Crawl Pros

Excellent. Very thorough and informative. They said it would takean hour but he was with us almost three hours. No complaints. It was a very complete analysis with no hard sell.

So far , SBI has completed the attic insulation and we couldn't be happier. The crew were in and out in about an hour, cleaned up like they had never been here and we could feel the difference in heat retention the same day!!! (And honest too---even though the quote included an attic vent, the crew said there were already two in place and an additional vent was not needed.) Best money we have spent. We will use them again to continue sealing up our drafty house.

We asked Richard to give us a bid. He arrived as scheduled, and explained that we had toxic old insulation from the late 60's to early 70's in our attic. The biggest cost would be removing that. We accepted his bid without checking with other contractors, as I already knew what my neighbor had paid to have her attic done, and it was comparable. The first day, the guys were supposed to arrive between 9 − 10 AM. They showed up at noon, saying the truck had broken down. We did not receive a courtesy phone call from the company saying how extremely late they would be, and this seems to be somewhat habitual if you read other reports. After they arrived, they proceeded to remove the old insulation, which is quite a miserable job. They left around 5 PM, saying they would be back around 9 AM the following morning. When they weren't here by 10 AM the next day, I called to ask when they would arrive, and was told it should be soon. I called again 40 minutes later, and asked WHY they weren't here. I was speaking with Richard, the owner, and he told me it was because his employees were "idiots" and that they hadn't stocked the truck properly. They were out refueling and buying a needed tool. When I said that it would have been great if someone had let me know how late they would be so that I could have been out doing other things rather than sitting at home waiting for someone, I was told by Richard that he was "sorry he was wasting my valuable time". They arrived at 11, and proceeded to finish the job without incident. Two business days later, on December 27, I called the office to give them permission to charge my credit card for the balance of the job. We had paid half down. Richard couldn't remember when they had finished my job, and it took him several minutes to find my paperwork. On January 13, I received yet another invoice for the balance, and had to call a second time to tell them to charge my credit card. The good and the most important: My house is now warmer than it was and holds heat for a longer period of time. My furnace used to keep me awake switching off and on all night when it was cold, and that no longer happens. I personally would not use this company again because I found them to be extremely disorganized, but if this is something that isn't an issue for you then I believe their work is fine and their price is fair.

Richard, gave us two quotes. He was confused and when job was complete, he didn't do what we intended. We have no idea if the job was performed correctly !!! We don't go into attic and we relied on him based on his expertise.

I decided to have both the attic and crawl space insulation done, per the bid. I scheduled a date with the SBI office, and the plan was for two crews to come and do the work in one day. On the day of, Richard called me first thing in the morning to say that the insulation vacuum truck was broken, so only the crawl space crew would be coming that day, and that I was a high-priority for when the truck was fixed. The crew was supposed to arrive between 9:30-10 AM, but didn't show until 11:30. They were fast, friendly, and efficient, however, and completed the work in about 3 hours. They even installed a carbon monoxide detector for me. The next day, the vacuum truck was fixed, but I was going out of town. So we made another appointment for the attic insulation for the following week. On the scheduled day, the vacuum truck crew arrived basically on time. They were very friendly and clean and laid down plastic to protect my floors and curtain off the attic access so that nothing escaped into the house. After they finished, the lead guy asked me if I planned to add new insulation? I was a bit surprised by this, obviously, thinking this crew would be doing the whole attic per bid. But it turns out they were just the removal guys. So I had to call the office again, and schedule another appointment. Obviously there was some miscommunication between the front office and the actual crews who do the work. Thankfully they were able to come out the next day for the third appointment. The crew was later than estimated again, but again, friendly and fast. (They had to borrow a ladder from me because they didn't seem to have one on the truck, which was a little weird, but whatever.) Because of all the scheduling confusion, I'm not 100% sure that everything per bid was completed in the attic (there was some language confusion when I asked the crew), but when I poked my head up in the attic, everything looked nice and clean and even, so I'm OK with it. I'm pleased that SBI uses eco-friendly products, made from sustainable materials. To me, this is worth the little higher cost, as it is safer for the installation crews and to me, and better for the environment. Richard gave me explanatory pamphlets on all their materials, and answered all my questions on process and materials knowledgeably. So despite the few hiccups in scheduling and communication, I am very pleased with this company and their product.. And my house is noticeably warmer, which is the whole point! :)

Richard from SBI was awesome. We were doing a chemical- free remodel and Richard was very well informed regarding materials available on the market. He fully understood their risks and could intelligently discuss risk vs. reward as well as performance expectations in all categories of insulation. His crews were extremely neat and polite when working and Richard was at our house when he said he would be and the crews finished when scheduled with no loose ends. I have used him on two different occasions and would recommend without hesitation (and have!).

The day of the service we got an call early and they said they would be a little later then expected (the job they were on would take longer then they thought). No problem she said they would definitely come. They showed up later in the afternoon and stayed until almost dark to finish the job. They covered everything completely. I was a little worried the only access to the attic was up my daughter's bedroom. I figured I would have to do a good amount of cleaning and dusting after they left, I was hard pressed to find even a speck of insulation We had inadvertently scheduled them to come when we were having our house painted (we called and let them know they said no prob, they would work around it). They were professional and fast. We have actually noticed we don't need to crank up the heat at night like we used to. Thank-you!

I had submitted a report earlier about SBI and want to add some information based on a conversation I have had with the owner of SBI. Even though we were very unhappy about the initial inspection and subsequently chose another company to inspect and then perform the work, I have had the opportunity to speak with the owner and he explained everything to my satisfactioon. The employee who did the inspection was not fully trained and only came by himself because the owner (who would have accompanied him) was out of town dealing with the unexpected death of his father. He (the owner) called and apologized and explained and agreed from looking at the pictures that things were not nearly as bad as the original inspection report had revealed. The owner offered to reimburse us for the cost of the inspection and we will add this company (SBI) to our list of companies that we will contact in the future.

Excellent experience overall. Very professional, prompt and at a good price.

UPDATE: Just saw the company's response - it turned out that the phone number they'd provided in the Angie's List listing was incorrect, and I was leaving messages for a poor, bewildered person who probably had no idea why I was (unintended) harassing them. I have updated my ratings, but left the professionalism at "B", because of the fact that they STILL have the wrong phone number in the Angie's List listing. Once I figured out the correct phone number to call, their response was immediate. *************************** I have repeatedly tried to contact the company, and never received a call back. Tried at least once a month, usually two or three times, and have yet to receive any kind of contact from them. I've provided phone numbers and email IDs for them to contact me, but no one has called. I just left the 10th voice mail so far, and am not very optimistic about a call back. The phone number of the company has apparently changed - the one printed on my coupon now goes to a private residence, but the number currently provided on the company profile in Angie's List does work. I would dearly love to rate this company's actual services - emphasizing that I'm only doing that because I paid good money for the coupons - but that will not be possible until I receive some kind of acknowledgement from them regarding my voicemail and email contact. I'd purchased a second coupon at the same time as a gift for a friend - and she has reported the same lack of response from this company. *They contacted me on Monday July 11th to schedule an appointment.

The crew showed up on time, introduced themselves and explained what they would be doing. They covered my floors in plastic to protect them and got right to work. They finished up quickly and when they left there was no evidence that they had been there...no stray insulation or materials on the floor or in my yard. All three workers were polite and professional. Although I can't visually inspect their work I am confident that they did a fine job.

Every part of the process went very smoothly from getting the initial quote to installation and followup. We had a few things that needed to be fixed after our inspector pointed them out and the crew was out the next day to get things right. Overall very pleased.

The crew began work on 5/27 and returned to finish on 5/30. All contracted work was completed which included thorough clean up and hauling away of all debris. Very impressed with their prompt, professional manner.

SBI Sustainable Building & Insulation were very prompt, very efficient and very thorough. The person, who came out and did the inspection, came out with the full report, the full quote and the work that has to be done with less than twenty four hours. I was very impressed with that. I liked to go a head with the contract but I thought I would compare them with two or three other bids. I also got a detailed report with the photographs. I would have them to work for us.

Richard was very personable and informative about his product. I was interested in the cost of the Airkrete product vs conventional cellulose. I decided not to go with him as there was too much of a cost differential between the 2 products and I am doing other remodeling as well. Had that been the only project and cost was not an issue I would have gone that route. For us, the additional cost did not make sense given the small increase in r-value. While I checked no in the use again, I would use them if I ever wanted to use the Airkrete in a future home. I think they would do a good job and Richard seemed to be easy to work with.

The services that they quote seemed to be thorough as well in terms of what they do. Their price was reasonable and good quality products. I will consider using them in the future.

My initial concern was that we didn't have enough insulation. Angie's List was running a $70 inspection special with this company. He gave us information on new insulation and duct work. We had been losing a lot of heat through the joints in the duct work. He informed us that some of that work would be subsidized by local retailing. He also checked under the house. Everything looked good under there, except he recommended that the plumbing be wrapped. The work went really well. He was professional, and he knew what he was talking about. He knew some ways to save money. He was professional, and he showed up on time. He did the work very quickly without messing around.

I used the coupon which I got from the big deals of Angie’s list. The representative that came out was absolutely excellent. I think his name was Richard. He did a very thorough job of the inspection and he explained to me everything about what they would do and for how much and all of that. I was very happy with Richard and also relatively happy with the work that was done. I didn’t actually go down and check it myself. I took their word that the job was fine and you can see the difference too. I was unhappy about the office girl because I think she was over whelmed with the coupon and then she got sick. She works part time there I think. They told me that she had called me from the office to verify about the address and the appointment time, but I didn’t get any call from her. Then there was a situation with the billing. Then they had given me a billing with the understanding that I had to pay the initial cover amount of $100 of the coupon which I did. When they came out to do the work and they finished it, they spoke in broken English and they didn’t get an invoice for the bill. The bill was supposed to be split in three parts. So I gave them the first cheque. A week after they finished, I didn’t hear anything from them except that I got a letter saying that they were expecting me to pay the amount by the first of April or else I could end up having problems. That was kind of nasty. They also mentioned in the letter that they tried calling me several times but didn’t get any response to that, but I didn’t get any calls from them. I was supposed to get my full amount after a couple of weeks and I had decided to send the money to them with a nasty note. Since I couldn’t trust them, I sent the money through electronic transfer funds. I’m sure they have got the money but I haven’t heard from them after that. They did not bother sending me a thank you note after they received the money. I might use their services again in the future.

Very well. I brought Richard in through an Angie's List offer. He inspected the house for energy efficiency and showed me several areas that needed to be sealed up (mostly where the baseboards met the floor on exterior first floor walls). He did a thorough inspection of the attic and the crawl space. Most things were OK, but he discovered a big problem in one section of the attic. Because of inadequate ventilation, moisture had been building up for the 9 years since the house was built. Eventually the moisture led to mold developing--not yet severe, but definitely needing attention. His recommendation was to remove the existing insulation, add roof vents to improve the attic ventilation, spray down a mold inhibitor on everything in that area, and replace the insulation. BTW, they use a higher quality insulation than the standard home store variety. I scheduled the work for a a few weeks later. The SBI team (2 people) was a little tardy arriving (flat tire + a warehouse delay), but got right to work without (as far as I could tell) cutting corners. They discovered part of the problem in the attic was the old insulation and some ceiling joists were blocking the eave vents for that attic section. In addition to the planned work, they cut back the joists enough to open the ventilation and made sure the new insulation didn't block the eave vents. In the crawl space they checked all the pipe insulation (even found the builder had mistakenly insulated a natural gas line), and found some wet insulation from plumbing work a few months ago. Took that out and replaced it with fresh insulation. The guys wore all the proper protective gear and kept the house clean--they picked up everything when they were finished. They were also happy to explain what they'd found and what their plans were.

The inspector named Richard called about 9:00 and let me know he was on the way and would arrive in about ten minutes. He arrived in five and we got right to it. Richard crawled up in the attic through a hole I hardly fit. He was in the attic for about 30 minutes I believe. I had crawled up high enough on his ladder to watch him. He looked the entire attic thoroughly taking heat escape escape readings and taking pictures. I didn't know he had done all that until he came back down. He covered the age of the current electrical rewiring and the new insulation, This allayed the fear that maybe the recessed lighting had not been done right. I showed him some places that were especially cold, our closets. He inspected and scanned them which he showed me through his scanner. He said that it would help immensly to insulate the walls but not doing it would be alright too. He then worked up a rough estimate for cellulose or Krete. He said he would send a formal estimate when he got back to the office. We received the estimate and my wife and I talked about it and decided it is probably a good price but we just couldn' afford to do it right now. We notified them of that decision and are keeping the information we received with a look to consider it for a future program.

By enlarge ok -- company appears to virtual company -- no address, just cell phone and email communication.

I paid them $2000. They were nice. I think they mentioned that they had not done one of the particular pieces of the insulation. So, they did some kind of air sealing work, which they had not done before. They were supposed have come out at 9:00 a.m. in the morning. They had a bunch of issues with the truck. They kept calling me through out the day. So, they were trying to make sure that they got the insulation work on the same day. However, they did not make it until 3:00 p.m. that day. They said the work would take 4-5 hours, but they were out till 10:30 p.m. that night. I appreciated the fact that they tried to get the work done that very day. If I had known that the work would take till night, I would have had them reschedule. They did the job. They tripped an electric wire, but they came back the next day and fixed it. They came back out very quickly when I called them. In the end, the job was done well. They also cleaned up well. However, the circumstances were very strange. They were a little expensive also. I would consider using them again in the future.

The job went well. The bid was detailed and informative. The crew showed up on time and finished on time. I had some special requirements -- the construction of the ceiling required an air gap above the insulation. The boss (Richard) went over that with me before the bid, and the crew did a good job of meeting the unusual requirement. By its nature, blowing in Airkrete is a messy job, but the crew kept it mostly contained to the job site and cleaned up after themselves. Since this was a relatively small job, I agreed to scrape the Airkrete level with the framing after it dried -- this avoided having to pay for a second trip and partial day's work. Scraping the dried Airkrete was messy, but at least it is dry and powdery and easy to vacuum with a shop-vac. We have not yet finished and moved back into the room. We'll find out this winter how well the Airkrete insulates for both temperature and sound. So far, it's seems like it's doing an excellent job.

SBI did a very professional job. When we first got the estimate from Richard (owner) we had a few questions which he answered immediately. He provided us details of the insulation products and how they compared to other products. His foam product Air Krete is more expensive than other foam insulation material but given the positive attributes of the product we decided on it. His crew arrived on the days agreed to and on time. They were very professional and experienced and worked consistently and efficiently - they clearly knew what they were doing. They carefully removed the necessary cedar shingles to drill the holes for the foam. When they replaced the shingles, they also caulked them to avoid any seepage from rain, The job was almost completed on time but due to the short spring day, they had to return the morning of day 3 to finish the clean-up. They insisted on returning to complete the clean-up as their responsibility. When I requested that the invoice be redone to separate labor and materials, Heather the office manager completed the revised invoice within the hour and sent it to me via internet. To sum up, our experience went very well and I would not hesitate to refer them to family or friends.

We were looking more for sound proofing. They had a product called Airkrete that is more appropriate for sound insulation and also does the regular insulation just fine. So we chose them for that and also because they understood and heard my issue of the 3 different insulation companies that we talked to. He is the only dealer in western Washington that does this and we picked a different product and some of the standard insulation. So he is not the low price option, but I knew that and also knew why. I think it was a fair price for the materials and the job that they had to do. Their quality is excellent. I would use them again. For anybody talking to them about Airkrete, they need to make sure that the firm clearly outlines all possible consequences that can happen with this work being done. They should understand what it is and have an agreement before hand on what they are going to do. It is really important because they did part of it with me, but not all of it.