basement waterproofing a nightmare
I was extremely disappointed in the communication with the company and the crew. Unfortunately since the work was completed a drought has arrived and a true test of the work has not happened. The crew was undependable, insisted on music loud enough to be heard over the jackhammers or they would not work. Beer cans were found in the dumpster. They left the plumbing and electricity hanging as they do not reattach things to the walls that they take down. Dust prevention was only used sporadically. The wall membrane was poorly put up. It is blousing and unsecured at the bottom. The workers were yelling at me and I was so upset that I had a neighbor over, and he made them leave. After a few weeks some of the concrete they replaced is still not dry and I do not mean where the new lesser grade concrete meets the old. Also did not get the warrantee mailed to me.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $12,000.00
- Company Response
I am one of the partners at Basement Technologies and I am sorry to hear that Nancy was not happy. We have worked for over 2,000 customers over the past 20 years and only a handful have not been pleased with our work. When there is a problem, most people call my partner or me to discuss. We then either explain why something is the way it is or immediately remedy the problem. Nancy did not contact either of us and we did not know she had any issues until we read the above review. I have gone over the issues with my production manager and provide the following comments: 1) communication was difficult at times as information was often relayed through the tenant living there; 2) as to the crew being “unreliable”, Nancy questioned the crews’ work times during the job, questioning their arrival and departure times as well as the length of lunch breaks – it was explained to her that they often needed time back at our shop to transfer debris from our truck that was taken from the job site and would sometimes go to a supplier for materials during their lunch break. We checked the tracker on their truck to confirm that this was indeed what was happening; 3) music was turned down when the crew was asked; 4) dust prevention was used but it can never totally eliminate the dispersion of dust created when breaking up concrete; 5) The wall membrane (house wrap) was correctly installed as shown in pictures we took after its installation; it was also inspected and passed by the City of Hamilton as was all the work under the building permit; 6) when the crew went back to finish the cleanup of the job site, Nancy was rude and condescending to them and one did eventually raise his voice in response (I agree though that this is not acceptable); 7) regarding not restoring plumbing and electrical lines, this is explicitly not part of our contract and customers either have their own contractor follow with the rebuilding/restoration or we recommend one for them; 8) all concrete is of high quality from pre-mixed bags supplied by the top Hamilton building material supplier and it was applied properly; it does not make sense that it had not dried after a few weeks – it will appear darker than the old undisturbed concrete (we literally apply tons of concrete each year, including completely replacing basement floors and building new foundation walls and have never had this issue raised before).
Basement Technologies works hard to do quality work at a fair price and most of our customers are repeat customers who have moved to a new home or are referred to us by happy customers. Please check our website at www.dampbasements.com for dozens of real reviews from some of these customers, including many for the crew discussed above.