JES Foundation Repair

Sales guy was very friendly, walked me through what JES recommends, the history of crawl spaces, videos, etc. Lots of details, almost too much, but I like detail so it doesn't bother me that much. Construction crew finished the project in a day when the original estimate was for 2, which was very impressive. The guys stayed until 8pm to make certain I could move back into the crawl space without them coming back. The only downside on the entire project was when I was checking in on them halfway through the work, I noticed that they weren't installing the clearspace on the walls like the sales guy quoted me. When I pointed it out to the crew, their response was that they never install clearspace on the walls. I pulled out the contract and showed him what I'd paid for. He contacted his manager, I contacted the sales guy. The ended up having to take down a lot of insulation to put up the clearspace. So in the end I got what I wanted, but it threw me that the guy who did the work never did a project like what I'd been sold. Left me feeling like I'd been taken advantage of and sold more a larger project than what was necessary for my home.

In June 2011, JES installed a water management system around the interior perimeter of our basement, including a new sump pump and a dehumidifier. The drain system allows any water that seeps through and runs down the interior of the foundation walls to fall into the drains and eventually be pumped out of the house. We paid over $10,000 for all of this. The drainage system JES installed includes a lifetime warranty that essentially states the drains themselves will never fail. We never noticed any water on our floor after having this system installed. In May 2012 we notice some water sitting on the upper ledge of our basement wall. We brought JES back out to take a look per the free estimate they offer. They informed us that the water was actually not an issue with the drainage system they installed, but was due to water getting through our crawlspace window grates. At that time we were in the process of planning a major addition to the rest of our house, which included finishing the basement and sealing up the window grates, which would eliminate the issue. At that visit, JES suggested if we did finish the basement we should install a vapor barrier and explained to us the system that JES typically uses. At no time were we told that we were required to use JES for the vapor barrier to keep our warranty. Since we were doing a major addition through a design/build company, we asked them if they could install a vapor barrier for us since they were already finishing the basement. This seemed like a logical solution and would get us the outcome JES recommended. In fall 2013, our builder cut and framed an egress window, installed a window-well, vapor barrier, insulation, and drywall. An exterior relief drain was also installed in the window-well. In November 2013 after several storms we noticed a puddle of water forming under our baseboard, which shortly thereafter became a stream of water on the basement floor. Our builder came out and cut the drywall and JES came out to investigate the situation. JES determined that it was a pretty simple but costly error that our builder made ? they did not tuck the vapor barrier into the JES internal drains. Any water that soaked through the foundation hit the plastic, dripped down it, and then dripped directly on the floor instead of into the drains. JES gave us an estimate to fix it with their vapor barrier, which involved replacing the current plastic and properly tucking it into the internal drains. We signed a contract during that site visit for JES to perform this work and the contract included performing the annual maintenance on the sump pump and dehumidifier. This quote was for roughly $1,100. Our builder removed more drywall to allow this fix. We had a scheduled date for JES to come out and do the work and then 30 minutes AFTER they were to arrive, we got a call that they were not coming because of the weather. My wife and I took time off of work that day because the appointment was in the middle of the day. When I spoke with JES to reschedule, I expressed our frustration about the lateness of their cancellation. They apologized and told me that JES would waive the fee for maintenance of the sump pump and dehumidifier for this year AND next year, which I appreciated. JES came back to our house a few weeks later to perform the work. As our tech got ready to start, he now noticed dirt and debris covering the drains near the egress window area. He told us our egress window and window-well were not sealed properly, the egress window was the wrong size, and the exterior relief drain installed in the wall was not the correct type of drain (he said it had perforated holes in it), which were allowing debris to seep into the exterior drain, eventually getting into the interior drain system. After he discovered these issues, he called his supervisor and was immediately told to leave our house until he could write a revised quote. I asked if he could at least perform the maintenance on the sump pump and dehumidifier since he was already here but he said he could not. The orders were to leave. We were later blamed for wasting their time and not compensating them when they could have performed this part of our contract. He wrote an addendum to our contract that included a new window, window well, replacing the exterior drain, and cleaning out 10? left and 10? right of the center of the affected area of the interior drains. The cost was for roughly $5,000, and $1,100 of that was for cleaning the drains. We were told without cleaning the drains, our warranty would be void, but by doing the cleaning, our system would maintain its lifetime warranty. We spoke with our builder and after reviewing pictures we took during construction we discovered that the dirt and debris on the drains directly under the egress window was not seeping or leaking in from the drains as JES theorized. It was left over from when the foundation was cut and window was framed. This issue was not as bad or as chronic as JES had thought and was confirmed in a phone conversation with them. We agreed it had to be addressed, but it was not as bad as was originally thought. We became stuck in the middle of questions and opinions between our builder and JES so we brought in an independent inspector at our own cost to investigate the issues. The inspector agreed the window had to be sealed, but said the window was the correct size. He also agreed the well had to be sealed. Our builder also brought in a basement waterproofing company that agreed with the inspector?s assessments. And we got confirmation that the exterior drain was NOT perforated and in fact was a solid pipe. We don?t understand how JES came to this conclusion that the pipe was perforated and they never responded to this question when we asked. Our builder proceeded to seal the window and window well. But even after all of that, we could not get JES to respond to our questions and give us a revised quote so we asked to speak to a supervisor. We wanted to continue with the cleaning of the drains but for a reduced amount of area and we believed all other issues had been addressed, but we were not getting any confirmation in the form of an updated contract. We were put in contact with Todd Simmons and from the start he was antagonistic and rude. He kept asking us ?who authorized the work to be done? and seemed annoyed that he was having to deal with fixing a problem caused by our contractor. But we were trying to pay JES for services, just not everything they claimed we needed to do. We wanted to have a dialogue about what needed to happen but instead we were given a lecture on what a professional engineer is and how our builder doesn?t know what they are doing and how they probably don?t have any real engineers. Todd also accused us of making them come out to our house several times without being compensated even though their website clearly states ?free estimates? and we actually signed a contract for them to do work which they came out and refused to do. In the end, he agreed to speak with our builder to get more information. We then had several email exchanges with Todd trying to get the same question addressed as before, however all we got was pushback and in fact an increase in scope of work for JES to continue to honor our warranty. Todd?s tone was curt and disrespectful. He was acting as if we personally had offended him in some way when all we were doing was asking questions and trying to pay them to have work done. The original addendum as mentioned above was $5,000. Todd then changed it to over $10,000 and then changed it again to over $13,000 with no explanation! Todd insisted that the exterior drain system installed by our builder be removed and replaced by a JES exterior drain tied into the interior drains for our system to be warrantied, but couldn?t explain why our current system was not adequate. Any more site visits to were to incur a fee of $198. We could not justify spending $13,000 based on all of the other assessments we had. Since they were already coming back to install the vapor barrier, we asked Todd if we could pay for 5? of drain cleaning with the understan

.Three man crew were right on time.  Friendly, professional and efficient.  Although scheduled for two day installation, the crew worked a little longer and finished all tasks and clean up in one day.  Excellent crew that worked with me in all my questions and recommendations.  Would recommend to anyone.  The total price was a bit steep but, I guess you get what you pay for - top notch results.

JES Construction (Manassas, VA) was the best overall value of the four companies that I considered.  Two were higher price.  One was slightly lower. To a man, the 3-man crew was hard working and clearly knew what they were doing.  After crawling around in a dark, cold crawl space for 8-10 hours for four days they remained happy, friendly and courteous.  To finish on schedule JES sent a second 3-man crew (total of six men) the last day. The job supervisor engaged with me throughout; first to explain what they would be doing and throughout the week to answer any questions that I had or to seek my concurrence on any number of issues like where the sump pump drain line should be located.  It was a pleasure dealing with these men. The products they used (Basement Systems...a nationwide firm) appeared to be top quality.  For example the Clearspace vinyl sheeting used for encapsulating was thicker (20 mil) than what others proposed using.  The SuperSump sump pumps and the SaniDry dehumidifier similarly appear to be top quality. The day after the work was complete the job supervisor sent me over a hundred pictures of the job showing what was there before and what they did...pretty cool! It would have been helpful if they had an electrician to come by the last day to add the necessary receptacle(s) for the dehumidifier and sump pumps but it was clearly spelled out in the contract that was my responsibility.   Otherwise, as a very reluctant buyer initially I was very pleased with JES.

The worker arrived promptly.  They got to work right away and had the hole dug out in two hours.  Let me tell you, the work that those guys did was outstanding.  Overall the job took 5hrs to do from start to finish.  The part that I was really impressed with is that my yard was as clean as when they first started.  This crew as fast clean and courteous.  Today 2/3/14 was the first big rain.  I waited for the first rain to see if my basement had any leaks.  It rained all day and my basement is dry as can be.  I am impressed and singing JES Foundation Repair's praises.  I recommend these guys highly.

Estimate: The engineer who came and did the initial estimate was on-time and very professional.  He looked at my problem (A small to moderate leak in the basement corner).  He recommended a solution that was not "Killing a fly with a sledgehammer", but would adequately fix my problem.  He explained the entire process to me and answered all of my questions.  The only negative was that he thought we could get this taken care of before my wife and I left on a trip for the holidays.   This is no fault of his, but the scheduling office did not contact me until Wednesday (Estimate on Friday).  But they did schedule the installers to come out on New Years Eve, which was adequate.  Installation: The team arrived on-time and immediately got to work.  The crew made sure to protect the Hard Wood in my Dining room as well as the stairs going down to the basement.  They attempted to protect my furniture and warned of the dust that would be involved.  They worked efficiently and completed the job in a bit under 5 hours.  During the whole process Pablo was professional and explained to me what was going on.  When they hit a bit of a snag from the original plan we were able to work out an alternative that suited my needs.  They left the basement in as good as shap as possible, and repairing/replacing the floor was on my to-do list anyway.  We have not had a major rain since installation so I can not say 100% that the job is done, but with a lifetime warranty I can sleep easy that in the event of a failure I will be taken care of.  One Major Complaint: Dust is a major issue with this installation.  The crew dug a hole in my Cement floor about 3-4 feet deep and a trench around the two walls with the issue.  Please JES Works, invest in your employees and buy them better dust masks.  The entire crew was outfitted in the flimsy white paper masks.  While these masks might be "Compliant" I worry that the masks are not enough to deal with the sheer volume of dust these guys deal with. 

The technician, TJ worked methodically raising sections slowly to raise the porch with as little stress as possible.  It took a day and a half to complete the job.  Nicely done, it looks much better.

JES made an appointment and arrived on time to begin the cleanout of the crawlspace.  They did a great job considering it was 40 years of stuff.  They put in the French drain, sump pump and piping.  We had one small snag about who would supply the electrician.  I thought they would, and they thought I would.  After reviewing the agreement, a handwritten note said they would supply, and they hired an electrician who put a circuit and receptacle in the crawlspace to plug in the sump pump and dehumidifier.  Entire process took about 3.5 days and was on time with excellent cleanup.  The crawlspace is very dry and you could live down there if you were three feet tall.  We view this as a good protection on our home investment, as this project will prevent other, future problems.  The "free" financing was pleasant surprise (must pay in six months or high interest rates kick in).  Homeshow discount was applied.  We highly recommend this firm, as they explained our issue well and have resolved our drainage concerns.  We gave a B for price, as we don't know the price comparisons, but it seemed high for the work done.  However, we are pleased.

It went great. The house is not going to fall. I was afraid to work in the kitchen, but not any longer. I had wanted to replace kitchen cabinets and now I feel safe to do so. The work crew were friendly and polite, easy to deal with. They left a clean work area and completed the work in record time. We did have a small area that new concrete had to be put in. This was done in order to prevent a possible weak area in the footer from giving way. This did not add to the cost of the bill. They stayed true to the estimate given.

Crawl space was 400 sq ft with almost 1000 sq ft of total surface to cover.  Overall, the process from inspection to completion was good.  JES is very responsive and willing to answer questions at any time.  We reviewed three other proposals and selected JES because their inspector brought out several points that we hadn't noticed.  The JES repair and encapsulation concept was more logical and one of the less costly solutions.  JES also provided a research paper on Crawl Space Science - What to have done and why".  We further researched the subject ourselves and found that JES had a better understanding of our situation than the others who tried to sell us a lot more than we needed.  We definitely liked their floor material that is 20 mil thick - more than most of the other companies.  They also put down a molded plastic underliner that helps keep the liner off the dirt, allows you to move storage boxes into the area a little easier and less fear of tearing the material.  You still have to be careful, but this underliner is just another example of JES understanding the reality of the homeowner wanting to use the crawlspace after encapsulation. The workers were on time and stayed until the job was completed.  The crawl space had an easy access from a full-size basement door and a two foot wide perimeter to walk on two sides of the crawl space.  The workers placed drop cloths across all the floors from the outside door to the crawl space.  They even taped drop cloths to the bathroom.  The workers were very nice.  When I would see how they were coming along, they would explain to me what the different processes were. They left some extra encapsulation material and tape in case we did tear the material.  But the warranty is one of the best, if not the best.  As we read the science paper, I did notice that the article recommended dropping the encapsulation material below the top of the crawl space so you could notice if termites were active.  Since Virginia is known for a dense termite population, we called JES and asked them about the gap that should have been done on the walls.  They sent out a technician to cut the wall material and expose the top of the block wall.  He also left some of the very strong tape (at my suggestion) so I could make a clean edge along the cut material.  As the technician finished, we noticed that the vent covers were cracked.  The technician was not far from the main office, went back, returned with two new vent covers, and installed them.