Foundation Systems of Michigan

We were in a big bind. We had a leak in the basement where a stud wall meets a poured concrete wall in the closet for our sump. It had leaked slightly for some time, but didn't do any damage. A week before we left on vacation, record-setting rains had flooded a large section of our finished basement through that formerly minor leak. On Monday I called FSM because they're top-rated on Angie's List and explained our situation. We were leaving on Sunday and hoped the repairs could be made before we left town. They sent an inspector out on Wed. and repaired the leak on Fri. morning. We could go on vacation and not worry about coming back to a wet basement. The repair consisted of sealing the inner surface of the wall, breaking out the concrete floor, and installing a drain into the sump well a couple of feet away. As long as they were going to be here, we also had them replace our old, noisy sump pump before it failed. The work crew showed up when promised and were very neat. They laid down drop cloths from the door to the repair area and curtained off that corner of the basement with plastic sheeting to keep dust to a minimum in the rest of the basement. After they completed the repair, they cleaned up so well you wouldn't know that they were even there. In addition to no longer having to worry about the leak, the new sump pump is soooo quiet. We could hear the old one on the 2nd floor.

They called before coming, as promised, and they were clean, professional and answered all of my questions.

I had some major problems with this company. Basically nothing went "right" for my entire process. After 2 1/2 weeks I received water in my basement again and I had Clay and Jordan from FSM come back to my house. They didn't fix my experience with FSM but they made it a bit better. They were very professional, explained what they needed to do and were able to work with my schedule. Due to my issues FSM refunded me some money off the job and they redid some of the work. My overall experience is not a positive or negative one, I will be happy when it is all over. All I can say is Thank You to Jordan and Clay.

My home contains a kitchen nook (an addition to the house 30+ years ago). The nook's footing/foundation was set incorrectly, and it was visibly sinking, pulling away from the house and allowing water to infiltrate. We met with Jeff Weaver last year to review the issue. We weren't sure of which direction to go -- tear it down, redo the footing, or jack it up and make it level. He was very knowledgeable and thorough with his assessment, but we couldn't decide if it was worth the cost. After meeting with other contractors, gaining more knowledge, and weighing our options for nearly a year, we called Jeff again. As with our first appointment, he was prompt to arrive and patiently addressed all of our concerns without hesitation. He suggested that 5 piers would be best to level and stabilize the area. FSM offers financing at a decent rate, which is helpful for us as new homeowners with multiple projects in flight. Jeff was able to contact the creditors during our appointment; I received approval and took the next available date (about one month later). The crew arrived a little after 8am and finished sometime around 1pm. The 'team leader' walked me through an evaluation of the structure, the work, and their expectations for the project. He told me exactly what they would be doing and how. I was invited to watch during key moments of the process (the fitting of the piers, lifting the structure, etc). They answered all of my questions and seemed excited about their work. We learned the nook's footing was only 12" (as opposed to the 42" depth expected of a proper footing)! We were warned by Jeff that the procedure can sometimes cause undue stress to the frame, roof, windows, etc. We suffered only internal damage -- buckling paint that can easily be repaired. The team had to tear up the concrete around the structure in order to install the piers. When the installation was complete, they repaired the concrete and we did a post-inspection. All in all, it was a good experience. Although pricey, I think the method FSM used to stabilize the addition was our best option for preserving the space.

After a very wet spring flooded our basement again I decided it would be the last time I would deal with that. I called FSM, the office was very polite, and said the inspector would call back by the following Mon. I Had to call back, but after that they were great. Inspector came, we agreed what had to be done, he gave us a price that I had already prepared myself for, and they actually were able to do the work sooner than expected. the crew was very courteous and professional. Very well trained, and they excelled in getting the job done. there were no lazy guys on that crew! I actually felt a little sorry for them. They did everything they said they would do. So far, and we've had a wet summer, we have had no water in the basement, Would recommend this company to anyone with water problems.

Professional company with extremely high pricing. Ontime and very professional

The experience went good overall. I have no complaints about them and their price was reasonable.

The company is professional and responsible. My call was returned within a few hours and I had an appointment for someone to come out for an estimate in just a few days. Brian showed up on time (actually a few minutes early) and immediately told me that our porch was not a good candidate for the type of repair his company does. He then spent at least 20 minutes advising me on what the porch needed, options for repairs and other providers who might be able to help us. He was friendly, very knowledgeable and generous with his time and expertise. I would call this company again in a heartbeat; they are exactly the type of folks that we homeowners love doing business with!

Perfect all the way. Good initial contact - was able to scope the job based on photos sent from my phone. Lewis and Joe arrived on time - and was started by 8:30 am. He provided a very professional explanation of the repair and had it done in 90 minutes. Cleaned up nicely. Very professional all the way.

They did the whole job in a day, i was shocked becuse it was a big job, they had to level under there an re-insulate which i thought was a three two day job but they had it done in aday. I needed it fixed as soon as posible and they took care of it immediately.

When I saw a few puddles of standing water in my basement I knew it was time to address the issue so after joining Angie's List I contacted a couple of companies. FSM was able to come out the next day and give me an estimate. The man arrived promptly and called me a few minutes ahead of time to let me know he was on his way. When he told me what the cost was going to be it was a bit of sticker shock, but thankfully they offered 0% financing. We scheduled the installation for their next opening which was Friday, June 13. When he set it up we scheduled an afternoon installation and I told him that I would need to leave by 5:30pm, and the day before the installation the office called to say they had a morning appointment available and I told them that they could come as early as 11:30am. Next day I called at noon when I still hadn't seen the crew and the foreman called me at 12:30pm to say that they had been held up at a job and would be there around 1:30pm, and I made sure to mention to him that I needed to leave at 5:30. The crew arrived promptly at 1:30 and he went down to check the basement to make sure they would be finished by the time I needed to leave and he seemed confident that they would and they got started jack hammering up my floor. However, at 3pm he said "yeah, there is no way we will be done at 5:30....are you free tomorrow?" Okay, that was a bit annoying but thankfully I was free the next morning so they worked as much as they could and were out the door right at 5:30. They arrived on Saturday at 8:30am to finish up and were done 3 hours later. They were extremely clean (as clean as could be for such a messy job), and there was virtually no mess for me to clean up (save for a little sweeping of the floor), they hooked my washing machine and laundry tub back up, moved my freezers back in place and you wouldn't even know that work was done, except for the new cement and pretty white liner around the walls :) After yesterdays torrential downpour I am happy to report that my basement is bone dry! FWIW I had another company come and reseal the rod holes a few months ago and he also said that I would need new drain tiles, and his cost was nearly half the price as FSM charged, but after seeing the horrendous mess that they left and how much cleaning I had to do after (not to mention all of the garbage I had to haul out that they left) I would not hire them again. Very happy with the work that FSM did and would recommend them.

they were extremely friendly, they walked us thru every step of the process and the work was done quickly and efficiently. They were polite and professional. I would recommend them to anyone.

He was accommodative, he didn't include other fees during the quote. They worked hard and got it done in a day. The end result was beautiful. It was a great experience.

My basement was leaking water in 2 places. The repairman from Foundation Systems of Michigan inspected the leaks and gave us a quote of $1100 to fix both leaks. I accepted the quote and scheduled a day for them to do the repair. A day later, the repairman called and told us that after he discussed the condition of my basement with his boss, they determined that I could probably fix one of the leaks myself by applying some sealant to the edge of my front patio. With that, they reduced the quoted price of the repair to $250. They performed the $250 repair a couple of days later. In the meanwhile, I applied the sealant as they suggested and fixed the 2nd leak myself at no more than $20. I really appreciate Foundation Systems' professionalism and honesty and will be glad to recommend them to anyone who has a basement leak.

Very well. The crew came and walked me through what they were going to do. They immediately put plastic on the stairs to the basement and a shield up to block of the open area to the basement. They also covered everything in the basement with plastic to protect it from dust. It took several hours and the work was loud, but it did involve breaking the floor way. They left the basement in fairly clean condition. They had to move a sink that the inspector did not say I needed to move. There was some minor damage, but the sink was already in poor condition.

The estimate went well. The gentleman said that the minimum they charge is $1500 which I found odd, but he was honest in that the waterproofing job was less than that and suggested I let them replace my sump pump (along with the lining, cover and everything) which needed to be done anyways. The work crew I was less impressed with. There was no initial walk through that was promised. I just showed them the area and they got started without really explaining what they were going to to. They had to access the basement wall at the floor so they cut the studs, which I knew they would, but then just left them hanging there and told me not to replace them for 2 weeks so the new concrete could cure. The problem is they didn't brace the cut studs in any way, putting all the weight on the drywall and the walls nearby. I went and had to jam some 2x4's underneath because I could see the wall bowing down. They also broke a PVC line that ran from my tankless water heater to the sump and their solution was to tape it up. Now it leaks when I use my hot water and I get to go replace that part of the pipe myself. The only nice thing I can say about the crew was that it was estimated as a 4 hour job but they were in and out in 2-3 hours. I was thinking of having them waterproof my entire basement before I finish it but I will definitely not be contacting them again. UPDATE 5/28/14 - I have modified my grades. Foundation Systems of Michigan gave me a call today regarding my review. They were sincerely apologetic over the couple mishaps. I won't go into details but they did agree to make it up to me for the broken pipes and they explained the reasoning behind why the wall was not braced. I found it very professional that they contacted me so quickly and am pleased with the effort to make amends.

I called them for a quote and they ended up doing up something else for me. They did some floor jacking. They walked me through everything, answered everything. They were just really on top of everything.

Their work was excellent especially with all the rain that we had, we had not had a drop of water. We were very pleased with what they did and with their service. We had water in our basement coming in from our sidewalls. The drains outside the foundation had probably crumbled so they compressed the dirt above it. They came in, took up about 12 inches around of the basement floor, and put new drains all around inside the basement. They absolutely took care of the problem and they did it in one day. They were thorough and explained everything. They went all over the basement, looked up very carefully and explained the problem. They gave us what they thought and what their diagnosis was. We did get other estimate from other people but they seemed to be the most knowledgeable and the all the ratings had been very good on Angie’s List. They told us they could come into in a day. They also have financing if we want financing. They had everything available that we need. Workers were good, showed up in the morning, went right to work and they laid stuff where we had wood floor. They covered our wood floor so everything was protected. They told us it was going to be noisy. They worked quickly and were done at the end of the day. We were impressed with that. Everything went out exactly what they said it would. They brought their supervisor with them and checked it all out the next day after it was done to make sure it was done properly. Overall, it was a good experience. The price was good. It was the price that we were hearing so they were within the range. They were able to answer all the questions we had.

I want to remodel my kitchen, but floor was uneven, sloping down toward one corner of the room (an interior corner that is shared by the kitchen, dining room, bedroom, and living room) sloped / dipped significantly, an issue we'd have to fix before we could do the remodel. I called FSM to give me an estimate on leveling out my floors, but the inspector who came out was trying really hard to sell me on something different. He wanted to encapsulate my crawlspace and gave me an estimate of $14,200. I told them I just really wanted the floor leveled out and we only wanted the jack. We paid $2500 to have them come install two jacks. When the installer came to put the jacks in, it hardly did anything to lift the floor, and he told me that we would probably need 6-9 more jacks to fix the area. He told me this after we had already paid half for the jacks and he was expecting the balance due. I thought $2500 was an incredible sum of money to spend for so little result, but then to be told that we would need 6-9 more jacks! (Why didn't the inspector say that upfront? I would have looked for another solution. $2500 for 2 jacks = $1250 per jack. If I needed 8 to 11 jacks total, at that price it would be $10,000 to $13,750!) I was so disappointed and it still bothers me today because I couldn?t get the kitchen remodel done since the floors are not yet level. I have $2500 less in my budget but still have to fix the uneven floor before I can do the remodel. The gentleman that did the jack installation was a nice guy. He was very professional and I didn?t have any issue with him being at my home. They were very punctual. But, I would absolutely not use them again in the future. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * UPDATE: I received a call and then a visit from Nate at FSM. He inspected the uneven floor, the crawlspace, and the existing Smart Jacks and rather than suggesting they install 6-9 more jacks, he offered to have their carpenter come out and sister the sagging floor joists to correct the dipping floor. Nate was hopeful that this correction would not only level out the kitchen floor, but also a section of flooring in my bedroom on the other side of the wall from the kitchen/dining room (above and beyond what I originally wanted, and I appreciated Nate's willingness to make me a satisfied customer). Nate said it was possible they would need to install one additional Smart Jack, since one of the beams (the one supporting the bedroom floor) was such a long span and warned me that we may experience significant cracks in our walls when the floors are brought up level. But, when the carpenter (Don) later came out, he inspected the situation and didn't feel sistering the joists was the solution because of the span between the joists. Instead, he repositioned the jacks and adjusted them. It did raise the corner in the kitchen significantly but not completely. Don said there may be some obstacle under that corner's wall (he thought maybe carpentry nails from the wall, or some of the leveling compound that we used in the dining room when we redid that floor may have seeped under the wall) and that it was preventing the kitchen corner from raising completely. I don't understand how that is...if the force of the jack is strong enough to lift my kitchen up, why wouldn't nails or leveling compound raise that corner that much more or even make a high spot? Don suggested that when we do the kitchen remodel, if we find that something like nails or leveling compound, we could have someone use a sawzall to cut whatever we find under the floor and then tighten the jacks again to see if it would raise it up to level. Don said that our house has beams on both sides running the length of our house, but that we don't have a center beam running the length, and so that's why we are experiencing sagging in the center of the house, but gave no estimate or proposal for how to fix that. We are not builders or engineers, so we rely on the expertise of whatever contractors we hire. It seems to me that if we are missing a center support beam, that is where we should have concentrated the money and the repairs. I know Nate tried to get us the result we initially sought after, and he got us closer the second time around, but I'm still somewhat disappointed that my floors aren't more level and now I'm also concerned about the beam I didn't know was missing.

Because of the hard winter the driveway concrete slabs became uneven and leaned towards our home. Because the ground was frozen whenever it rained the water poured into our basement from under the door step and under the basement window sill. A friend who is a home insector gave us Foundation Systems of Michigan phone number. In the meantime, we joined Angie's List to find out for ourselves. That's when we decided to make the appointment. Eric (polyLEVEL specialist) came to our home and walked us through the process of leveling the driveway. He also checked our basement for cracks in the foundation. I cannot say enough about the professional attitude. Dale and Blake leveled the driveway slabs and sealed a seam where the slabs and house join. Eric, Dale and Blake take pride in their jobs and are very educated about the job they perform. Dale performed a job pre walk-thru and post walk-thru. He also suggested that I could watch them do the work! It took about two hours. They cleaned up the driveway. After the job was finished I was told if there were any questions or issues to call. I would definitely recommended this company.

From the salesman to the installation, excellent work! This was a tuff job because the crawl space is very low and the crew did a great job. Thanks to Dale and Adam I will use them again when needed

I called Foundation Systems of Michigan to inspect a bowing/cracking basement wall. They inspected inside and outside the house and suggested the installation of PowerBraces to address the issue. They were very clear and thorough in explaining the issues and repair options. After doing some research into the company and proposed solution, I went ahead with the proposal. Communication after the inspection and before the installation was clear and thorough. The installation crew arrived on time and did an efficient, clean job of installing the PowerBraces. The crew leader communicated regularly with me during the job to explain the nature of the work and resolve any questions that I had. The braces appear to be working as intended as I can see improvement in the bowing/cracking that originally prompted me to arrange the work. Overall I am very pleased with the work performed.

They out right refused to come and estimate my project unless both my spouse were present! Yet another home repair provider that employs the "we won't come to your house to do an estimate unless you and your spouse are both there" bit. A common sales tactic used to eliminate your ability to say "I need to talk to my spouse, I'll get back to you". It's irritating and insulting. I am making this project decision, I am doing the research, my spouse is counting on me, and trusts me, to handle the decision. I stated this and they still refused to come. When anyone uses this tact I will automatically move on. I want someone to come and look at the problem, give me a straight-forward recommendation and a cost, not hard sell me.

Allen came out to the house to do the free estimate. He went into the crawl space, took pictures, and gave my sister and I a detailed description of what needed to be done along with the cost for it all. We were able to finance one year same as cash - that helped us out tremendously. A four man crew arrived one week later and they completed the job in just over two hours. Pictures were taken again so we could see all the finished work. They were nice guys, they worked hard and cleaned up after themselves! FSM did the job they said they would do.

There were a few mis- measurements when the digging began but they took the time to tell us,correct it and do the job satisfactorily. Left the property just as promised.