Keystone Basement Systems & Structural Repair Inc

Oh the joys of home ownership! My garage suffered from water seepage that lead to mold and a bowed wall while the basement of the house was also suffering from severe water penetration. The existing French drain system placed in the 90s only covered the garage walls and had appeared to have failed as well. While the initial evaluation was pleasant, I still had a couple misgivings which were addressed during a second visit by the structural engineer (Aaron) himself which left me at ease. The garage wall was fixed in place with three non-intrusive carbon fiber straps and the interior perimeter of the house was fitted with an interior drainage system. Initially there was some miscommunication from Keystone to the subcontractor but that was all solved on the initial walk through with the foreman (Tony) before breaking ground. Tony and his crew were timely, professional, clean, and personable. They answered all of my questions and kept me in the loop for the duration of the project. A project like this is an expensive investment and should not be taken lightly. After a lot of research, I went ahead with Keystone and Tony and would definitely do it again after the fact too.

Keystone's representative, Giulio Bevilacqua, arrived on time and with a smile. He was pleasant, courteous, and completely honest. I did not need Keystone's services, but I will certainly keep their number for future reference.

They arrived on time and started working right away. Discussed the placement of the pump and went over the whole job with me and answered all my questions. The first day they encountered a structural issue and contacted the structural engineer to make sure they could proceed. The job took 4 days and each day when they left the area was very clean. They let me know what had been done and what they would be doing the next day. The final day I checked everything and all the work was done well.

He said the foundation was in great condition and was one of the best he has seen. They were punctual and very professional. The work was well worth the cost. I would recommend them to others.

Inital inspection was handled thoroughly and competently. We were walked through step by step of what was going on with our foundation and what would be done to correct it. Less than two weeks later, the crew was at our house working on the walls. They called the night before to confirm and were prompt and on time. It was estimated to be a two day job but they managed to finish in one. Left the areas they worked in much neater than when they arrived. Completely professional all around.

They stated they found multiple problems. They were very professional, knowledgable, and thorough. I have them coming out on Monday to get the job started. The customer service he provided was just excellent. He gave me a price and also stated that the price will not change if additional problems were found. I would highly recommend their services to others.

Arron was very professional and sincere about the work. The laborers were kind and accommodating. Here area few suggestions: Clean all debris from driveway (use hose) when work is complete. Use clear silicone when filling in cracks. I was pleased with the outcome.

After a few bumps along the way, the overall experience turned out positively. The first bump: the home representative asked us to keep the price quote "a secret." Maybe he forgot that we'd found this business through an Angie's List promotion? I'm not sure, but other customers should be aware of this. We were told we could get all four walls of the basement repaired for an additional $4000, but declined that offer. $7500 seemed like more than enough paid. The crew arrived daily around 9:00 am, sometimes closer to ten, and finished the job in two and a half days. They were friendly and careful to explain each step of the work they performed. The overall physical labor (breaking cement, drilling, etc.), is obviously difficult and we appreciate that it was done well. The pump functions, the basement dampness and moldy smell are gone. The basement is a bit colder now that the wall is gone and only covered with vapor block sheeting. The second and third bumps: there were two instances of carelessness on the crew's part --unplugging the cord for our wireless network and leaving the house for the day (minor) and damaging the electrical wiring (major). Four electrical outlets on the first floor above the basement area where the crew worked were not functional after the job was finished. When we called about this problem, we were told by the main crewmember that he could come and fix the electrical work for a fee. The problem here, I suppose, is that this company is large and hires subcontractors. Why would we pay the subcontractor money to fix something that his crew broke, especially after already paying so much money to the main company? When we called a second time, a KBS administrator said he would "look into it." Eventually, a new KBS administrator sent an electrician who repaired the wiring after two visits. This man was very professional, patient, and solved the problem. Customers who have time to monitor every step--including keeping track of phone calls and subcontractor names--will fair best with this company. Customers who travel or have demanding work schedules should plan ahead in case something goes wrong. We really appreciate the attentiveness of the final service representative assigned to us--she followed up with phone calls and made sure the electrical wiring was taken care of. Her professionalism and action went a long way to make this rating positive.

The company rep called me to set up an appointment a few days after I bought the Angie' s List coupon coupon. On the day of the appointment he was actually running early and called ahead to ask if he could arrive ahead of schedule. The evaluation took maybe 20 or 30 minutes start to finish. He asked lots of questions, looked around the basement and recommended a Humidex air treatment system. He did offer a certain % off if I signed on the dotted line that day, but I declined his offer as I had more research to do. He did not feel that I needed to have anything more extensive done. The following week I got another call from the company to check in, answer any questions I had and see if I had any plans to move forward. He answered my questions thoroughly and was willing to talk briefly about other options based on the field reps recommendations. It seemed to me he was being straight forward with me and ultimately agreed with my plans to do more investigation with HVAC and remodeling contractors before committing to buying the Humidex. Over all it was a positive experience and I really appreciate the honesty. If I do ultimately decide I need one of these things, I'll be back.

That all turned out pretty good. I like most of what they did. But I don't know whether the cement they used in the small room and the porch was set up too much or something. I don't know. I don't like what they did there. I'm not really happy with that. The first time they cemented around the porch, it was real smooth. The second time, when they did the bulkhead, it's real lumpy. I never called them back about it, so it's probably not fair to judge them on this. I'll probably give them another call to fix it. He wanted to put like some pump and a drainage system in around these walls and I said, "Well, wait. I'm just fixing this house as just a fixer-upper to sell it. I don't want to do that." I think they only put like one coat of paint on what I they were painting. The guy I signed the contract with, he was supposed to come out and check the work when they were finished and I never heard from him. I think they're expensive. I told him before they came out that I wanted to redo the contract, to remove some services and products, but he told me he couldn't do it, because the truck was already loaded and on its way over. When the workers got here, they told me they didn't have the paint or anything and still had to go get the stuff. They did a good job overall. They were punctual and got the job done within two days.

Saw the great deal for basement waterproofing, but after calling, and having someone come and inspect and give an estimate, I have since seen other companies would have done basically the same thing for free. We decided to wait on this project and have not made any plans to have it done in the near future.

Giulio Bevilacqua arrived at 10. We discussed what he would be doing and then began walking through my basement, checking for water damage, mold, and any other areas of concern. He explained that my house was well built and he saw nothing that was a concern. He gave me his card and left by 10: 30. This gave me peace of mind since I Had purchased my house in July.

Keystone was very professional. The technician did some measurements and tested for moisture on the walls. We had 3 estimates and the Keystone estimate was about $6,000. We are going with another company who's estimate is $3,000. The work that will be done is basically the same but on a smaller scale. Both companies have engineers on staff. We need trenches and a pump inside the basement.The estimate from Keystone seemed like overkill. It pays to get several estimates! The deal of the day was not worth it because all of the basement waterproofing companies will give estimates for free.

I have dampness in my basement. After looking everything over, I was told that I did not need a lot of work. I was told how I could solve the problem myself in a simple manner. This company wasn't out to make money on me by doing a job that was unnecessary.

An inspector/estimator came to check on issues I've had in my basement about efflorescence and possible malfunction of sump pumps and downspouts as potential causes of some moisture. He was very helpful in answering my questions about what was causing the problems. He went over a contract from previous basement work that had been done and pointed out the it listed an extended warranty and suggested that I contact the previous company to see if they would honor their warranty before I invested anything else. He effectively answered my questions about the cause of the efflorescence (issues with previous work that the previous company should address) and checked that my downspouts and sump pumps were all working as they should. I was very pleased with his expertise and honest response. He could have suggested work be done by their company without checking the previous contract with a competitor. Thanks and kudos.

Overall, I really liked them. They were very courteous and helpful. They have followed up with us since then, assuring everything is going okay. They offer a 5 year warranty on any equipment and lifetime on the labor. I had a great experience. The work they did was very professional and found out that the materials they used were of great quality.

They were great to work with and never tried to oversell their services.

Overall was impressed with the company and their service. Will consider them in the future.

We purchased one of the Big Deals for Basement Waterproofing Inspection and Analysis. We called and set up the appointment, which was set for less than a week out. Giulio was on time and asked us what problems we were seeing and what we knew about the house. As we just purchased the house, we had very little knowledge of the previous owners work on drainage, waterproofing, etc. He did a through inspection of the basement and garage areas, both inside and outside. After his inspection and measurements, he sat down with us and gave us an in depth explanation of his estimate and the work that was recommended to be done. Giulio did not try to oversell or make the project bigger than it needed to be. Our problems are not severe at this point, so we are waiting to purchase their services until we take care of some other more pressing issues with our house(not related to water or foundation). We will be calling on Keystone to do this work in the future.

The front wall of a large storage room in the basement of my 82 year old house had a thin vertical crack and some porous areas that were always damp and that let in quite a bit of water during heavy rains and snow melt. Like many Pittsburgh homes, mine is built into the side of a hill and the downhill flow of water in the ground comes right against that wall. Since the basement was just used for laundry and storage I had just kept things off the floor and swept the 1/2" or so of water into the floor drain for several years. But I really wanted it to be dry and to be able to finish half of the basement, upgrading an old bathroom in the space and turning a semi-finished hobby room into a nice den without worrying about water damage. Seeing the excellent Angie's List comments on Keystone Basement systems, I called them and their estimator, Aaron, came promptly. He did a full assessment, discussed the options and gave me a detailed estimate to install a french drain to connect to an existing drain and sump in the main portion of the basement. We scheduled the work, which he predicted would take 2 days, perhaps 3 depending on what they found when they cut the floor. The Keystone crew of 4, led by foreman Tony, contacted me two days in advance to coordinate everything and they arrived promptly the day of the appointment. I can't say enough good things about the professionalism of Tony and the efficiency and work ethic of his crew. They actually got the entire job done, including work we had not foreseen (adding a new sump and high-efficiency pump) in ONE day, leaving the work area in excellent condition. Tony discussed the options I had once we determined tying in to the old system was not going to be practical and he promptly got me change order pricing which I found quite reasonable and well within the budget I had predicted for the work. In fact, the cost of the job was far less than I had been expecting and was well worth it for the quality of the installation and the way it will transform my use of this part of the house. I was home during the work and they were very good about showing me what they were doing as it progressed, and I could tell these guys really know their business and work as a well coordinated team. I have been a construction manager for over 25 years myself (in another trade) and I can tell you, I wish all the crews I had were as good as this one. Five stars all around! Time will tell if the installation is a complete success, but so far there is a noticeable change in the humidity of that room and the finished work with the wall covering and the new concrete over the drain look really good and I'm confident the problem is taken care of. I would have no hesitation about recommending Keystone to anyone and I intend to call them again in the Spring to take care of some outside wall remediation. UPDATE: June 2013. I am even more impressed with this installation now that we have had the heavy Spring rains. I had gotten used to having to clean up a 1" deep flood over at least half my cellar every time it rained hard before Keystone performed the remediation last winter. We have had several monsoon like rains over the past few weeks that saturated the ground -- not a drop in my basement for the first time since I bought the house 9 years ago! Thank you, Keystone!

We were very pleased with this service. We have an older home, and had some cracks in the garage floor. Not knowing much about foundations, we were worried we had a leak somewhere. The Keystone rep arrived right on schedule. He looked things over, and told us our foundation was good - that the cracks were probably due to an old cast iron plumbing pipe that was rusting and leaking under the garage slab (the home was built in the 1950's and he told us this is a common problem). He was very professional and honest. He could have tried to sell us a service we did not need - instead he pointed us in the correct direction for possible repairs that did not involve his company at all. My wife and I were so impressed - so many companies who provide free or inexpensive 'inspection' services will try to sell you something even if you don't need it. The Keystone Rep seemed genuinely happy to have helped us out and was not at all unhappy there was no work to be done by his firm. (The Big Deal was about $250 less than the regular retail price.) We would recommend the Keystone Basement Systems Inspection offer to anyone who suspects they have a problem; or who may actually need foundation work done. A+ in our book.

Seth was very nice and knowledgeable and gave us lots of good information. We're in the process of making a decision of what to do about the water problems we have and are strongly considering having them do the work.

We obtained an estimate deal form Angie's list for Keystone Basement Waterproofing to address a small amount of water that was consistently leaking into our basement. The individual performing the estimate was punctual, professional and answered all of our questions in a high amount of detail related to our basement and what the best course of action would be, overall he spend upwards of 3 hours discussing various options with us. We ended up deciding to have an internal french drain and sump pump installed vs an external french drain. Reason being that the internal was guaranteed to correct the water issue and an external french drain was significantly higher in price and did not have an associated guarantee. We were planning on finishing the basement and we discussed various options with the estimator to determine where the best location for the pump would be and how everything would look in the end. We scheduled a time for the installation of the drain which was estimated to be 1/2 to a fully day (about 20ft total). During the day of installation I was not present for the installation however the individuals that were at the house observing the work confirmed that the workers showed up timely and worked throughout the day to install the drain, including some additional work for the outlet pipe due to the fact that the top course of concrete blocks that they were drilling through were completely solid and not hollow block wall. The work was completed on time by the end of the day (so it was over the half day estimate but not exceeding one day of work). After the installation of drain, well and sump pump we did have a couple additional issues that are noted below: - The PVC outlet pipe from the sump pump was not properly glued, as a result when the pump kicked on the first time the pipe disconnected and sprayed water all over the basement floor. We immediately contacted the salesman who arranged to have an individual come out to the house and re-attached and glued the outlet pipe. - The mounting fasteners for the cover of the sump pump well were not properly glued and secured as a result two of the four mounting screws do not tighten and just spin, this did not have much of an effect on finishing our basement as this was covered with flooring however it demonstrated that the work was a bit rushed. - The waterproof membrane that was attached to the wall was stretched very tight, which made finishing the wall more difficult to ensure that the membrane was not perforated when installing the ferring strips and drywall. If I had to redo this again I would ensure that a bit of slack was made in the membrane to ease the installation and repair of the wall. With regard to the third point I had a conversation with the president of the Company who assured me that if the membrane was torn or damaged during the installation that they would come out and repair at no cost which was nice to see that they stand behind their product and want to get things right. We have had the pump for over a year now and our basement has been dry with no issues, the sump pumps (primary and backup) and battery backup are working without issue so overall this process has been a great success and we now have a finished basement that we are enjoying not vacuuming water after each rainstorm. Overall, I would recommend this company to another person who is looking for waterproofing options, however; I would qualify this statement by just saying that you should make sure to pay attention when the installation is taking place to ensure that all activities are being performed and that they are complete and have them test everything to ensure you don't have a geyser in your basement if something was missed in the setup. The company is very responsive to emails and willing to work with you if there are issues, which we had not problem with getting responses and answers when we asked and they were professional at all times when I talked with them.

The representative from Keystone was very professional. He did a very thorough inspection of our basement and also our outdoor drainage situation and yard. We did not have any work done since we had no major issues, but we would certainly call Keystone if we have issues in the future.

The workers who installed the french drain system came when expected and made every effort to minimize the dust generated by the project. They were friendly and hardworking and completed the project in the estimated time. The second crew which applied the waterproofing material alkept the work area clean, and were efficient, polite and professional. Our experience with both the crews was positive.