Collins Services

Excellent company. Good people!

I'm very pleased with the whole experience. Daniel provided an estimate within a couple of days of his initial assessment. I was late in the year to get started on this project and explained that I wanted to try to get this done prior to Christmas. Dan was very accomodating and immediately ordered the materials the same day that I accepted his bid. Dan was very professional. I knew during his initial assessment that this guy knows what he is talking about. He was very thorough and methodical. Nothing about his work is left to chance. He explains exactly what he is going to do. He completed the work all in one day. I would definitely recommend Dan.

I called Collins Services because our gas water heater was not venting properly and carbon monoxide was coming back into the house. Mr. Collins said he was on his way back from another job and could come by and take a look at it. He climbed up on the roof and looked into the chimney and said it looked OK inside; then he looked at the pipes coming from the water heater to the chimney. He removed the pipe going into the chimney and found it was too long - it was up against the opposite side of the chimney, blocking the pipe. So he shortened the pipe and put it back in, which allowed the gases to vent properly. I was very impressed with the whole experience. Mr. Collins seems very knowledgable and I was pleasantly surprised that he was able to come the same day I called. I would definitely call him again!

He spent a lot of time taking measurements and doing the job to perfection. It was very good quality work.

Dan is the contractor I used to install my wood stove last year. I am the original member who put him on the list after getting his referral from a friend in Meridian Kessler who restores homes in the area. My existing hearth did not extend far enough in front of the wood stove and little pieces of red hot coal would jump out and burn my hardwood. I could have had Dan do the hearth at the same time last year, but I honestly could not afford to do the wood stove and the tile at the same time. The wood stove saved enough money this year on my gas bill to more than pay for the tile job! Dan cut out the hardwood flooring in front of the stove. The 1920's home builder used newspaper between the sub floor and hardwoods. Dan saved the newspapers for me which was like peering into a time capsule from the era my home was built. The paper was mostly ads and it was interesting to see how inexpensive things were, even in the roaring 20's. Dan installed the proper masonite backer board where the hardwood floor was and then leveled everything out with the original hearth. He tiled with subway tile I found on clearance for $2.99 square foot at Tile Mart (38th and Lafayette Rd). For the grout he mixed up two leftover portions of grout I found in the basement, saved from other tile work in the house. That saved me a little money. Anyway, the job took just 4 days from beginning to end and I am very pleased with the result!

Dan Collins is a godsend. I originally used the list to find a wood stove contractor and got a bid of nearly $7,000 to install an insert. It was completely outside my budget. I also learned from my research that most people who got inserts were not pleased with performance after the fact. Conversely, my research showed me that pretty much everyone that got a free standing stove, loved them. So I called a friend who rehabs historic homes in Meridian Kessler and asked him for a name of one of his good sub contractors who could install a wood stove and was told to call Dan immediately. I called Dan to explain that I needed a lot of consulting help since I wanted to buy a stove that would quality for my $1500 energy tax credit and I was confused over several aspects. Dan came over and spent a good hour or so with me patiently listening to my frustration, taking proper measurements of my fireplace, and promising he would call the wood stove distributor to help discover the right stove. Within a week or so, we settled on the right stove and a delivery was scheduled. The distributor shipped the stove on a semi and arranged to drop the 400 lb unit on my sidewalk. Dan was there with help on delivery day to get it into my house. I insisted on a titanium chimney liner which has a lifetime of 50 years and is a relatively new product that Dan had not worked with before. It turned out to be stiff and difficult to install, but Dan never gave up so I have a liner that will never need to be replaced! The stove arrived right around Christmas 2009. Dan spent Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas doing the installation. Although it was difficult due to my 30 foot 90 year old chimney (that extends 9 feet above the 2nd story of my home), he finished the installation in just two days. My previous gas bills have run up to $575 a month in the winter to heat my 2-story 1921 home. This year, my gas bills have been $48.00 in November, $98.00 in December, and $119.00 in January! My wood cost was just $360! The stove was fully worth the investment, it's the best thing I ever bought for my house, and Dan made it affordable, easy, and possible. I can't thank him enough! A year after the installation, I brought a mason out to inspect my chimney. He said everything was perfect. If you need a fireplace conversion, Dan is your man! ($2500 of the cost was for the stove, liner, and miscellaneous materials)