Louis is awesome! This was the classic battle of man vs nature, and man defintely won this time! Jokes aside I would not hesitate to recommend Louis to anyone and everyone that needs his services, and if I ever find myself in need of some animal control I know who is going to be on my speed dial.
My wife and I had started to hear "scratching" in one of the rooms of our townhouse. One day when I was mowing the lawn, I noticed a hole in our soffit on our roof overhang with birds flying in and out.
I called a few animal control places on homestars and Louis was one of the most responsive out of all of them. I tried calling the larger places, explained my situation and was told that they could come take a look at it in two weeks! Louis was able to come out earliest in one day, but I could only do two days out which he accomadated.
Come day of, he was a bit back logged and showed up a bit later then the agreed time which was not an issue at all as he kept me up to date on things.
He pulled up, and right when I opened the door he told me straight away that there was a hole in my roof, so he was right on the ball from the get go. He was totally comfortable with me hanging around and watching him work and take photos, as I was curious how the entire thing would work. He got out of his truck, quickly pulled out his ladders and made his way up to the opening.
Upon inspection he found not one, but TWO openings. The main one I could see from ground level, the second one you would not be able to see unless you were up there looking at it yourself. He took out his cell phone and text me some photos with what he found and as he worked.
I truely appreciated this, as it was like I was right there beside him seeing what he was seeing. Goes to show he has nothing to hide.
He climbed to the very top of my roof and walked all around to make sure there were no other openings. He went back to the original problem spot and fixed the secondary opening with some "sheet metal", and began to set up a "one way door".
He noted that it was definitely a raccoon that made the hole, as he saw bite and scratch marks. As well birds would not be able to make such an opening in metal. He also noted that since birds were starting to make a nest there it was likely there were no squirrels but he would check my attic to make sure.
After setting up and cleaning up on the outside, he came inside to check my attic. Upon coming in, he was kind enough to take off his shoes (a lot of contractors dont do this) without my asking. He brought his shoes upstairs, while carrying a ladder and was constantly looking around to make sure he was not going to hit anything. He climbed into my attic and spent a good while up there looking around and confirmed that it should be just the birds starting to nest in the soffit opening and he didnt see signs of anything else.
I could hear he walked through pretty much my entire attic to look around.
Although I do believe my job was pretty straight forward and "minor" in the world of animal control, at no point in time did I feel Louis tried to cut any corners with me.
I felt like he treated my home as if it was his. I also felt like he was treating my job with just the exact same amount of detail as if it was a much larger job.
A lot of the other companies I contacted sounded like either they didnt want to bother with me, would take the job and probably do something really quick or not give much care.
Again, although my job may be considered "small", I am the one that is living in this house. And as with any home owner, I want to trust that the contractor I hire would take as much care as I would. Louis is this and more.
Louis, has definitely earned a customer for life.
UPDATE: Louis and his colleague came back a few weeks later to complete the job, and I just so happened to be home as well.
I overheard them looking for a hammer, as they noticed that my eavestrough has a few nails popping out and they actually noticed and were willing to hammer it back in.
A small touch, but super duper appreciated - Goes to show that they dont just do the minimum. While they were up there working and fixing my soffit, they were willing to make a few small improvements.
