Great Lakes Insulation

Matt came out and did the work in a timely manner just when we needed him to be there. He did a great job sealing the walls and the rim joists and we were amazed at how much warmer the room was almost immediately. There was a slight miscommunication when the work was done and Matt cheerfully came back to correct the problem. He went over and above to make it right and to make sure that we were satisfied. We are REALTORS in Kalamazoo and we will definitely recommend that others use Great Lakes Insulation to increase the energy efficiency of their homes. Though their prices are very competitive and cheaper than some, they may not be the cheapest option. We believe they are worth the cost. We look forward to being much warmer next winter! They certainly provided exceptional customer service and completed the job with professionalism. We are very satisfied!

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Insulation in attic of house. Called them back and let them know that 3 foot ice sickles were forming in two area. They came back and used a stick to redistribute insulation above laundry room and breezeway. After that we did not have any bad weather. Called them back two weeks ago and left a message twice to let them know it was no better this year. They always have an answering machine and never take calls. To date they have not returned my phone call.

See preceding paragraph

They added blown in cellulose insulation to the attic to bring it up to R 52. I was satisfied with this company.

They came, did an estimate, was not the least expensive, but when he did the quote he actually went in the attic, as opposed to just measuring the house. Men came when they said they would, did the job in a few hours, cleaned up and left, now to see if I save money on my heat. I did not answer the question on quality, as I have no idea.

Initial work was done in October 2004. Had them in to inspect and recommend what could be done to minimize the problem I was having with ice dams on the roof. Their recommendation was to: - Add more insulation, especially in the eave area. - Add/Repair vent baffles as needed. - Install hose on bathrooms vent fans and run to ridge vent (they were currently venting out under the eaves.) They came and claimed to have done the work. I looked up in the attic, but could not see very far since they had great mounds of insulation around the attic door opening, so I assumed that they had done the job as detailed. The next year was mild, so I did not have an ice dam problem. In following years, however, it became apparent that the problem still existed, but I thought that it was due to the bathroom vent having run to the ridge vent and the snow melting an running down and freezing on the cold eaves, In Spring 2011, I noticed that i needed to have the shingles on the roof (prematurely) replaced. Since I had since read (and decided on my own) that the bathroom venting into the attic instead directly outside as before, was a bad idea, I asked the roofers to pull up a board and reroute the vent to the previous position at the eaves. What they found was that Great Lakes had done a slipshod job and not even completed much of what they were contracted to do. Here is a summary of the "work". - They had NOT moved the bathroom vent to the ridge vent, but had just disconnected it and left it laying under the roof out in the eaves. This had caused the board to mold underneath and was partially responsible for the ice dams. - They had not evened out insulation across the attic, but had left mounds somewhere and hardly any in other spots. The eaves had evidently been too hard to get to, so they had just haphazardly sprayed insulation down them. - They had not added or repaired any vent baffles. Many more needed to be installed, but they ignored this especially in the critical area where the bathroom was venting. - The few vents that were there, they blew insulation down, rendering them useless. The roofers (see my review for Roofs and More) took care of the vent-not-connected problem and connected it to the available opening in the eaves. They also removed boards all along the roof and installed baffles and insulation batting to help wit the lack of ventilation problem. I was, at this point, quite unhappy with Great Lakes, so even though it had been seven years I gave them a call. I reached a secretary who told me I would get a call back. After waiting several days without a return call, I called again. I got lucky and got the owners son, who, when I explained the problem, said he would come out and take a look. When he arrived, I showed him pictures of the shoddy work that his firm had done. He apologized up and down, claiming that this was not calibre of work that his company does. His words were that he "would be livid" if someone had done this job for him. I informed him that I had paid $800 to correct problems caused by his company but there was still a shortage of insulation in the attic and it was very uneven. He said he would have his crew come back and fix the insulation in the attic and reimburse me for the $800 I was out. They came back, level it out and added more. l later called Great Lakes back and got hold of the owners son again and asked about the $800 reimbursement. He said "Oh yeah, I did say that. I'll have to talk to my uncle. He has the purse strings." When asked about when I could expect to hear from him on this issue, he said the next day. I have never heard from him again, he does not return messages and a person never answers the phone when I call (caller ID?) I later had the attic inspected by an impartial inspector who said that it was better but still not a high quality job. There was still inadequate insulation in much of the eave area. In summary, the job they did actually did more harm than good (possibly contributing to the premature demise of my roof due to inadequate ventilation and making the ice dams worse), did not follow through in their attempt to correct the problem, cost me more money to fix their slipshod job, and will not even face up to an dissatisfied customer.

I called, the owner stopped by and took a look and gave me a quote. Called the next day to schedule the job. They came and did the work at the time we made the appointment. They were done in a little over an hour.

Great Lakes was recommended by the company that performed our home energy audit. Initially, we thought their price estimate was awfully high; but after seeing the amount of work that was done and the less-than-ideal working conditions in our attic, we felt it was fair. Terri and Jeff and the rest of the crew were extremely easy to work with and did a great job. But I guess the real proof will be when we get our next heating bill - I'm anticipating a much lower number!

They were a pleasure to work with. Answered all my questions, were in and out in one day, professional staff, did a great job. I'm very happy with the result and experience.