Bruecher Foundation

I am very upset with my experience with this company. I have a warranty on my foundation, although the previous owners already had done it two years ago. Obviously things shift and get damaged when foundations are fixed but the extent of this damage has cost me thousands to fix, and this company did not inform me of the ins and outs of what they needed to do and how this might impact my house. My deck has completely shifted and when I was told, the owner was very unhelpful and did not provide me any recommendations to remediate this problem- he simply said he wasn’t a “deck guy”. You would think that if this was his line of work that this would be common in his practice and he could recommend me with a company or how to fix this. I was shocked everyday with the scope of the work and the mess that was made, and given no warning of what my living conditions would be like until this was repaired. “This is messy work ma’am” I was told by the owner…My floors had to be taken out-(I asked for recommendations about someone who could help me with this task and again I got, "I am not a floor guy, m'aam")- but the drawing they had of where I needed to take them up were off, so when they removed more of my floors they were damaged and now I am needing to pay thousands in new flooring. Again, I know these things happen when foundations are fixed and houses are moved but I am very upset I was not told of the scope of this work beforehand. All I was told is it would take 3 days and I need remove some flooring. Also, when they put a hole in my floor they came across a pipe with duct tape on it, and stopped their work and told me I needed a plumber to look at it or else they couldn’t finish. I got a plumber in and it turns out wrapping piping in duct tape is very standard as it protects them from the concrete poured, and the plumber even said that someone who specializes in fixing foundations should know that. So this further delayed my project. The lack of transparency and help with recommendations felt really jarring and rude. I was feeling so frustrated I actually had my father communicate with the owner, and go figure, apparently the owner was more communicative with him than me….doesn’t make me feel great. Just wanted to write an honest review of my experience. I truly hope that they were able to fix my foundation so I don’t need to use my warranty again. If I do, I really hope that they read this review and take it to heart, and can be kinder and more transparent with their clients, and really educate people who don’t do this for a living so we’re not left confused and shocked.

No trouble found, he declined to bid

unknown

No issues were found, no charge.

They were great.

unknown

They were prompt and thorough with their estimate.

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Overall I am very pleased with the foundation service performed by Mr. Bruecher. We had one side of our house lifted 1.5", and while other quotes we received noticed approximately the same issues and quoted around the same price, Bruecher also noticed that our chimney was leaning away from our house and we are so glad he did. The experience of getting the project scheduled was a little tough, and the receptionist was all-business and no warmth, but the project was scheduled and completed on time and sooner than we were getting scheduling quotes from when asking other companies. The reason our foundation was dropped was water running beside our house from rain runoff, and we selected Bruecher because they also offer irrigation / water flow services. They cut a swale into our front yard and laid sod down so it would look good. Overall I'm very happy with the services for the price we paid, and i feel confident that they will stand the test of time, especially with the 30 year guarantee. I would recommend this company to other buyers.

The reason I spent no money, is because we didn't have to. He said we were safe and to call him in a year and he would come recheck the foundation. He saved us from buying a house not but 2 months ago that was a pier and beam without the piers! Howie was actually our second call to come price out the job. We had gotten the bad news from Centex a couple of days before, but they failed to include the 19 piers on the entire exterior of the house. They said we needed 21, but in reality we needed 30. Howie said there was no way he could beat their price because their quote for the number of piers was inaccurate. We were crushed, but were extremely grateful he gave it to us straight and we ended up passing on the house. I just really trust him.

Did not lose the permit they opened even though they said work was done and collected their money.

The evaluation process was professional and efficient.

Overall, I was extremely pleased. The entire process went very smoothly. The work was completed on time -- within my planned schedule. And, the work was beyond my expectation. I selected Bruecher Foundation Services from a total of 4 well recommended firms. Bruecher was neither the highest nor lowest quote. I chose them because of their reputation, time in business and a personal feeling about Howie Bruecher's sincerity. Bruecher's crew started when promised and completed the work within the promised timed. Mr. Bruecher kept me informed of the progess at every stage. He was also available when I needed to speak to him. There was excellent communication. Mr. Bruecher was also very accommodating in putting off the replacement of the underpinning/stucco until other tradesmen that required access under the house, finished their work. This delayed Bruecher completing the job by about 7 to 8 days. I definitely recommend Howie Bruecher, and will use his services if I have future needs.

Extremely easy, no hassles. I was barely aware that they were at my house, besides all the creaking and popping the house did while being leveled. They were very tidy, even smoothing out the left over dirt in my flower bed from where they put in pillars.

It was pretty extensive work and the quality of the work was good. They did great at keeping me informed of where they were and how it was going. It was a good experience working with them overall. They did a good job of keeping everything relatively clean throughout the process.

Overall Howie is prompt, business like, iron-clad reputation and reliability, as well as being a really good guy. As someone who moved to Austin from LA and has had disappointment after disappointment with respect to Austin construction types (contractors, plumbers, electricians, framers, you name it) it has been a huge relief to have a great foundation guy and to have been able to count on him throughout.

A representative from the company came out to scope the project, which was probably small relative to most foundation repair jobs. However, they never sent an estimate to me. They did not return many, many phone calls from me. The decision not to use Bruecher was made for me. Perhaps they got busy with other larger jobs, and no longer wanted to take on this job. Whatever the case, I found it unprofessional to simply ignore repeated calls from a potential customer.