Houle Insulation Inc

Called in November for estimate, scheduled them to come out in early Dec. Earliest date available to do the work was early Jan. Scheduled work and they did a great job. Very professional throughout - well worth the wait.

He looked at some of our problems and was able to instantly tell what the problems were and how to take care of them. I had the impression that he knew what he was doing. He was very professional and did a very good job. He was very quick. I would rate him highly and would use him in the future, if necessary.

Houle was very responsive from start to finish. I had questions about the company's license, bond, insurance, and other documentation, and the responses to these questions were received with patience and understanding and all of the documentation I had asked about was promptly sent to me. The estimate was in about the middle of the range of the prices quoted by other contractors, but in the work proposed was more thorough than the rest. The crew (including the owner of the company) arrived on the appointed morning and finished the work the same day, as anticipated. All in all, I'm pleased with having selected Houle; I selected "N/A" as my assessment of the quality of the work performed, however, because I'll never really know about the work that was done in the places I can't see. Nevertheless, while all of the contractors admitted that my stippled stucco siding was among the most difficult styles for camouflaging the holes drilled into the stucco for blowing in the insulation, these holes aren't immediately noticeable as they are on many homes. The only criticism (related to the "professionalism" element of the review) I have is slight and is not the product of dissatisfaction. Namely, the City of St. Paul does not identify insulating projects specifically as requiring permits, but does require permits for improvement projects costing more than $500; all of the contractors, including Houle, resisted pulling a permit. The permit/license requirement might be written off as a "revenue enhancer" for the City, but I know that permits (and the subsequent inspections) are meant to protect the homeowner from malicious contractors as well as accidents by good contractors. Houle had a special contractor license from the City of Minneapolis (which is not necessarily transferable to other communities) and, even though the costs of licensing and permitting in other cities might be passed on to the customers (potentially making the bids less competitive), I think that Houle is a conscientious company that could highlight the licensing/permitting portion of their bids, explain the benefits to the homeowners, and thereby stand out as even better then their competitors or force their competitors to do the same.

They arrived on time, put down cloth so they didn't make a mess, did what they said they'd do in the amount of time they said it would take. They cleaned up and were professional and friendly.

It was a good experience, and I liked their team. The owner was great. He even got a bird out of my attic. I really shopped around, and their price was good.

I called Houle Insulation for a spray foam job. I left a message on the voicemail. 11 minutes later, Arnie returned my call. He was very friendly and honest. He told me that Houle Insulation did not offer spray foam services, but referred me to someone that did. Great response time, and very helpful.

We were very pleased with Houle's responsiveness, professionalism, and apparent knowledge. There was a minor issue where a register came loose from the wall after insulation was added above it (probably due to the extra weight). Arnie came back promptly and cheerfully to take care of it. After having Centerpoint Energy do a home energy audit, we were left with the daunting question of how to address several of the things done in the audit. We had no recommendations (Centerpoint auditors cannot recommend people) and no friends who had done something similar. We turned to Angie's List and looked over local companies with A listings in the insulation area. Houle immediately stood out with the number of positive reports. Arnie was able to come out very quickly, and he reviewed the energy audit report as well as the infrared pictures provided by Centerpoint. He seemed to understand and be able to address everything in the report. We did ultimately decide to exclude one recommendation from the report based on Arnie's assessment that the return on the investment versus the time it would take would not be worth the cost. The only service Houle did not do that was on the audit report was the sealing of rim joists. Houle does not do that work, but he had a specific person he immediately recommended who did a good job and came promptly. We did have to schedule the Houle out pretty far in advance, but that was not a huge problem for us given the time of year. We were impressed with the people who came out to do the work, how quickly and carefully they worked, and how clean they left the premises. (Yes, some dust did float to a knick knack shelf but I hardly expected them to see that given its location!) Another impressive thing was how knowledgeable Houle is about the tax credits available for insulation work in 2009. While they are, of course, not tax advisors, they were very careful to make sure they provided the information to me that they had, including the documentation that they provide from their end that I should make sure to keep and provide to the tax authorites come tax time. Of course it is not cold yet, so I have not had a chance to fully test out what they did. But from what I have seen so far, I am optimistic that their work will make a difference for us this winter. I was very pleased with the process and their abilities. I did also interview 2 other companies for this work that I found on Angie's list, and was just struck by how befuddled they seemed to be about dealing with the results of the energy audit. They did not inspire confidence in me the way Houle did. That was just as well; one ended up never getting back in touch with me to even do a bid, and one spent the entire time questioning the audit, and then just asked me to essentially have him redo it (at my expense) at some later date. While those companies were highly rated in Angie's list, neither of them came even close to the number of good reports that Houle has. When you factor into that the fact that Houle was featured by WCCO for insulation information (clearly means that they are generally considered reliable even outside of Angie's List) and how obviously familiar Arnie was with all the ideas in the audit, I was happy to go with Houle even without competing bids for comparison. I've lived in my house and knew it could be improved, and was glad to find a company that could help us do it.

as described in Houle's quote. The bill matched the quote exactly, and the work was completed conscientiously and completely. We're very satisfied.

They are great. The owner, Barney, did a great job of explaining how everything would work. He quoted me a great price and I would rate them high across the board.

They have good expertise. They know the business inside out. They were easy to get hold off. They were prompt to get back to us. Their owner came out to do the actual bid. The bid compared to the actual job cost was to the penny. They actually offered to come back forever. If I ever had any question or if I was not completely satisfied they would come back. They gave an unconditional guaranty on it. He told us that if we wanted do something they would come back and do it for free. They stand behind their work

We are very pleased with the work that we had done. There was some prep work involved and we do need to paint the walls where the holes were drilled but the work is minimal. Houle Insulation made it very easy for us.

The gentleman who came out to give us the estimate came out on time and was very knowledgeable. He gave us a lot of information that we needed. When we were finished with the estimate he scheduled an appointment for the insulation work. They arrived right on time for the appointment. They did the work that they promised they would do for the amount of money that they estimated for us. They got right to work, and finished quickly. When they were finished they cleaned up after themselves well. I would recommend them.

The owner is very professional. The work was well done. Unfortunately, one of the workers took something from the house (theft or unintentional, it's hard to say). The owner took that into consideration and made the price a little lower for us.

We had to book them well in advance, but they told me exactly when they would be able to do the job. They were highly recommended and a good candidate for me. In February, as announced, they contacted me and started. Everything went according to plans. They had a crew who came in and performed the work in a day. They were very professional and knowledgeable. They went right to work. They were very efficient. They got it done with minimal intrusion in my home, considering the size of my home. They had to go through a closet to get to my attic. They used a blown in insualtions. They sealed cracks and removed some of the old insulation. They stuck a box up at the top to keep a higher level of insulation up. The access was still clear. The price came in as estimated. I was quite satisfied with them. I think the price was good, but I have never had it done before. I knew I was in for a wait when I got in contact with them. They were here as advertised, and they were prompt.

We have a finished bedroom over our garage that was freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer. Houle came out to give an estimate to reinsulate and found that there was inadequate insulation in the floors and ceiling. The were able to insulate the spaces around the room (floors, ceilings, and hip walls) in under 4 hours with blown insulation.

They did an excellent job. They were not really cheap. They didn?t leave a lot of mess except for a few nails. It significantly brought down our heating bills over the last couple of years.

They came out on time and did what they said they were going to do. They were very professional. I think they did a good job. I thought that the price was reasonable.

They were here to give us an estimate on the work that had to be done. The price quoted was reasonable. The inspection was thorough. They said they were busy and would call back and they have not followed up after that.

Arne was very professional and a pleasure to work with. He provided an estimate on the spot, which was great - they had to schedule my appointment out a few months, which was a little disappointing, but I guess that means they're busy! On the scheduled day, they arrived on time, with a huge gang of guys. They worked very efficiently, and were done with the job before noon. Part of one of my walls crumbled a bit while they were working, and they did a good job of patching it up and letting me know about the issue. I will definitely use them again whenever I need insulation.

They were very good. They went above and beyond.

I looked on Angie's List and found Houle Insulation with good grades so called for estimate. Arnie came out and went through the house thoroughly. He explained what he found and what he would do to fix the problem. We have 2 spots where ice dams always formed and he explained why and how to fix. We had the house re-insulated once before and the company that did it then never explained the problem and probably never checked the house enough to know what the problem was. I was so impressed with Arnie I never got another estimate ( I don't recommend). I scheduled the work to be done, but he would not be able to do for a couple of months. I was a little disappointed but agreed and asked if at all possible to get a done sooner than later. Less than a month later I got a call and Arnie said there was a cancellation, he could do the work. The crew was prompt, they took the steps to make sure they did get the house dirty, did the work, cleaned up and was gone. The ice dams have not come !!!!!! They were very nice and we enjoyed working with the entire crew.

Very professional. We do no longer have ice dams in the winter as heat from the living space is no long rising through the ceiling into the attic spac and heating the roof. Houle's people were very professional and did a great job. I would recommend this company to a friend no problem.

Very well. Work was done according to bid, they showed up exactly when they said they would, worked through some rain that fell, and still got the job done in one day. I had one small issue (there was some additional damage to my attic access door [there had been some damage before, but now it was worse). I called the the owner and he came to the house. He offered to do the repair, I asked instead to have my handyman do the work. So he offered to pay for part of the work. We agreed on an amount and I netted that off of my bill when I paid.

Arne was very accommodating in scheduling our work and his crew worked thoroughly and neatly.

Houle insulated my attic and did a very good job. The crew was very polite and professional. They laid down tarps on my floor and vacuumed up after the job. I asked about the insulation in my walls, not knowing how well the walls were insulated. One of the crew told me he would check and it would be no problem. He removed a piece of vinyl siding and drilled a hole(about 2")in the wall. We discovered there was no insulation in the walls. I'll likely use Houle in the future to insulate my walls.