McHale Insulation Co Inc

Update: After talking to the owner we agreed to bring the balance down. He was very helpful and tried to understand all the issues so he can avoid further such situations. Leaving a star out because with better communication none of this would have happened. Talk to the owner and get all the details clarified before you start any work.
Initial review, modified:
I had an estimator come to my house and although he noticed there is a chance there might be knob and tube wiring in my inaccessible attic space he still recommend we do the blown in insulation.
A crew shows up at the time and they drill holes in the ceiling, we take a look and see that all the wiring is knob and tube, so they cancel the work because it is not safe. I am getting an electrician to re-​wire. I called and talked to two different people at the office. Both times I asked if I owe them anything. No, they said. No.
A few weeks later I get a bill charging me 60% of the quoted cost for the entire job! let me say that again 60%. I understand paying for the crew’s travel and prep work a reasonable amount, especially if I would have been informed about it at the time.

We had floor joist insulation and a vipor barrier put down today. The crew did an excellent job. We would give them 10 stars if we could.
The whole transaction from the estimate to the final crawl through went very smoothly.
We will use them again.

I had my first experience with McHale insulation today they are an awesome company and I would highly recommend them Jason and his crew came out and were extremely professional and courteous. They sealed the room off and did a fantastic clean up. Office gals are just as good. So glad North Bay Heating and Air made the referral. Having them back out to do the wall insulation as well.

A week after the attic insulation job we had a heat wave and I noticed the absence of attic fan sounds in the late afternoon. I called McHale and told them I suspected something must have happened because they were operational prior to the insulation.
McHale scheduled two guys to come out and take a look and it turned out the insulation got into the thermostat, causing it to malfunction. They fixed the issue and it is working great.
Am I happy it happened in the first place? Absolutely not. But at the same time I’m glad they agreed to come look into the issue without confrontation.
Mistakes happen — it’s the response that’s important.

On the basis of their integrity alone, I have to give McHale’s five stars! Tom McHale came out to our home to try and identify the source of a curious smell coming from our attic. After having ruled out rodents, a leaky roof and/​or a problem with the HVAC, I called Tom upon the recommendation of a contractor, who had suggested there might be wet insulation. Tom graciously came out and spent a generous amount of time looking at various possibilities. In the end, his conclusion was that the insulation was fine, but offered to come out the next time the odor was more pronounced to reinspect things. He absolutely sealed my future loyalty when he refused (twice!) to let me pay him for the time he spent at our home. How wonderful to know that such integrity can still be found! If and when we do need any insulation work done, McHale’s will be my first and only call.

This is a first class company!!! We were one of their first customers over 30 years ago. From the start Tom McHale was curious, professional, kind and compassionate! Dan and I are absolutely great and follow the tradition of the company, plus their own brand of professional customer service! In this day and age that is a rare combination!!!
P Brite

The best insulation contractor for your money. We called McHale’s last year [2013] to provide an estimate. Getting that scheduled was not as easy as I’d hoped. My first call was unanswered and the 2^nd found the estimator unavailable; he had to call back on another day. It took almost a week to get this scheduled (–0.5 stars). Once the estimator came out he was here only for about 30 minutes. I received the estimate the next business day following his visit. It was clear and lower than expected. Although we did not seek 2^nd or 3^rd opinions we were confident this would be the lowest cost and highest quality contractor available. Our choice was clear and facilitated by three things: (1) my brother used them the year before and spoke highly of McHale’s, (2) other Unilocal reviews, and (3) our own impressions and feelings of the contractor.
On the installation date the driver did not arrive as scheduled; actual installation was about 2 – 3 weeks after accepting the bid. Who knew that October could be so busy for an insulation contractor, lol. Thirty minutes after the scheduled time I had to call the office and find out why. They had to call me back after contacting the driver who also then called me directly. So they actually arrived about 90 minutes late (–0.5 stars) because of traffic. The attic was completed in about 2 – 3 hours including installation of baffles on vents and can lights. The exterior walls were drilled from the outside and I am still finding some drill-​outs and patch plugs. The stucco patching was of average quality, in my humble opinion; very noticeable in some areas and not so much in others (about ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ I’d say). Otherwise they left the work areas cleaner than upon arrival. The actual insulating process went well but given the age of the home, a lot of nails popped from the drywall. In one bedroom an entire corner of drywall near the ceiling, and about 4’x6’ cracked. Another team would be called out for repairs. No dings to the rating for these two things as it’s important to know it’s something that could/​should be expected.
The drywall repair team arrived as scheduled and did a great job. He installed a plethora of screws to suck the cracked section back flush with the undamaged wall. They plastered over the screws then applied texture and matched it as much as possible to the existing texture. If we had the matching paint they would have done that too but we have been unable to located a paint supplier who can accurately match the existing color.
As a new homeowner we have no utility bills with which to compare to the pre and post insulation process. It does seem though that they have dropped for months we do have comparable moths to utilize. So our attic went from R-​10 or much less to around an R-​38. The walls which had basically no insulation is now at around an R-​18. Needless to say we are pleased with McHale’s work, professionalism, costs and crew’s
I would not hesitate to recommend this contractor to anyone. If you are considering an insulation contractor then look no further. McHale’s is your go to contractor and will save you both time and money both short and long-​term. What more could you ask for?

McHale Insulation is the best, fairest. most professional, and highest insulator you will ever find.
We are doing a kitchen remodel here in 2014 and my contractor sent out an insulator who did not give us the advice we needed and was very expensive. All of sudden from deep in the bottom of my 69 year old memory came «McHale Insulation» whom we had used 12 years ago to add extra insulation to our attic to keep the house cool. We have never used our air conditioner since, live in Walnut Creek and it is always very cool and comfortable inside.
I called McHale Insulation a few weeks ago, the owner, Mr McHale came out the next day, really listened to what we actually needed which was $ 3,000 less than the other fellow who I think just wanted to maximize the work. McHales did it again, workers right on time, respectful, hard working and Mr McHale even called the next day to see how it went! Now that is service!
MG Nelson, Walnut Creek

I recently added insulation to my attic and two walls of my house. It has made my house so much more comfortable! My house has not gotten below 60 degrees this winter. I don’t even feel the need to turn on the heater!
The workers were clean, they vacuumed very well, I found almost no dust after the insulation.

I contacted McHale’s to get a second bid, just to make sure my contractor was competitive — and I received a bid that was LOWER than my original contractor, and included under-​the-​floor insulation, which I had been told was impossible to get done.
The job has now been completed — they removed all of the existing insulation in the attic, and installed new, higher-​grade borate insulation. The walls were insulated too, by drilling holes in the exterior. I was concerned with how that was going to look on my painted wood siding, but after sanding and repainting, you really have to look very, very hard to even see where the holes were drilled.
In addition, they sealed the entire house, including a very hard-​to-​get-​to gas fireplace, and all ceiling access hatches, plumbing and electrical penetrations, and such.
What a difference! The temperature in the master bedroom, which is far away from the thermostat, is now very even, where it used to be alternatively too hot and too cold. My variable-​speed furnace runs on the lower setting almost always now, where it used to have to blast at the highest setting before. From what I can see, my PG&E gas-​bill has been reduced by about 40%!
I warmly recommend these guys — Dan Hair, the owner, is a real pro, and knows insulation like nobody’s business.

Happy with the job that McHale Insulation did in putting in wall insulation in our home. Professional job and the work was done quickly.

We purchased a house with only 4 inches of insulation in the attic. I called to get quotes and McHale was definitely competitive. As if that weren’t enough, the quote I received included a variety of different options/​solutions. They explained all the different types of insulation along with the pros and cons. I really did feel as though they were more concerned about what would work best for my house and budget then what would be easiest and more lucrative for them (not all companies can say that).
On installation day, two prompt and knowledgable guys showed up ready to work. They lined all the walkways with tarps and sealed off (with a plastic lining) any areas that could have been exposed to insulation. I thought it would take all day, but in fact it only took a couple of hours. When they were done, they cleaned up everything. It looked as though they had never been there. I even got a chance to look up into the attic and see all the work that was done and all the markers that were left.
Overall, they were easy to work with, very polite and professional, willing to educate you about the products and different solutions, prompt and competitively priced. I would recommend them in a heart beat!

These guys returned my phone calls fast, got over to see the project in a day & got it done a couple days later. They did everything as expected, cleaned up their mess and were nice about everything. I will hire them again and recommend their work.

Our 42 year old home had about 2 inches of insulation and a R factor of negative 5. Our house was the ambient temperature year round, or worse. 105 outside? Easily 108 inside. We wanted to redo the master bath, put in new duct work, get the asbestos out of the vents, and wire for ethernet. Knowing we were doing this, we asked McHale to work with us in two stages. They came and sucked out the old insulation, which came with the added bonus of a few dead rats and poop. They sanitized the attic. When the other work was done, they came back and air sealed the attic and blew in new insulation. They were always on time, clean, neat, responsible, and were reasonably priced for doing a really unpleasant job. I wouldn’t want to spend my day in a stifling, claustrophobic attic. I highly recommend them.

Very impressed with their service, efficiency and work. Jerry came by at the time he said he would for a walk through to quote the job (insulating between floors for soundproofing). The price was quite reasonable and the crew showed up the day of the job at the time they indicated. Laid out all cloth and plastic to keep the rooms as clean as possible during the installation. Upon completion, the crew worked to clean up and get the rooms back to the way they were when they arrived.
Highly recommend them.
Jack in Oakland

Mchale is awesome and did everything as quoted… They were fast, clean and did
a great job. We had cellulose insulation done throughout the house and there was a big hole in my kids room and the guys was nice enough to patch it WOW!
What great service! We are very impressed!
Thanks Mchale!

We just finished having our attic and walls insulated by McHales. They did a wonderful job and we would recommend them again and again.
Pros:
1. They were very service oriented from the quote to the performing the job.
2. The price was very reasonable.
3. All the workers were very friendly, punctual, professional and reliable.
4. They left my house and backyard clean. There was no debris, trash, ect left on the job site. (In fact they left my backyard even cleaner then it was when they got there because they picked up all the leaves next to the house.)
5. We contacted 3 different insulation companies, McHales was the only one to return our calls and made follow up calls for our business. (We did get one additional quote but we went with our first impression and glad we did.)
6. They answered all our questions and even did a follow up call to give us additional information on the drying time of the stucco.
Cons:
1. Only one. They split the job up over two days becuase one of the guys called in sick. Luckly I had both days off from work but if I would of had to take a second day it could have been in issue.
Overall: Call these guys, they do a great job and you will not be sorry or wishing you had tried someone else.

Tom came out to give us a quote and was professional and courteous. Didn’t try to upsell or give me any nonsense and clearly knew his stuff. The installation team was quick, and did a great job installing blown-​in attic and wall insulation for our home.
McHale’s matched a major competitor’s price and did the work quickly, with no mess. A few days later we got all of the PG&E rebate stuff from them in the mail — all we had to do was sign and send it in. Easy as that.
Also, these guys beat the price quote I got from a Major Big Box Store by a full 50 percent.
A few weeks later and we can definitely tell the difference — the temperature in the home is far more stable and cool on hot days.

Dan came to my new home in Pleasant Hill and had some great recommendations for our new home. We decided on the cellulose insulation and have been very pleased. It has improved our homes ability to retain heat and the heater comes on much less now.
The two gentlemen who came out to install the insulation were very thorough and made sure the place was clean when they left.
All-​in-​all very happy with the service.

I found these guys in the Yellow Pages. ‘Lo and behold here they are on Unilocal.
I would recommend these guys to anyone in the market for getting new insulation in their house. We had them do both the attic and walls of our house. They have very reasonable rates and the estimator was very professional and friendly. On installation day they did run over the lawn and ruin some plants but immediately offered to pay for the damage which we didn’t end up needing to take them up on. They had 4 or 5 people on the job which took about ½ a day for a 2000 Sq Foot House with almost no attic access/​crawl space. They also filled out all the energy rebate forms we needed for PG&E and made the whole rebate process very easy.