BASEMENT SPECIALISTS INC

Because what Mr. Dobbe said was in marked contrast to the other contractor, I had an independent basement inspector come in (i.e., one who would issue a formal report about my basement to a buyer in a real estate transaction and who was not selling me any services other than the inspection so had nothing to gain by what he recommended), who said no excavation was needed, and in fact, would not address the cause of the problem, either. The cause of the problem, he said, was to be dealt with by improving rainwater handling through downspout and grading repairs. He told me he believes Mr. Dobbe is notorious for overselling excavation where none is needed, along with unneeded drain tile replacement. He said he believes Mr. Dobbe's work product is fine, but that he oversells and takes advantage of people who are vulnerable. I would also recommend that if you need basement foundation work done which requires drain tile testing done beforehand, you get an independent test done rather than have your basement contractor do it, for some of the same reasons of conflict of interest.

Excellent all around from estimate to completion and clean up. Provided all necessary paperwork for real estate transaction

We had a crack, bowing, and water leaks in one of our cement block basement walls. Basement Specialists gave us the most reasonable estimate for the work, and completely described what work they would perform. They dug up the outside near the wall down to the drain tile, checked the drain tile at that wall plus about 40% of the tile around the house to insure they were clear, straightened the wall, and installed very strong metal bracing around 75% of the entire basement walls. We have not had any water in our basement since this work was completed. Recently (2011-2012), we noticed that several of the 2x8's near the wall that was fixed were pushed up about an inch off the I-beam. They created a "hump" in our first level floor. I called Basement Specialists to look at the problem, to see what could be done. They inspected the issue within a couple days of my call, and had a structural engineer look at it a few days later. They fixed the problem within a 4 days after that. Even though I do not believe the problem was caused by their original work, they did not charge me for any of this work. I believe the problem was caused by a large tree near that wall that caused pressure against that wall.I highly recommend this company to everyone. Their professionalism and 100% guarantee of their work is not something I see in all companies these days.

WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING OUR HOUSE READY FOR SALE AND BEGAN TO NOTICE WATER SEEPING IN BETWEEN THE BLOCKS. I WENT TO ANGIE'S LIST AND NOTICED THE RAVE REVIEWS FOR BASEMENT SPECIALISTS INC. AND WENT NO FURTHER. I CALLED AND WAS TOLD THE OWNER DALE WOULD BE OUT IN TWO DAYS, AT NIGHT, TO INSPECT. ONCE HE ARRIVED HE MEASURED THE TWO WALLS IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF BOW. HE THEN INSPECTED THE WALLS FOR CRACKS BETWEEN THE BLOCKS. ONCE ALL THAT WAS COMPLETED HE WANT OUTSIDE TO INSPECT THE LAWN AROUND THE HOUSE AND MEASURED THE SLOPE AWAY FROM THE HOUSE, AGAIN, IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS. HE THEN GAVE US HIS RECOMMENDATION. HE SAID OUR PROBLEM WAS THE LAWN NEAR THE HOUSE SLOPED TOWARDS THE HOUSE. THAT THE CRACKS IN THE BLOCKS WERE NORMAL BUT THE SEEPAGE SHOULD GO AWAY IF WE BUILD UP THE LAWN AROUND THE HOUSE WITH DIRT, LAY ROOFING MEMBRANE AND COVER WITH ROCKS. DALE DID NOT CHARGE US FOR HIS TIME AND GAVE US TWO LANDSCAPERS TO CALL. GETTING THE HOUSE READY FOR SALE IS STRESSFUL AND FINDING THIS PROBLEM DID NOT HELP BUT USING ANGIE'S LIST TO FIND B.S.I. AND GETTING SOME HELP FOR A QUICK FIX WILL HELP US TO MOVE ON.

Requested evaluation of basement wall issues..Went very well as described above.

I appreciate greatly that Basement Specialists recommended a careful, "least invasive" approach to the problem. Their recommendations of landscapers makes sense and we'll see if this solutions works. This is a firm with the integrity to seek what is best for the customer.

We had an excellent experience. Dale made two visits to our house. First in the fall, he was very honest about possible causes of our water problem and suggested ways we might fix them that did not involve basement work. Ultimately by the following summer we had ruled out these other causes and called Dale back. He scheduled us quickly, his workmen showed up promptly and were extremely courteous and neat. We have had several heavy rains since the work was completed and our water problem is solved!

Dale was very knolagable and informative had a lot of answers .His price was the highest.

The first one I called was Basement Specialists, Inc. and the owner, Dale Dobbe, personally came and did the evaluation. That impressed me. He said the bathroom definitely presented a problem area, but it could be worked out. Dale also provided a lot of good information as he inspected my property and was very thorough. In about a week his contract arrived in the mail. I can see why Mr. Dobbe’s company is highly rated by Angie’s List. While I was very impressed with them, I ended up going with the second company I had contacted.

We contacted them via email in the evening. The next morning they contacted us by phone and were able to come over that day because they had a cancelation nearby. Dale Dobbe came out and determined that his services would probably not be needed. He gave us some good advice on re-grading to try before proceeding with more drastic measures and that did the trick. I have already recommended them to a friend.

They are an outstanding company. If we have problems in our basement sometimes water comes in for a variety of different reasons. They tested and determined that on the outside there was some tile that had to be cleaned at which they did a wonderful job. They then coated the brick and fixed everything up and landscaped the way. I have absolutely no water coming in now. Everything was excellent.

Dale Dobbe came out promptly and although it was determined that his services would not be needed he gave us some good solid advice on how to remedy the situation.

Dale was fantastic. First of all, he did a thorough examination of the basement and the landscaping, and thought that the problem was less about the basement, and more about the poor pitch of pavers against the outside wall. His recommendation was to fix that first, and then come back if that didn't solve the issue. Since that time, we had the pavers fixed, and since then - through all the heavy downpours and snow melt - we haven't had any issues.

They did a lot for me. They dug up all around the house and they did a job of around $25000. They excavated around the outside, a large portion of the basement of my mother's house. They put in new tile. They sealed the outside with a membrane and also with material. They had to also build an outside structure to help support the wall and they had to move one wall and then they had to put an interior porch to stabilize the change that they did make. I found them on Angie's List. I was pleased with their work. They did a very complete, thorough job. Anytime I had any questions at all they answered them. They returned contracts and information in a very timely way. I would recommend them. I didn't do a lot of shopping around so I don't know about their price. I was looking for quality. I hired them based on Angie's List and my interaction when they came out so price wasn't a real big consideration. Their quality was excellent. They were very responsive and punctual.

I had a leaky corner in the basement near my sump pump. As I am considering selling my home in the near future I wanted to have any potential problems identified and corrected in advance. In July, I called 3 basement contractors for estimates. Two proposed internal solutions -but different approaches - one involving inspection and replacement of internal drain tiles (Badger- least expensive quote), the second recommended internal drain tiles and wall reinforcement (McCoy). Mr. Dobbe's recommendation included the internal wall reinforcement, as well as external excavation and waterproofing, he would also check the internal drain tiles, but felt the problem initiated and was best addressed long term, on the outside. The quote from Basement Specialists was comparable to the second quote (McCoy) I received that also addressed wall reinforcement but only replacement of internal drain tiles. Fortunately, I had called for estimates prior to the local deluge of rain and flooding, and understood that my problems were minor in comparison to the city wide issues, so the estimate for completing the work - 6 weeks out for the earliest scheduling was understandable. The first and second contractor (I don't know if I can mention competitor names - Badger Basement Specialists and McCoy respectively) - were also scheduling 4-6 or more weeks out. I was impressed with the home owner educational literature provided by both Badger and Basement Specialists. I decided to go with Basement Specialists because if I was not going to sell, I would want the best long term solution for myself anyway. The price was comparable and I felt the total solution would not only be better but cost effective in the long run. I was impressed by the Angie's List comments as well. The actual work was scheduled and completed about 2 weeks earlier than originally forecasted. I was pleased with the professionalism, and the men were very accommodating in answering any questions i had during the process.

Dale is the owner. They did a very good job. They kept me informed, kept it as clean as possible, and I got a follow up letter asking for my feedback about the work they did. I would hire them again.

Basement Specialists replaced interior drain tiles in part of our basement and installed a sump pump nearly two years ago. With this summer's heavy rains, we had the merest trickle in one area that had the new drain tiles. I almost hated to complain, as so many people had had severe flooding. But Dale Dobbe came out, decided that the problem was mud from our window well getting into the foundation and blocking the drain tile. Within a couple of days, his employees came out to clean out the mud and fill the window well with gravel. Dale did not charge us. He said he just wanted us to be happy with his work. I recommend this fine company to anyone having basement water problems.

Very well. They did exactly what they said they were going to do. There were no surprises etc. I would recommend them.

Who wants to spend $20,000 on a basement? Not us but we knew repairs were needed and waited until it had to be done. We researched lots of basement waterproofers and decided on Basement Specialists. It took about a month to finish our project. Overall they were professional and on time. There were a couple problems with some of the younger workers but the foreman took care of things and held them to high expectations. I appreciated Dale's honesty and integrity. They are a quality company and stand by their work.

I would trust him for an estimate in the future.

We had other firms come to look at our problem - seepage at the base of our basement walls - and Basement Specialists came off as the most confident yet not annoyingly so. We were very please with their response time and over-all experience. We would recommend them.

They took care of everything beautifully! Every time we get a downpour, I thank my lucky stars that I called them out! They were very professional, didn't disturb landscaping, worked very hard, and cleaned up perfectly afterwards. They didn't push me to get the 2nd sump pump, but when I decided to do it, they took care of everything right away and got a great plumber out to complete that work.

He was very nice because he didn?t suggest that we spend money, he suggested that we build up the dirt around the foundation. If that doesn?t work, they?ll need to dig down to do the waterproofing. He was very nice and I appreciated that he told us what might really help the problem even though he won?t make money off of it.

Workers were professional, on time and cleaned up each day. They did the work as promised and answered all my questions. Two months later we had another small leak in the basement. Jay came out the next day, diagnosed and fixed the problem. It related to how our foundation was originally installed, but he fixed it anyway for free.

He gave us advice about what we should do about fixing it. We thought we could make the corrections ourselves and decided to do that. So we didn't end up needing his services. We didn't know anything about foundations and we appreciated that he just didn't tell us that he needed to work and take the job because we didn't really know. We appreciated that he took about half an hour even though we obviously weren't paying him anything to go around the house and give my husband tips on things that he could do. He was just very helpful.