Dry Basement Foundation Repair

Went great. The guys worked efficiently and cheerfully and laid down plastic on the stairs to keep down dust and grime . I had a new outlet installed (mine was fried) for the new sump pump. The workmen returned to redo an area around the fireplace. The new cement was uneven so the new flooring dipped down in one area when you stepped on it. They leveled with new cement and reset the tile around the fireplace to my satisfaction -- much better! They are an accommodating group; the salesman and project manager met with me post-job and ensured that I was completely satisfied. My basement is much more livable now and I can tell a positive change in humidity and comfort already. The 34-year warranty is very clear and manageable.

I think basements are all that they do. They seem to have a lot of experience with waterproofing them. They provided a guarantee after they finished their work by saying it wouldn’t flood.

We had an engineer visit our home to give an estimate on a significant basement repair, after a good amount of water was seeping through our stone foundation and soaking our finished basement. The engineer arrived on time, which was nice, but after that, my experience deteriorated. He surveyed the damage and then drew up an estimate. The older gentleman then drew up a price, covering it with his hand and playfully asking me to guess what it would be, as if he was about to pleasantly surprise me. I said I was concerned it would be north of $5,000. He then removed his hand to show me the $7,500 estimate. I guess his attempt at showmanship backfired. When I expressed concern about the price, the engineer became defensive, saying, "Well, this is what it costs to fix it." He suggested a complete overhaul, which included ripping out and replacing a wall and doing what I later learned was thousands of dollars' worth of preventative work. We got another estimate from Gordon Drainage, and Gordon's price was less than half of Dry Basement's offer. As it turned out, Dry Basement was offering the most comprehensive, fancy project possible -- and, as it became obvious, far more than I actually needed. I even told the engineer that I only wanted what was absolutely necessary, and he insisted that what he'd proposed was the only way to go. Probably sensing that I was losing patience, he offered a 10 percent discount, knocking the price down to slightly less than $7,000. Still far too much for me. Yes, the engineer left very impressive brochures and fliers, but he also left an impression that he and his company were trying to take advantage of a desperate consumer.

They were not within my desired price range. They gave me a beautiful brochure, but the bid was over $6,000.00, and I opted not to go with them.

Their proposed solution worked well. We had a follow up problem and they were back promptly and solved it. No wet vacs or fans since.

It must have been 5 months since they were first asked to inspect our basement. My wife and I met with Allan K., and he suggested some books which my wife promptly went and bought (!) He also introduced an array of ways to approach the things commonly sought in a basement, such as the necessary 2nd egress to count the space as livable per code. We had 2 other contractors visit before pricing things up firm with Dry Basement, because they could manage effectively and efficiently the first phase of work we wanted to do: demo and drainage fixing. The cost of some things put us in some serious thought about what was important to spend cash on, and we explained to Allan our other work to do, such as a new roof and replacement windows. After some scattered contact the months following, other visits from other contractors, we went to visit a project that was finishing nearby, and got to see the floor system, wall system, and sump/pump system as it was completed 95%. In late Jan 2010 we agreed to proceed with a phase 1 to clear out the basement, fix the water incoming, and hold off on the egress window until the other projects were completed before phase 2 (the finishing). Advice: have some of your own drop cloths because there is no such thing as too many, and they came with two (hah!) they used wisely to tape off the rooms on the hallway that led to the garage from the basement, and the hardwood floor. We had islands of stuff still in the center of the basement, and putting our drop plastic over them was absolute. Advice: meet the foremen every day they come to your house and walk-down what they are doing. Repeat what goes and what stays, if demo, and where you understand the drain system components to be going. They will be patient because they know this all, but some 20% might otherwise be 'guessed'. In our case, they discarded a small sink and fixture of the old bar that I was going to keep, and I blame myself for not going over to those things and pointing to them with the foremen. No big deal, because on the trailer of debris, I saw they were junk afterall :) They got to the house within the hour promised, and finished before we sat down for dinner on both days they were here, and left the areas broom clean as I hoped. What made me most glad was how appreciative the demo guys were for the winter-time work - a win-win!

The repair he estimated for will probably work to solve the problem, but the estimate is higher than I was expecting. He used high-pressure sales tactics on me (i.e. offering me a 10% discount that was only available to me until he walked out the door). When I refused his high-pressure tactics, he offered to extend the deadline two days (until Sunday, which allowed me virtually no time to schedule anyone else for estimates, thus making it a meaningless concession).

I visited the showroom after driving by. I stopped in and scheduled a home visit. A day or two later, the representative arrived punctually and inspected my basement. He provided ideas for maintaining a dry basement, and he provided a quote on the spot and introduced the wide variety of products and services. The products are impressive and sound as if they will do a great job. The quote was surprisingly high, but I didn't have a reference point. The quote was beyond my means, but they offer financing over 1 yr - 5 yrs which made the price more manageable. However the quote was still too high. We had to scale back the job and only cover a portion of the basement to make it doable. The quote for installing a perimeter drain and vapor barrier on the walls was over $11,000 for 105 linear feet.

He did not like that I was checking with other companies. His approach to fix the problem was very costly compared to the others. He described what he was to do but he was supposed to send me a printed written detailed plan on what to do, and never did. The estimate was rather outrageous.

Everything went very well. They had a lot of stuff to do, but they got everything done quickly and efficiently. It was a little dusty inside the house, but it was kind of expected just because they had to do a lot of drilling on the inside of the home, and they got everything done in one day. They got there at 8am and the last person didn't leave until everything was finished at 9pm.

They showed up on time and did the job in a timely manner. It was a bit of a hassle to cover everything in the basement in plastic. They came back until they got it done. They only charged for the first visit.

Overall he was a few minutes late but he did call me and tell me that he was going to be late he looked everything over an explained their system and why they use it and all the work they would do and wrote up a written estimate.

Everything was good except they left a mess that I had to clean up. That would be my only complaint that myself and a handyman had to clean up. I didn't appreciate that. The system works very well, and I've had no problems with the water in my basement since they've installed the system over a year ago. They came back and serviced it just last month. They indicated that everything has been working very well and properly. Everything is going well for us.

I was somewhat unhappy with Dry Basement because the first part of the work did not uncover or anticipate additional damage. After a couple of months of additional research (including an engineering inspection and quotes from other companies) and several conversations with Lowell Hickman, a consultant at the company, I became convinced that perhaps there was no way to anticipate such problems and that the most reliable way to fix my foundation was to have Dry Basement do the additional work.

Their salesmen was very pushy They were the first company I called, but the salesmen wanted me to sign up that night, without getting any other estimates. They were also wanting to jackhammer in my basement, when I didn't think that was the right way to go. After I asked the salesman to leave, he called me incessantly trying to get me to contract with them. I eventually had to call the company to get the calls to stop, and the manager didn't seem to care about the discomfort the salesman made me feel.

They were on time and on budget. They were very easy to contact and work with.

Their Rep. was highly professional and a pleasure to deal with. We talked in detail about the problems with the foundation and how their services would correct the issues.

Easily arranged estimator visit. He was here about an hour; very thorough. Remedies to be made were explained in detail. Part of his time was spent in "selling" the company. Good visuals, etc. Estimate was given at that time.

I was experiencing doors that don't latch properly and some wall cracks at the corners of a few door frames. The company's salesman, Allan Kragnes, came to my house and wrote up an estimate that included 7 piers and mudjacking. He described how the foundation just wasn't done right when the house was built. I have a written estimate for $8400 for the piers and $2030 for the mudjacking. I told him I would have to think about it. Next I called Norton & Schmidt Consulting Engineers in KC and paid $300 to have them evaluate the situation. The engineer's report told me that the settling was minor and not structural in nature. I needed to clean my gutters, add fill dirt around my foundation, add splash blocks to my downspouts and shim a door frame to get the door to close properly. I would advise anyone considering foundation work to first have an independent engineering firm evaluate their problem then have them recommend a contractor. Call me for a copy of each report. 816.665.7815

They did an excellent job. We are very happy with their service. They were very thorough.

The company was prompt, well-organized, well-equipped, and fully manned. The crew of five men took only a little over half a day to complete the work. They had the proper equipment and worked very professionally. We are pleased with the work. Our only reservation is that they did not clean up afterwards as well as they might have.

I had some things that the crew did not do on the day of service, and had to call back to complete the work. Did not put in all the anchor pins on the c-channels they installed. I felt they could have done more to minimize the dust inside my house during the installation, such as cleaning up debris as they went along, instead the crew tracked the debris throughout the work area. I suggested watching everything, and taking pictures to make sure everything is done as it should be. I had to call on the day of install to have the professional engineer come out and take pictures for his report. I was told he would be coming out during the service, but felt like this would not have happened if I didn't call the office during the install. I asked the foreman that was here, but he knew nothing about it. They left a big mess of concrete, debris in the street in front of my driveway. I suggest having everything you want done written into the contract ahead of time.

ALLAN KRAGNES WAS THE SALES REP. HE IS VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE AND WAS FAMILIAR WITH THE ENGINEER WHO RECOMMENDED DRY BASEMENT. ALLAN CAME OUT A SECOND TIME TO CONFIRM THE PLAN AND SIGN THE CONTRACTS. HE CAME A THIRD TIME WITH LOWEL, THE PIER EXPERT. THE PIERS DID WELL WITH LEVELING THE HOUSE. TWO DIFFERENT CREWS HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS PROJECT (DRY BASEMENT FOR THE PIERS AND BASEMENT MAGIC FOR THE CONCRETE DEMOLITION AND INSTALLATION). BOTH CREWS WERE VERY CONSCIENTIOUS ABOUT CREATING THE LEAST AMOUNT OF MESS. THEY STRIVED TO CONTAIN THE CONCRETE DUST AND WERE SUCCESSFUL; PARTICULARLY GIVEN THE AMOUNT THAT WAS HAMMERED AND SAWED. THEY TOOK APART WHAT NEEDED TO BE REMOVED FOR ACCESS AND WERE CAREFUL IN THE PROCESS (BUILT IN STORAGE & PLANKS FROM A DECK). I RECEIVED SCHEDULING CALLS AND REMINDER CALLS. THE CREWS WERE COURTEOUS AND DILIGENT. THEY WERE INTERESTED IN MY FILLING OUT A PERFORMANCE REVIEW FOR BONUS INCENTIVE AND DESERVED THE GOOD MARKS THEY RECEIVED.

ALTHOUGH IT SEEMS THE PEERING SYSTEM IS WORKING, THE CREW DAMAGED STEEL SIDING AND A WINDOW FRAME (AND TRIED TO HIDE THE FACT THAT THEY'D DONE SO). WHILE THE CO. PAID FOR REPLACEMENT SIDING PANELS AND REPAIRED THE WINDOW THEMSELVES, IT TOOK WEEKS TO GET IT ALL RESOLVED! ADDITIONALLY, THE TOP OF ONE OF THE PIERS STANDS ABOVE SURFACE LEVEL. I WAS TOLD THIS IS BECAUSE THERE WAS NO FOOTING ON THE FOUNDATION BELOW THAT SPOT, BUT THE SALESMAN HAD SAID THEY WOULD POUR CONCRETE (AND CHARGE EXTRA FOR IT, WHICH I AGREED TO) IF THEY FOUND NO FOOTINGS. BUT NO ONE CALLED ME TO ASK IF I PREFERRED TO HAVE THE PEERING STANDING ABOVE GROUND LEVEL, RATHER THAN PAYING THE ADDITIONAL TO POUR CONCRETE. IT WAS A VERY EXPENSIVE PROJECT, AND THEN TO HAVE SO MANY PROBLEMS THAT TOOK SO LONG TO RESOLVE... I WAS UNIMPRESSED.

PRICEY BUT MY BASEMENT IS DRY. THE PRICE WENT UP 2 TIMES AFTER THE INITIAL QUOTE: 1ST TIME WHEN THE ESTIMATOR ADMITTED HE MADE A MISTAKE; 2ND TIME WHEN ANOTHER PERSON CAME OUT BEFORE THE WORK CREW AND SAID WHAT THE ESTIMATOR HAD PLANNED WOULDN'T WORK. NOT VERY REASSURING. I SUPPOSE WE COULD HAVE POINTED OUT THAT THE QUOTE HAD BEEN SIGNED BY THE COMPANY AND US BUT WE DIDN'T. THE WORK CREW ITSELF WAS VERY POLITE, EFFICIENT, AND PROFESSIONAL. ONLY PROBLEM AT THE END WAS THE REMOVAL FROM THE PROPERTY OF ALL THE INFILL DIRT THAT HAD BEEN REMOVED FOR THE PIER PLACEMENT - AFTER THE FIRST RAIN, THE DIRT SETTLED AND WE HAD AN ENORMOUS HOLE IN OUR FRONT YARD. IT TOOK ME SEVERAL WEEKS TO GET THE OFFICE TO SEND SOMEONE OUT WITH DIRT TO FILL THE HOLE. HAPPY? WELL...OVERALL GOAL ACHIEVED: DRY BASEMENT.