AVOID INCORRECT FOUNDATION REPAIRS

We strongly suggest anyone that thinks they have a foundation or water seepage problem, the first call should be to a Professional Engineer. The contractors send out a salesman, that may not understand the problem, but may try to apply their products to your property. Contractors are installers, not designers or engineers. Trusting your checkbook to a salesman may be extremely risky and costly. Starting with a Professional Engineer that is trained in your situation will be cost effective. We don't have any construction personnel to keep busy or suppliers to keep happy. Any contractor that suggests an engineer is not necessary is only trying to protect his bid to you and does not have your best interest at heart. Also, if a Professional Engineer issues an opinion, the contractor is not legally allowed to override the Engineer's opinion, only another Professional Engineer can disagree their opinion.

The following stories are some of the examples that make me passionate about providing the right technical information and solutions to our clients.

A client recently contacted us that had been working with a waterproofing company since 1999. She told them in 2003 that her rear foundation wall was still moving. The brick fell of the back of her house Easter, 2010. She called a Realtor friend to ask for advice, which was to call us. The foundation has since been repaired per our design drawings for about $11,000. The original contractor offered her $5,700 to end their relationship.

Foundation waterproofing companies typically provide estimates of $15,000 to $20,000, whether appropriate or not. Some of these company's sales personnel are high pressure. I have heard several times that if you don't sign the contract that day, they will call back 3 or 4 days later with a lower bid. One of the contractors that is on our referral list had told me he gets resistance from homeowners that have received a $15K to $20K bid from a waterproofing contractor after he gives them an estimate of $500+/- for only crack injection. His bid doesn't seem to make sense since it is so much lower. His bid might actually be the right type of work and not the waterproofer's bid.

We had a condominium association ready to write a check for $118K to install an underpinning system under the entire building, when the problem was exterior temperature expansion and contraction of the building. The repair cost based on our report was less than $1K, which also saved several thousand dollars of legal fees.

One of the west side of Cincinnati "A" rated contractors listed on "Angies' List" told an 81 year old lady to decide if she wanted to write them a check for $8K or $16K, even though there were no foundation cracks. She had a doctor's appointment to get medicine to calm down after I left. She cancelled the doctor's appointment while I was there. There was no foundation problem.

A foundation contractor installed new footings and columns under the center beams, instead of installing their main system under the center chimney foundation for $6K to stop sloping floors from getting worse. If they would have installed their system under the chimney foundation, the cost would probably have been about $4K, would have been a more appropriate repair and the potential under-slab plumbing problem had not been identified.

A couple had purchased a home about 8 months before calling a contractor. The wife was pregnant for the second time, wanting to buy a mini-van and was not sleeping. The contractor wanted $15K to install a foundation bracing system for a wall that only had minimal movement. We provided a design sketch to stop the movement. The homeowner was able to complete the work himself for a total cost including our design sketch of approximately $500. A few years later, we inspected his aunt's house.

A homeowner had several foundation movement problems. She first called us for a written report, but opted not to get the design. She paid a contractor $26K for repair work, some of which there was no reason for. Another part had not been repaired that had an estimated cost of $6K to $7K. The contractor told the owner that if they did not complete the un-repaired portion of the foundation with their system, they would void their warranty on the total house repair. Their solution for the outstanding work would have caused other problems. If she would have also had us complete an engineering design, the total cost of the repair would have been approximately $15K.

A waterproofing contractor called to question why we put in our report that their work was substandard and asked if we see them do this work all over. After I said yes, the contractor asked if I was an engineer. They hung up the phone and 5 minutes later, our client called to ask if I had talked to the contractor. When I told her yes, she told me they were coming back to re-repair the basement. I advised her that the work should be installed per a design by a Professional Engineer. I later received a call from the buyer's father that stated they had come back and did more work. I don't know if the contractor hired an engineer.

A dual agent contacted us after she took my C.E. class and had received bids of $10,000 and $4,400. We provided engineering design sketches to fix the foundation with the final cost of the repair of $3,300. We later inspected their friend's home.

It is not uncommon for us to complete an inspection that a property owner has bids for repair work. Normally, we may suggest no work, only minimal repair work or a completely different type of repair because the contractor did not understand the cause of the problem, if their is a problem.

These are only a few stories I have experienced. I get very upset if I find a client that that has spent the wrong dollars. Don't start with a salesman. Good contractors are trained to install work correctly and we have several contractors pass out our cards to ensure their clients get the right solution.

REMEMBER - FIRST CALL THE ENGINEER, THEN CALL THE CONTRACTOR

Find the best way to repair your foundation problem by engaging an experienced engineer for an unbiased opinion. Call Mike Montgomery 1-800-285-3001 (scheduling) for review that will diagnose the true problem, recommend a solution and SET YOUR MIND AT EASE.

Never Forget:
Engineers diagnose the problem and design solutions.
Contractors do the work.
Sales people sell services.