Envirotex

I want to alert Unilocal users to a bad experience we had with an environmental remediation firm, Envirotex. Note that this relates to the quoting process and not their actual work since we did not end up using them (read on for why).
We were selling our old house and were (erroneously) told by the buyer’s home inspector that our attic had been infiltrated with pigeons creating a potential «biohazard» that needed immediate remediation. The home inspector referred us to Envirotex to come out to assess the situation and give us an estimate for clean up.
Envirotex visited the attic and stated that $ 4,000 worth of cleanup work was required!
When we subsequently had an animal trapping company out to get rid of the alleged birds and close any holes, they said they couldn’t find any evidence of birds or waste. We had another company come out to double check and give our buyers more comfort.
Both firms confirmed our belief that not only had our attic NOT been breached by pigeons, there was NO waste to be found. Not even a feather. The only evidence of disruption in the otherwise pristine insulation was human footprints. There was a nest of sparrows (parents and babies) ON THE OUTSIDE of our attic with a metal screen in between. Put simply, none of the $ 4,000 of work quoted by Envirotex was necessary.
Envirotex has maintained that they were only quoting for the remediation and not confirming the inspector’s claims about the pigeons. (note: we have reported the inspector as well). Perhaps that is true but this explanation rings hollow to us for three reasons:
1) That was not our understanding of the situation. We were told by our Realtor that home inspectors require essentially no certification or training in our state. Accordingly, Envirotex was positioned to us the «experts» who would tell us what did and did not need to be done. Maybe they didn’t understand that was our expectation, but that seems odd to us. They must have worked in the past with inspectors who were less than capable.
2) I would expect any company in any industry to inform a customer if they felt work was not necessary before issuing a $ 4,000 proposal. Given that both trapping companies had no trouble quickly seeing that the home inspector was incorrect, I find it difficult to understand how that would not have been obvious to the Envirotex person as well.
3) I acknowledge that this is purely circumstantial, but it just doesn’t feel good to us that the home inspector on whom Envirotex would like to place all of the blame is the very person who referred us to them. Had the animal trapper not mentioned that he thought there was no evidence of birds we would have just paid the $ 4,000 and been none the wiser.
I’ll leave it to the reader to decide whether this sequence of events gives you pause. I would at the very least recommend getting more than one opinion.

I contracted Envirotex to abate a small amount of asbestos siding to prepare my 1947 cape for tear-​down. Daniel in particular was very knowledgeable, helpful and resourceful in resolving a bit of a surprise/​emergency.
Ultimately I can give no better recommendation than this: I’d give them my business again.

The man who does the test is always late with everything. He promises a date and does not deliver. He also has a bad attitude. Do not work with hime.