CEN-TEX THERMAL

I contacted Shannon last week to do attic insulation in my newly purchased house. There is virtually none in the attic and the house cannot stay cool in this summer heat so having just moved in - it has been miserably hot. He said he'd work me in the following week, even if he had to do it himself. I didn't call other company's as I took his word that he would be here and would do the job. After sweating it out (literally) for one week - I contacted him and he said he's be out today. No call - no show - I've called him 5 times to follow up and find out what is going on. No return call - ever! Now I'll have to book with another company and will have to wait more unnecessary days in a hot house. Very unprofessional.

Mr. Beckman was on time and called when he needed to reschedule because of the strong possibility of rain which would hinder the installation. He was professional, courteous, honest, and gave an accurate assessment of the installation. Because we did not want the screens secured to the windows with screws, he used industrial strength Velcro. He warned us that it may hold for 5 years because of the heat and weather and the small gaps around the perimeter caused by the velcro. We understood that. Velcro can be replaced. We did not want screws because of the cheap, vinyl windows the builder had installed. Stripped threats are possible when removing the screens frequently for window cleaning. To us Velcro was a better option. The screens were made to our specifications using 1and quot; frames rather than 1/2and quot; or 3/4and quot; with center cross bars. He recommended 75% rather than 90% screens because we had E-glass windows with Ceramic Sun Film on the interior. 90% would have made the house too dark. The price was reasonable. The screens are quality and much better than the ones that were on our previous house in Cedar Park. A very good experience.

Called Cen-Tex one day, was offered a very fair price and the spay in radiant barrier was installed by 10am the next day. Passed City of Austin inspection the following day. I will use Cen-Tex for radiant barrier from now on.

Shannon Beckmann is a top notch man. He was very prompt, pleasant and just an overall good and honest person. He has helped me through a very rough process that I had with Service Wizard and I cannot say enough good about him. I would definetly recommend him and have already. My home was not cooling properly since my installation last December, kept thinking maybe it was the extreme heat in Austin this summer. I decided to call him and find out, He came to my home and noticed exactly what I was feeling and inspected my air ducts and said they needed a different configuration to bring more air to one side of my house. (these are new air ducts from December and the plan from Service Wizard was not effecient and could not create enough air flow so far from the unit) He also changed out several registers to the proper ones. He said that he had told Service Wizard that I needed more insulation, but that was not on my bid. We agreed on a price and he called Service Wizaard to see if they would pay for the new work and they only offered to pay for half. I wanted to pay him for the other half, but he insisted he would eat it. I also bought more insulation at that time and we have noticed a tremendous difference in the cooling of our home. Yesterday i called him because my home became filled with a smoke/hazy look to find out if this could be from my AC system. He called SWizard and asked them to call me with this problem. 3 hours later they responded which is what I expected. I am now dealing with Service Wizard and getting it replaced. This problem has nothing to do with Shannon, but he has followed up with me better than any contractor I have ever used. He has been my go between and I really appreciate that. Thanks Shannon.

I was initially put in contact with Shannon Beckmann at Cen-Tex Thermal in order to make some custom solar screens for my home as part of a home weatherization effort I was undertaking. I was interested in purchasing some durable, attractive, painted, wood-framed screens instead of the standard aluminum frame screens and Mr. Beckmann seemed very excited about the project and had some great ideas. Initially Cen-Tex was very responsive, very professional, and punctual for our first meeting at my house to discuss my project. Cen-Tex's prices for the screens was very attractive and they were way under the other contractor I was considering for this job. Therefore, I had pursued the solar screen project further with Cen-Tex Thermal and had requested and obtained some references, as well as an address of a house nearby where I could inspect the quality of his screens first-hand. When I went to the house to inspect the screens, they looked nice but they were screwed into the window frames and there was no way to really see how sturdy they were. They were also fairly new, so it was tough to tell how well his work would stand the test of time. I had then called his references and they all had glowing things to say about Mr. Beckmann and Cen-Tex Thermal, so I was encouraged, except for the fact that none of the references had had custom wood screens made for them, but it was other services that this company provides (insulation, aluminum solar screens, weatherization, etc.). So I contacted Mr. Beckmann again to see if there was some way I could check out some of his custom wood-frame screens first-hand or at least talk to one of his previous customers for whom he had made wood screens for, as a reference. It should be noted that I was also calling references for the other screening company I had received estimates for and this other company had also invited my in to their shop to see the materials, some screens in process, and some finished screens. All looked good with this other company, but Cen-Tex Thermal's prices were much better. However, even though Cen-Tex's prices were much better, this was still a fairly expensive undertaking ($700-$1300, depending on how many screens I was considering), so I wanted to be absolutely sure I was going to be happy with them. I would say that everything up to this point was going good with Cen-Tex Thermal and Mr. Beckmann was very understanding of my desire to get some assurance that I would be happy and he had offered to actually just make a custom wood screen to show me the quality. I hadn't requested this, but thought it a very generous proposal. I don't know why he couldn't have just provided me access to some other screens he had already made, or to a previous happy customer ... but this seemed like a good way for me to tell if his screens were to my liking. I had then offered to actually pay him to make this one custom screen, so that he wouldn't be out any time or materials if I had decided to go with the company, but he refused (which is very generous of him) and said he would provide this test screen for me. After about a week of waiting for this test screen, it never came. I was conscious of the fact that he was probably busy, so I gave him plenty of time before getting back in touch with him. So I called him again after a few more days and he mentioned that he had finished it and he would drop it off on my front porch for me in a day or two. Then ... I never received a sample of his work. I never received any other references. I never heard back from him ever again. He just kind of fell off the face of the earth. I tried calling and emailing multiple times over the next 2 weeks and then just gave up and went with the other company. At the end of the day, I feel like Mr. Beckmann's initial impression was very good and professional, but he just couldn't execute. Perhaps some emergency had consumed him and he could not ever get back with me. My impression is that he probably didn't have the time to do a sample screen, but I don't know why he offered this instead of just putting me in touch with a previous customer. I thought that it was pretty unprofessional to just leave me hanging like that. Anyway, I'll probably never know why he just stopped responding. I could completely understand if he got sick, or just got way too busy, but there is a certain professionalism in just responding and letting someone know what is going on. Perhaps, they are really good at certain projects, but I would be very cautious about using Cen-Tex Thermal for any kind of custom work.

Aside from being booked three to four weeks ahead of time (it was a HOT summer), everything went perfectly. He used no subcontractors, only his people, who were all efficient and courteous. Out of all the people I got a quote from, he was also the most affordable.

Shannon inspected the house and then sat down with us and explained very thoroughly what needed to be done and how he was going to do it. He described in detail the cost, the City of Austin requirements and rebates, and how long the job would take. He and his helper showed up on the appointed date (fortunately, we did this in April when it was much cooler, so they could work in the attic all day) with all the necessary equipment and supplies. They diagrammed the routes of the AC ducts, determined what changes needed to be made, and removed the old ducts. Fortunately (for them and us), we have two attic stairways and another access door, which made the work go faster and easier. After they installed the new AC ducts and sealed a few places on the AC units themselves, they adjusted the dampers on the ducts for each and every room--Shannon at a duct with an air-flow testing device, communicating by walkie-talkie with his helper in the attic, who adjusted the damper. Then the dampers were sealed in place and shrouds were placed around all the duct outlets, in preparation for the installation of the insulation. Five outside doors were weather-stripped. Then the insulation was blown in. Also, batt insulation was used to create "dams" around attic stairway openings and water-heater vents, to prevent the blown-in insulation from "drifting" down into those areas. When the insulation installation was completed, they thoroughly cleaned up after themselves, which didn't require a lot of time, because they had been so careful throughout the whole operation. They spent a total of about three days on the project. A week or so later, Shannon and an inspector from the City went over the entire house. The work was approved, and we were told that the rebate would arrive within ten days. The final result--Shannon explained everything to us as he went along, the work was done quickly and correctly, and the cost was most reasonable, not even considering the substantial rebates; the balanced air-flow makes every room in the house comfortable, and our utility bills will no doubt show the results of the improved AC efficiency and the added insulation. I am recommending Cen-Tex Thermal far and wide. They are the best.