Thompson's Basement Waterproofing

I would highly recommend Thompson's Waterproofing. For those who have shopped around, you understand there are three ways to evaluate a company - their sales team and the actual completion of the job, and service after the job has been completed. I would give an "A" for both sides of the business. Regarding the sales team, the representative was forthright and honest. I shopped around with a number of other companies and could not believe the lengths they would go to to get the deal. Thompson was forthright in telling me about their price, materials, and length of time to complete the job. Thankfully, I chose right. Regarding the installation, the crew was professional and took care to not damage and protect the rest of the structure. They were very efficient and provided updates throughout the job. Overall, I was really satisfied with the job they did.....then things got interesting. To no fault to no fault of their own, my discharge pipe was causing issues in the front yard. I made a call to Thompson's (after they've been paid) and they had a representative at the site within hours. Their employee gave me an option to resolve the problem and went on his way. After a few weeks, I learned that solution wasn't going to hold up in the long run. I made another call to Thompson's and they didn't hesitate about sending another person to evaluate the situation. This time, we came up with a solution to remove all doubt. The service person went out and got the necessary materials and fixed the problem that day - again, the problem was no fault of their own (I had a difficult basement). Since then, my sump pumps have worked perfectly and the water issue I had is no longer a problem.

Crew arrived on Monday at 9:AM and proceeded to work. The job was completed by 11:45AM, as well as clean up of any dust and debris., My basement floor showed no signs dirt or dust. I have to wait for the cement to dry before anything can be moved back into the area that the work was done. But overall, I was totally impressed with the quickness of job completion. I did call on Friday night to confirm some questions that I had, and although the answering service accepted my call, the Service Manager returned my call within 10 minutes of that call. WOW!!

Woody came to give us an estimate on fixing a leak in the basement. I never write reviews, but felt compelled to write one this time. Our salesman Woody was awesome. He never tried to sell us but more help us with question and answers. I would use this company if the situation was different. This seems like a good company with good salesman... Nice job Woody

We spoke to Jeff at the Home Show, explained our problem, and he offered to take a look at it for free, no obligation. He came to the house soon thereafter and offered to return later to replace the battery charger. Another representative, Jim, brought the replacement, installed it, and we are back in business. No hassle. All professional. More than fair. Got only what we needed. How refreshing to deal with people like this! Hard to find such honesty anymore. Both men were very professional. We couldn't have asked for better service or a better price. We highly recommend this company! We only wish we had hired them for the original system! Thanks for restoring some confidence in humanity.

I didn't go with them because what they wanted to do I felt like was more extreme than what the problems was. They responded immediately and he was professional.

We have two brick walls in the basement. One of the main reasons we chose Thompson's was they were willing to perform the work and guarantee it without requiring us to remove any of the bricks. We talked to Mac on Saturday and the work was performed on Monday. The work was finished in 5 - 6 hours. As of today (a month later), we have had several hard rains and no water in the basement. What a relief! Wish we had done it years ago.

PROJECT WENT GREAT FROM START TO FINISH FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME IF YOU NEED YOUR BASEMENT WATERPROOFED

Very punctual. Let the "salesman" in to inspect my crawl space. After he was done his inspection he sat down and asked me "what did I think I was needed" Wasn't this supposed to be his job to tell me what I needed. After we spoke, which was all explained in a professional manner, he presented me with what I felt was more work then I needed. Then he hit me with the price, well over the next contractor price. I thanked him for coming and told him I'd let him know. He proceeded to tell me if I sign NOW he can take off an additional $1000 . I said I need to talk it over with my wife plus I was looking to get a loan for the job. He then told me he would take another $1000 off if I paid cash. Now I was irate. All I wanted was for the lowest price estimate for the job, Now I felt like I was dealing with a pushy car sales man(No offense to car sale man). I said not now, and he packed up everything even the estimates and walked out.

Their fine representative, Mack McGowan, submitted the highest of the 3 bids I received, but was also the best. At my business, I had five structural cracks that their fine workman re mediated with carbon fiber. In my residence, there were 3 structural cracks that were re-mediated w/ carbon fiber. They installed a total of 312ft of water management system. They installed five 1/3 horse power sump pumps, 3 backup pumps. They did mold remediation for both locations. They installed in each locale Santa Fe DE-humidifiers. What Thompson's did was save both of my buildings. I cannot speak highly enough about the honesty and experience that Mr. McGowan provided for me in this critical time. They were neat, clean, and very professional in every respect. I would like to acknowledge Thompson's Waterproofing with this review and their fine representative Mr. Mack McGowan. Sincerely, Mike Acierno

The person who came out to give the quote showed up an hour early without warning - hence, the B in punctuality. However, he was very friendly and knowledgeable, communicated the issues and solutions well, was patient with our many questions, only proposed work that was necessary, and gave us a very reasonable price. We had seen in other reviews that sometimes within a day or two of receieving a quote, a "project supervisor" would call saying they had reviewed the proposal and wanted to come out to discuss it. Sure enough, we did receive a call the next day. However, we refused the extra appointment and discussion stating we would let them know when we had decided, and they did not give us any hassle about it. It was scheduled and the work was completed in a timely manner, and it was done well.

We met with Woody to go over our basement issues. We felt that the price was fair and the work was done quicky. There was some dirt left behind (dusty), but other than that the job site was clean. Our big issue is that we have a ledge in the basement and they installed a different material instead of brightwall. It kind of bends along the ledge, but there are gaps at the side. I wished that I didn't pay them until my husband got home to see, but now our ledge that we used to store things on is useless. I called Woody about 6 times to get him to come out and fix this. I called recently and he passed me off to a manager who has not called me back to fix this issue. Woody said he wasn't sure why they didn't use the brightwall and cut it to size. I hate to write a bad review, but feel like I am being blown off by the company to get this simple fix completed. It's a shame, because we didn't have a drop of water in our basement during Hurricane Sandy and the drain works wonderfullly. If they get this fixed for me- I will be happy to update my review, but sadly at this time I can't!

We interviewed 3 companies and Thompson's Waterproofing was clearly the most thorough and knowledgeable. They took the time to inspect our home not only inside but surprising enough, they went outside as well which is something no other company did. Then they went over the different solutions and gave us a few different options on how to waterproof our basement. We decided to get the entire basement done rather then just two walls where water was coming in. It was a little more expensive to do it all at once but they us a discount and said it was cheaper to do it all at the same time which definitely made sense. The day of the job a Thompson truck showed up and 5 workers. They were early and seemed eager to get started. They jack hammered for 4 hours, a little noisy but such is life, and installed a french drain all around our basement. When the job was complete, the foreman went over all the work which had been done and explained the system to us. All in all it was a professional job from the start to finish and I would suggest them as a "good choice" . We waited to write the review until after a few rains to make sure everything was working and I must say, a big "thumbs up" to Thompson's Waterproofing for giving us a dry basement with minimum disruption. Chris K. Allentown

We contacted Thompson's as had most the reviews on Angie's List and for the most part seemed reputable. The day of the interview they were 10 minutes early. A plus already as 2 other companies were late and 1 didn't show at all. The inspector showed us a laptop presentation and seemed to know his stuff. We elected to go with them and so far so good as the areas we were getting water are dry. We are pleased with this company and the way they do business.

Met with a representative from Thompson's who provided a great overview of the issue, the process, and the expected outcome. Due to this comfortable, informative, and professional presentation, we opted to hire Thompson's. The service date and time were honored, but the workers seemed to be extremely young. They did perform the work, however, they were not neat, and as a matter of fact very messy, damaging solid workbenches, bathroom doors, and basement windows. The also damaged the patio by spilling staining paint/glue, and damaged flowerbeds and lawns while mixing cement. The actual drain itself was not evenly or neatly installed, with the mica boards being uneven and not flush against the wall. The poured cement was not smoothly laid, and in one corner, was pitched by almost six inches. They bored a hole in the wall for the drainage pipe, but it was in a completely different location than what was agreed on or in the drawing. The followup customer service was terrible, with many promised yet unreturned phone calls, and a lack to immediate responses to calls made (a message always seemed to have to be left.) Calls and attempts were made to resolve quite a few of these issues with Thompson's over almost 4 months, with only frustration be developed on my side due to their lack of response or concern. We needed to spend another $2000 with another company to clean up and resolve the mess and quite a few of the issues left/created by Thompson's. NOTE: The french drain does work, and we have not had water in the basement since.

They gave an estimate to replace the sump pump motor. The first guy who came estimated it at $875 after a coupon discount and I gave him a (check) deposit on the work. Ten minutes after he left he rang the doorbell to say that he'd talked with the owner and since I lived so far from their office (I'm in Montgomery County, MD; they're in PA) they couldn't do the job for less than $1800. I replied that if they only wanted to do local jobs then they shouldn't advertise so far from home! I declined the $1800 price. A couple of weeks later I got a call from a woman at the company saying the owner had reviewed the bid and could do the job for less than $1800. No matter how many times I asked, they wouldn't give me a price over the phone. Finally I scheduled a second estimate appointment and the new guy said they could do it for $1700. Whoo-hoo, a whole $100 savings. This new estimate included a new sump pit and a french drain, no doubt added to justify the higher price. After some misgivings I decided to go ahead and use them rather than act as my own subcontractor to hire a plumber AND a drywall person AND a mold killer. One yahoo (Tom) and another non-yahoo (name unknown) showed up to do the work. As soon as they brought in the new pit cover my forehead creased as I realized there was no way that cover was going to fit in the space (way too big). Apparently I was the only one able to come to this conclusion so quickly because an hour later yahoo Tom announced that the 18 inch pit they'd brought wouldn't fit in the space available between the furnace and the water heater. (Coulda told you that at one glance, Tom!) I suggested that perhaps other sizes of pits were available even though that was the only size Thompson carried. He squinted at me for several long seconds before concluding that I needed to talk with "the office" about that. I did, and Keith agreed that other sizes might be available. He said he'd check with my nearby Home Depot while Tom took himself off to said Home Depot to try to get the pit. He came back, announcing that Home Depot only had the same size as his, so they would just replace the motor. He didn't offer any discount considering that they weren't replacing the pit. This required another call from me to the office, where Keith announced he'd knock $100 off the price as that was the price of the pit. He didn't offer a discount off the labor, but agreed to knock an additional $100 off the job. They did a nice job on the french drain and finished more quickly than I'd expected. In his sum-up instructions, Tom told me I needed to wait a month (not a week as the salesman had said) to replace the drywall in order to allow the mold killer to "bloom". When I asked him how I'd know if the mold killer had "bloomed" Tom said "I don't know cuz I ain't never seen that." Wow, that was helpful. If I'd known I'd have to wait a month to replace the drywall and more importantly re-hook up the washer and dryer I'd no doubt have made other laundry decisions pre-job. Three weeks post-repair, with no sign of anything resembling "blooming' in the treated area, I called the company and eventually spoke to Keith, who said he didn't know what Tom was talking about and that it would have been safe to replace the drywall after a week. BOTTOM LINE: unless you have a major waterproofing job to be done, avoid this company. The second estimator pointed out to me that their job minimum is $2500, so they were clearly stooping (my phrasing) to do my job.

It did not go well. During the estimate the estimater stated that they would need to cut some of the panelling to get at the foundation. Well, they cut, no make that hacked, around 3 feet up from the foundation. Destroying and creating a huge problem for us. We then had to hire a contractor to come in and repanel the walls for an additional $1,500.00. Other contractors, plumbers, etc. saw the hacked panelling and were as appalled as we were. We've had neigbhors have their basements waterproofed, by other companies, and they didn't have to repanel their basements. Then, some of their concrete work cracked. They came out, in good response time, to correct it but they sent 2 not the sharpest axes in the shed, out to fix the concrete. We told them the water was turned off to the house. But they used one of the toilets and clogged it up. So when we returned to the house 2 days later we were overwhelmed by the stench emitating from the bathroom and we had to unclog a toilet!

Everything went as planned and was finished and cleaned up a head of schedule. Great job!

We had a hurricane last night and I had zero water in my basement. They gave me a very high estimate in the beginning but I called them back and told them it was too high and I told them what I wanted to spend and they reevaluated on the estimate and they worked with me on it. I am going to go back and work with them again on it in the future.

I met the representative of Thompson's Basement Waterproofing at a Home Show. I have a problem with mold growing in one corner of my basement and wanted to see what they recommended as a solution. I was favorably impressed by the inspector's evaluation of the basement. He did a thorough job looking all over the basement, not just in the corner where the problem is. His recommendation was to put in a sump pump to get rid of the water that was causing the problem. That would take about 1-2 days of work in the house, but they would have to pour cement. It would take a month for the cement to cure before I could put anything on it. I didn't really want to not be able to use my basement for a month. It is a focal point in my house and gets used every day. And I didn't really see a sump pump as the solution. There is no water pooling in the basement. There is no water on the floor. There is no discernible water seeping through the walls. It just seemed like too much disruption for a solution that I wasn't sure would fix the problem. In the end I went with a company that actually cost a little more money, but who did all their work outside the house and provided a solution that I think really addressed the problem.

Dean met with us, explained what needed to be done and what caused our current basement issues. They scheduled the work to start on the following Monday. The next day Dean called and said they had a cancelation and could start tomorrow. The crew came in completed the work and cleaned up in just 2 days. We did have one mishap and that was a basement window somehow fell out and broke. I contacted Dean about it and he said that he would handle it. I then talked to Keith and he said they were having the glass repaired and once repaired they would reinstall the window at their cost. Overall a very pleasant experience and everything was handled very professionally. Would, with out any doubt, use Thompson's again!

We requested an estimate for our wet basement. The estimator came out and provided a written estimate for the work he was proposing we have done. We gave him our credit card number and he told us that we have 3 days in which to cancel the contract. We talked about the proposed work and decided that it would not solve our problem, so I called the company with in 24 hours and CANCELED the contract. Never was I told that I needed to do anything else, EVEN AFTER I INQUIRED IF THERE WAS ANYTHING ELSE I NEEDED TO DO. The following day I received a number of phone calls seeing if there was anything they could do to salvage the work, and I told them no. Nothing was mentioned on this phone call that I would be required to submit the cancelation in writing. Imagine my surprise when I opened my credit card bill, and the down payment of $900 was on the bill!!! I called the company right away and was told that I should have submitted my cancelation in writing, and since I didn't they processed my deposit. They obviously knew they were not doing the job, as no one showed up on the day they had scheduled it, but they didn't hesitate to process the deposit anyway. In my opinion it is an underhanded and sneaky way of doing business. I would NOT use this company or recommend this company because in my opinion they do not have upstanding business practices.

I called Thompson Waterproofing because there was a crack in the wall of my home's foundation where rainwater was getting in. My appointment had to be rescheduled because the salesperson's home had water in their basement from the recent Hurricane that had come through NJ. (Perhaps I should have seen this as an "Omen"? What sales person doesn't use their own companies services?) At the rescheduled appointment a salesman came and had a very nice slide presentation on the laptop computer he had brought with him. The presentation made sense, and I was impressed by the fact that they had a very good rating from "Angie's List" the previous year. I signed up for the services and made a small down payment. I was told the rest would be due when the work was finished. Two men were dispatched to begin the job which was only supposed to take a couple of days, but due to the fact that my basement runs the entire length of the house the job was too big for just 2 people. They came with jackhammers which they ran off my house electricity to work. I found that rather odd since even when I had the windshield replaced on my car and the company came to fix it with their mobile truck, they used their own generator on the truck for electricity. They eventually sent more workers on the subsequent days to do the work, plus had to bring in a different jackhammer as some of the concrete was harder to break through. (I am now going to cut and paste a letter I sent to the company by certified mail after the work was completed. I think it will be easier than trying to retype it all.) According to the certified letter receipt I still have it was delivered to them on Oct 31, 2011) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To: ?Jeff? (no last name provided) of Thompson?s Waterproofing, My name is Gerri Robertson. I live at 14 Wilson Street, Phillipsburg, NJ 08865. On September 30, 2011 work was begun on my basement for a drainage system. It was completed on October 2, 2011. For the past three weeks, I have been trying to contact the company to have some questions answered. Every time I call, I have to go through my entire explanation of why I am calling. I am told that someone will call me back. The first time I called no one called me back. I allowed several days courtesy to give someone the time to call me back since I had called on a Friday evening. Each time after that first time, apparently you call back, but you only leave your first name, and the general phone number which necessitates me calling back and going through the whole explanation of why I am calling in the first place over and over again. Then I am told you are busy, in a meeting, etc. and you will call me back. You never leave a last name, nor an extension number, not even a convenient time to call you back. I am a busy person. I work three jobs which is why I was able to afford your company?s services to begin with. No matter what I tell the operators such as, ?I am at work on my lunch break and if someone calls me back I will not be able to pick up until after 5 PM when I am done with work as I cannot answer my phone during working hours?, or when I leave a specific phone number to call me back on because I am not at home at the time, a call is placed to my home phone number anyway. I find it interesting that when I contacted the company initially to make an appointment for a sales representative to come, your company was very attentive. I was contacted immediately and follow up calls were prompt and courteous. Now that the job is completed and you have cashed my check, the return calls and attention are not very forthcoming. The questions I have been trying to get answered are as follows: 1) Who supplies the electricity for the jackhammers? I was not informed that I might need an answer to this question by the sales representative who visited my home. 2) Who pays for damages incurred on the job? According to the contract the company is not responsible for damages to fuel or tank lines. There are no other specific damages mentioned. The sales representative informed me that steps or staircases may have to be removed to complete the job. I was informed that either I could have them removed, or the workers would remove them. I was also informed that the company could not put the staircase back up after the job was completed. It would be the responsibility of the homeowner. One entire staircase was removed by the workers. Although the top of the staircase where it was fastened was damaged by rotting wood caused by the weather, (obviously I do not hold the company responsible for that) the staircase itself was damaged by the workers and it is no longer possible to put the original staircase back up. The risers for the stairs were cut from solid pieces of wood for each side (this is a custom job as they are not sold this way) and several risers were broken by the workers removing the staircase. The entire staircase will have to be rebuilt. The second thing that was damaged was a window sill. The window sill was damaged when the workers (I assume in their haste to complete the job) passed buckets of rocks and debris through the window (which was too small to accommodate the bucket in the first place-never mind the added weight of the rocks and debris) from the outside to the basement and vice versa. They chose this opening, even though they had two other means of getting buckets in and out of the basement at their disposal. We did not notice this until the next day when we inspected the completed work in the basement (during daylight hours). At that point, my son (who had signed for the work because I was not at home at the time) said now he understood what the workers were talking about when they mentioned some damages. He had thought they were telling him about the staircase and the rotting wood at the top which we had already known about. There was also job related debris left strewn all over the backyard, and some in the street in front of my home when the workers left for the last time, even though the contract specifically states that ?Thompson Waterproofing will remove all work related debris?. We have since cleaned up the debris because it was a hazard, and had the window sill repaired to prevent animals from entering the basement. On October 2, I was informed by the job foreman late in the afternoon that the work would take one more day. I left for my night job around 4:45 PM and was frantically contacted by my son several hours later. It would seem that the workers had decided to stay and complete the job on Oct 2 after all and stated that they couldn?t leave until they received the money for the completed job. My son had to drive to my job, I had to meet him outside and write a check for the remainder of the money owed. Although I understand that the contract states that the money was due in full upon job completion, and in this economy I can understand companies being a little nervous about people making good on payments, I felt that this was a very poor business practice and did not promote good will toward the customer. At this point I am just disgusted with the way that you have handled customer service after the job completion and I will be forwarding my comments exactly as I have stated them in this letter to you by sending a copy to ?Angie?s List? of which I am a member. I was originally drawn to your company because of the Angie?s List recommendation and award presented to your company for last year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After I sent this letter, (apparently it had been forwarded to the owner: Mr Thompson), a very sheepish "Jeff" called me back and left his cell phone # for me to contact him. He asked me to send pictures of the damages. He said I was the first person who ever questioned the use of the homeowner's electricity to run the jackhammers. We sent pictures via e-mail of the staircase, and the window (which had already been repaired). We could not send pictures of the debris which had already been cleaned up. I did not hear from Jeff again immediately. I had to call and e-mail him several more times. I finally received an e-mail from him stating that a worker would be by to build a new staircase and was December 23rd OK. I was livid and did not reply right away as I was contemplating exactly how to respond. NO I did NOT want a worker at my home 2 days before Christmas (who would?!?!?). Without a confirmation on my part, Jeff sent a worker to my home anyway on Dec 23rd. My son contacted me via text to my cell phone as I was at work to find out if I had authorized it. When I finally got his message and called the house and spoke to the worker, the staircase was already half built. I told him to finish the job, and I was NOT happy with Jeff. The worker told me they had numerous people who were not happy with Jeff and to let the company know. I work 3 jobs, I am a busy person, and I never did contact them again. I fully intended to complain to Angie's List about them, but again was too busy. To date, they never addressed the broken windowsill, nor the debris left behind. My son informed me that I did not need two sump pumps that the salesperson talked me into that one would have been sufficient, and my son went around and had to redo several areas of concrete that the workers did not do a good job replacing after the pipework was put in. I am on a budget plan with the electric company. I received a whopping $200 bill at the end of the year to reconcile the account. I cannot honestly say whether this had to do with the added cost to the electric Co from the hurricane, or the rise in electricity rates, or what.

We used Thompson after doing research of multiple waterproofing companies. We are glad that we made the right choice. The system was installed earlier this year and has performed well so far under excessive rain this year. They did a professional job. There was an issue during the installation on what shall be covered since it was not clearly stated on the paper. Once we contacted the sales manager, the sales manager contacted the installation team and the issue was taken seriously and resolved quickly.

I had my entire basement waterproofed after the flooding in April of 2011, I used them in the past to install a new sump pump and was satisfied with the results. This time around they installed trenches beneath my basements surface. The whole process took a day and the people were very pleasant.

I thought they were excellent and they did what they said they were going to do. I had no problems at all and they guaranteed their work. I thought their quality was excellent.