Advanced Restoration & Waterproofing

Mike seemed extremely trustworthy to me when he was going over everything at my house. His colleague played the sales closer role and, though he repeatedly said they didn't do the hard sell, it felt like a hard sell to a great extent. He reviewed the work that Mike recommended and what each part would cost. I wish that Mike had been able to stay for the review of the proposal, because he seems to really be the expert on the work that is done, and the sales person wasn't as familiar with the product and solutions. The recommended work came to a total of about $20,000; so at this point I am seeking an inspection from a structural engineer to get a professional opinion from somebody who does not have a stake in selling me the solutions. I explained this to Mike in a follow up conversation and he was very understanding and told me he thought this was a smart thing to do. The one thing that I didn't care for during my experience was when Mike's colleague pulled out a card from a hail damage repair company for which he also worked. I thought this was inappropriate and unprofessional. I explained the situation to Mike in our follow up conversation, and he was very apologetic and said he would speak to his colleague about the situation. Update post consultation with structural engineer: I paid $350 for a consultation with a structural engineer. His assessment was that there was nothing structurally wrong with my house that would require the use of foundation piers (ARW was recommending 8 piers at $1,000 each). He said that none of the cracks that he observed both inside (diagonal cracks in the plaster at the corner of a couple of my doorways) and outside (stair step cracks in the mortar between the bricks on the back side of my house) were that serious and were just natural for a house built in 1948. ARW had also recommend some support brackets inside my basement for one of the walls that was bowing. The engineer did concur that there was some bowing but that it was slight and there was no need for the brackets. We discussed options for improving the drainage of water away from my house (putting covers over the wells on my basement windows, re-configuring the drain pipes connected to my gutter downspouts so that the piping goes straight out of the ground instead of turning up in a U shape that is currently very clogged, and possibly adding an awning over the stairwell leading to my back door that has a drain and could be a point of collecting water). He said that it might be wise to consider a sump pump set up if I wanted absolutely no water in my basement. It's a bit bewildering to have two such differing opinions. But at this point I am not going to go with ARW. I have an appointment with another waterproofing company to discuss drainage solutions.

he informed me that I did indeed have some issues pertaining to my crawlspace. He made some recommendations.

When the reviewer came he looked at my basement and answered my question about waterproofing. He did not go into the crawl space and his "inspection" seemed to be very minimal. He was not their regular employee but someone who they brought up from Florida to help them out because they sold so many of these Big Deals. When we went outside he seemed more interested in talking about the color and condition of my grass and what I should do to improve it than he had been about my basement. The service that I received seemed to me to be what I would normally expect as simply an estimate. I guess no one does those for free anymore. The gentleman was on time and courteous though. No complaints there.

I very much liked both of the guys who came out -- the first for the initial inspection and the second for the estimate. They are honest and flexible and willing to problem-solve with me.

I originally called because an exterminator told me that we had mold in our crawlspace. Since our floors had been sagging for years and ARW does that type of work, I asked for an estimate on that too. It turned out our main floor joist had dropped several inches due to improper pyramiding at time of construction (33 years earlier). If I hired ARW for the floor joist work, they would deduct the mold and mildew treatment and only charge me for the vapor barrier. As I compared two other mold removal estimates with vapor barrier placement, I saw that they were definitely giving me a good discount. (One mold removal and vapor barrier was $1700; one was $4500; ARW was only $800 due to my hiring them for both jobs.) Owner Mike Bird did the estimate. He was prompt, courteous, and professional. He was great at communicating the problem, the solutions and options, and at listening and answering questions. After 12 years of hiring people for home maintenance and repair, I know that these are very, very rare qualities in contractors! He was able to work me into his schedule earlier than we anticipated which was great since there was a chance that the floor could give way. His son, Mike Bird, Junior, and one other man did the work. Mike Junior was also a great communicator. His associate asked if I would like to see what they were going to do and why. I went into the crawlspace as the work was progressing to see what mold looks like (for future reference) and to see the damage to the main floor joist. Both men were courteous, detailed, and patient in answering all my questions. Mike Junior showed me how my AC ductwork might be contributing to the moisture in the crawlspace and recommended a dehumidifier. (By the way, his father recommended landscaping and gutter changes to protect the crawlspace in the future.) The job took a full two days during which they worked on their backs in a small space nearly non-stop. (We could hear banging and sawing and other noises during the two work days.) I thought the price might go over estimate since they had to bring extra materials the second day and the work took the maximum estimated time. They actually charged me $100 less than the estimate AND they made me a solid crawlspace door for no extra charge! (The one I had put there was a shabby, warped piece of plywood I had thrown over the space to keep out animals.) I highly recommend this company. They are honest, hard-working, and great communicators. If you have any questions or concerns about your house, just ask them as you get your estimate and your work done, and they will help you. I learned a lot from Mike, Mike Junior, and their young work associate. They are worth every penny!

It took three days and was a bit noises and dusty, but they were professional and pleasant.

Be realistic. If you don't have the time, let them do what is needed!

It went fine and they did a good job. I think that they came out in less than a month. It was just the price that I paid with the big deal. They were quick, really efficient and they were really pleasant about the job. I would use them again.

Mike subsequently prepared an estimate for the different options he proposed to solve the water problem. We selected an option and had the work scheduled.

It was a good experience. We had a gentleman come out and walked around the house. He looked inside the crawl space. He gave several recommendations with estimate. We did only one of the things that he recommended so far; but he gave helpful comments and he was very professional. We were pleased with the service. There were three things that he recommended and he quoted just two of them. He quoted around $800 for the work. He quoted for preparing an air in the crawlspace & sump pump, which we had replaced by someone else, and patio door replacement. He was nice, but got off the subject a lot. We would try to go with more local company.

Mike Bird, owner of this company did the estimating himself, walking the grounds with me and explaining what needed to be done, what part could wait if I did not choose to do all the work at this time. He was professional and honest. The work was done with quality work and efficiency. I would use them again and highly recommend this company.

All aspects of the projects performed well!

The service from Mike and his crew was top notch. We had a crawlspace full of water (1-2 feet deep), I found this out the morning I was leaving town on a business trip. While on the road I contacted ARW and talked with the owner Mike. He was very pleasant and easy to talk with about our problem. I set up a time for him to meet with my wife to check out the problem and give us some estimates. He showed up on time for the estimate and let us know that the crawl space water was going down and what his plan of action would be if we used his company. He also offered a discount if you accepted the estimate within 24 hours. Since I would not be home for several more days he said he would honor the discount even after I had a chance to look it over. After reviewing the estimate over the phone with Mike I decided to have them do the work. About a week later Mike contacted us to make arraingements to start the work. They cleaned out the old plastic and debry that was under the house and pulled up the old sump pit. It seems that the builder only put in 1 pit and no sump pump. ARW installed a hydra way drainage system around the crawlspace perimiter and a new sump pit. The hydra way channels the water to the sump pit. They also drilled weep holes in the foundation blocks to aid in drainage. The new sump pump was installed and the discharge was trenched (by hand) 110' to the edge of our property to a drainage way. to finish the job up they added foam to the sides (encapsulation) and taped the new plastic to the foam. Once the job was compled Mike came back and we did an inspection of the work and I paid the remainder of the balance wich was less than I expected. He threw in his "Angies List" discount as well as the early signing discount. I am very pleased with the work that was done. It took the crew 4 day to finish but they had some weather delays so that was not a problem. The system got its first try out over Memorial weeked and the crawlspace is dry as a bone. Thanks ARW, Mike and your crew were great!

Obtained valuable estimate and professional presentation of services available. I would certainly consider Advanced Restoration & Waterproofing as a resource should we follow through on such a project.

When they came out the price they quoted for what they said they needed to do was way more than we wanted to pay. They wanted to basically demo the basement & put in a whole under-floor drainage system. They offered no other suggestion to our problem & we felt that their only intention was to sell this plan. The person that came out was very thorough in this presentation though. We got a second opinion from a contractor friend. We simply re-graded the lawn with dirt so that the water flowed away from the brick foundation of the house & it fixed the issue. I would consider using them if I needed more extensive service, after getting other estimates to compare price.

It went well as planned, work was completed in 2 days, just in time for some of the worst rain of the year. Basement.

I noticed a small patch of mold when moving a bookcase to get ready install carpet. I signed up for Angie's List Big Deal to have a mold/foundation inspection. They responded very promptly (since I was under such a tight deadline), the inspector checked the room with the problem, the outside of the house where it was. In addition, he gave me pointers on how to avoid future problems as well as inspected a few ceiling/wall cracks to make sure all was sound. I was quite pleased with the work he did

I paid for the service for son and daughter-in-law. My daughter-in-law was the only one home at the time the owner of the company came to inspect their basement. She was very impressed with him, he was very polite and professional and told her what they could do to prevent the leaking in their basement. She would highly recommend this company to anyone.

Mike brought two crews out to the house to accomplish both the yard work (drainage) and the crawlspace work (vapor barrier) on the same day. In addition to the underground drainage system that was installed, ARW also poured small concrete pads at the corner of the house where water normally entered the basement. All work was done in one day and seems to have resolved my problems just fine.

Mike was very up front and professional, and very knowledgeable. I would highly recommend!

They sent someone who does not normally do them but seemed like a very nice man with a lot of knowledge on soil. He indicated that they were so busy from Big Deal they couldn't get to them all. (We've heard this from many "Big Deal" participants.) He left the file he took notes on here and we never got any report back. He did verbally give us some information but we'd been told we'd have a report.

This was a special deal to get a basement with drainage problems inspected. I purchased this for my daughter. The man who did the inspection was very professional and gave a detailed overview as to the cause of her water leakage in the basement area and the solution. It included recommending outside foundation work and some interior basement drainage. There was no pressure to use their company but she will definitely use them when the time is right for her to get the work done. A great job by them and a good deal!!!

I asked him specifically to look at the drainage around our house and he walked on our property down to the basement . And from his surface level observation, he determined that we needed $7000 worth of some sort of work. I felt like they were just trying to sell me something. I did not like the fact that they were trying to sell me $7000 worth of work on my property without proper information to make that determination.

Okay. The workmanship was so-so. I got what I paid for.

I had a very negative experience with the individual who inspected our crawl space. He tried to sell me a huge amount of services that I did not need and it was obvious that he was only looking at his commission check. I wrote a detailed report on Angies List and gave this service provider an "F" rating. The next day I received a call from Mike Bird, the Managing Partner of ARW, who wanted to know more about my experience. After discussing my list of issues, Mike informed me that the individual with whom I had met was no longer with his company because of issues similar to mine. Mike apologized and, without my asking, offerred to refund my original fee. Mike also threw in a gift card for my bad experience, and then he 'Fed-Ex'ed it to me. So while I did not use this company for any actual work, I did like the professional way that Mike handled this situation. He was courteous and very concerned over the matter, and represented his company the right way.