Meet the Woodland Hills Team Behind Thistledown Insulation Woodland Hills
We’re a Cedarwell-family company, and the crew that shows up at your door in Woodland Hills is the same crew that answers your questions, walks your attic, and writes your price. No subcontractors passing through. No mystery faces. Our installers and coordinators work this neighborhood, know its houses, and know what a San Fernando Valley summer does to an under-insulated attic. Thistledown is the soft fluff of the thistle, one of nature’s lightest insulators. The name is a promise about how carefully we work, and the people below are the ones who keep it.
Our People
Marcus D. – Lead Technician
Marcus has been installing attic insulation in the Valley for over a decade, and he’s been with Thistledown Woodland Hills since 2016. He’s our go-to for the complicated retrofit jobs: tight attics, low-pitch roofs, and older 1960s tract homes where the framing doesn’t always cooperate. Marcus holds certifications for both Owens Corning and Rockwool installation, and he’s the person we send when a homeowner wants to understand the difference between fiberglass batts and blown-in coverage before a single bag comes off the truck. Off the clock, he coaches his son’s little league team in Canoga Park and has a standing opinion about the Dodgers that he will absolutely share if you ask.
Elena R. – Senior Installer, Spray Foam Specialist
Elena is our spray foam lead, certified for Icynene and Demilec systems, and she’s the reason we can offer open-cell and closed-cell options without ever guessing at the chemistry. She’s meticulous about prep because she knows spray foam doesn’t forgive a sloppy mask job, not on your floors and not on the air quality in your home. Before every foam job, she walks the attic access path and lays out the contamination barriers herself. Elena has worked with Thistledown since 2019, and she’s the crew member who will quietly point out that your attic hatch is leaking air before you even realize it matters. Her two rescue cats are named Batts and Cellulose, which tells you exactly where her head is at.
Derek S. – Service Coordinator
Derek is the voice on the phone, and he’s been answering Thistledown Woodland Hills calls for seven years. He’s the one who takes your call at 11 p.m. on a weeknight or 7 a.m. on a Sunday, because a live person answers every call, 24 hours a day, every single day. Derek coordinates every job from first call to final walkthrough, which means he knows where each crew is and when they’ll arrive, and he can tell you that without putting you on hold to check. He grew up in Woodland Hills and can usually tell from your cross streets whether your attic access is in a hallway or a closet, which saves everyone time on the phone. Derek is the reason our scheduling doesn’t feel like a game of telephone.
Sam G. – Apprentice Installer
Sam joined Thistledown Woodland Hills in 2023 after three years in residential construction, and he’s the newest member of the install crew. He works under Marcus and Elena on every job type we offer, which means he’s learning blown-in fiberglass, batt installation, and spray foam from people who don’t cut corners on teaching. Sam is also the reason our clean-up standard stays sharp: he’s the one double-checking that the drop cloths came back up and that no insulation dust is sitting on your hallway floor. He’s a Woodland Hills native, currently taking night classes in building science, and he asks a lot of questions in the truck, which is exactly what we want an apprentice to do.
One Standard, Every Job
The Cedarwell Care Promise is non-negotiable across every independently owned location, and our Woodland Hills crew holds to it on every single visit. We lay drop cloths across your hallway and wear shoe covers from the front door to the attic hatch. We ask before we move or touch anything, because your house is not our workspace, it’s your home. We respect quiet hours, and when there’s a sleeping child or a nervous dog, we adjust how we work. We clean up like it’s our own home, and before we leave, we take a photo of the clean-up and show it to you. Every customer gets a written price before any work starts, always, and every job is backed by the 365-Day Done Right Promise. If it’s not done right, we make it right. No debate, no fine print. That standard comes from the crew, and it’s why we don’t need to talk about how much we care. You’ll see it in the shoe covers and the drop cloths and the clean floor when we leave.
Written by Neil Barron, Owner of Thistledown Insulation Woodland Hills, serving Woodland Hills and the San Fernando Valley since 2003.