Premiere Insulation

Steve demonstrated a lack of attention to detail. The entire process was both frustrating and ultimately a disappointment. You should consider another company.

I had received an estimate from this company back in April 2010 for doing a complete townhouse insulation for Focus on Energy. I didn't sign the estimate right away as I was trying to get a loan but did so in June. We then set up a date for September to do the work which had to be moved to October. Everything was fine until the workers arrived. At that time I was told to call Steve and he informed me he no longer could do the work for the price quoted since material cost, workers comp and whatever else had gone up. He would be happy though to do my entire attic for $6,000 to make me happy. I contacted S & E Insulation and had them do the same work for the price they quoted me back in April too which was even a few dollars less. This is a company to stay away from at all cost. The material cost, workers comp and all the other stuff he told me went up never did so I guess he never wanted to do the work after all.

Contractor cracked 2 tiles, scratched 1 tile and chipped many tiles with the crowbar used to pry tile and sub floor up.Contractor knew structure of floor and area beneath as he had used a camera that could access hard to see areas.He admitted that his camera tore the flexi duct. He suggested I hide the damage with a throw rug which was unacceptable. He then promised to file an insurance claim and said that it's what he usually does and that is why he has insurance (despite having a tile expert). Both owner (Steve Daniels) and his tile expert said that they would never be able to find matching tile to repair the floor (circa 1996). Owner told me that his insurance co. would give me a check for several thousand dollars and that I should go and pick out new tile. He also demanded full payment. I gave partial payment with balance due upon getting a valid claim number. Owner became verbally abusive and insulting on the phone and threatened to sue me to get the money as he would "not be able to make payroll" and hung up on me. Owner's wife Ruth called back and apologized for her husband's abuse and said he was under a lot of stress as they could not make payroll tha week and said "we will take care of you". She agreed to get me a claim number the next day and did so I paid in full. They demanded payment by check only. The insurance co. was slow to respond and the following week the claim was denied (because no insurance policy covers work related damage) and I had no recourse and could not stop payment on the check. I called Ruth and asked for a full refund. By then I knew how much removing an exisiting floor and replacing it with comparable tile would cost. I also pointed out that I had noticed that 5 items on the contract had not been completed. I told her this was an opportunity for them to avoid legal and/or insurance action. Her husband called me back and said he knows a guy in his building who "thinks he can repair the crack" but that the crack would be visible. I told him that lowers the value of our home and that I wanted a full refund. He disagreed and said he was sending a guy out to pick up the tile piece. I told him that based on how he had treated me, we were not comfortable having his company in the house again. He refused a refund, told me to not ever call them again, and told me to sue him and hung up on me. I have now had to file my first ever claim with my own insurance company that I have been with for 21 years and have a $500 deductible to pay. I'm out the $2500 that I paid Premiere Insulation and I'm out the $500 for the deductible and I have a ruined tile floor that was very recently described as "beautiful and in excellent condition" by a bank appraiser, plus, I will no longer get the claim free discount with my insurance. It's not fair, ethical, or even reasonable. Steve Daniels of Premiere Insulation has demonstrated no honor or ethics, has had a breech of contract, and is fraudulently claiming to have insurance that does not exist in order to take consumer's money after not delivering the contracted services and causing significant damage to our floor, and does not stand behind his work. I have filed complaints with the BBB and DATCP also to prevent him from taking advantage of anyone else.

The work went very well. Our upstairs bedroom used to be the coldest in the house. Now it is the warmest. Jim from NorthStar returned to check the work. They perform a "blower door" test to measure air leakage -- it went from 1832 cfm to 1288. This was more than adequate to qualify for a number of Focus on Energy rebates. At the re-inspection, Jim said Premiere had done good work, and it certainly seemed that way as far as I could tell. A couple notes. (1) The work took 3 days for a crew of 4. In between days they did not always close the attic door -- I found this ironic as the point of the whole thing was to keep warm air in the house. (2) I was offered the option to have an electrical permit pulled for the fans, for the cost of the permits and time to get them -- I declined, but then when the inspector came for something else, I went and told him about the fans too. This was awkward -- if I had it to do again, I would have just told Premiere to get the permit and paid what it cost. Overall Premiere and its owner Steve was very interested in doing a good job for a good price. For instance when his crew noticed that another contractor (Wholesale Insulation) had not sealed holes in the siding where insulation had been blown in, he had his crew seal them for no charge. And when there was some ambiguity as to whether the contract covered dense-pack insulation on both slopes of the roof from the peak attic, the crew allowed for the more generous interpretation without any trouble. I had I think 5 bids on this work, and Premiere's was the best by far, particularly because it included the fan installation. I am very happy to have had this quality work done for such a reasonable price.

I will report on them after...