ALP Systems, Inc.

Knowledgeable, got here faster than expected, high quality work,

These guys are off-the-charts good. Since this is going to be long, I'm going to give you the punch line first. HomeAdvisor has helped me find several good contractors in the past. The experience I just had with lighting rods has taught me that you can't always take customer reviews at face value. A 5-star review from a person who lacks the knowledge to accurately evaluate the work probably means nothing more than the contractor showed up on time and was likable. MAYBE THE POSITIVE REVIEWS WERE BOUGHT WITH GIFTS (or the promise of gifts), which I'm pretty confident was the case with my first selection for this job. You can see with your own eyes that a drywall repair looks good, but - if you're like most of us - you'll have no idea whether or not a lightning protection system has been installed properly. As you know, HomeAdvisor provides three Pros to choose from. ALP asked for the plans (my house is under construction) and responded with a detailed quote that I thought was a little on the high side. I got a phone call from the second pro; (the third never contacted me), who happened to be in the area and was able to see my house in person within a couple of days. I thought that was lucky. Boy, was I wrong about that. The guy who came out to the site was nice enough and he was available to do the work that weekend. I thought that was important because there was a limited amount of time to install a concealed system. He also charged a little less money. He did the work, as promised, but it was sloppy beyond belief. The wires weren't visible from the outside, but they were hanging into the house (below the rafters). When I asked about it, he said the guys would have no trouble working around it. They'll cover it up with drywall and crown molding, he said. When I told my contractor on Monday, he said that was BS. That's when I called ALP. Lucky for me, Eric (the owner who's also an engineer) was able to be out there the next day. He was appalled by what he saw. The lightning rods I'd just paid to have installed actually made it MORE likely my house would burn down if it ever got struck by lightning. There were lots of bends - including loops - in the copper wiring that would have resulted in the lightning exiting inside my house. In at least one case, the rod wasn't properly connected to the wire. Eric had his guys at my house two days later. He was with them at the start to make sure they understood what needed to happen. By 2:00 that afternoon the defective system had been removed and a system that actually protects my house from lightning had been installed. Their work was absolutely gorgeous. It took two crews of guys about 6 hours to do the job properly while it took the first guy (he told me he had a couple of guys helping him, but all I have is his word on that) just a little longer to throw up some copper and call it good. I thought I was protected as long as l could see copper wires that connected the rods to the ground. The first pro told me the system he'd just installed on my house was as good as 85% of the houses in the state. For the sake of those homeowners, I hope he was wrong about that. I'm lucky his work was so sloppy. If he'd done nothing more than run the wire through holes he could have drilled in the rafters I would have been happy. I would have FELT safer during a thunderstorm while actually being more at risk. I realize this whole tale makes me look pretty stupid. I wouldn't argue with that. Just t make the same mistake I did. If you're going to pay somebody to protect your home from lightning, pay professionals a fair amount to do the job right.