Basement Systems of New Hampshire Inc

Water problem fixed but cement work was done with very poor quality. After cement work finished the floor of my garage began to slowley wear away constantly -- creating a powder like dust that was unending. Still to this day the concrete surface wears away into a fine dust that reamins on the floor and we track it into our house. After many complaints and calls into Jack Bowen (sales) and promises to rectify, nothing was ever done. He just delayed and ignored requests to fix the shoddy workmanship despite a warranty, his word, "Better Business Bureau Badges of Honor, positive website testimonials from other customers, and promises from his management to fix the shoddy work. He just waited us out until we were too tired to chase anymore. I would never suggest to anyone to do do business with this company, once they are paid they are gone....They don't live up to quality or complaints. One other surprize Jack left me (that I discovered long after I stoppped chasing him to fix my garage floor) ...After 2 yrs of the dirt he packed around my foundation began to settle and erode ...The fill he provided in my flower beds was full of all kinds of debris...Broken glass, pieces of metal, bottle caps etc...God knows where he bought this fill to use in my yard. I would be surprized if it was contaiminated with something hazardous. Not a company I'd ever use again, not trustworthy.

The system does what it is supposed but I wish this company did. They have zero customer service, don't even answer the phones with mentioning the company name. As soon as they got our check, we were history, wouldn't respond to our calls. After the installation, they left the discharge outside the house disconnected and water was everywhere. Before they even left, the crew leader was telling my wife how wet the walls were and how bad our water situation was, he didn't even realize it was because their pump was pouring water right onto the foundation wall and it was coming right back in. Yeah, they were polite and professional sounding, but had nothing but routine apologies and empty promises about fixing what was wrong. I had to do it myself -- the guy at Home Depot was more helpful than their 24-hr service, which is aptly named because if you have a problem, 24 hrs. and several calls later they show up - an then only after I asked to talk with the owner. Three weeks after the installation, the main pump failed, and instead of saying its guaranteed we will replace it, I got a run-around about getting a service guy to even look at it. I feel our money was taken and all the possessions in our basement are under constant threat of getting wet in case the pump fails again and it takes days for them to check it out. Oh, right -- we could have spent another $1600 for the battery backup, like we're going to give this company another dime. The product is impressive and I really wanted to like them, but after being patient with repeated attempts to reach them and have them correct problems caused by their own ineptness, I'm reduced to writing a bad Angie's List review. If you like your money, stay away from these guys, now under new management and a different name, NH Basement Systems, but still have the same crew up to the same smoke a mirrors rather than providing customer service. Maybe they were good at one time, but they have it bottom.

I called back and was told it will be sent. but was never sent. They never followed up with me either. Its been several months so I dont recall the exact date they visited my home in 2013.

Did not go anywhere as nobody ever showed up, just made promises. This would have been a 15-20k job for them. If they show no interest for this job, what would you expect for a job that's only a few hundred $????

In 1978 we purchased a house that was over 100 years old. The house had some settling issues, but I figured it must have finished settling after a 100 years - it wasn't. After shaving doors on a regular basis I tried jacking the house up. Despite my efforts the house continued settling and doors would stick again, especially in one corner of the house, so we hired a mason to replace that corner of the fieldstone foundation. He dug down deep removing a layer of peat and the installed a new steel re-enforced footing to put the new cinder block walls on. We did a stucco skim coat to match the existing foundation on the outside of the house and everything was good. For almost five years I didn't shave a door and I smiled every time I looked at that corner of the house. But after five years it started sinking again and it was worse than ever. This time I wanted someone that absolutely new how to handle the problem. I found Basement Systems of New Hampshire on Angie's List and had them come down to Melrose to take a look and give us an estimate. We received another estimate as well, but Basement Systems beat their price and really seemed to take an interest. I decided to hire them and actually made myself available to see the whole process. Four piers were installed over the course of two days. The first day two piers were installed on the inside of the house, down thru the basement floor and on the second day two piers were installed on the outside of the house. Jim Berube (the owner) the owner was there the second day. He took the time to explain the various steps that are required to lift the house. It was obvious that all my efforts had been a waste of time because the problem required much more technical knowledge than I ever imagined. The process is 95% prep work and when the lifting is finally done it's amazing. The foundation was lifted up slowly to where it was supposed to be and they controlled the lift by fractions of an inch. Jim had me check doors and windows and when I was satisfied he locked the piers in place. Now I know why they can guarantee their work for twenty-five years because after seeing the process I'm sure the corner of the house is not going anywhere! When they were finished lifting they patched up any spots that needed it and cleaned up the site inside and outside our house. The price of the job was very reasonable as well. Thank you Jim Berube and the folks of Basement Systems of New Hampshire for fixing that problem!

The workman was very prompted and was here about 3 hours. We had a spot in the foundation wall that would leak once in awhile with very heavy rain or a build up of snow and then a quick thaw. He did a great job and everything around the area was cleaned up when he was finished.

BSNH came to remodel my basement and after preparing and digging what they needed to, they filled it in with concrete. When the concrete dried, it was not leveled. It was about 1 1/2 inches lower in the center than around the edges. They kept telling me that they would come to fix it, and finally 3 months later, they came out and applied a coat of super patch compound, which was very rough and had total level differences of OVER 1 ½ inches. After they had attempted to level the floor, the owner came and treated me disrespectfully, like I was being picky and having these types of level differences was normal... They then sanded the floor, but the problem is still there, with level differences of 1 1/4 inches. In case of a basement flood, which happen every few years in my neighborhood, I will have a 1 ¼ deep puddle, in spite of BSNH having installed a drainage system around the room. You basically have to push the water out of the center of the room (because it sinks) to get it to drain. They changed their minds several times on how to go about resolving the problem and the issue was never resolved. I've been living for several months with all of my belongings from my basement in other various rooms of my home, and have been very dissatisfied with the level of customer service. The owner told me I'm just being picky and will complain no matter how the work turns out. The contract states that the 'customer shall grant the contractor a 60 day period to fix problems' and we had to wait over 90 days for them to finally start addressing the problem with us. The fact that they made a mistake isn't what bothers me, making mistakes is human. What bothers me is that I had to call and email (more times than I can remember) without anyone ever actually showing up. It was one excuse after another about why they couldn't come out, over the course of three months. The estimate we're looking at from another company is $6,300 to fix BSNH mistakes. Fixing concrete is not easy. It is a very expensive job because the materials are costly and what goes into the process requires the contractor to be meticulous about the work that they do.

They were not able to come out for 3 weeks. It wasnt a good situation to be in, it was the middle of the spring and the basement gets really damp not having the dehumidifier. Could have created mold in the basement. Had to look for another company to service. Didnt worl out to well.

Had I needed work I would use Basement Systems. As it turned out the spalling was not significant enough to warrant any work at this time. I very much appreciated Bills opinion and, based on his straightforwardness, would feel very comfortable using him in the future, or even recommending him to other people. Bill was very informed and no hard or soft sell in any way. Love companies like this. Thanks Bill.

They are really excellent at humidity control. The crawlspace lining is guaranteed for 25 years. They have an annual maintenance visit to check out and clean the sump pump and change the filter on the dehumidifier. They make sure that everything is working.

My sump pump bit the dust during a big storm, filling my basement with water while I was out of town. My usual mechanical company recommended Basement Systems. I called them at 8:00 p.m., they were very nice and up-front about the cost of sending someone out at night. They had someone there by 10:30. He replaced the sump pump and stuck around to make sure it was doing the job.

I emailed them to setup an appointment/estimate. They promptly returned my email with some suggested dates & times. The representative was friendly, explained in detail what would be installed and provided pricing later on that day. While I didn't doubt that they would do a quality job, I got more competitive pricing from a general contractor to handle the multiple jobs.

It went well from beginning to end.

Overall it was the best relationship and best surprise (a good one) that we have had using outside contractors.

The salesman was knowledgeable and courteous. The workers were professional. The price is in the area I would Expect to pay foes this service. I will use again.

They came in and looked at my basement and the fact that I had a fieldstone basement. I didn't have to show them, they figured out where the water was coming in, which was pretty much everywhere. They proceeded to put a plan together. The only way I can explain this is that they put a highway system in on my floor, so there was a straight shot from my bulk head all the way to the front of my house and they put a sump pump in the front of the house. It's like a gutter, the trough that they put in there is like a U-shaped PVC. Then they created on ramps and exit ramps coming off the sidewalls. They would flow into the same major artery going down the middle of the floor so that all the water would get funneled into the sump pump. Then I had paper, plastic put up to cover up the stone walls. I had them install a dehumidifier as well. They were on time, on budget, very flexible working with me. If we had to change a day, no big deal for them, we'd reschedule it. They were typically schedule their work on 2 hour intervals. They were very friendly, very helpful. If they could save me money they did.

I was pleased though I took great pains to communicate clearly what I wanted done and the guys doing the job were open to this. They did some minor foundation patch work at no cost and preped, planned and cleaned up in a very professional way.

Two men showed up on time, clean, professional , good attitude. The two guys worked all day for two days and did what they said they would do.. at the end they cleaned up as if they were never there.

The did an excellent job. Were clean and thorough and when I realized they failed to plumb to the exterior of the house and called them they came over immediately and made it right.

The salesman was nice enough, but he was a salesman trying to sell me an interior rock trench rather than a drainage system to solve my problem. Here's the situation: The garage is built on a fieldstone wall with a slab on grade inside. This is not a garage that lies below ground in the basement or anything. This is an attached garage, built on slab, that is above ground. The garage fieldstone wall attaches to the house's fieldstone foundation and basement that the house proper is built on. The problem is that the garage fieldstone wall soaks up water like a sponge. The perimeter drainage around the house was cleaned out months ago and the basement is bone dry. In contrast, the fieldstone perimeter on the garage gets wet, inside and out, to the point that the sill plate is rotting. Rather than asking questions about all this, the salesman kept pushing an interior trench to pick up and redirect the water AFTER the fieldstone wall soaks it up. His reasons were as follows (and I'm paraphrasing here): Salesman: An exterior drain will fail because exterior drains have to be cleaned and homeowners won't clean them. Me: I've had an exterior drain and I cleaned it. Salesman: Homeowners can't clean those drains. Me: You mean to tell me I can't go to depot or lowe's and buy a snake to clean out the drain myself? Salesman. We will not warranty an exterior drain because they fail. Me: Write it into the warranty that failure to routinely clean the drain will null and void the warranty. Salesman. We need to use an excavator and we can't get an excavator into the backyard. Me: You don't need an excavator you need 3 guys to dig a foot down. Salesman: We need an excavator to get to the footing of the foundation. Me: It's a slab foundation. Salesman: We can't stop the water from coming down the hill and you'll still have standing water on the garage floor. Me: I don't have standing water on the garage floor. He also mentioned a sump pump, but that honestly didn't make any sense. My previous house had an interior drainage system with a sump pump and that kind of system is a lifesaver in a heavy rain when your basement or crawlspace takes on water. But this isn't that situation. In the end, he didn't seem to understand this situation - and he didn't want to understand the situation. Otherwise he would been asking questions to understand what the problem was instead of pushing a product. He didn't appear knowledgable about foundations, slabs, or drainage systems. He was a salesman pushing a product. quick update (1/13/2013): The sales person never actually called back, as promised. All I received was a 20 second voice mail consisting of background noise.

They sent a salesman to our house. He went into the crawl space and said that they could take care of it easily. The estimate was $188. However they can't come to a job for less than $450. I needed it done and agreed to overpay for the job and gave a $135 deposit. After having to call several times to get the technicians in in the promised time frame, they finally arrived. They took one look and said that the wood to be treated was rotted. They could come back again and do it for another $450. I told them we will deal with it later as this rather simple project has now gone on for 3 weeks and they held my deposit. They treated the area with their chemicals. After they left I called their office and talked with their manager, Steve. He had to talk with the workers. This process went on for another 1-2 weeks. I told him that since the salesman originally didn't see what the workers said was obvious, lets work something out. I suggested doing the additional work for the $450 less the difference from the original estimate and actual work performed($262 credit). I was not looking for something for nothing. I was willing to pay the extra $188 making my total payments $638 dollars for what I was originally was told was a simple $188 job. The manager said he will send the owner out to look at it. After chasing them for 2 more weeks the owner finally came out. He said they would cement block the whole area. He said he'll get back to me with a price. Again, chasing down the manager he finally said that it was another $1500, but they will give me a $400 credit making it $1100 (on top of the worthless $450 I already paid). I called him back and said that I can't afford what will now be a $1550 job for what originally was a $188 job. I told to forget the extras and just give me some of my money back. Again, I wasn't looking for something for nothing. I suggested to keep the money from the original estimate, $188, and send me the balance, $262. Since their salesman screwed up the job assessment by not observing what the worker said was very obvious, and the weeks of losing my storage space, I thought this was fair. They got paid for their expenses, and I got some of my money back for this whole debacle. The owner of the company then proceed to tell me that I signed a contract and there was no way I was getting any money back. Throwing the 'contract' word out showed me they do not know how to properly deal with their customers. To say that this guy p***** me off is an understatement. I have never seen a company with the lack of communication they have. Update 12/4/12: In response to the company's response below, I was never pleased with any of their solutions and pricing.

No work performed no communication, no contact at all. Estimate was scheudled and privided promtly. Initially the estimate went to a bad email address, however that was fixed after a week or so. No work performed yet. No decision on specific provider as of this time.

I've had a dry basement since. They had to identify where the water was coming from before doing the work and had to drill in the floor.

The two contractors came at the agreed upon time and installed the clean space in about 5 or 6 hrs. The two men obviously knew what they were doing, were willing to explain or answer questions as they went along and were always nice mannered. Very satisfied with the results.

They did a great job, we were very happy with them. We talked to a number of companies and this company was the best one.