Bloom Crawl Space Services

Discovered a few inches of water in part of the crawlspace under the house. Called around for a couple of bids to get advice/​comparison shop on how to get rid of the water. Bloom sent someone out. We explained to him that the water in the crawlspace was a one-​time, situation-​specific situation – not broken pipes, not damaged sewer line, not shifting flood plain. We’d solved the cause of the outside water leak and now just needed to get the water out.
Guy from Bloom went under the house to look around – he had the advantage here because we couldn’t go under the house to look for ourselves, we had to trust what he told us. He took close-​up pictures of specific problems. Under the guise of shmoozing he hard core scared/​upsold us about what would happen if we didn’t go with his proposed plan, which involved digging a trench around the entire interior of the crawlspace, installing a pump (not a temporary pump, no, he insisted we needed to purchase and permanently install a pump and drainage system, to be prepared if this ever happens again.)
Then he moved on to the «major rodent infestation» He says most of the insulation has been torn off the heat ducts by rodents which used it for nests, now soaked in pee and feces. He tells us it’s really warm under the house because we’re losing heat through the ducts, which are now exposed because of the rodent infestation. He says he’ll «include in the bid removal of all of the insulation from the ducts, both what the rodents have used for nests and what’s still wrapping all our ducts, «because the rodents run along the ducts and pee and poop on the insulation above the ducts which will begin to smell up your house.»
He says he’ll include in the bid an ongoing rodent control service.
He says he’ll also include in the bid the cost of his subcontractor coming out to replace all of the insulation, at a per foot cost.
He said the rodents had displaced the vapor barrier in a couple of places. He said the whole thing had to go and a new one put down. He’d include that in the bid, too. «It’s so much easier to get everything done all at once by one contractor,» he says.
He said he would do his best to cut us a break and get the bid in under $ 5000.
We were suitably panicked until the next company sent someone out to look, about 24 hours later. He also took lots of pictures, though they were long shots of the whole space. «What water? Who told you you have water under there?» Point being that opening all the foundation vents for a day-​and-​a-​half was enough to get the water to evaporate all by itself. Which means there probably was some water under there when the Bloom guy looked, but nothing that would warrant digging trenches, or purchasing and installing a permanent pump and drain system. Hard not to think the Bloom guy knew the water would dissipate with a good airing out.
«What about the rodent infestation?» we asked the second guy. He says, «I hardly ever go under a house around the metro area that doesn’t have some sign of squirrels or mice. It doesn’t look so bad to me. You can put out some traps and probably need to get rid of the bird feeders.»
«What about the insulation on the heat ducts?» we asked. He didn’t see a problem; the heat ducts are still wrapped in insulation/​securely covered with plastic. The insulation the Bloom guy saw was from the underside of the floor. «Wouldn’t hurt to put some more back up.» says the second guy
Mother Nature took care of the water, we’ve set some traps, and for $ 200 we got the nests cleared out, patches of missing insulation replaced under the floor, and some new visqueen put down on the exposed area of dirt in the crawlspace.
Update: I got the written bid from Bloom. Glad to see he removed the digging of a trench around the perimeter, and permanent installation of a drainage system and pumps, in my crawlspace. You’d think that would drop the quote quite a bit. Nope, the bid was over $ 7500 for the other stuff.
I can’t speak to the quality of Bloom Crawlspace Services/​Bloom Pest Control’s work if you have a legitimate need which you have taken extra steps to verify, but I wouldn’t hire them or recommend them based on my experience.