Keystone Basement Systems & Structural Repair Inc

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Good we are very satisfied.

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It went fine. The workers managed to get everything done that was expected. There were no big suprises and no additional $$$ from our part.

Keystone showed up as scheduled and began work. Pricing was high, but there was a lot of work involved - I don't think I could have saved any money by trying to subcontract all the work out separately. The work took about a month altogether. They stayed on schedule, with a few rain delays, and did everything from supporting the house at the start, to excavation of a trench around the sub surface areas of the foundation, to rebuilding the block wall piecemeal, installing waterproofing system and french drain, and finally filling in the excavated areas. Because of the extent of the work, and some additional requests I had added into the contract, we had to remind the workers about some of the details once in a while. Other than the fact that we had to be out of the house for over a month, we are extremely pleased with the work. The basement walls are truly straight and dry for the first time in years. Aaron was the picture of professionalism throughout the process, and made sure we were informed throughout the repair / rebuild process.

I told Aaron I appreciated his honest evaluation. I recounted another vendor I had called to inspect our basement. Their schedule insisted both spouses be home for the initial inspection. That was a red flag they intended to sell a big job without even looking at the property. Needless to say, I canceled that appointment and am glad I chose Keystone Basement Systems instead.

From the very beginning, this company far exceeded my expectations. First, the ease of scheduling an estimate and to have the work done was excellent. Aaron came to my home to complete an estimate and explain the work to be done. Aaron was thorough in explaining each aspect of the repair so that I fully understood what was being done and why. Aaron was responsive to questions and really took his time with me. I had no doubts that this was the right company. Having the work completed was very easy as well. Aaron scheduled the initial start date, then Tony took it from there. Tony and his crew were on time, worked quickly and made every effort to finish the job on time. Everyone that entered my home was very courteous. Tony kept me updated with each step. The dustless system is invaluable. Each day, the area was completely cleaned. Even cleaner than when they arrived! The ongoing preventative maintenance and warranty really pushes this company over the top. Seeing the work that was done already, I am completely comfortable in knowing that, not only will this system function properly for many years to come, but also that if there is any problem, this company will respond promptly and ensure any problems are alleviated. I will absolutely recommend Keystone Basement Systems to anyone who needs work done.

I met a lot of people at the home show at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center but I was most comfortable with Keystone. They were the only company that actually took the time to explain all my problems that were going on and offer a couple different ways to have it taken care of. Most of the other companies hardly looked at my basement before they just threw a price at me for a fix that I did not know if it would solve my problem. With Keystone, I was sure that my problem would be fixed by the solution that they explained to me. The original inspector came back out at the beginning of the job and the end too, which I thought was really nice because he made sure that the crew was on the same page with him. My sister is in the process of getting them to fix her basement as well.

Overall, we are very pleased with the job that Keystone provided. Josh did a great job of explaining the process to us and the installation was on-time and professional. Would definitely recommend Keystone to anyone! Update: Upon received a bill (We are signed up for electronic payments and statements), we noticed that a high interest charge was put on our account. After numerous calls, we were told that the financing was messed up but there was nothing that GE Finance or Keystone could do to fix the issue since the 30 day grace period had lapsed. In turn, we are now paying 27% when we were told that we would be paying 0% APR. This is very disappointing. I highly recommend that all customers do NOT finance over the phone and be sure to have EVERYTHING in writing prior to signing any contract. This has now left a bad taste with us regarding this experience.

Really well. In terms on time, extremely informative, I didn't feel rushed with I had questions, very thorough.

I was very impressed with them. He showed us what we could do ourselves and told us what they could do if that didn't work. He spent a lot of time with us and showed us what different things could be done and what it would cost. He was a very gracious man.

They were really professional and really helpful. I didn't end up going with them in the end but it was a very good experience with the company. In the end it was like overkill for what the basement needed so we decided to go with somebody else. The only thing I would criticize is that they have a sales tact where you have to agree to sign within 3 business days. If we did that, they offered a 20 percent discount. I didn't feel comfortable with that and I thought they were trying to rush me to make a decision. Other than that I thought they were a really helpful company and answered a lot of questions. They were really good.

The installation crew arrived on time and were very courteous. The project was completed on time and I was amazed at how clean the entire area was when they were finished. They used a dustless jackhammer and i was very impressed with how it worked. They took away all debris that was related to the project so I didn't have to worry about hiring someone to do that as well. I am a very satisfied customer and would recommend them in a heartbeat.

Reason for Selecting Keystone · Sales representative was very professional and knowledgeable Met with the owner who is young, professional and educated in structural repair. Described construction process in compliance with OSHA Dig will take approximately 12 feet from the front of the house with a bench or step-down to avoid earth cave ins. Will French drain and fill with 80 to 100 tons of aggregate. Will use jacks to support house and replace portions of cinder block. Entire process will take 5 to 7 days depending on weather. Lifetime guarantee of rebuild area. Competitively priced I asked the sales representative what would look different, if anything, once they completed the project. His response was with a smile, ?you?ll have a very straight wall??that?s all. Initial Start-Up Scheduled to begin Monday, June 13 according to contract. (The contract is boilerplate that is both nebulous and non-specific.) · In preparation, I was to remove shrubs, landscape lighting, plants, bulbs, etc. Worked all weekend in preparation, since the team was to start around 8:00 am. . On June 13, no one showed, so I telephoned sales rep at 9:45, he had no idea where they were. Received call that they would not be there. I was told that the delay is due to PA-One, a utility service that marks where the underground water and gas lines are, had not marked our property. · Tuesday, June 14, two men show up to remove porch and walkway pavers, then left after an hour without saying anything. The Dig · Work begins on Wednesday, June 15. I asked about digging without PA-One being here, the project manager told me they are always late and they just dig without them. So another bit of misinformation to cover the delay in starting according to the contract. · Trench dug wide enough for a worker to get into?NOT stepped down nor 12 feet wide. Project manager told me he has never dug a hole like that and that the salesman didn?t know what he was talking about. · I am expecting most of the clay and soil to be removed from my property since the excavated area will be filled with aggregate, but it?s not. The soil is piled over my front yard. · On the second day of the dig, the project manager approaches me at 11:30 telling me that he saw severe weather approaching when he checked his phone so they were stopping for the day. We didn?t get a drop of rain. · The third day of the dig, they covered the excavated soil incorrectly, according to the backhoe operator, and that night we had a rain storm, and a subsequent cave-in that required nearly an entire day to dig out. · On day 4 or 5, I was returning from a quick trip to the store and found the backhoe operator filling in the trench with the soil that he had originally removed. I told them that was not to happen because the sale representative told me that literally most of the excavated area would be filled with aggregate. We stopped the project and called the owner, who explained to me that they would never excavate in that fashion. That much aggregate would create too much pressure on the wall. I allowed them to continue. · At the conclusion of each day, I would invite the workers to share a beverage and discuss the following day?s tasks. On a Tuesday, June 21, the project manager described in detail what would occur the next day. On Wednesday morning, he called me at 8:30 in the morning to tell me that he had forgotten to say he would be on vacation for the rest of the week, so they would see us on Monday, June 25. Tools, trash, and a massive trench...and they go on vacation! Issues · According to the owner, his team is to work from roughly 8:00 or 8:30 am until 4:30 or 5:00, unless the weather impedes their ability to work. This project began on June 14 and was completed on July 7, 24 days, and they worked until 5:00 only twice. (There were no rain out days or shortened days due to bad weather). · Since soil was not removed and the project took 24 days, not 5 to 7, my landscape, lawn and flower beds were completely destroyed?even areas that they did not need to destroy. · Project manager was consistently blaming others for the delay in completing the project. · Unprofessional workers who left insulation board, trash, empty containers, tools, etc. thrown about my front yard for the entire project period. Today, July 6, I discovered hundreds of maggots in my garage from a bag of food left on the floor from before their ?extended? holiday weekend. · My home is brick-to-grade and I have no exposed cinder block. I have a sloping front yard, so where the reconstruction took place is the lower part of my property. The owner insisted that the cinder block he was replacing had to be 10? block and that it continue to the seal plate, exposing large amounts of cinder block where the brick once was. He told me to ?paint? the exposed cinder block or buy some artificial brick and attach it to the cinder block?utter lunacy! I insisted that he use 6? block and replace my brick, to which he told me that would nullify me warranty. o We compromised on the number of 10? block and minimized the amount of cinder block visible, if I agreed to pay for additional aggregate. · Owner continues to be less than truthful. o On Tuesday, June 28, the owner committed to me that he would push to have the job completed, by having his team work full days, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so on Tuesday, July 5, the project would be completed. (We were supposed to go away on Friday, July 1 for an extended week-end, but cancelled due to the work schedule given to us.) § The only full day worked was Tuesday, June 28 § Friday, July 1, they left at 1:30 § Saturday, July 2, no one showed up § Tuesday, July 5, no one showed up o On July 4, I called the company, specifically the owner and project manager, advising them we would not return from a week-end getaway until around noon on Tuesday, but to move forward since all of the work was outside. I received a call from the owner on July 5 at 9:30 a.m. telling me that he had a talk with the project manager on Saturday and the project manager told him that we didn?t want them on Tuesday since we were away. He told me that he had reassigned the men to another job and couldn?t call them back. On Wednesday, July 6, all of the Keystone employees told me that they ALWAYS have the day after the 4th off?in fact, the company is closed the day after the 4th, Thanksgiving and Christmas! · All of the work related to cinder block replacement was in the garage. At all times at least one garage door was open. All cutting of cinder block took place INSIDE of the garage causing massive amounts of dust and dirt. Simply put, inexcusable. My Unnecessary Costs and Inconveniences 1. Unnecessary damage to lawn and beds. 2. Excessive time for stone, soil and debris to ruin landscape by 10 days more than project was to last. 3. Loss of mobility due to excessive amount of time beyond proposal. 4. The practice of brute force when patience and proper tools are more effective and less damaging. (examples; breaking the bottom course of block, fracturing the house bricks) 5. Vacation cancellation due to misinformation. 6. Excessive dirt and dust due to lack of concern for homeowner. 7. Misrepresentation, fabrication and blatant lying. A copy of this was given to the owner of Kwystone and reviewed in detail at the completion of the project. Update September 8, 2011 I was advised to wait 30 days from the completion of this project for the ground to settle prior to having the front porch and walkway replaced. The owner also stated NOT to have the concrete anchored to the foundation because the weight of the concrete would put excessive pressure on the foundation of the house. I had the porch and walkway installed on August 30, 5 weeks after the completion. We have had about an 1 1/2 inches of rain and now there is a 12 inch gap under the porch. The performance of this company is criminal. I telephoned the owner today and am awaiting a response.

I wasn?t really happy with them at all. I got a quote from them and ended up hiring them. After I signed a contract I thought about it over the weekend and I apparently missed the window by less than a day where I could cancel. We decided we no longer wanted the internal French Drain system, we wanted to replace the exterior underground downspout drainage system, which we knew was bad and leaking right next to the house where the basement leak was occurring. If I cancelled, I would forfeit my deposit, but the fine print did say I could change what was in the contract for no penalty. I ended up changing what I wanted with them and they were pretty rude. They were not happy about me changing it even though it says in the contract that I had every right to do that. We got a new quote for the proposed work, which was significantly less than the original since they would not be tearing up our basement and pouring concrete. I contacted them several times in the fall to see if the work would be done, and after having a lot of difficulty getting a hold of anyone and a lot of excuses I was told I was on the schedule. They said they only needed one day. The day of I got a call and said they would not be doing the work because it was too cold but they would contact me in the Spring. In May I contacted them again to ask what was going on. It had been 6 months since I hired them and nothing had been done, and not one single call since the weather got warmer. They said that they no longer offer those services. Obviously I was very upset. That was a lot of time wasted. I asked when they no longer stopped offering those services, and they said since the beginning of that year. But it was May, 5 months into that new year, and no one had contacted me to tell me that or that my contract had been cancelled. They ended up giving my deposit back which was good because they originally said that if I or they cancelled the contract, they would keep the deposit. Their price was average. They were not good at responding. The estimate was above $2000 and below $3000. I would never consider using their services. Update: I have read the provider's response. The owner was very rude and was very heavy handed in trying to force us to adhere to the original plan or he threatened to cancel our contract and keep our deposit. I stood my ground about modifying the contract since that was in the fine print of their contract. He agreed; we still got our water problem fixed, they still got our business, and I hoped for the best. If the provider felt that they could not do the work as we described, they should have been up front with that information instead of stringing us along. The provider's response makes it sound like they decided they could not do the work very soon after we changed the contract. However there was a 6 month gap between us hiring them and us learning that our contract had been cancelled and getting our deposit back. Because of this, and the way we were treated after we decided to change the contract, I feel customer service was severely lacking in this case.

The experience was good. I liked the guy who presented the information. He was good. Everything was good but for the clean up.

Keystone Basement Systems & Structural Repair Inc. seems to be very honest with great integrity. The worksmanship was very thorough and very good. They have a lifetime warranty on their work so I have extreme confidence in them.

I called them and they never called me back.

Very satisfied. The owner gave me a quote the same day I called. They were the best pricing on the quote I got for the drain/sump pump. They were able to start a few days later. Most issues needed done and they came out 7 days later to finish job. Addt'l work done was reasonably priced also. I had spoke with two similar companies and decided on Keystone & already have recommended them to two other investors.

After my husband's death, I began to have water leaking down my basement walls. I had a number of estimates of what to do & initially decided on a wall with a french drain behind it. It did not help. I then had my patio dug up & had a french drain put along my outside wall, where the water was coming inside. The water leaking down the wall stopped, but I was now getting water coming in where the wall met the floor. After spending over $15,000 & still having water in my basement, someone suggested an indoor french drain. After getting 3 estimates from businesses listed in the Angie's List, I chose Keystone Basement Systems (KBS). They were not the cheapest estimate, but Aaron Stull, the owner who gave me the estimate, was so knowledgeable and seemed to be truly honest and caring. The 3 men that came out to do the indoor french drain and sump pump insulation were excellent, answered all my questions, never making me feel stupid or that I was bothering them, and cleaned up the area when they were done. I expected a lot more dust & dirt, but they kept it to a minimum. With a long extension cord, they ran the sump pump to an electrical outlet, with which I was not pleased. When I talked to Mr. Stull about this, he offered to pay 1/2 of the bill to have an electrician come in & put an electrical outlet next to the pump. About a month after the installation & a heavy rain, I observed a trickle of water on the floor in the corner. After one call to Mr. Stull, a worker came & made a minor adjustment that fixed it. They indoor french drain & sump pump stopped the water from coming in. I just wish I had done this first instead of all the outside work & money I wasted. To show you what an honest & wonderful company Keyston Basement Systems is, please let me share with you what happen in July of 2010. I had just accepted an offer to sell my house, when we had an extremely bad storm & I noticed water coming down a side wall & onto the floor, where I did not have the indoor french drain. I called Mr Stull to see how much it would cost to extend the french drain. He came out & decided the problem could be easily fixed without extending the drain & since I had not taken him up on his previous offer regarding the electritian's bill, he had it fixed without charging me. He could have easily ripped me off & extended the indoor french drain, but he did not! I would totally trust him & his company to do future work in my new home, if a water problem arose. I highly recommend Keystone Basement Systems to all Angie's List customers!

Employees arrived on time, answered any questions I had, and completed work they were supposed to.

The sales guy treated us in a very straight forward way; he was upfront about what he did and didn?t do, what he product was, and how it worked. I felt that I understood what I was getting and that I wasn?t being sold a story that I would regret later. We had some initial scheduling trouble but once we got that straightened out, they showed up when they said they would, they did the job professionally, and they cleaned up when they were done. They had clearly done this job a zillion times before so they knew exactly what to do and they did it really well. We didn?t have any problems at all and I would recommend them.

They did an excellent job. My husband and I thought the price was reasonable, and I would, and have, recommended them to others.

I was not very happy with their work. They did not seem to follow procedure, and they stacked molded debris in the house instead of taking it out. They failed to remove all of the debris from the attic that they said they would. I had to call them back out twice because they had not removed all of the debris. It took that many times for the mold test results to show that the mold was gone. They did eventually get the job done, but it was frustrating that it took so many attempts and I am not likely to use them again.

THEY LEFT MY BASEMENT KIND OF DUSTY. I FEEL THEY COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING TO KEEP THE DUST LEVEL DOWN. THERE ARE SOME AREAS THAT SEEM TO HAVE BEEN MISSED WHEN THEY CAULKED THINGS.