We had Green Collar do general improvements on our home over a year ago. I can't really comment on how well it improved our energy efficiency since this spring and summer are signifcantly hotter, but bottom line is they did an OK job in the end but we would NOT hire them again and would not recommend them to others. Read on for more (I know, it's long).

The first guy who came out to quote (Keith?) was really nice, knowledgeable, and accomodating. He gave us a good quote for what we need to do to improve the efficiency of our 1947 house (original windows and all) with what would work best for our money (additional insulation, duct repair, weather stripping) versus what would be less of a return for our investment (radiant barrier). The problems started when the crew came out. They did their job quickly and half-ass in our opinion. Several things that Keith discussed were not addressed or even looked at including:

- evaluating windows for leaks that could be fixed or improved
- a couple of sizable holes around pipes in the bathroom and kitchen that were leaking air into the walls were not fixed
- weather stripping around the doors not done

There seemed to be a BIG disconnect between Keith and the crew who did the work. Either he over-promised or the crew under-delivered (we think the latter). We notified them of our disappointment and they sent out additional guys to correct the problems, although they had to come out 2 times as the first time all of the issues STILL weren't corrected. Another minor annoyance: the crew taped up all of our air vents to do their work and when they ripped off the tape alot of the paint came off of the vents as well. They ended up replacing (at our request) a couple of these vents, but my husband just ended up replacing the rest. Not a huge deal but disappointing that they were so careless.

Bottom line, our first impression was great but the final job left us feeling that they were a bit incompentent. They were really great at selling their product, but the work done did not live up to expectations. If you lived in a newer home or had a very simple job to do they might be a decent bet, but if you have an older home in centeral austin and you want good weatherization updates all around, I would look elsewhere.

We had Green Collar out to our house in December because I knew I had some duct issues and needed insulation. My experience with them was truly great. Not perfect (thus, no 5) but I'm very pleased.

When it comes to home service providers, what I want is someone who is reliable, responsive, knows what they're doing, and charges a fair price. Anything else is gravy. Green Collar did well in all these metrics, and also scored high in another.

Before I comment further, let me explain briefly my situation. I wanted to get this work done in 2010 so I could take advantage of the federal tax credit. The problem is I waited until early December to call anybody.

One thing that stands out for Green Collar is their level of service, which starts with the people. I don't know if this is typical, but I dealt with 6-7 different people of the company over the 4 visits they made to my house. The first visit was from the sales guy and energy inspector, Jeff. He seemed very knowledgeable and didn't try to sell me stuff I didn't need. He did point out an issue with our hot water heater venting that I didn't know about, and that was obviously an issue. I'm glad to have that fixed now too. He explained things well, such as R-value and the rebate process, and I liked the audit report they provided. The other thing about my meeting with Jeff is how quickly it occurred. It was December and other companies I called could not come out for weeks...in my case, in 2011...too late.

The guys who did the work called to say they would be late, and that was appreciated. I liked the service guys too and they appeared to do a good job. I did discover later that a duct attachment to our main attic unit was not sealed very well when they told me they sealed all of those. I thought they did an excellent job on sealing the door from our garage to our house. Regarding our front door, however, I either misunderstood or was misled. I believed they would seal that too, but the service guys explained that aesthetics matter to people so they can't put the same thing on every front door and so don't do anything. I just mentioned the two things that went wrong. When they came out to fix the poor duct seal, it showed another example of their service commitment.

I was given the name of a guy that would be out. A different guy showed up. He was the owner of the company (Rob). He said they were swamped with business with everyone wanting the tax credit. Thus, he filled in because the scheduled guy was busy elsewhere. He knew what he was doing, agreed it was an issue, and was happy to do the laborer's job to satisfy the customer. I admire that. Another example of their great level of commitment is when the sales guy, Jeff, was trying to schedule our job. He said if they couldn't get their normal service guys in, he would come do the job himself to help us get the work done by the end of 2010. Again, that's super service that I appreciate.

My experience with them ended with a visit by them and an energy auditor for Austin Energy. Their work passed the audit, and I got my two checks in the promised time period. I know other service providers offer to do this rebate filing too, but Green Collar did a great job with setting expectations and handling this for us. In the end, these rebates paid quite a bit of the service cost. And I also got my tax credit.

Ultimately, an important measure of quality service for work such as this is how does your house feel and are you saving money? The duct repairs made an immediate and tangible difference in two rooms...that was awesome. As the hotter days have recently begun, our A/C seems to be keeping up better whereas before it was sometimes challenged. We'll see how it does in the steamy summer days ahead. On the dollar side, after 4 months, we've saved about $190 on our Gas and Electric/Water bills compared to the same four months last year. That's over $45/month of savings. I heard gas rates went down since 2010 and the weather may have been different, but I attribute a lot of the savings to this work. This means I'm paying back my cost darn quickly.

All in all, I give Green Collar a strong recommendation. Whether you work with them or not, however, these simple energy efficiency improvements to your home can be paid back pretty quickly with the rebates and other incentives so look into it if your house is aging or if you have any known concerns.

This is a long review, I know, but when you're paying over 4 figures for home service, it helps to know something about who you're hiring. I hope this helps.

I wanted to write a review of Green Collar, as it could help others who are debating about doing an insulation upgrade, attic fan, etc.

Install: I had my install done about 1 year ago, late June 2010. The installers knew their jobs well, and finished after a few hours. They did an attic insulation upgrade (added blown-in insulation) to my existing insulation, and they added an attic fan. The attic fan took a few visits to work out, due to my metal roof, and placement issues, but, in the end, it works okay. I did have to add my own shroud around it to block off the intake. In my opinion, the installers should have done this, but it was fairly easily to add plywood around my gable opening.

Results: I have been quite impressed with the results in terms of energy savings. I have a 2 story older ranch style house, and both of my AC units (Heat pumps) are 25yrs old! Yeah, that old. So, having them "not"
run makes a big difference naturally in my home. I've tracked the cost since 2009 thru 2011. My savings are running about 25-30% on average. Some months, like summer, I have seen 40% savings which is awesome. I was hoping for at least 20% savings to justify the cost.
Regarding the attic fan, I don't know if it helps that much. It pushes very little air, and I've read reviews that mention folks needing several fans to really cool an attic, but with my metal roof, the attic cools very rapidly after sunset anyway, so in my case, it might not have been needed. Since it is a large cost, I would weigh that carefully. Also, I forgot to mention, the duct work that Green Collar does also seems to help a lot. They are able to measure this with their equipment, and it's pretty impressive actually.
In total, I'm happy with the energy savings, and the investment. I figure one more year and it will just about pay for the investment, and of course you do get a tax write off for some of the materials (helps some).

Dave

We had the best experience with Green Collar. My husband and I recently purchased a new home and wanted to make sure it was as energy efficient as it could be. The people at Green Collar came out gave a free estimate, which was lower than we thought it would be and actually pointed out all of the things we DIDN'T need to change!! (Unusual in the land of home owning)
We had them reinforce the insulation and weatherize the house. They came in and did the job extremely fast and handled all of the mail in rebates for us.
This was the most efficient, hassle free home improvement job ever! If only every home improvement company worked like this!! I would definitely recommend this company to anyone.
Oh and did I mention my house already feels much warmer than it did last winter and I have the temp set 5 degrees cooler!!

Great professional service! Everyone that I dealt with at Green Collar (Adam, Rob, Allison) was friendly, professional and went above and beyond to make sure my house was taken care of. Rob has expertise in this field of energy efficiency and made some great suggestions to improve the efficiency of my HVAC system. He didn't try to sell me things I didn't absolutely need. I would highly recommend talking to Rob about the various recommendations after the initial energy audit. I'm looking forward to a more efficient cooling and heating experience and will readily recommend this company to friends and neighbors.

These guys are great.

Prices are fair and the salesmen are no pressure. I was expecting to get pushed into buying more than I needed, but Adam was so easy to deal with.

The crew was running a little late but called to tell me and once here they busted their backsides to get everything done quickly and well.

I'm very picky about who works on my house after some bad experiences and I watch contractors like a hawk. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.