Sferra Waterproofing LLC

I met John Sferra on June 22, 2019. I was looking for a company to waterproof a property that I had. The property address is 7430 St Rt 43, Kent Ohio 44240. John showed up with an Ipad to quote the job. He looked at the basement briefly and we discussed exterior/interior waterproofing. He claimed that interior waterproofing was just as good as exterior waterproofing, but it was less expensive. Without taking a measurement, John quoted me $22,000.00 to waterproof the exterior and $12,000.00 to waterproof the interior. When I told him that it was too high and I was going to get a second opinion he started to backpedal on the price and would not leave. He started walking his price down slowly and after about 30 minutes I told him thank you, but I was going to talk with another company. I said " I will call you if I am interested" and he responded "No you won't, what will it take to get you to let us do this job" I said "$6,000.00 and start in a week." Work started on July 3rd, 2019: Three guys showed up to start work on July 3rd, 2019. On the first day, they cut and removed about 50% of the waterproofing channel. I gave them a check for $3,000.00 to perform the work. July 5th, 2019: I showed up to the job site about 3:30pm just to check on progress. I noticed much of the trench had been refilled and the waterproofing channel was half buried. The areas around the sump (South side) were 100% refilled, but as you move down the wall as little as 5 feet the channel reappeared and it was visible all the way to the opposite side of the basement (North side). With my naked eye I could see that the waterproofing channel was not flat, in fact the North side looked considerably lower than the East side. There was also 1 area where channel was sitting between two pipes and was not connected to the channel heading to the sump. Like an island, this specific channel was surrounded on all sides by gravel. Water entering that channel had no means to get to the sump. I pulled out a laser level and confirmed my suspicions. The channel had 1 inch rise from the North end of the house to the south end. This means water in the channel would actually flow away from the sump. The East wall was the worst in terms of moisture and now the East wall had channel that was flowing water to the North side instead of towards the sump. I called John and asked him some questions about the work being performed. I could tell that he was annoyed with my questions and he took exception to me asking any questions at all. During our conversation I asked him if the channel was laid with a drop to the sump or did you just sort of "eye ball" it. He said "We just eyeball it". I told John that there was several pieces of pipe that did not have good drop toward the sump and therefore water would not flow to the sump. He said "The channel doesn't need to be installed with drop, the water will flow to the sump regardless." I told John that "Water doesn't flow uphill and that the channel should be installed with a drop to the sump" The gravel they were using is small enough to fit inside the channel holes. I then asked John "Do you need to install a fabric to keep the rocks from clogging the channel" He said "No, some rocks will get into the channel and that is fine, water will still flow" I asked "Are you going to install some sort of cleanout, so that we can service the channel in case it gets clogged" His response was "No". When I got home I sent John a text message. My message said "What is the manufacturer of the water channel that you use?" I was going to look up the product to see if John's responses to my questions were what the manufacturer recommended. John did not respond and instead he called me and he was clearly annoyed that I was again questioning his process. John offered to remove his gear and we would be done. 45 minutes later I arrived at the house and found John's crew in my house removing their tools and any waterproofing supplies that were previously installed. All that is left is a channel filled with gravel. They did not have my permission to enter the premises. As I was looking at the manufactures website I discovered that the manufacturer of the water channel offered cleanout fittings, corner fittings, couplers and T-shaped fittings that were designed to push water directly into their sump pump. Sferra waterproofing simply put the joints end to end like a butt joint. Their design also pushed the water to the vicinity of the sump pump, but not directly into the sump pump as recommended by the manufacturer of the water channel. Three corners needed corner fittings which they chose to leave out to cut costs. Sferra waterproofing came to our initial meeting to take advantage of a customer by offering to do their service for $12,000.00, only to accept a market value price of $6,000.00 for the same job. There was no change in the scope of work expected to be performed. This was simply high pressure sales tactics designed to get customers to overpay for their service. During the installation, they cut costs by not connecting the water channel appropriately in the corners or at the sump. There was no cleanouts installed as is recommended by the manufacturer. Instead of waterproofing around sewer pipes to make a loop that always goes to the sump. Sferra would simply leave the pipe with a butt end open and exposed allowing dirt and rocks to enter. No cleanouts were installed so the system could not be maintained in any way. We also discovered that while cutting the footer trench John cut through the kitchen sewer drain line. It was quite obvious and I am sure he knew about it, but chose not to tell me or to fix it. Had I not discovered this mistake, drain water from my kitchen sink would have leaked under my basement slab every time I used my kitchen sink. In the end, Sferra waterproofing got $3,000.00 dollars from me and I got hole in my basement. Since firing Sferra waterproofing we have repaired the sewer pipe and drain tiles destroyed by Sferra. We ran a new drain line with the proper drop to basin and installed cleanouts to maintain the system. Weep holes were drilled concrete was poured. I wonder how many other basement they have completed with this sort of craftsmanship? This review is 100% factual and I may use it in small claims court to pursue Sferra waterproofing for damages.

Very well. They worked very clean and quickly in a small cramped space. They also came out initially on a Saturday to understand scope.

The job went well. They came soon after estimate, were on time, and on schedule. They waterproofed a little over 2 walls and it took 3 days. We had a minor issue with the finished product and they quickly came out to look at the problem and made a reasonable effort to make us happy. They are very good people and I would use them again if needed.

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He has done everything for me. I cannot say enough about him and he is a nice man. He is nice and easy to work with. He works continually, he did stop to take a lunch break. He did anything for us. Our garage was a mess and he cleaned it really good. He threw away a bunch of junk for us. He sold our island for us. He is a wonderful man. I know that he charges more for waterproofing. He was here by 8 o’clock. I cannot praise him enough. I might use him some more this year.

It went well, they seemed knowledgeable and were very friendly. Customer-service oriented! A++