XPERT FLOOD CONTROL INC

He told me what my options were and I decided to wait to see if I had anymore water. I would definitely hire them if I choose to go ahead with any work.

The installation went well. Arthur, sales representative and technician who actually installed the system were great to work with. Amazing how the tech fit down in the igloo. My basement flooded terribly prior to having the system installed. The only thing I dont like is that there is a man whole cover in my walk way. Even still this was the best investment I've made. They come out every year to service the system. Its probably time for me to have the motor replaced.

Install went pretty well. they put in a double gate and ejector pump. You have to do a lot of follow up, but the squeaky wheel will get the grease. So I ended up getting installed faster than expected. They kinda ruined the lawn (and said they would fix it multiple times, but never did). I guess this was a small price to pay to prevent basement flooding, but it would have been nice if they said they would. So far no water, so with that I am happy. The system was not cheap, but it helps me sleep at night.

WOW, I'm so happy I found Patrick on Angie's List. Honest, Knowledgeable, and HARDWORKING. I was pretty overwhelmed when I found out they have to dig 10 feet down in my front yard to get at this broken drain tile. The whole staff reassured me everything would turn out fine, they make these repairs all the time. They scheduled and completed the work on time and as promised. The workers were organized, neat, courteous and so hardworking. They knew what they were doing and there were no surprises, everything went smoothly. The work was completed within a month of calling them. I'm very happy with their work. They laid sod over the 15' x 4' place that they dug and it looks perfect. Amazing!

No responses to 2 Angie's List Messages sent on 8/29/13 and 10/3/13. One day response to email sent to address on company web site 10/7/13. Then some emails and voice messages attempting to schedule live conversation or estimate, but no replies after last several so gave up.

I was very pleased with the work that was done. The workers were polite and informative when I asked questions. The clean up afterwards was great and you wouldn't even know that had been there. I would definitely use them again and recommend them..

Everything went very well. I first updated this review as of 9/9/13. At that point Xpert had given me an estimate and I have given them a $500 down payment and a signed contract. The estimate process went very well. Angelica came out on a Saturday. She arrived near the scheduled time (within 1/2 hour). She took the time to explain how the Xpert flood control system worked. I was already familiar with the system and with flood control systems in general so the meeting was fairly short (about 30 miniutes). She did a good job of answering the questions I had. I compared Xpert to other companys installing flood control systems in the neighborhood. Experts had the higher price by about $400 vs Parks, and $1,000 over a smaller company. But I chose to go with Xpert because I had seen them do a large flood control and drain tile project on a building I lived in nearly 10 years ago. The work was done very well then, and I confirmed with a long time resident that the system Xpert installed has worked good over the years and is still working today. And that building is in an area of Chicago where basement flooding is common. For this project, the down payment and contract were given about 3 months prior to Xpert actually starting the work. I contacted them about monthly, and the expected start date was moved back at least once, maybe twice (I was patient because I knew they were very busy since severe storms occured during the summer). THE ACTUAL WORK: Once Xpert started the work, things went very well. They dug a large hole in my front yard and installed their flood control system including the well, valve, pump, and electrical connection within three days. The workers doing the work were courteous and took the time to answer any questions I had. When they were finished, the lawn looked good and all construction materials were cleaned up and removed. About 1 week later, they came back and did a final video inspection, for the city of Chicago who sent out an inspector.

I hope the service went fine. They came and checked the big pump in the system. They said that everything is fine, but I would eventually need a new pump within a year. They performed fine. They have a set price that they charge to check the system, and you know that before they come. It is under $150 or close to it. I would use them again in the future because you have to have the system checked once a year, and when I replace the pump, I will have them do it.

I am extremely pleased with them. They solved a very significant drainage issue that we had.

I believe I've received negligent service which resulted in sewage flood damage totaling over $3000. I hired Xpert to perform annual maintenance of my flood control system, which stops sewage water from entering my house. This maintenance was performed 2 days prior to a storm coming through on the night of April 17. At the conclusion of the storm, I had inches of sewage water in my basement. The valve that was maintained had a rusty cover that had a hole in it. This hole allowed the sewage water to flow around the valve and into the house. I received a second opinion from and quot;The Scottish Plumberand quot; - an Angie's List member. In writing, he opined on the situation: and quot;Unit failed because lid had a 6and quot; x 2and quot; hole located on the side that receives positive pressure. Water from city was able to enter vault and begin to back up into the spillover tee eventually flooding basement. Pump was just recycling water and unable to remove it.and quot; The fact that a hole was present 2 days after maintenance work indicates that there was severe negligent service provided. No warning of any aging or faulty parts was communicated. The expectation of proper maintenance is to identify and fix potential issues or faulty parts to avoid further damage - replacing parts where necessary. Further, the fix to this issue was simply replacing the cover of the valve box, which XPert was able to do after the fact within 24 hours of my contacting them of this flood result. It is clear to me that if Xpert had performed the maintenance work properly during the initial maintenance call, no sewage backup damage would have been incurred to my property. Therefore, I think it is very reasonable to expect Xpert to compensate the funds required to cover the cleaning and repairs. I have included a detailed chronology of events for further clarification. I also have pictures illustrating the issue. Monday April 15th at ~10am, annual maintenance was performed by Xpert on the sewage backup valve. Upon completion, my wife briefly spoke with the employees and asked how everything looked. Xpert employees responded with and quot;everything looks great.and quot; Thursday, April 18th at 3am - sewage water starting to back up from the drains, including overflow from the basement toilet. I went out to view the flood basin. The entire basin was filled with sewage water. The valve is an automatic device that should not allow sewage water into the basin from the street side. At the end of the storm, I had inches of sewage water covering all areas of my basement: storage room, crawlspace, bathroom, and living room area. By 10:30am the water in the basin was low enough to see the reason for the inflow to the basin. On the cover of the valve box was a large hole. This allowed the water to enter the basin from the street side, essentially rendering the valve useless. This flooded the basin and therefore allowed the sewage water to enter the pipes on the house side of the valve. I called Xpert to alert them of my flooded basement and my irritation that they left a faulty cap in place. I wanted to get someone from Xpert to immediately look at the situation and fix the hole. I voiced my immediate concern of getting the cap replaced and my greater concern of the cost of the damages incurred to my property. Friday, April 19th - I got home at approximately 6:30pm from my day job. Neither my wife nor I had heard from Xpert. At approximately 8:30pm, I began to wonder if Xpert had already been at the house and just didn't inform us. I opened up the manhole and looked into the flood basin and a new cover and clips were installed. We had to hire a water restoration company to provide cleanup services. They said with sewage backup floods, they must cut the walls which have moisture - which was everywhere in the living room area. They power-washed all floors and put in drying fans and dehumidifiers. The total cost of this was $3345.19. This does NOT include the wall repairs, which were cut out. We have not priced that work out yet. I think it is completely reasonable to expect reimbursement from Xpert for this cleanup, restoration, and repair.

Paul was great on the initial visit, and assessed the situation quickly. After a full inspection, the main source was a crack in the basement foundation, which could be easily solved by injection. We contacted Paul/Xpert to complete the project and we were told he would call within a few days when he was back in our area. 2.5 weeks went by with no call or follow up. I reached back out to Paul to follow up myself, and was told his phone wasn't working properly, but that he would follow up the next day once fixed. 48 hours later from that message, I am still waiting for a call. At this point, we have already gone through another round of flooding in the area, and I need to look elsewhere to get this serviced. Poor follow up and it didn't seem as though there was much interest in our business.

After two no-shows (and no phone calls to explain said no-shows), office manager Angelica called me the day after the second incident to offer her and her firm's sincere apologies. She wanted to send out a crew the very next day, at no charge, to make amends, but as I had already scheduled similar services with another plumber, I declined her offer. Not only did she then offer to waive the annual maintenance charge on my flood control system next year, but also promised that Xpert would perform power rodding and clean out our catch basin in 2015 free of charge. Definitely above and beyond anything I expected, Xpert's generosity and obvious commitment to customer service is very much appreciated!

He was very thorough and had insights about the construction done on our home and the reasoning behind it. Of all the contractors that stopped by, he was by far the most valuable. We fought to use his services but were unable to negotiate it. Now that we own our home, we will certainly use them in the future.

I called to make an appointment 2 weeks ago. The scheduler said she would be the one here herself (Angelica). She told me 12 pm on Sunday the 9th. I thought that would be fine because I had company coming at 2 pm. She never shows up and then calls at 1:40 to tell me she's on her way. I told her that wouldn't work because I had visitors coming at 2 pm and there wouldn't be time to go over everything with company in my house. So we rescheduled to the next day between 6:30 and 7:30 pm. We got home from work at, I am NOT kidding, 6:31 pm, and she had already come and gone, left a complicated set of brochures about doing a and quot;complete flood maintenance system,and quot; that easily looks to cost anywhere from $10,000-$20,000. When all we wanted was basement waterproofing done in an area where the carpet has been pulled up and we need the floor sanded, sealed, and painted. I told her all of this on the original phone call, but she blows off the appointment the first day, and then comes early the next day, to avoid us and only to market her expensive flood system that we don't need? I am so angry, disappointed, and unbelievably dumbfounded that companies choose to operate this way in this economy! UPDATE: The salesperson actually had the call to call me and argue with me about my review here. Suddenly, all the details of our conversations and meeting times were and quot;differentand quot; than what was originally decided. As if I made everything up. She also claims now that they never agreed to estimate for waterproofing and thought we needed a complete flood control system. Tired of the lies.

I had originally left a message asking for a quote for waterproofing a basement storage unit that had repeated flooding. Paul returned my call that same day, and since his office was so close to me, he stopped by that same day. Paul spent over an hour and a half thoroughly examining the foundation of the building, the storage unit that flooded, the back stairwell drain, downspouts, sewerage traps, and all the sump pumps in the condo building. He actually opened up all sump pump pits and tested to see exactly what source each pit pumped out. Paul was the first person who examined the sump pump pits. His thorough investigation led us to be able to create a list of possible causes for our flooding that we are working through and ruling out. Paul has been continually prompt in returning phone calls and helpful in walking us through our potential cause list and advising us as to how to best proceed in examining the next potential cause as we work to rule them out.

They showed up on time and did a thorough assessment of our system that they had installed 16 years ago and that the previous homeowners had not maintained. They showed us the parts that needed to be replaced and gave us an estimate up front before doing the repairs. They did a great job and we were so glad we had them come out before the big rains!!

To start with, this company was hard to contact and schedule an appointment with. They do not seem to work well under the stress of many people needing basement help following a flood. I overlooked their poor attitude on the phone given how I am sure it is difficult dealing with numerous phone calls and people being irritated at not having their calls returned. When the person from the company came out, I was very disappointed. He was borderline rude. I got the distinct impression that my concerns and situation would not generate a bill large enough to be worth their time. He told me I probably have a crack somewhere and that there was nothing he could do to help me. I forget how long he told me I would have to wait to have someone come out, if they were to help me. He wouldn't give me his business card and did not provide any information on crack repair, advise on how to carefully try to find a crack or cracks without tearing down all my dry wall or anything. It was a complete waste of my time making an appointment with this company.

Excellent job. Patrick and his employees are very professional and informative. They did a large volume of work in a short amount of time and everything was top-notch. I highly recommend Xpert for any type of service they provide.

Overall rating would be higher based only on the work done. The C rating reflects the difficulty we had in getting the work started. Several start dates were given, and no one showed or called. Once work began, it was done well and on schedule. Have had no problems with sewer back up since the work was done, but it has only been 6 months with few heavy rains.

We have had water issues in our basement every time it rained. Patrick came out and suggested we tear up the concrete so that it sloped away from our basement door and to a trench drain located at the bottom of the stairs where most of our water came from during a rain. We also installed a battery back-up sump pump to ensure that if the water did get backed up to our catch basin, the water would not go into the basement. We have since had several hard rains and it has worked wonderfully. Patrick and his on-site team lead by Miguel were professional, on time, and courteous. We even had a box built for the battery but after installing the box, we found the cords were too short. We called Patrick and he had Miguel come out to take a look. He replaced the cords for free. We even decided to reroute our downspout and Patrick gave us the name of a wonderful guy who did a great job for a fair price. We could not be happier with the job performed.

The thing that impressed me so much about this service was the professonalism that Enrique exhibited when servicing this job. He stated that he has been with xpert for 17 years; which is meaningful to me because I interpet this to mean that Patrick takes care of his employees. I mentioned to Enrique that I was worried about the check valve leaking back into my basement. He took the time to show me my worry was unnecessary and demonstrated how the construction of the valve makes leaking highly unlikely I hired Xpert several years ago because Patrick did a good job presenting Xperts value. The price was competitive and they checked out on Angies list and the BBB. At the time, I was a bit skeptical of the lifetime guarantee of the valve. I figured a flood control company would never be in business long enough to make the warranty worth anything. 4 years later, I can now admit my skepticism was unfounded. It is apparant that this firm is run extremely well and their products are quality. I will definately use them for any flood control issues. If you do end up hiring xpert, make sure to have them out annually to service the pump and valve. The piece of mind it provides is well worth the money spent.

Excellent job. The serviceman performed a thorough cleaning and inspection of the system. He gave me an estimate for replacing the existing sump pump, which was over 30 years old. The pump was replace several days later. The work was done in a clean, professional manner. The service man was prompt and pleasant to deal with.

The crew was really efficient and they were very careful with our shrubs when they did their work. They removed the dirt and left very little indication that this work took place. If you went by our home today you will see no indication of where all the digging took place. Their foreman Miguel was really terrific. He explained everything that was to take place and he kept us informed as the work progressed. He and his crew were just terrific in the way they did the work.

The only issue that we had with this company was the wait time after we paid our deposit. And the fact that they did not give us a follow up call to say that they would be later than at first thought. After they started the project they GOT IT DONE! The weather was bad out and we did not have to tell them to not track up the floor, they shielded the floor on their own. They were on time, professional, courteous and did a fantastic job cleaning us the site once they finished. The grass was put back in place and they left the yard as they found it. No complaint on that part of the project. They did great. The only thing that I'd say that Xpert Flooding need to do differently is, call your customers and let them know if there will be a delay. This way we will know that you have not forgotten about us and that you think enough of our business to keep us informed. We have not had a flood since the installation therefore, I can't say if it works or not, however, If a flood occur I'll gladly let you know if it works.

Xpert installed my flood control system in 2009, and had performed yearly maintenance on it in 2010. I usually get a post card stating when they will arrive to perform annual maintenance. Received one in early Summer of 2011 stating they would arrive in a couple of weeks. They did not. Received another in the Fall stating they would arrive in a couple of weeks. They did. Left a bill in my mailbox for $85, stating they arrived and did the annual maintenance. They also noted that my drain needed to be power rodded. I called to schedule power rodding. A technician left me a voice mail the morning it was scheduled stating he was late and would arrive around 3:30 PM to do the work. I happened to be home that day and no one ever arrived. They never tried to reschedule. I never got a bill either, so I don't know what to think. We'll see how they work out in 2012... UPDATE (12/10/2011): Xpert called me to make things right and rescheduled the power rodding today (my earliest availability) at no cost. The two gentlemen just left after pulling out about a cubic square foot of roots. After filing my Angie's List report, I spoke with the owner for about a half an hour and we discussed this case in detail and the quality of my flood control system in general. I told him the system has performed admirably and kept my basement dry since it was installed, even after the last couple of very wet years. I added power rodding to my annual maintenance plan, because a neighbor's tree seems to really like my sewer water. I am confident this will eliminate scheduling and communication issues in future years. I bumped up the grades from my original report to what I think is fair, averaging out the early communication problems with the later extremely good communications.