The Foundation Works

Foundation Works arrived on time for the estimate and were extremely helpful and knowledgeable. Their estimate was very reasonable for the amount of work that needs to be done, but unfortunately it was out of our budget by more than double. At this time we will be reevaluating what we need to fix and would not hesitate to use Foundation Works in the future.

The Foundation Works were fantastic on every level that I dealt with them. The receptionist was lovely and asked lots of question to make sure everyone was on the same page. Keith was running early so he called to see if that would be ok. He was very thorough and informative. It looked like we didn't really need any work done but because everyone was so nice we will not hesitate to use them in the future.

He did a great job. He gave some recommendations on what needed to be done and what didn't need to be done. He even showed us a photo that helped us decide what to do.

They were prompt, courteous, knowledgable, honest, and turned down payment unless work was needed or requested. I didn't need to do anything at this time except improve water drainage away from the problem area. I would certainly use them for any needed work and would highly recommend them to my friends or anyone who needed their services in the future.

They were prompt, cleaned up after themselves every day and were informative and friendly.

In a word, our satisfaction with FW was average. Our broker called them to perform a foundation inspection on a property in escrow. FW honored the free inspection even though the property was in escrow. That was cool. We offered to pay because we didn't know they had that policy until after the inspection. What wasn't so cool was that our inspector came off as standoffish and uninterested in doing the job. His vibe was very "doomsday" and we just couldn't figure out why. He actually passed the work onto another contractor citing the property has too problematic and beyond FW's scope. At first he didn't even want to write a bid because he simply didn't want the work. But we requested one for our own benefit and he sent it, promptly. We appreciated that. His prescription and price point were more or less reasonable. Nothing out of the ordinary or egregious. However, when we emailed him questions about the bid his responses were opaque at best and we decided this probably wouldn't be a good fit. We tried, because they came recommended, but we felt kind of alone on an island. On another note, the administrative follow up was great. Very professional and timely. Bottom line: first impressions are everything. And our impression of the inspector wasn't the best. I'm sure FW is a great company and maybe that inspector was having a bad day but we chose to use an alternative.

Need the house foundation replaced. I called Foundation Works Brad came out was very polite said this was to big a job and recommed another foundation company. I would recommend this company for a foundation inspection if buying or selling a home, this seems to be what they do.

We did not end up having them do the work only because it was a lot of money (which would have seriously changed our house negotiations had we known about it) and a lawyer suggested before we sue the original company that we peaceably approach them and have them make good. Which is what happened, so the original company that missed it will be doing the work, and at cost. Because they acknowledged that they seriously f---ed up. But Tom's assessment was a guide for the new engineer, and when I offered to pay something for their time and for sending another guy over to bust thru the brick, they refused. If it hadn't been for the savings, we would have gone with them. They seem to be an excellent, reliable and reasonable thorough company, with first class reviews on Angies list and other sites. So I would recommend them wholeheartedly!

Extremely detailed and professional. No sales pressure for retrofit. We will be hiring them to do our foundation repair.

The inspector, Tom, from The Foundation Works did an excellent job. He was punctual, attentive, thorough and very clear and complete in his communication. He thoroughly inspected the foundation and the structure of the house we are in escrow in, carefully pointed out all the good and the bad issues. In addition, he was clear with communicating what parts of the structure/foundation he was unable to inspect because access was unavailable. With his report, we were comfortable in proceeding through escrow.

In the simplest terms, they where great to work with. They gave extensive information during there initial inspection. There crew was very respectful and they finished on time including permitting by the city of LA. I would highly recommend this company with out reservation

Brad came promptly. He appeared very profession and did the work as expected. He provided a thorough evaluation report immediately. I had some minor issues which according to him do not need immediate attention. I will definitely keep Foundation Works in mind when I have the resources to get these recommendations done. You seldom see honest contractors like them these days.

I found The Foundation Works on Angie's List when we were recently in escrow on a house built in 1914. The initial home inspection revealed that a more detailed inspection of the foundation was probably necessary. Thankfully, The Foundation Works had a coupon for Angie's List subscribers for a free inspection valued at up to $150. The Foundation Works was also on our realtor's list of recommended foundation repair/inspection vendors. I called The Foundation Works on short notice, as we only had 5 business days before the inspection walk-away clause expired. They were very friendly when I called and scheduled an appointment for 9:00 a.m. 3 days later. On the morning of the inspection, I received a call from the foundation inspector to let me know he had arrived at the property early. My husband and realtor met him at the home and the inspection took about an hour. My husband indicated that the inspection was very detailed and he felt the inspector was very straightforward (his name escapes me at the moment.). Also, my husband forgot to bring a copy of the Angie's List coupon, but they honored it anyway. The inspection confirmed our feeling that the foundation work would be a more extensive project than what we wanted to deal with, so we ultimately did not proceed with the sale of the home. A little over a month later, I received a courtesy e-mail from Tom Pelletier, owner of the Foundation Works, to check in and see if we proceeded with the purchase and if we needed any foundation work. Overall, I was very pleased with the level of customer service we received and would recommend The Foundation Works to anyone looking for a good foundation inspector.

They were good. I'm still waiting on the verification of the city inspection, though.

Based on the inspection done at the time we purchased the house, I knew of some the repairs that needed to be done. However, when Brad, the inspector for Foundation Works came out, he made a full inspection of the foundation and noted other repairs he thought necessary. The crew that came to do the work, led by Christian, was equally diligent and professional. They kept the worksite clean and organized and kept me informed as to the progress of each step. I am extremely pleased with the whole experience.

I highly recommend Foundation Works. They did an inspection of the property. They quoted me a price for the inspection but after they did it they decided to waive the inspection fee. They came on time and pulled the permits for the job. The job included adding additional pillars under the house and bolting down existing foundation. Upon completion they washed down the driveway. After the pools of water dried it revealed lots of dirt all over the driveway. I called them and they came out and cleaned it up. They accidentally cut a phone line under the house and when I emailed them the bill they quickly reimbursed me.

We called Tom for an estimate and consultation to fix a problem that our general contractor left us. We were at the tail end of a major home remodel (kitchen, bathroom, dining room, living room and new attic space) and our contractor had left existing floors in the kitchen sloped and built the new dining room and attic additions with sloping floors to match. We wanted to bring in a foundation expert to see what could be done since our GC didn't address the problem and then added to it. Tom spent 2 hours with us even though he already new he wouldn't be able to fix the issue!!! After examining the foundation in the crawl space and the work that was done for our remodel, he quickly concluded that any attempt to raise the foundation to level the floors would be futile because our contractor had built the 2nd story attic over the area that had settled (causing the sloping floors) and that the entire structure would resist any attempt to raise the foundation at this point. Our GC should have taken care of the foundation and sloped floor issue at the beginning of the project before framing the 2nd story attic, when the fix could have been successful. Now it was too late. Tom was very informative and very good at explaining all the issues at hand. Of the 2 hours he spent at our house, the full 2nd hour was spent explaining things to us after he told us that he wouldn't be able to fix the problem. He even spent the time to write and e-mail to us a 2 page report of his findings. That, to us, spoke of his superb customer service. Although he didn't actually do any work for us, we felt that the time he spent with us demonstrated his integrity, trustworthiness and care for his work and reputation. Tom had a difficult job in having to deliver bad news to us knowing that he wouldn't be getting any work from us and yet still answered all our numerous questions and concerns. By doing so in such a patient and caring manner, he showed us why he's so highly rated on Angie's List. We don't usually spend any time with writing reviews; but, in this case, how could we not? We also had another highly rated (angie's list) foundation specialist come out to assess our problem afterwards to get a 2nd opinion and they came to the same conclusion as Tom. They also told us that the only other foundation specialist they would recommend to do work on a foundation was Foundation Works - and that was without us having said anything about having already met with Tom.

The inspecton took about a half hour..

The Foundation Works is top notch A+ all the way!!! I spoke with Ann, very nice person, to make an appointment and she was helpful in letting me know the person who would be inspecting, awesome job Brad, the cost and of course the day and time. Sure enough the inspector by the name of Brad showed up and did a comprehensive look at the foundation of the house. He also made a draft drawing of the house to let us know where if any problems existed. After he was finished, approximately 40 minutes, he gave me a run down on why nothing was wrong with the foundation of the house. Not only that, he did not charge me!!!! Courteous and honest without a doubt!!! I would HIGHLY recommend The Foundation Works to anyone!!!

I can't say enough good things about this experience. To back up I had had a licensed contractor scheduled to repair four cracks under my house. The process leading up to that date had involved a full month of visits to the city and paying for permits, engineer, time, etc. On the day we were to get started, after peeking under the house he announced he had shockingly bad news. 11 more cracks that had appeared during the past month. My foundation must be so old it is crumbling. If the city inspector saw this my house would be red tagged and my mother and I would not be able to get back in. I live with my elderly and frail mother, so the safety of the house is of great concern to me. He claimed the house would have to be lifted while a new foundation was poured. My head was spinning. My neighbor is a real estate agent and suggested the Foundation Works for a second opinion. Brad came out promptly to see the house. He told me noticeable plaster would be coming off of the walls if the cracks had happened in a month. My cracks and happened over a long period of time due to drainage issues. My situation was common and not urgent. The red tagging was nonsense. He told me that the cracks are repairs and don't require city approval. Bolting requires the city approval but Myron gets that taken care of in a couple of hours. In a day I had a detailed description e-mailed to me of the cracks other issues found and suggested repairs. I decided to have the work done including the bolting. I scheduled them for the following Wed. and the work was done by Friday night. The amount of their quote for the repair portion of the job (11 cracks more than the previous quote) was the same as what my first guy's original quote was for four cracks before the engineer and other expenses. Myron came to oversee the work, assist with decisions and travel for needed equipment.. John was the on-the-site supervisor doing hands on work, while overseeing and in constant communication with Myron. Four other guys worked a hard eight hour day for three days under the house the whole time. They worked like a machine. As they worked the men under the house found two additional posts that needed repairing that Brad hadn't spotted plus a crack that was much larger than first had appeared and would need to be repaired in a more aggressive way. These they were honest to report and correct properly, plus didn't charge me a cent more for the extra work! They were polite as can be to me and my mother and seemed to get along well and enjoy the work. Mom actually slept through much of it and talked about how nice they were. I took a look under the house. Beautiful and neat to my untrained eye. I feel more secure in my house than ever and completely relieved I was spared the disruption and expense I was about to walk into. Myron paid a visit to hand deliver me photos since my computer didn't accept them. When there is so much dishonesty in this industry I have been so grateful to these men that do an honest day's work and provide a great needed service to the city. Every last one of them was awesome in my mind. They are the salt of the earth!

Foundation Works was the fourth company we called out for an estimate. The first company charged us a fee and did not crawl under the foundation. One other company charged us a fee to provide an estimate for retrofitting, and wanted a further fee to drill into our foundation walls to see if the retrofitting would work. Too many fees. It came down to one company that also did a very thorough inspection and estimate and Foundation Works, but Foundation Works had the most realistic price and was by far more responsive than anyone else we worked with. The guys from Foundation Works crawled around our foundation, pinpointed the problems and came up with a very clear and reasonable estimate and solution. They explained worst case scenarios for the portions of the walls that they could not determine about the quality of the foundation at the time of the estimate. Luckily, those didn't come to pass, but it was nice to know the potential costs involved. The actual work started very quickly because they had an opening from a cancelation. The guys doing the work showed up on time, were very polite and friendly with us. I wasn't supervising all of the work, but when we showed up they were always happy to show us their progress and explain the process. I have a half basement, so it's pretty easy to see much of the work that was done, and from my non-expert perspective, it looks really good. It basically looks like the work they explained to me. My partner was a contractor and he confirms that the work looks clean and high quality. I'll update this after the next earthquake. Foundation work seems really tough and it didn't seem like they cut any corners or rushed anything. They came back and cleaned up the mess completely and consistently checked in throughout the job to make sure everything was ok. It was quick, easy and painless for something so vital to a home.

Tom mapped out the bones of my house underneath so thoroughly that he found the problem that had eluded other professionals. (Someone had poured 7 inches of concrete on top of what everyone supposed to be earth in a 10' square room, but was actually a supported structure. the concrete plus thick Spanish tile weighed so much it knocked out the pins and created instability that made huge cracks in my walls.) 12 hours of jackhammering later, the foundation got a face lift and the walls have been crack-free ever since.

The whole job was fantastically done, from start to finish. First, Brad did a terrific job of assessing the foundation and retrofit problems that needed to be dealt with. His detailed description of what problems existed and what needed to be done made it easy for us to understand the full scope of the job. The foreman, Myron, was completely professional and did a wonderful job of describing each and every step that was being taken during the repair and retrofit. This kept us constantly aware of where they were in the process. The crew of Christian, Renato, John, and Kyle were professional, hard-working, and very knowlegeable. They put a great deal of thought and effort into making sure our house was as level as it could possibly be. It had done a lot of settling since 1926, the year it was built. Further, past changes to the house done in a substandard manner had done quite a bit of damage to the foundation structure. Now the house is as solid as a rock and so close to level that we can't tell the difference. We can't speak highly enough of the young men who did this job for us. They were prompt, cheerful, and completely absorbed by and interested in what they were doing. They genuinely seemed excited to climb into their coveralls and dive under our house. We would use this company and crew again in a heartbeat. We would, and will, certainly recommend them.

The inspector was very thorough and he even let me go down under the house with him! He took the time to explain what he was looking for, and he was able to figure out the time period when my home was built without me telling him. He happily noted that my flooring has great support, far more than most other homes he has seen. He gave the foundation a clean bill of health with no recommendations!

When we bought our house, the inspector recommended these guys to inspect our foundation. Tom came out and had a look at the house, which had some cracks in the drywall in various rooms, and told us we needed to retro-fit the foundation. The house was built in 1946 so it seemed reasonable to me. They offered a good price and were done in a timely manner, the crew he brought out were good guys and we were very happy with the work... at first. We were so happy in fact that when we wanted to remodel the basement we asked Tom to recommend a contractor. That was a total disaster in every regard, which I won't even get into here. I will say that at the end of overcharging for a REALLY awful job, he further insulted us by trying to push scientology on us. ugh. That was nearly 3 years ago. Since then the drywall has cracked more and more, and several doors won't close anymore. The house is definitely shifting and the "retrofit" was unnecessary and meant we didn't actually address the real problem! Recently we had plumbers come out and replace the sewer line. Trying to get to the root of the problem, we thought perhaps the cracked sewer line was making mud under the house and causing all the shifting -not the case. When they dug out in front of the house they found that the front wall of the house doesn't have a foundation footing!!! So the whole dang thing is leaning that way causing all kinds of issues. You'd think the "foundation experts" would have noticed that in their inspection, or maybe while they were going around nailing particle board to all the studs in the basement "fixing" our foundation. What a racket. The real bummer is now that I know what's going on, I don't know who to call to fix it!