A-Duct Sub

Seth designed and installed a hood exhaust duct for our new range hood after doing an initial visit and seeing the sheet metal that had already been purchased by me. He was able to utilize what I had purchased and install a very streamlined duct that looks like it was always meant to be there. Luckily, there was closet access making it easier than without such access but that didn’t seem to make any difference to three other contractors that made earlier onsite visits that didn’t want the job or wanted the job but didn’t know how to finish the job. I’m so glad that I found Seth on Angie’s list.
Our house is old and had no range hood or exhaust duct in the kitchen. I learned that this is a situation that over time will cause grease buildup on all the cabinets in the kitchen. I think that there must have been an exhaust duct at some point but remodeling by previous owner prior to the house going on the market before our purchase and our moving in had caused decisions to be made that were more focused on looking nice rather than functioning well — the old form over function decisions that are made based on esthetics. Well I was determined to somehow re-​instate a range hood with duct that exhausts to the outside.
I did a lot of research and tried buying duct materials on the web and providing to a couple of contractors hoping to make the job a little easier. They didn’t buy into it. And our A.C. guy who I thought was great and who I got on Angie’s list when we had A.C. problems would not touch it — even though A.C. guys typically handle vent and duct repairs and installations. Evidently this job was not «turn key» enough to meet the turn-​key demands of a job that doesn’t require a lot of experience/​knowledge to fix and was not going to be a quick «in and out» kind of job with minimal complications.
I was getting kind of desparate because I wanted to have drywall work done in the closet where the exhaust hood was planned to be routed through. Luckily I searched Angie’s list and thought to use the term «exhaust duct» and bingo! found the entry for Seth’s business. He didn’t have a single review but he sounded like the only guy in Houston that was destined to solve my problem. (Did I mention that I called some ventilation companies in Houston? Apparently they only deal with commercial ventilation installations and repairs.)
And even after encountering a rather largish snake in the crawlspace beneath our house, Seth and his helper guy finished the job and it looks great.
I am here to report that he handles the difficult and tricky stuff and not just the quick and easy jobs.
In the meantime, I learned that he is an A.C. guy and he gave me a bid for our 18 year old system that is probably on its last leg. I now plan to call Seth (and not my previous A.C. guy) when our old system decides to give out.
I’m very grateful that I can now move on to other tasks and put the hood exhaust problem behind us. I gave him extra money over what he originally bid because I know how to appreciate some one who has been a big big help and a solution to a problem that I was beginning to wonder whether had a solution.