Get matched with top basement waterproofing pros in Floodwood, MN

"I had my basement waterproofed with Innovative Basement Authority. Bryce J. was my inspector and was very knowledgeable and helpful. He gave me some great advice about my home. Adam S. and Josh W. completed the project and did a phenomenal job. They were courteous, professional, highly skilled, and did a great clean up as well. I was so impressed with the results, I would definitely recommend their services."

"I recently hired DBS to do a basement project for me. The project involved involved installing interior drain tile, new sump pumps, new sump pump discharge, 2 egress windows, 2 small basement windows, rim joist insulation, and basement wall insulation. The whole project with DBS has been a horrible experience. Way less than the WOW experience I was promised to get from them. The designer came to my house on May 24th and bid the job. I had other contractors come up prior to DBS and bid the same job as well. DBS was the cheapest bid and even after reading the negative reviews about DBS on the internet I made the decision to go forward with them. I signed my bid on May 24th and paid 50% of the project cost as down payment. The timeline of the project was supposed to take 6 working days. They don’t work Saturday’s or Sunday’s so they scheduled 2 weeks for the job in case of rain or other issues. These 2 weeks were scheduled to be the last week in July and the first week in August. I was told by the designer (on May 24th) that about a month before the project start date the crew foremen would come up to take a closer look at the job to make sure they had all the necessary parts and supplies for the job. i was also told by the designer (on May 24th) that DBS would take care of all the required permits, utility locating, etc. The week after the 4th of July, July 6th I think it was, I called DBS to check and see when the foremen were going to come up to take a closer look at the job since it was now less than a month to the project start date. I was told by the person I spoke to that the crews decided it was a pretty cut and paste project and would not be coming up for the closer look. On Friday July 23rd I received a call from DBS saying the drain tile crew would be up on the morning of the 26th at 8AM and would have their part of the job completed in 2 days. On the morning of July 26th I received a call from the drain tile crew saying they wouldn't be there until about 10:30. They showed up at about 10:30 on the morning of July 26th and worked until about 4PM. This is pretty much how the work went for that week and the week after when they did show up, less than 6 hours of work per day. They ended up finishing up the interior drain tile project Friday August 6th, 8 days behind schedule. Tuesday August 3rd the crew showed up for the rim joist and basement wall insulation. Again this crew did not show up until about 10 AM and worked until 4PM. The drain tile crew was still in the basement working and the 2 crews were getting in each others way. They tried to work in separate areas of the basement but that didn't work out too well. The insulation crew finished up on Friday August 6th as well. Tuesday August 3rd the carpenters showed up to work ion the small window installation and also the egress window project. These guys also did not show up until about 10AM on the days they did show up and worked to about 4PM. They installed the 2 small windows this day. Wednesday August 4th I was at work and received a text from my wife at 1030AM saying DBS showed up with a mini excavator and was going to dig the holes for the egress windows. I asked her to check and see if there were any utilities marked yet and she said there was nothing marked and the guy was getting into the excavator to start digging. I work about 5 minutes from home and immediately left work to talk to the DBS crew. When I got there they had just started digging. I yelled at them to stop digging and shut the excavator off. I told them they absolutely cannot be digging without first getting the utilities located because my gas line is near where the egress windows need to go. The operator of the excavator said the utilities never got located and that they were on a tight schedule so were just going to dig carefully. I asked him if I was supposed to call and get the utilities located and he said "no, that is DBS's responsibility". I told him again he cannot dig without getting things located, even if he planned on digging carefully. The excavator operator called the utility company to come out and do the locating. The utility company told him that it could be up to 2 days before they were able to come out and locate. The excavator operator told me that waiting for the utility company is going to push the project back up to 2 days. He also told me he has dug tons of window holes in my area and pretty much knows how the gas line is ran. I told him I will deal with waiting the 2 days for the utilities to get located, because that is the safe and right thing to do. At this time, I had to go back to work. It looked to me as though the excavator operator and the other carpenter were packing up and going to head out for the day. About 5 minutes after I got back to work I received another text from my wife saying the guy from DBS was digging with the excavator again. I told her to immediately get our dog and our infant daughter out of the house and over to the neighbors yard and I will be right home. About 5 minutes after that (before I could leave work) I got another text from my wife saying DBS hit the gas line and they are now waiting for the gas company to get there to shut the gas off. The gas company came, shut the gas off, repaired the leak, and located the line for DBS. I was home by now and was very upset with the excavator operator for digging when I told him not to, he put the safety of my family at risk with his actions. As the gas guy was leaving he told the excavator operator the one hole for the window will need to be dug by hand because it is illegal to dig with an excavator within 5 feet of a buried gas line. DBS started digging by hand but as soon as the gas guy was out of sight the guy jumped back into the excavator and started digging. I yelled at the excavator operator and told him to listen to what the gas guy said. He told me the gas guy has to say those kinds of things when there is equipment around but didn't really mean it and he proceeded to use the excavator to dig. I was so upset and frustrated at this point I didn't know what else to say to the guy. They got the holes dug but ended up hitting my siding with the excavator bucket in a couple spots. The crew also left the 5 foot deep by 5 foot wide holes uncovered or unmarked for the night. Thursday August 5th the concrete cutters showed up to cut the holes in the basement wall so the windows could go in. We had got a lot of rain the night before and the cutters were only able to cut out one of the window holes due to the other hole being about half full of water. DBS and the concrete guys packed up at about 1PM on this day. So I had one open hole in my basement wall that was covered with 2 inch foam and the 5 foot deep by 5 foot wide uncovered open holes in my yard. I got a call from DBS on the morning of Friday August 6th saying they were not going to come up until Monday. I asked if somebody could at least come up and put a piece of plywood over the holes in my yard to keep people or animals from falling into them. I was told they would look into it and see what they could do. Nobody ever called me back or showed up to make the holes safe. Monday August 10th DBS showed up around 1030 AM and started framing in the 1 egress window where the hole was cut in the basement wall. Around noon the building inspector showed up and asked to see a permit, which DBS did not have. The building inspector shut the job down and said they could not resume work until a building permit was approved. The building inspector said that since the hole cut in the basement wall is 52" wide, it is considered by the code to be modifying the structure and a building permit is required. The inspector said DBS should have known a permit would be required for the work. Before the crew left for the day I asked if I could get a piece of plywood or something to cover the open holes in the ground to make them safe. The crew said they didn't have anything like that with them. I called DBS on Tuesday August 10 to ask about the permit situation. I spoke with Dan who said he would be my contact on this issue. Dan claimed DBS did not know a building p"

"Installation was done as schedule, and worksite was left clean and in good order. Thank you!"