Ace Basement Waterproofing

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THEY DID THE JOB. BUT IN APRIL OF 2014, THE BASEMENT WAS LEAKING AGAIN IN THE SAME SPOT. I CALLED TO COME INSPECT THE BASEMENT WALL AGAIN,WHICH THE SON DID. HE TOLD US HE WAS GOING TO COME BACK AND INSPECT THE RAIN GUTTERS AND SEWERS TO MAKE SURE EVERTHING WAS CLEAR. WE NEVER HEARD FROM HIM AFTER THAT. I CALLED THE FATHER TO FIND OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON,HE MADE ALL KINDS OF EXCUSES, WHY THEY WOULDN'T FIX THE PROBLEM.THEY SAID IT WAS COMING FROM OUR GUTTERS. WE HAD SOMEONE COME OUT TO INSPECT THE GUTTERS, AND THEY SAID EVERTHING WAS CLEAR.THE WALL LEAKS ABOUT 4FT FROM THE FLOOR. THE 20YR. WARRENTY DOES NOT MEAN A THING.

Julian is awesome!! He really knows his stuff and is fantastic to work with. We have been working with him for two months now trying to determine the best course of action for our basement. When he came out initially, he scoped our drains for $350. He found a bunch of gunk (I apologize if I don't get all the technical terms correct) in the footer drain along the back of the house and a spot in the front of the house where the downspout drain was directing under the front porch and had standing water, was warped, and potentially leaking. He gave us an estimate for approximately $6,000 to dig down and waterproof along the back 2/3 of the house and re-route the drain pipe at the front of the house to avoid going under the front porch. He also gave some advice for what we could do to determine the moisture issue in our crawlspace. We knew we had an issue, but couldn't see it because the walls were covered in old insulation. While we were waiting for the weather to cooperate and Julian to wrap up other jobs to schedule the work on our house, we took the insulation down in the crawlspace and found some places of the crawlspace walls that were definitely seeping. We also had our gutters cleaned and found they were completely clogged in the back of the house! We know we definitely need basement repairs-- we just want to make sure we're doing the right things and not doing anything unnecessary. Julian has been very patient and helpful as we figure this out. He's very understanding and always answers all of my questions thoroughly. He never seems pushy or annoyed... which is something I have experienced with other people. Once work is done on our house, I will be sure to update this review or write another! Also, I should add, Ace waterproofed my neighbors house over a year ago and they were VERY happy with the results.

This is a copy of the complaint I made with the Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine and Better Business Bureau. Better Business Bureau, Inc.2800 Euclid Avenue, 4th FloorCleveland, Ohio 44115-2408 Re: Complaint #: 9066491 Dear Betty Creter: On August 20, 2011, I contacted Ace Basement Waterproofing, Julian Colonna, (Vice President) to give me an estimate to waterproof one back wall, one side basement wall and the garage wall. The estimate was $6,000.00 and that was within my budget, so I signed the contract with the understanding that I would no longer have water in the basement or garage. My sole purpose was in preparation to sell the home. Upon reading Julian?s response, this was not the sequence of events. At no time was I ever showed the open areas or was it mentioned that the rest of the basement should be waterproofed. I do not understand his statement when there was only one side wall, one back wall, and a garage wall. The other walls were not exposed and were not leaking, so there was no consideration to complete this unnecessary work. The back wall was dug to the bottom of the foundation, sealed, and backed filled with stone. That wall is no longer leaking at this time. They started digging at a visible crack on the side wall. He showed me at the time of the estimate and stated, ?There?s your problem.? I did not tell him to only do to the front corner of garage and back left corner of the house and nothing else. It was Julian who advised me that he would need additional $2,850.00 as stated on the contract to dig to the front corner of garage and back left corner. I understood that was part of the $6,000.00 estimate. However, I did agree to pay this amount, as I trusted he was doing the job I hired him to do as an expert. At no other time did he mention that other work needed to be done. It did not make sense to hire a company and refuse to let them do the work. Preparing for the inspection with the City of Strongsville, they discovered there was a problem with the water not flowing through the drain tile. They stated the problem and I agreed to pay an additional $1,800.00 for them to cut the cement in the front of the garage door to install drain tile. I am not disputing that charge. However, the area in which they cut the cement out, water now lays in front of the garage. The City of Strongsville inspected the drains and approved. To my knowledge, everything was filled in and the job was complete. Three days after the completion of the job, we had water in the basement and in the garage in the same originating spots. I telephoned Julian and advised him I had water in the basement and the garage. Julian then ran a camera into the down spout. He stated it was now the down spouts that was causing the problem. He also stated he would need additional money to do this work. I explained, ?I already have paid you $10,650.00, you have not alleviated the water, and now you want more money. When will it stop?? After a long discussion, he did agree to replace, repair or do what was needed to eliminate the problem. I still had a balance of $2,850.00 from the contract. That was the only time I was aware that there was a problem and at no other time did I refuse to pay him additional money. Upon the completion of that job, he was paid the balance of $2,850.00. On December 5, 2011, I discovered water in the basement and garage in the same originating spots. After many messages with no response, I telephoned Vito Colonna (President of Ace Basement Waterproofing). I explained the situation and he stated not to worry and they will take care of it. Julian was on vacation and I was told he would call me when he got back. December 14, 2011, Vito and Julian came to the house and measured the basement wall from the inside to the outside and discovered another crack in the side wall below the surface. The conversation was between Vito and Julian as to why he did not dig the complete wall to the bottom of the foundation. Also at that time, they conversed that it was now a bigger problem because they already back filled the area, which is thirteen feet deep. It was at this point they discussed weather issues. The weather in December made it a dangerous time of year to do this type of work. There was no conversation about money; only that they would take care of it. I tried to be understanding and agreed if we needed to wait until spring it would be okay because we would be going to Florida. When they left the house, I was under the impression it was all agreed upon that they would take care of it in May. At no time was money mentioned. I agreed to call when I arrived home in May. Vito reiterated they were going to take care of it. On May 9, 2012, I contacted Julian and he stated he would check with Vito to schedule a date and call me back. I never received a call back, so on May 16, 2012, I called and left a message on his voice mail to please give me a call. On May 18, 2012, he called and stated he would come on May 21, 2012. I was under the impression he was coming to do the job, but I cancelled because the City of Strongsville was replacing the sanitary drains and they had their equipment in the yard. He suggested that I give him a call when they were complete. On June 1, 2012, I assumed they would be arriving to dig to the bottom of the foundation as Vito discussed with Julian in December. Since the weather made the job less dangerous, as the company stated in December, I believed they would be completing the necessary work. To my surprise, Julian came to the house only to discuss other options and money. The job was not completed and no other issues were resolved. I told him I paid him enough money and the job had not been done properly. That instance was the only time I refused to give him more money. Before leaving on June 1st, Julian?s last statement mentioned Vito had the final say because he is the president of the company. I expressed that Vito had already made the decision in December to take care of it. I asked what had changed from December until May that this was a topic for discussion. He had no answer; only that he would present the information to Vito and he would call me on June 4, 2012 to resolve the issues. After waiting until five o?clock on June 4th for Vito to call me as Julian mentioned, I called him. Yet again, nothing was resolved. I asked Vito to come to the house so we could discuss the problem in person, rather than over the phone. He refused and stated, ?You just want the job for nothing, but nobody works for nothing.? I explained to him I already paid $10,650.00 for a job that was not done according to contract. I want what I contracted and paid for. According to my contract, all three walls were to be dug to the bottom of foundation. If they had done so, all the cracks on the left wall would have been found and could have been sealed at that time. He states his process is to excavate to the bottom of the foundation, remove clay, replace the pipes, seal the wall from the outside and back fill the entire hole with stone. This was not done on the left wall or the garage wall, so they continue to leak. The work that was performed was not completed according to the contract. If the work had been done according to contract, I would not have water in the basement or garage in the same originating spots. I do not have water anywhere else in basement or garage. I am unable to move forward with the situation until the job is complete. I can not do any landscaping, replace the basement carpet, clean my windows, or repair the cable line that was cut. I never expected them to landscape my yard. The area is still a mess, as well as my neighbors. It will stay that way until this situation is resolved. I tried to do everything I could to make the job easier for them. They had no respect for my property or my neighbors. In the past 49 years, I have dealt with many contractors. I have never encountered a contractor who does not stand behind their work. It is unfortunate Ace Water Proofing does not want to stand behind their work. If Ace Basement Waterproofing refuses to do the job properly, I should be reimbursed for the additional $2,850.00 that was billed to me.

Poorly. See above. We have placed at least 6 phone calls to the company; none have been returned.

Ace Basement Waterpoofing did a fantastic job. They were the only one out of 7 companies we called for estimates that would hand dig the job . We had a lot of obstacles in the way such as trees ,pipes ,underground wires, air conditioner and swimming pool equipment.We also had a 2 to 4 foot overhang on the back of the house. We dealt with Julian and Vito Colonna . Both were very business like and professional.The crew boss Pete was great . He tackled the job with 6 other crew and stayed every day till it was finished . They were a great bunch of guys. I definitely would recomend them for waterproofing . The job went real smooth and my basement doesn't have that musty smell anymore. I wish I would have called them first instead of last . It could have saved me alot ot time .

I hired ACE to waterproof the basement of our East side suburb home. My experience with this company was an absolute nightmare! At first things seemed okay. The staff showed up every day on time and worked long hours to get the job done. They did a good job on the actual installation of the outside system. However, I have a number of complaints about the job and their service. First of all, about three days after they completed the job, my basement flooded after a heavy rain. Vito and Julian came out to see the inches of water in my basement. Their response was that they had done their job because my walls were dry and that they wanted me to pay them their money. I reminded them that my walls were always dry and they knew that was never the problem when I hired them. They looked into my storm sewer system with a camera and told me that there was a blockage. I wanted to know why they had not done this in the first place! Vito's response was that "this is not my house, this is your problem". To make a long story short, I hired ACE to waterproof my basement; they stuck to their position that they had done their job even though I had inches of water in my basement, and they slapped a mechanics lien on my house when I asked them to waterproof my basement. Furthermore, they damaged my lawn by driving their equipment on it, damaged the siding on my house, broke my well, and failed to clean up all of their debris. I decided to pay them for the system that they installed (even though my basement is still not waterproofed). We signed a contract amendment stating that they would repair all of these damages within 10 days, and I would hold back $2000 until they did so. It is now nearly three months later and after numerous phone calls to ACE, they have not made any of the repairs and have stopped communicating altogether. Even though I paid them $8000, they have not removed the mechanics lien from my house, and I am forced to take legal action to have it removed! I would never hire this company again!!!!

The experience was not great. They made a lot of mistakes and there were lot of issues. The price was good and the quality was fine.

They scheduled us in early despite a backlog. (I had to do some traveling and needed to get the drywall up before going.) They were quick and punctual. The only reason for a small knock on "professionalism" was mis-communication between Julian and his job boss over where the endpoints were supposed to be. This was resolved with a phone call and promptly addressed in just a couple days.

Did not use this company. Did not give a written estimate of work to be done or price (price given was verbal). Vito called several times with "pressure tactics" - stories about how they had to go in and fix other companies work - may or may not be true, but it rather turned me off.

Workers were punctual daily. Lots of rain during that time the work was performed but crew showed-up and worked every day. Took about 10 days, with rain delays, to complete the job. So far, we have no more water in our basement.

Work was not performed.

It was a favorable interaction. Their price initially was $2200 but then they did some extra work. They got me in earlier while the other people were promising. They were twenty to thirty percent cheaper. They were focused on the outside job and I became convinced that it was the right way to go. They were generally responsive within a few hours period if I would call about anything. There was a little bit of miscommunication with the worker. At first, he did the job on the short sight whereas the basic idea was to go from the far sight of the windows around the corners. He did it from the near sight of the windows. I called the main person and he straightened it out. The person came back two days later and it was all fixed.

This will be the second time that I have contracted with ACE to perform water proofing and wall replacement. Both times I had Julian and his Father respond to emergency repairs. ACE will proved what is quoted and to your satisfaction, they are professional and provide quality workmanship.

The owner himself came out to give me the estimate and meet with me. The owners father is the founder of the company and he came out to talk to me as well. They went over what they were going to do and why they were going to do it that way. They worked very efficiently and carefully. They were four very nice young men. At the time my husband was dying and they came into the house to help me move him to his bed. They did such a great job.

Crew sent was very inexperienced with tractor and problem solving. Supervision was scarce to non-existent. Found out that other companies have technology to estimate location of underground pipes without digging up the entire yard.

Our overall experience was okay. In the end the job was done well, as far as we can tell, but the process was a little hairy. They did not do a good job of replacing the landscaping and left a little mess. They did try to correct the bushes after I called them back out.

THE FATHER IN THE BUSINESS (VITO) ASKED IF IT WAS OK FOR HIS SON TO DO THE ESTIMATE. HIS SON GAVE ME AN ESTIMATE FOR SEVEN FT UP BOTH SIDES OF HOME, 8 FT AROUND THE CHIMNEY AND THE BACK WALL OF 20 ODD FEET. PRICE INCLUDED REPLACEMENT OF CEMENT. BOTH FATHER AND SON TO DISCUSS IN FURTHER DETAIL.

GOOD WORKERS, THE PRICE WENT UP AFTER THE PROJECT STARTED. HE MAY HAVE UNDERESTIMATED THE PROCESS, AS MORE WORK WAS REQUIRED. BUT I'M PLEASED WITH THE RESULTS.

THE CREW WAS PROMPT AND POLITE. THEY WORKED SO HARD THE ENTIRE TIME, I BOUGHT THEM LUNCH THE SECOND DAY. WHEN POSSIBLE, THEY TRY TO AVOID DAMAGING SHRUBS, BUT IF YOU HAVE PRIZED SHRUBS OR PLANTS, I SUGGEST YOU REMOVE AND REPLANT THEM YOURSELF. THE BASEMENT HASN'T LEAKED SINCE AND I WOULD HIRE THEM AGAIN.

STARTED THE JOB WITHOUT A PERMIT AND THE WORK WAS NEVER INSPECTED BY THE CITY OF BROOK PARK. CITY INSPECTOR REPORTED THREE DOWNSPOUTS ARE NOT PLUMB, THICKNESS OF CONCRETE NOT MET WITH CODE AND FENCE POST WAS NOT REINSTALLED PROPERLY.

SALESMAN, FABIANO, WAS A PLEASURE TO DEAL WITH. HE WAS RESPONSIVE. THEY DAMAGED OUR SIDING WITH THE BACKHOE, BUT REFUNDED TO GET IT FIXED. THE CONCRETE WORK LOOKS A LITTLE QUESTIONABLE.