetrock in a bedroom. They did a good job getting it off the sheetrock, without damaging the sheetrock. They cleaned up the work area well.

Estimator was prompt, clear, and polite. Office staff was also very clear and helpful. The crew that did the removal was clean, respectful, and did a great job. They also walked us through all the work they were going to do and any potential issues that could arise. We will definitely use them for future work.

They showed up on time and did the job within a few hours. Hauled away all of the asbestos for disposal. They were recommended on Angie's List and by the contractor who was going to install the new furnace and duct work, so I didn't get any other bids. So I really can't say how price competitive they are. Only that they did a very good job.

Easy to work with. Estimator was very friendly and knowledgeable. Once we pulled the trigger to utilize their services, it was a quick schedule and job was completed in two days. They left the house clean with the bottom layer of clean plastic still up (this was fine since our house was empty as we are remodeling). I believe they may charge extra if you want them to remove all of the plastic. The scheduling coordinator was very prompt on email. Also very happy that they provided me with the angie's list discount/coupon they had going at the time when I told them I had forgotten to mention it when we got the estimate. Only two minor complaints-- (1) after the removal of the ceilings is complete, they do an air test to make sure there is no asbestos in the air. Once they get the lab results, they said they would call us to let us know it was okay to go back inside of the house. They didn't call us, and I had to email them to confirm. However, they were quick to respond by email to confirm it was safe to go in. (2) after the project was complete, I had a minor question regarding the work and sent an email to the coordinator who had been very responsive during the entire process. Unfortunately, she never responded to that last email. (this is the only reason why I gave a "B" for responsiveness. Overall, though, a professional company that did fast, clean work. Glad to have at least one thing done so easily in our remodel!

They did everything whatever they promised and they gave us a pretty fair quote for the work. We were satisfied. They were good and for asbestos removal there aren't that many people that do it and they did it with fair price. The quality was excellent. I would use them in the future if I need to do the same job.

They were very professional. They completed the work in one day, cleaned up well, and it was evident that they were well trained. I would recommend using them if you need to have asbestos removed from your house.

They were awesome and I am very happy with the work they did for me. They were professional and charged me $20,00 less then othe companies. I'd highly recommend them.

After removing the carpet in our downstairs area we were confronted with a single layer of 9" x 9" green vinyl or linoleum tiles covering the concrete slab in our basement area. Based on some research, it seemed likely these tiles and the black mastic adhesive contain some low levels of asbestos. While it?s possible to remove the tiles by hand (lots of websites and YouTube videos on this), given the large area it was safer, easier and faster to have an asbestos abatement company do it. There are a number of accredited test labs in the East Bay that will accept tile samples from homeowners to determine asbestos content (seems to run about $50-60), but rather than testing the tile we just assumed it contained some level of asbestos since the size, pattern and age were consistent with asbestos-containing tiles. Photo identification websites for asbestos tiles (by year): http://inspectapedia.com/hazmat/Asbestos_Floor_Tile_ID.php http://www.asbestosresource.com/asbestos/tile.html Asbestos Information: California OSHA: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/asbestos.html US EPA: http://www2.epa.gov/asbestos US National Institute of Standards (NIST): http://ts.nist.gov/standards/scopes/plmtm.htm (Companies accredited for testing samples to determine asbestos content ? see CA companies) We obtained 3 quotes, and aside from the the fact Synergy was the least expensive (other 2 were ~$1400 more), they also had decent reviews on on Angie's list and Yelp. A few months after the work was completed the owner of Izimarian Roofing & Sheet Metal (San Mateo) told me (unsolicited) that Synergy is probably the best in the area ? it?s the one he refers his customers to. Synergy scheduled the job within 3 business days of contract signature, and were in and out in 1 day. Set-up involved taping sheets of plastic to the walls (covering about 2/3rds of the wall), setting up an industrial blower (vented through a window) to create a negative pressure in the work area, and setting up a series of 3 decontamination booths in front of the doorway. The workers then used 6? iron spud bars to scrape the tile off of the concrete. The tiles came up relatively easily, and in about 40 minutes they had removed and double bagged the tile for disposal [note: if the tiles/mastic had been removed with a mechanical grinder - which admittedly would have left an ideal surface for adhering the ceramic tiles we had planned - the entire room would have had to have been sealed - a lower level of containment is allowed for hand removal of the tile since it creates less dust]. Although the black mastic can be encapsulated rather than removed, we opted to have it removed since we planned to put ceramic tile on top of the concrete floor. Removing the black mastic (which may contain trace amounts of asbestos) from the concrete was done with a soybean-based (rather than solvent based) chemical from Sentinel Products (Formula 909 - http://www.senpro.com/pages/VinylTile), followed by degreasing with Clorox Formula 409 (yes, the product you have in your kitchen). Formula 909 solubilizes the mastic and creates a black, sticky goo that Synergy then squeegeed into a pool, and soaked up with an absorbent material. The black goo is messy, but Synergy did a great job making sure that the residual goo was cleaned up - there were only traces in some cracks and along the perimeter of the rooms (baseboard will cover this) where the floor meets the wall sill plate. Bean-E-Doo from Franmar Chemicals is a similar soybean-based ester designed for removing black mastic (http://www.franmar.com). After the goo has beep sopped up, the area had to be degreased otherwise the thinset we needed for the ceramic tiles won?t adhere to the concrete (both the Sentinel and Franmar make a degreasing agent for their products). While we were finalizing the Scope of Work in the contract I had asked Synergy for the MSDS / Technical Data Sheet on Formula 909, which they emailed to me. Synergy used Formula 409 to degrease the floor, which did an ok job. However, were still shiny spots that I worried might contain some of the Sentinel 909. Consequently, after Synergy left I mopped a solution of SuperClean (a degreasing solution I bought at the local hardware store) augmented with some additional TSP on the concrete, let it sit for a few minutes, and sucked it up with a 24? floor scrubber/vaccum I rented from AAA Rentals in Redwood City ($60/day). I did this degreasing procedure twice, followed by about 4 clean water rinses. It seemed to work, although there were still a few shiny spots that I scuffed up with an angle grinder. [Degreasing agents for the soy-based removers are typically high pH (alkaline) solutions. Typical ingredients are sodium metasilicate, sodium hydroxide, and/or TSP (trisodium phosphate)]. The ceramic tiles are adhering well to the floor, so the degreasing seems to have worked. Synergy HEPA vacuumed the area when they were finished (they left the area very clean), took an air sample, and phoned the next day to tell us the air sampling came back negative (no traces of asbestos in the air). They of course removed the old tile and absorbed mastic/Sentinel 909, and disposed of this material per CA requirements (we got a receipt back from the asbestos dump in Livermore confirming the disposal). Overall, I felt Synergy provided professional service, and were a pleasure to work with.

Very professional; cleaned up afterwards.

Synergy was a pleasure to deal with, right from the initial call to finishing up scheduled work. Tyren was super responsive and extremely punctual on his appointments. He helped us check the duct work and some of our flooring for asbestos (including a super quick lab test) apart from the popcorn ceiling work. The quotes were reasonable and the work clean. Overall, an awesome experience. Highly recommend these folks.

The fence that my neighbor and I shared was made of transite panels (cementitious asbestos) and was likely installed sometime in the 50's. We wanted to replace the fence with a standard 6 ft. wood fence, but before we could think about doing that we had to get the existing panels removed. I called Synergy for a quote and was able to quickly and easily schedule a date/time that worked with my schedule. Tyren came out and was quick and professional. I asked for a ball park quote during his visit out (prior to receiving the final formal quote) and he said it would only be $700. The final quote came in a bit higher at $1200 but Tyren sent me a communication prior to the final quote letting me know that the price was higher than he initially thought. While I liked the $700 number much better, I appreciated the upfront communication. We were able to to schedule the work quickly and his crew of two came out on time and efficiently removed the panels. They did a great job and cleaned up after themselves. Overall, this was a smooth project and I enjoyed working with Synergy!

Everything went great! Two workers arrived on time, sealed the kitchen, installed the machine to create the negative air pressure in the room and then went to work removing the sheet linoleum. They were very professional and obviously knew what they were doing. The foreman was surprised however that it was sheet linoleum as he was expecting linoleum tiles which are much easier to remove. This linoleum was glued on tight, so the two guys dug in their heels and really worked at it for half a day without stopping. And they had installed a second 'airlock' compartment off the sealed kitchen so after the work they could remove their protective clothing in there without contaminating the next room. Everything was sealed in bags in the kitchen and then removed in outer bags. They left the floor looking like a new concrete pour! So it was very easy for the next contractor to lay porcelain tile on the concrete base. The Synergy foreman came back the next day to remove the plastic sealing the kitchen as I did not want to do that myself and made sure no paint was peeled off the walls (as I had just had the walls all painted ahead of discovering I had asbestos in my linoleum floor!). They also exercised great care to not put large staple holes in my oak cabinets, instead attaching the plastic with tape to the walls and an obscured staple in the corners. Even though it was New Year's Eve, the foreman made a point to return to do this last task and take away the plastic (this step is left to the customer unless the customer requests they do it in the quote.) The only issue was not receiving the post-removal paperwork for almost a month! Long story short - the gal at the front desk wasn't responsive to phone messages or emails so I was getting a bad impression of the company, but ultimately she was replaced by another gal who apologized and got the order to operations to send out the paperwork. It sounded like I wasn't the only customer she was trying to help and kudos to Synergy for getting this corner of their business straightened out. I also got a copy of the manifest from Waste Management (where the asbestos linoleum ended up) around the same time, but the date clearly showed the waste was delivered to them upon removal. So all's well that ends well, and yes, I'll definitely use Synergy again if I ever need asbestos abatement, and just not expect the paperwork to arrive quite as punctually as the workers!

I asked four companies to provide estimates for removing old ducts in preparation for a new heating and air conditioning system. Only two companies provided serious estimates. The others didn't appear serious about residential projects. Synergy Company provided an estimate for what I needed at the best cost plus a 10% Angie'e List discount. Synergy was very flexible in scheduling to meet the heating company schedule. The work was done in one day. The work area was sealed off and all asbestos was bagged and removed. The area was cleaned up when they were done. Air samples were sent to a lab and results were clear. Overall I was impressed with the professional manner they handled the job and relieved to have the asbestos safely removed.

Received quick response to get a quote. Received the quote in a quick timely manner via email with the breakdown of the price and disposal fees. They had better professionalism and pricing out of 3 quotes we received so we decided to go with them. We called to scheduled the project to be started on a Monday. We were told Monday would work and would be contacted by the company that will do the retexturing and painting after the popcorn is removed. The painting company was prompt in coming by to look at the square footage. They gave clear instructions on a 3 day project for 1100sqft and on how to move furniture around in the house or in the garage to prepare for the removal of the popcorn. The problem we then had was the date. They painting & texturing company had a different date in which the whole project would start. It was only one day later, but considering I pick the Monday specifically because of my night shift work schedule & my days off, as well as because of my cat. I tried several times to call synergy to get a confirmation over the next 2 weeks of what the actual start date was, mean while I was trying to change my schedule. I would leave messages and not get calls back or they would call when I told them I would be working and it was never with a definite answer on what the start date was to be. Finally after about by the 5th call and complaining that no one was answering my question I got my answer.... a start day of Tuesday (not the original date I wanted). None the less I wasn't able to change my schedule and had to lock my cat in the garage. The Job was done exactly in the time frame they said it would take. I found a few staples in the carpet from them stapling plastic everywhere. I vacuumed again to be safe. The retexturing and painting guys came on the second day. They got done quickly, but right by the front door of my house they sprayed WHITE PAINT on the side of my green house. I couldn't see it at first because of the time of day but now I do everyday any time of day. The painter did a walk through with me, there were a couple paint spots that would need touching up due to the tape used to seal off areas of the house. I expected that might be the case. Bottom line: you get a reasonable quick quote. Calling & trying to talk to a NICE person is difficult! The actual job is done well, and the contract we signed explained extra possible staples laying around & the possible need to patch up some paint. The company synergy had come in to do the texturing did a great job on the inside of the house, but I wasn't looking for the front of my house being painted by the painting & retexturing company!!!

It took 3 days of us playing phone tag before we could make an appointment, but Tyren arrived on time, explained the testing and removal process, took the samples, and let me know when to expect results. He was professional and courteous, and was unphased about me being visibly disabled (many folks are taken aback). He willingly gave me a ballpark verbal estimate of what asbestos removal would cost, and he phoned and e-mailed me on schedule with test results that were thankfully negative.

The work was on schedule and completed as promised. We were told to vacate home for 2 days minimum and told we could return on 3rd day, although there would be painting going on. From what we experienced, we could have stayed home the 1st day they arrived as the work mainly involved taping off the areas of asbestos removal. They didn't do any actual removal. Removal began the next day. When we came back on day 3 the painters were there to texture the ceilings, and although the house was safe for occupation we were still blocked off from major portion of the house with all the texturing going on. It would have been better had they advised us to stayed away on days 2 and 3 so we would not be there during the texturing of ceilings. The only issue that occurred was with our alarm system. We showed the Synergy supervisor how to arm and disarm the system. He had no problems setting it each night but he neglected to let the painters know about the system, Told them where to find the housekey, wasn't there to disarm the alarm for them, or even tell the painters about it. The painter was in a panic when alarm went off. Only phone number he was given was our home number which did him absolutely no good since we were not home. We got the call from the alarm company saying the alarm had gone off. Tyren, the estimator, was very quick to respond to my initial request. Very knowledgeable and polite. Sometimes it took awhile to get response from Synergy for my follow-up questions but once they realized I wanted them to do the job they were better in response. Their bid for asbestos removal was higher than another company I called, but I chose Synergy because they offered to move some of the heavy furniture if needed. Most important they offered to texture and paint the ceilings. It would have been too much of a hassle to texture and paint ceilings by ourselves and when I called painting service I used before was told they didn't texture so I would need to find yet another company to do that. Synergy was willing to do it all. Overall I was happy with Synergy. Could they have been a little better w cleanup and how they pulled staples and tape from the walls? Yes, but overall they did what they said they would.

The estimator, Tyren, promptly answered my call and arrived promptly to do the estimate. The job would take 2 days to complete. Although it would take only a few hours to do the work each day the stucco and new acoustic needed time to dry before painting. The initial estimate was high-over $900. Tyren explained they have a $500/day minimum. But Tyren spoke to the owner and was able to negotiate it down to $650 in the hopes I would use them when I have the acoustic removed in the unit when the tenants move out. I had another estimate for the work from a painter for about $300. Since it was a rental unit, the fact that Synergy would check air samples for asbestos in the air was a selling point for me. Plus I plan to have the acoustic material removed when the tenants vacate the property. I thought it was an ideal time to evaluate the company. The other company was not able to check air samples. Initially Tyren thought the work could be done that week, but after I agreed to have Synergy do the work, Tyren determined that the work would start at 8 AM the following Monday. I wanted the work started first thing in the morning to allow time for the materials to dry and air out the unit since the dry wall repair was performed in a child's bedroom. That weekend I received an email message from Synergy's office stating the work would start Monday at 2 PM. I responded to the email with the reasons it needed to start at 8 AM. Surprisingly, I received an email response that Sunday from Barbara at Synergy confirming they would move the time back to 8 AM as promised. By 9 AM on Monday, no one had shown up to do the work. I called the office and they assured me someone would be out ASAP to start the work. Someone finally showed up late that morning, I think around 11:30 AM. I was assured someone would show up by 8 AM the next day. However we had to call again the next day when no one showed up. Finally someone showed up a couple hours late. The painting took about an hour or two. Most of the time was spent waiting for the paint to dry before adding a second coat. I had agreed with Tyren that I would pay for the work as soon as I received a written report on the air analysis for asbestos. The contract states payment is due on the day the job is finished. I found myself calling each week for the report and was told it had not yet been received. I received several requests for payment, but the office staff and Tyren didn't push the issue when I reminded them that payment would be submitted when the air analysis report was received. I just had to remind them of the agreement every time they requested payment. Finally 6 weeks later I was emailed a copy of the report. I asked if it was standard to take so long to receive the report and was told that they usually call with the results the day after the work is done. I was surprised by the problems with my experience considering the ratings the company has received on this and other rating web sites. However I understand that they recently hired a number of employees from a company that went out of business. I don't know if that had anything to do with the level of service I received. The work is ok. You can see where the repairs were made in both the acoustic and stucco texturing. I supplied the paint so the paint at least matches. The office staff was prompt and responsive. However the workers failure to show up at designated times dropped the "Promptness" rating from an "A" to a ""B.

Sales rep came out very fast and was very friendly. We were able to schedule quickly to take all popcorn ceiling off. Workers came over, with a poor attitude, didn't want to be there. We left them to do work and came back when done. Our house was a disaster, which took a couple days to put back together. There was popcorn ceiling debris over the house, and the workers damaged our walls when taking off closet doors. When calling the company back to ask about this, no one called back after numerous attempts. They get the money and do the job and drop off the face of the earth - job was complete though.