I did quite a bit of research into folks that did the kind of work we needed done. At first, this was just about installing new ducting in a 1967 home for a replacement range hood.
Upon landing on Energy Warriors, I had expressed concerns about our dryer ducting as well. Sean Billingsly, who told me he was an owner in the company, let me know that the flex duct under the house was a fire hazard and we completely agreed that it should be replaced... So I asked for a quote for both the dryer ducting replacement and the install of the range ducting plus the new range hood install, which I already had here. We landed on a date and Emily, who has responded to my calls at their office, helped me set things up. I felt she was very professional over the phone; no issues.
Note that to this point, there was never any thorough inspection of the attic space (with the exception of some photos taken), nor any inspection of the crawlspace under the house for the dryer ducting. I was provided a quote of just shy of $1000. Ok.. no problem.
Upon arrival, Sean and his apprentice, Austin, got busy and the work pretty much went as I expected. I helped them out with determining the duct placement, meaning I went into the tight attic space to determine that the placement would work for the range hood and clearing any rafter beams.
Upon what I thought was completion of the work, I noticed three things that were outstanding:
1) The first was that the shelf above the range hood had the hole cut through it for the ducting, but it was done backwards. The back edge of the shelf was now facing the kitchen. Plus, the ducting was off-center so that meant that the shelf could not simply be taken out and turned around.
2) The second item was that the range vent flashing was not what I expected. I asked for a steel one and Sean said the supply place just gave him the plastic one, and they installed it - but without my knowing it was going to be installed... I didn't get a choice in the matter and I would have gladly paid for the one I wanted.
3) The third thing was that the dryer ducting wasn't completed; with a remaining ~5 to 6 feet of ducting yet to be installed (from the dryer port to under the house)... for which there was no plan on the original date to replace it. Sean had already left, leaving the apprentice to 'finish'. I had contacted their office to schedule a day/time in the following week (March 29th).
That said, I paid about $452. of the invoice to ensure I was going to get the work required, finished.
We let go the shelf issue as we decided to check into a carpenter to redo this space (ongoing issue to address).. I had to press a bit with Energy Warriors to get the dryer ducting finished (texting back and forth) and I'm still feeling uneasy about the flashing because that choice was taken out of my hands. Plus the unit is all scratched up on the top of it (see pictures.)
Just this morning (March 29th), Sean finished the dryer ducting and didn't even bother letting me know it was done until after he left, leaving me a text message, All done thanks. I paid the remaining amount just after I received this text message. Sadly, some remnants of the old flex ducting were left in the crawl space.
All said, I'm not able to give a ringing endorsement. I feel like there was a level of professionalism missing, meaning I would have liked to see a more robust level of communication - especially as it applies to the flashing piece on the roof.
While the range hood is installed, there's yet another issue with the hood, which sounds like a ticking sound when the fan is on. I'm not casting blame on Energy Warriors for this at this time. I recorded the sound on my iPhone, and need to take this recording of the sound to Albert Lee Appliance in Tukwila to see what they think.
