Champion Waterproofing & Piering LLC

Bryan, one of the managers arrived, on time, with their worker Paolo. He explained the job and what to expect. Paolo worked by himself most of the day, as this was a small job. He was neat, hustled the entire time and did a great job. Owner, Luke Haire arrived to check the job as it neared completion, even helping his worker Paolo finish carrying out buckets of concrete/rock. They were all courteous, professional and provided excellent service. I would use them again, if needed, and have recommended them on many occasions.

Excellent service: on time, on budget, great communication. Fixed our problems!!

Crew of people showed up ready to work, very efficient, nice job and kept things tidy!

First, they did not get here when they said they would, but once they got here they told us exactly what they would do, got to it, and finished on time. They did good work, and left the area clean. We would use them again.

Pekin insurance company, who holds my home insurance, refused to cover a collapsed basement wall, even though coverage was provided through my policy. An assessor did not come to my home immediately after the incident occurred on 6/26/15. Instead a structural engineer was sent by Pekin. Due to his skewed, non-truthful, and contradictory report that clearly put aside the facts and events to side with Pekin, my claim was denied. I was then prompted to contact another structural engineer, (paid out of my pocket), a lawyer, and several re-construction companies. The structural engineer I contacted made a very detailed report, including soil samples, pictures, weather reports, and measurements. Unlike Pekin's engineer, from Donan Dynamics, this report was based on facts and supported by data; whereas, Donan's engineer 's report was not complete and based on his opinion. The second engineer's report supported the fact that the wall collapsed due to hydrostatic pressure based on the amount of rain my area had had, and the type of soil my yard was composed of. His report totally discounted and disproved the "lateral movement of the land caused by water percolating through the soil, thus causing the wall to bend,' as presented the Donan engineer. After consulting with a lawyer, I was advised to send a complaint to the Indiana Department of Insurance, which I did. I stated my problem and the fact that Pekin had blown me off. Pekin would not even tell me if I had a rider for such calamities as foundation collapse due to underground water pressure. Finally, I was contacted by a management member of Pekin. He reported that he had received my complaint and he had reviewed the claim. His conclusion was: Donan was wrong and totally contradictory in their conclusions. It was the result of hydostatic pressure and yes, I was covered for this type of accident. After profuse apologizes, this supervisor stated that I was to send in the estimates I had received for repairs. I had consulted 3 companies; Champion Waterproofing and Piering, LLC I felt, was the best. It was the least expensive and the company had great reviews with the BBB and on Angieslist. Mr. Haire, Champion's owner was knowledgeable, courteous, and intelligent. He did not condescend to me as I am female. He agreed to start work immediately, even though I had to wait for checks to be sent to Pekin, then my mortgage company for endorsement, and finally to me. Within 2 weeks, the job was beautifully completed.; the wall was completely and strongly rebuilt; the basement was completely waterproofed, and mold that had accumulated due to having to wait on Pekin, was totally removed. Champion did in 2 weeks what Pekin could not do in over 2 months. I recommend Champion to anyone who has basement structural problems.

The work was done very promptly and efficiently. There has been no heavy rainfall since it was completed, so I can't tell yet how well it will work to protect against water seepage into our basement. However, during several lightt rainfalls, the water seemed to flow efficiently from the two drain outlets, one for the underground drainage system and one for the downspouts from guttering. So at this point I’m very hopeful that the job the Champion crew did will solve our longstanding problem of water seepage along one wall of our basement.

Champion team showed up on time, finished on time, easy to deal with and professional.

This turned out to be a really good company to work with. I had 3 companies come out and quote the job- BoneDry, B-Dry, and Champion. I felt that Champion not only had the best price, but was the most professional when it came to the representative that came out. We were getting water into our basement from wall cracks as well as from the floor sill. Half of our basement was finished and the other half was not finished. It didn't take long for mold to start to become noticeable and then as I started removing some drywall to check behind it we found that mold had taken hold some time ago. We called the 3 companies listed above and all 3 made it out within a week. Champion was able to come out the next day. Once my wife and I decided which company we were going with they were able to fit us in to their schedule within a week and a half. Other companies were 4 to 8 weeks. Our house is approx. 25' X 50', the quote was $5500.00. The price included the waterproofing system and sump pump (we did not have one), as well as complete demo and removal of the entire basement due to water damage . They jackhammered up the entire perimeter of the basement to install a French drain system. The drain ran to the sump pump installed in the back corner of the house and then outside for drainage. Everyone showed up on time and worked very diligently throughout the process. The job foreman communicated with me daily to keep me up to date with what was going on. The entire job took 3 days. They're cleanup was good and they even used some leftover concrete to patch a few rough spots on my front porch. This was only due to their good nature as we had never discussed it.

I will start off this review by saying I fully expect Champion to reply back and say that everything I say is a lie. He did the same thing to my wife via email and when we filed a complaint with the BBB. However, I did not fully look into Champion's history as I should, so I hope this review will cause someone to do make sure they do their research prior to making a commitment. We had Champion come out and provide us a quote to waterproof our basement. The quote process began shortly after a week of downpours, causing some standing water in the basement. When Champion first got there, the first thing that I pointed out to them was that there is a drain at the bottom of the walkout to the backdoor. We have always blamed the drain for backing up and water coming in under the door due to getting covered with leaves and such. My comment to Champion was that this was not the only place water came in this time so it wasn't as much of a problem as we had originally thought. This was determined by the fact that we had a towel in front of the door that was only a little wet, but still had a lot of water in other areas of the basement. Champion quoted me to waterproof the the side of the house and along the front and put in a sump pump. After receiving multiple quotes from other companies, we chose Champion and had the work done on July 2nd. Champion doesn't have an electrician on staff, so they recommended one to us to have an outlet installed for the sump pump. I called the electrician they could not come out for three weeks. Therefore, I called a different electrician and had them come out and install the outlet on July 6th. The first big rain we had on July 12th, we once again had water in the basement. We immediately called Champion and gave them the news. Through a series of back and forth, Champion blamed the problem on the electric and said the sump pump was not working as a result. This was due to the fact that the electric box is full and we could not provide a dedicated circuit to the sump pump. I called the original electrician that Champion recommended and gave them the scenario. They told me that it would work fine as is as long as there was available power and the breaker was not tripping. I told this to Champion and they decided that the electrician was wrong and called a different electrician and sent them to my place. This electrician tested the sump pump and power and concluded that it was working properly and the electric was not the problem. $150 paid to the electrician to tell Champion them the same thing they were already told by their own recommended electrician. After the electrician left, I called Champion and did not get a call back. My wife sent two emails the next day before getting an email back saying the problem is our fault and that they can come in and do additional work for $1750 (see below for details) Champion's claims 1. They say that I told them that the drain was not a problem and not to worry about it. They say that they repeatedly told me that the drain needed to be fixed and I would not let them. This was not the case as I told them up front that it had been a problem for years. When Champion provided their proposal, I did not tell them not to do anything they wanted (just as I did with the other quotes). My assumption is that they know their business, so I would not question their proposal. 2. Champion says that the sump pump not being on a dedicated circuit voids the warranty. This is not written anywhere in the warranty. On the original quote, Champion said they can have an outlet installed for $200. Nowhere in the process was a dedicated circuit installed until after the fact when the waterproofing did not work. 3. One of the places where water came in after the job was next to the crawl space. The foreman told me that they should have done that originally. Champion says that they came come back and do the crawl space and the drain for $1750. The drain will tie into a 2nd sump pump per Champion?s design. I question why they would want to put in another sump pump when they say the first isn?t working due to electric. Wouldn?t the 2nd pump not work also due to electrical problems (as claimed by Champion) 4. Champion now claims that I am trying to get free work out of them. Not the case at all. I want it done correctly and Champion has already proved that they are not capable of doing that. I do not want any additional work out of them. I do not want to have to battle them in the future every time there is a problem because they will blame it on another factor. In the end, we paid nearly $3500 and still have problems. Champion wants us to spend more money and says the problem is our fault because they wanted to do the additional work initially but we would not let them. My claim is that why would I only want part of the basement waterproofed? The answer is that I would not; therefore there is no way I would tell them not to do anything they suggested. I have a lifetime warranty that is no good because no matter what happens, Champion says that it is not their fault. My wife called another waterproofing company to get a quote to do the job correctly and provided the scenario to them, without mentioning Champion by name. Their first comment was, ?let me guess, you went with Champion and have been working with Luke (the owner).? Based upon this, it would appear that Champion is being known for providing a poor service to the point that other companies know them by name. I looked up Champion recently and found on BBB that they have had 7 complaints in three years. 5 of these were marked as unresolved. Also, Angie?s List has some unresolved comments. Based upon these reviews, if you have problems them you might as well not even bother as Champion will claim that it?s not their fault.

The job went excellent! The man arrived quickly to give me info about the problem and a quote to fix it. The workman who actually performed the work was polite, professional and worked very quickly.

Crew showed up ready to work. This is second time i have used them on 2 different homes.

Selling house. Needed this repair done fast so we could make our close date. They really came through for us. Price was nearly half what other contractor bid. Would never think of hiring anyone else in future.

I had water in my basement after a heavy rain in the early fall of 2013 and got several estimates for waterproofing; i decided to go with Champion. I was reassured that this was a problem that would be fixed with the system. The system was installed in November of 2013. In early April of 2015 we had a very heavy rain and my basement had a significant amount of water in it (not quite as much as before but almost). I called the owner that morning (a Friday); he returned my call but I missed it. I called him back and he called leaving a message that he would call and come by early the next morning (a Saturday); saying he was going to be in the neighborhood. I did not receive a call and he never came by. On Monday morning I called the office and did not receive a call back; after calling many times that week I finally received a call from a worker (the owner was out of town all week); this worker told me that it was too much rain for the system. During this time period one of the office workers recommended that I get the water removed; when the water mitigation company came out we discovered that there was water under the flooring (vinyl plank) of the finished area of the basement and this had to be removed. My understanding at the time was that the sump pump could not keep up and so I was able to file this with insurance. Finally after about 10 days the owner came by and concluded that the system was clogged because this area has sandy soil; he also noted that another indication that the system was clogged was because there was no water in the bottom of the sump crock. At the time he told me that my sump pump should go off every time it rains and that there should be some water in the bottom of the crock (he is now recanting that statement). The owner also told me that the only systems he installed that failed were in my neighborhood; yet, my next door neighbor had a system placed by another company and had no issues. He said that the only thing he could do was to flush out the system about once a year; he also said he would give me $500 toward my deductible. That Friday 2 men came out and flushed the system; it drained without a problem. In fact the 2 men there said that it did not act clogged. They also said that the owner would be by to drop off a check (this never happened). 2 days later we had a pretty significant rain (over 2 days); the sump pump crock remained dry. Another waterproofing system came by (I was actually looking at their flooring) and said that maybe the water was not able to enter the system. There was also concern about the area of the basement with dry wall as to if this was not properly done. I do not feel that this problem has been resolved; I paid for waterproofing that works and don't feel that is the service I received. I am also not convinced that his assessment explains what happened. I tried to contact the owner over the next 2 weeks to express why I don't agree that the issue is resolved; I also wanted to tell him that I wanted my full deductible. If the system works I would not have had to have the water removed. He called back and simply said that I should only listen to him and that I would never be satisfied. He claims that he solved the problem and that he would only agree to flushing the system once a year (yet tells me that this may not be enough). Again his explanation does not scientifically make sense; I want to know that the system I paid for works. I deserve my full deductible and an adequate explanation. As an aside and for those of you seeking waterproofing; lifetime warranty does not always cover the fact that your basement is waterproofed. Look and read the warranty carefully from each company because all lifetime warranties are not the same.

Time came out as scheduled and immediately recognized the problem due to the drywall cracks. Provided an estimate which was priced the same as competitor. Crew arrived on the work date and quickly performed work. Took photos to show me and cleaned up area after replacing vapor barrier.

Went great. Luke and his team were incredibly responsive. Foundation work can be unpleasant, but they are true champions, from the technical details to communicating progress and follow up. They go way above and beyond their established competitors.

They arrived on time in the morning. Young man called my attention to come look at each level of work and explained why and what the outcome would be. They came back after I could not navigate my way to close a window to close it so I could set the security system promptly.

Their were a few issues at first. We worked through them and overall we were satisfied.

Champion did the job exactly as prescribed, despite encountering some extra obstacles that were impossible to anticipate during initial examination.

Very smoothly. Personnel was professional & courteous. They arrived when scheduled and completed job in timely manner.

Champion Waterproofing was very efficient and on time and very reasonably priced. Staff was very courteous. Went above and beyond their duties. Found other problem and fixed it with no charge.

The Champion people were great from start to finish. They exceeded my expectations.

Worker arrived on time, reinspected job, salesman went over paperwork & details of job to ensure we were on the same page. Workers were quick & efficient. Job was cleared & cleaned to my satisfactory. Excellent service. A great company to have service my needs. I definitely use them again.

We had a leak with standing water in one corner of the basement every time it rained. We had three Angie's List A rated foundation companies come out to assess the situation and provide an estimate. The first two ranged between $900 and $4000 with similar reasons for the cause of the leak but differing opinions on how to correct. The Champion person came out, took one look and said you don't need foundation work, you need a mason to seal the gap between the house and the retaining wall. We had the masonry work done by another company for a minimal charge and the basement has been dry ever since even in downpours. I'm taking the time to write this review because while Champion didn't do any work for us, I have the utmost respect for experts in the field and honesty. They could have sold me a sub pump or something that would have been much more costly and intrusive to us but they were honest instead. If/when I ever need future foundation work these guys will get the business - no question.

Everyone was on time and the work was done early.

Very well. Right on time and good job done.