Discount Energy Services

Estimate was done on time, thoroughly explained, and the price was reasonable. The work crew showed up on time and was friendly and professional. They finished on time, did a good job, kept the place clean despite the inherent messiness of the work, and cleaned thoroughly before leaving.

They were excellent. We had a slight difficulty with some cellulose insulation. The guys are going to come back on Wednesday and take a lot at it. There were no hassles. They were great. They were wonderfully attentive. They were great guys that came out. Price was very reasonable comparatively. I would recommend them a lot. Their installers were very professional, very attentive and extremely hardworking. They were here for 5 hours. They did an excellent job. Kevin is the manager and his wife is the office person. When she tells you she's going to call you back, she calls you back. I would absolutely use them in the future.

Short version: Kevin stands by his work! He came out to give me an assessment of some work a previous contractor did for me. In the process, I pointed out a bulged wall I noticed recently from when they insulated for me in the past. Kevin was willing to come back out, and he did a great repair job on the wall. I’m incredibly thankful and impressed with his honesty and willingness to come back and fix this problem almost three years after the fact! Highly recommend! I used Discount Energy Services to insulate my house back in Sept of 2013, and I was very pleased. I had my basement remodeled within the past year, and I was skeptical of whether or not the contractor sound proofed the bedroom ceiling as they were supposed to. I called and spoke with Nicole who set me up with an appointment for Kevin to come out to give me an assessment. In-line with my previous experience Kevin was very knowledgeable and helpful. In the process of speaking with him about my basement project, I showed him a wall I recently noticed that had bulged from too much insulation. To my surprise, he said he’d take care of it. I called Nicole a couple days after he came out to give me an assessment of the sound proofing to have him come out and fix the bulging wall, which he did. Kevin did a great job repairing the wall, and I’m incredibly thankful and impressed with his honesty and willingness to come back and fix this problem almost three years after the fact! Highly recommend!

From the initial visit for an estimate through the actual installation Discount Energy Services were very responsive, knowledgeable and professional. They were very thorough in there explanation of what needed to be done and provided excellent customer service during the entire process. The installation crew was extremely knowledgeable, very polite and professional while keeping us up-to-date on each phase of the installation; always arriving on schedule and leaving the house cleaner than when they arrived. They were PRO?s? providing us with a good products and service at an honest price. I would not hesitate to use their services in the future and would highly recommend them to my friends.

Thorough estimate, I am no expert but gave me confidence. Very responsive to communications. Had a team out for the day and as far as I can tell did work that I think will address the problem. I recommend and plan to use again. Other contractors I had been in contact with were more expensive,

Kevin Ferguson came out on a Sunday afternoon to do the estimate. He was courteous, knowledgeable and clearly knew his business. He gave a precise, written estimate before he left (keeping 1 copy and leaving 2 with me so I could send one with the deposit). The following Saturday the work was performed. Scheduling and communication was excellent - I had no problem reaching the wonderful lady who handles scheduling and communications. Even though both Kevin for the estimate and the workers to start the job were both a little late, she kept me informed of the lateness. This to me is a sign of professionalism -- to recognize that your customer's time is as valuable as yours and to be respectful of that time. The two workers showed up a bit later than expected, but got to work right away, worked straight through until the job was completed and cleaned up after themselves. They reviewed the work order with me before starting and explained what they would be doing. I cannot get into the crawlspace where they worked so I cannot speak to what it looks like down there, but I will have someone go down soon to check it out. I have no reason to believe it will be anything other than correct and up to par. I would gladly recommend these folks to others and have them do further work in the future.

The owner of the company came out as scheduled to provide me with an estimate, which was quite reasonable. (We priced him against several other providers, and his price was by far the best.) We put down a 50% deposit, and work began 24 hours later. His guys arrived promptly, worked hard to complete the job in one day, and did a fairly good job of cleaning up at the end. They did blown insulation in the whole basement and even patched two cutouts in the drywall for me. In spite of the job requiring significantly more blown insulation then they originally estimated, the price didn't change, and I paid my second installment upon completion of the work. Overall, it was a fast and convenient process, and I would certainly hire these guys again.

The additional insulation resulted in the partial collapse of the ceiling and initial sagging of the rest. The additional insulation exceeded the weight on drywall as per the specifications (GA-216) of the Gypsum Association of the gypsum board manufacturers in the US and Canada. The contractor also failed to follow the best practice field guide of the BPA (US Department of Energy). Upon the initial sinking of the ceiling, owner called immediately the contractor to remedy the situation. Despite the imminent collapse of the ceiling and the high risk to human life and the rest of the house and contents, contractor was not responsive to the situation. At the time, the contractor examined the sinking ceiling he was unable to identify the reason of the damage and despite owner’s request did nothing to at least attempt to stop the downfall of the ceiling. Owner had no option than to seek immediate assistance from another contractor in the meantime that the ceiling partially collapsed. After the new contractor have replaced and secured the ceiling, owner sought without success Discount Energy Services to reimburse at least the cost of the repairs (included in the price above-mentioned).

Installation went fine, the workers were great, & I'm pretty happy with this company - MUCH happier than with the first company that came to give an estimate. Downsides, though, were communication and price. Kevin Ferguson, owner, came for the estimate on a Sunday (the week before July 4th weekend) & wrote out all steps that would be taken to do the job. I appreciate that. Monday afternoon, I called to say I wanted to go ahead with the work. By Wednesday afternoon, I had heard nothing so I called. Kevin's wife (I'm sorry I don't know her name - I don't hear well & didn't catch it on the phone) said she was having trouble with scheduling and would call me back the next day. It was the 2nd day before she did call to schedule. A few days later, I sent a photo of the side of the house along with measurements to ask if the company could use a window on that side rather than a front window to bring in the insulation hose. Two or 3 days later I called (and got a firm answer), having had no response. Customer service has improved a lot in my lifetime & I'm just accustomed now to prompt call backs. Both Kevin & the first provider who came to estimate the work came up with exactly the same dollar figure ($1,386). Both calculated some particular set of costs to arrive at that estimate. This leaves me wondering if all attic insulators use certain calculations & there's no real competition. The "other guy" offered a better final price but here's why I didn't go with that: He came down more than 25% on the price in about 10 or 15 minutes at my kitchen table - enough to raise anyone's suspicions about his pricing. That sharp a decrease in price left me with little trust - he played me for a fool with his original bid. I noticed he casually, verbally cut the R-value (measuring the effectiveness of the amount of insulation to be installed), stating a lower value as if that's what we'd been talking about all along. The final additional discount he offered was if I'd sign up right then & cancel the appointment I had with Kevin's company for an estimate. Seemed he expected other companies to come in below him, so I said no. He gave me that discount anyway. Further, after he left, I noticed he'd penciled in an even lower R-value on his written bid which he did not mention. No way would I go with that company. I went with Kevin's bid - the same as the "other guy's" starting bid - because he made no attempt to reduce the insulation just to make the job cheaper & he seemed honest to start with & stayed that way. The whole estimating experience leaves me wondering if I've paid too much but I trust Kevin's numbers over that "other guy" (whose review I will write in a minute). The question of whether I'd use this company again is moot given that this is the only attic I expect ever to own. If I did need to insulate another attic, I'd get a couple more bids but I'd definitely include Kevin's company as well.

Excellent! I own an old home in DC with a crawl space that lacked any insulation. My home is quirky as many older DC homes are. Discount Energy Services was one of the few companies that provided constructive advice and solutions. Kevin, the owner, did the initial inspection and reviewed the options with me. He was very polite, answered my questions, and wasn't pushy. His crew came out twice to complete the insulation job. Their work has led to a tremendous improvement, and my family looks forward to using our entire house during each season.

This is my second time using Kevin's services, and I have been satisfied both times. Kevin has extremely fast response times and convenient hours to come out to gives quotes. When you're ready to use his services, he's also very quick at setting up a time to come out to perform the work. The same crew of two, Jose and Mike, performed the work both times. Kevin's team laid drop cloths over all my carpets to prevent them from getting dirty. Blow-in insulation was a much dirtier and dustier project than I expected, but I think they did their best to cover everything with plastic as best as possible. I didn't have to do any work prior to them showing up. They moved everything away from the walls when they showed up. Mike worked on drilling holes in the walls as Jose blew-in the insulation. Mike did a good job plugging and spackling the holes after Jose, but I did need to push some of the plugs in after his first coat to make them level with the wall. After everything was complete, they did a good job cleaning up as well. So far, the house seems to be holding a constant temperature better and the furnace seems to be running less. I have a Nest thermostat on order, and I'm looking forward to seeing what my first gas bill is like!

First, let me say this is the third insulator on Angie's list in the space of less than a week and while the other two were rated more highly, their performance was so bad that I will have reservations about using Angie's list in the future to find a contractor or other help. Dutch colonial, which have a fairly flat roof on top and over the eaves, followed by a very steep pitch downward to the gutters. These types or roofs are, apparently and according to my many Google searches, prone to ice dams. One or two roofers suggested installing an electric cord on the roof and turn it on when it snows. It was not an inexpensive fix and I have read, though not frequent, it is not without danger. I had my roof replaced with architectural asphalt shingles along with new gutters, down spouts etc. Until this winter, I never had a leak though on the few occasions it snowed, large icicles formed around the house, a sign that an ice dam had formed (ice that forms at the edge of the roof and when snow behind it melts it has no where to go but under the shingles and into the house). The roofer suggested that I have the insulation checked if I continued to have problems which, this year, I did. There were minor leaks into the house during the very cold stretch when we had a small amount of snow and large icicles outside the house after the snowfall in March. I called USA Insulation, one of the highest rated insulators on Angie's. The owner wanted to know how old the house was and looked at a picture of it on Google while we were speaking. He said with this type of house of this age (built 1957) he would not just do the crawl space but would require I have the entire house insulated which he felt was too much for me to spend if I was selling the house in a little over a year (my take, he did not want a relatively small job). He referred me to Devere Insulation, also highly reviewed on Angie's. A young man came out and was very pleasant but he looked at the insulation and told me it was in good shape and there was nothing further to do to improve it. I asked if he would write me a note and he said no because he might have missed something and then would be liable. I suggested he write "to the best of his ability" and that it was hard to see everything, as it was a crawl apace which would absolve him of liability but provide me with documentation that I had attempted to have it evaluated. He needed to check with his managers and I never heard back. DISCOUNT ENERGY SERVICES A friend than referred me to DISCOUNT ENERGY SERVICES (202-545-0024; 301-565-9350; 703-550-0035). I noted they were on Angie's list but while they had good ratings they were not as many or as favorable as the other two. I called and Mr. Ferguson came over the same day. He told me I had virtually no insulation under the roof. Pipes, electrical boxes, and area where mice and other small animals could enter were unprotected. He suggested doing the following: 1. Removing what little insulation was there which was, in any event, the wrong size. 2. Foam seal the exterior ceiling (around pipes, wires, ducts, electrical boxes, bath fans, and other holes and gaps. 3. Styro-Baffles installed along eaves to maintain airflow. 4. Bring attic insulation up to R-49 by adding 11" (R-38) cellulose fiber. 5.Staple R-38 batting to attic access door (to prevent any insulation from falling out and 6. Adding R-38 batting insulation around the access hole (to keep the door to the opening in place). Two very pleasant men came the next day and spent ~5.5 -6 hours fulfilling all aspects of the job. Though the crawl space was high up and I have problems with balance (and do not know too much about insulation) when they asked if I wanted to inspect the job I was curious so I said yes. As far as i could determine, they had done a very impressive job. Perhaps one of the nicer aspects was how pleased the man who seemed in charge of the project beamed with pleasure when I said I would like to see it as when I came down he told me with a very large small he like his customers to look at the job as takes a great deal of pride in his work. And he has very good reason to. I am enormously please with the job that was done, the people I worked with, and the price they charge. I wish i had had this done 10 years earlier, it would have saved me a lot of money and a lot of headaches. My only question at this point is how I will be able to trust the information I find on Angie's list. It seems there should be some spot checking by professionals of jobs that are performed as anecdotal reviews are clearly not very useful. I have hear people mention that this service benefits the contractor more than the consumer and that may be the care. Had i not gotten the 3rd recommendation, i would be dealing with roofer to install ice shield (pieces of metal best installed at the time of a new roof that are placed two to three shingles in and exten outside of the roof or eaves and inhibit the formation of ice dams. Apparently, the are used frequently further north where there is more cold and snow. It would like have been expensive as my roof is new and shingle would have had to be removed and new ones installed. In fact, i have a few appointment to cance.

Discount Energy Services were recommended to me by someone for attic insulation, and they did not disappoint. Their price was approximately $600 less than another contractor quoted us for the same service! They were responsive and scheduled me quickly. They provided a two-hour arrival window and arrived on time. They strongly recommended cellulose insulation which is what we went with. The work took around 3.5 hours and as far as I can tell, they did an excellent job. Highly recommended!

Kevin came out and inspected our home and gave a thorough review with item by item pricing and a separation of pricing between our attic and our crawl space. Kevin had the technicians come out and they did a great job of insulating our crawl space area. They were professional and friendly, after their job there were a couple of areas that may have been outside the scope of the crawl space but still an important connection. Kevin came out himself to insure we were completely happy and satisfied with the work order completion, which we are very happy and we will certainly use Discount Energy Services for our attic in the near future.

Amazing, Kevin came out for the estimate and we could tell he really knew his stuff. He gave a fair price for quite a bit of work and wrote a detailed quote/contract. We paid the deposit and his crew of two people came out. His crew was incredibly nice and WOW did they work hard. The crawl space was very difficult to move in and they really went after it. They stayed late and let me check things and point out a few spots I wanted some more foam. After the job i noticed some cold air was blowing out a hole in the upstairs wall above the crawl space (we had a burst pipe which was why we needed the new insulation). Kevin came out at no charge and worked for 3 hours sealing every little hole we could find. Kevin is really nice and will make sure you are happy before he leaves. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

It went very well. Discount Energy is experienced in dealing with the oddities of older structures. The owner performed the estimate and didn't shy away from the oddities of my home. The crew arrived the next day and insulated roughly half of the area we had planned. The owner and I are discussing creative means of completing the project.

We were very impressed by the representative who made the proposal; his explanations and suggestions were very helpful, with no pressure to buy. Our house has a brick veneer on the first story and siding on the second story. It is several decades old and the attics and exterior walls were treated with minimal insulation when the house was built. One result is that the upstairs is sometimes uncomfortably cool in the winter and warm in the summer. We decided that since we were about to replace the siding on the house, now would be a good time to install insulation into the upstairs wall cavities, since the many holes that needed to be drilled into the exterior would soon be covered up by the new sheathing and siding. The installers, Mike and Jose, were pleasant, tidy, and very respectful of both the interior of the house and the shrubbery outside, around which they had to place their ladders. They worked very hard and finished the job in one very long day. We are happy with the results. The upstairs this summer has been noticeably more comfortable than in the past. We can't rate the price since we did not seek other bids, relying instead on previous Angie"s ratings.

Due to a roof issue, I had a serious mold problem in my existing cellulose insulation (which turns out was not even the bare minimum required to keep our upper level warm). I called DES for a quote, and they were very responsive - Kevin came out the next evening (I believe) to give us a very thorough and reasonable quote for both removal and installation of new insulation. Because of the roof issue, they were even able to do the removal/installation in stages, which was extremely important for us. Overall, the process was great - DES's team was on-time and did the the work to spec. They put drop cloths down in their work areas and did a fantastic job both removing the old cellulose insulation and installing the new insulation - our upstairs have never been warmer. I would recommend DES for anyone looking to add new attic insulation - the price was great and the work was excellent.

We found them on Angie's List and they were one of the top companies. The service was atrocious. They didn't do part of the work we discussed. When they came in we discussed the work, when it gets cold the pipes can burst so that's why we did it. We had many estimates that all list the pipes and they didn't list the pipes but we assumed they would because that's part of the project, you insulate everything. Then they didn't do it. I went to check and I saw the pipes sticking out not protected and they didn't say anything. So basically, if I didn't look the pipes would have burst by now because it was below zero temperature. You can have trouble with any company, it happens. The difference is how they handle it. We could not get the guy who managed the work to call us back. We harassed him for 3 weeks with calls and he called once late in the evening when no one was home. That's it. The problem is not that they messed up the work, it's that they didn't address the issue or follow up. I had to go get insulation from the store and finish the work which was why I hired them in the first place so I didn't have to do it myself. The pricing wasn't the best but they were perfectly competitive with the rest. The customer service was non existent. We told them the work wasn't done right, my wife was home and he said supposedly he came in and checked the crawl space to check it without calling my wife. So he came into my property without calling which is trespassing and he said he checked everything and the pipes weren't his business. Not only did he avoid us but he went to our property without our consent.

It's a "mom and pop" type of situation. Administrative part could be more organized, actually a lot more organized. BUT, the work was done well. The people doing the work arrived on time and covered all the carpets and window area where the hose was coming into the house. They were polite and cleaned up after the work was done.

We needed to add insulation to our attic, so I called several insulation companies that had A-ratings on Angie's List to compare prices. A couple were not responsive or professional enough, so I dropped them from contention. Two companies (including Discount Energy Services) sent out representatives to do in-home estimates and another gave me a ballpark number on the phone (talk about "phoning it in!"). I was very pleased with Discount Energy Services' estimate process. I called to schedule an estimate on Thursday and Kevin Ferguson, the owner, came out at 5:30pm the following Monday. The owner of another insulation company (let's call him the Other Guy) had already given me an in-home estimate so I had a basis for comparison. Kevin seemed very thorough; unlike the Other Guy, he went into my attic rather than just standing at the hatch. He also noticed--unlike the Other Guy--that some of our house was not covered by the main attic, but by a separate attic that also covered the garage. He included that area in the estimate. The estimate was still less than the Other Guy's, and less than the company that had given me a phone estimate. Kevin wrote out the estimate on the spot and guaranteed that he would beat anyone's price for comparable services. He told me that he was booked out about two weeks, but I was willing to wait. I called Discount Energy Services the next day to schedule the service. The receptionist was friendly and told me that she had other customers to schedule before me, and that she would call me back to schedule the appointment. Two days later, she had still not called back, so I called again. I got a busy signal - not a voicemail. I tried again later and eventually reached the receptionist, who offered to schedule me for the following Monday morning. I was happy that the job could be done sooner than expected. Later, I found that I could not be home at that time so I called to reschedule. Again, I got a busy signal. I called again later, reached the office, and we ultimately settled on Wednesday between 2 and 4pm. Within the appointed time window, two workers showed up. They were courteous, putting down sheets on the floor and plastic over my baby's crib to protect them from dirt and dust. They spent about three hours spraying cellulose into the two different attics. When they were done, they offered to let me check their work. When they left, they did not leave a mess. As far as I know, they did a good job -- time will tell whether our house is now well-insulated. Overall, I was happy with Discount Energy Services and would recommend them. The only inconvenience was not being able to reach them and getting a busy signal several times, but I understand that they are a family business and are probably doing their best to field calls.

Over all the experience was a good one. The estimate was the lowest of the 3 we received and once the decision was made to work with them, they were quick to schedule us. When the crew arrived (a two man crew) they got right to work and took care to put down plastic whereever they were going to be working and to seal off the access points to the attic when they were blowing insulation to protect against dust. Now, understand you cannot avoid having a fine layer of dust on everything when getting this type of work done, but the measures they took kept the space as clean as it could be kept. as they finished each section, they would come get me and have me inspect/signoff on what they did. I appreciated this. If I had an issue, it was with the amount of time the job took. The day before the job was performed, the front office informed me the crew would arrive between 10a-12p. They showed up at 11a. Around 6pm, they were still here working. We had a friend's BBQ to get to, and when I went outside to ask how much longer they had, I found the head guy sleeping in my garage. Don't get me wrong, it was a 90 degree day in August and this guy was in the attics all day blowing insulation, no doubt that wiped him out. But when he told me they needed at least another 90 minutes, I was shocked. His answer was, "Sir, this is a day and a half job we are trying to get done in one day." So immediately two questions, 1) Why didn't you show up earlier? 2) Why did they send only 2 guys? I don't blame the crew for this, just think the front office should manage the schedule a bit better. The crew that did the work was great.

The estimate was scheduled quickly. The work was scheduled quickly. The staff arrived on time. They were very professional and worked hard considering they were one man short. The attic looked very neat when they finished. The insulation has made a very positive difference in the house temperature. There was a customer service issue which Discount Energy resolved. Note: When receiving your estimate, clarify whether your quote is for cash payment or if there is a higher price to use a credit card.

It didn't go at all. We agreed upon a specific time window (1 hour) to meet at the job. I took off work to meet the estimator. I waited at the job the entire window. 10 minutes after the window had expired I called the company to get a revised eta for their estimator. The company could not give me a revised eta. I left the job and returned to work.

I AM SATISFIED. THE COMPANY PROVIDED THE CUSTOMER THE SERVICES AND INFORMATION REQUESTED.