JES Foundation Repair

I have used LPR in the past and very much appreciate their responsiveness.  Yes, they do cost a bit more, but the company is small, well-managed and very easy to contact.  The service is catered to your needs and the owner always takes the time to walk through available options without pressure to take one option over another.  I have never had to wait for more than a day to get a response to an inquiry.  It's a family run business and the way they handle clients shows such.  They are very organized and professional.  LPR showed up exactly on time for both the estimate and the service.  The extra cost is well worth the piece of mind for using the company.

My contact from the company spent several hours at my home when providing an estimate.  He showed videos on relevant topics and my overall impression was that he and the company had expertise in the field.  I felt pressured into signing the contract on the first contact and looking back regret doing so.  Soon after, I realized I wanted to alter the plan we agreed to but my contact/sales person was difficult to get a hold of and admitted that he could not remember my specific situation and therefore could not make recommendations as to how to remedy the additional slant in the floor I had discovered.  Despite several months between having the estimate and the work scheduled, he did not return to my home to further investigate and did not ever go into the crawlspace where the work was to be performed. He agreed to come back the first day the crew would begin work.  He was slow to respond to emails and I had difficulty requesting the time off work to meet him with such short notice.  Despite several emails on my part detailing my additional questions/concerns, when he showed up he said, "Now why am I here?" He often did not answer questions directly and was vague and ambiguous.  The crew had reservations about the changes but the salesperson who I assumed had greater expertise did not.  I was told there was not a guarantee that the floor would be level but was told it would improve.  Upon the completion of the work the floor was noticeably worse in one section.  In addition, my walls cracked in 6 places, marble in the bathroom cracked in two places, and my toilet, which was very close to one of the jacks, began leaking waste into my newly insulated and lined crawlspace.  I emailed the production manager with my concerns and received no response.  From researching the company, I was aware that they employ engineers and train others on their services.  While I do believe there may be a level of expertise contained in the company, I do not think I was exposed to or benefited from it.  I do not believe my problem was investigated properly by a person who either had, or consulted with someone with the proper knowledge, or cared to provide proper services. If this had been the case I think I would have had a better result, or at least would have been told that the smart jack(s) were unlikely to help and therefore would have saved thousands of dollars.  I feel that I was taken advantage of given I had signed the contract and since there is no guarantee that the service will remedy the problem, there is no accountability.   The crew was professional and well-meaning although provided significant conflicting information from my salesman/contact.  The vapor barrier was installed well and the insulation mediocre, with a section missing and few areas bunched up and/or hanging down. There were a few aspects of the work that seemed to contradict common practice in the field and I was unable to obtain a sufficient explanation of the discrepancy.  Given the expense and importance to the structure of the home I would suggest using a great deal of caution when dealing with JES.

It took me forever to get them to do the work. On one wall they were supposed to put up wall anchors 10, they put up 12, they were suppposed to up 7 on another wall and only put up 5. It was not until I got the county involved in order to get them to come back and fix this. They told me they were put down sod. I am still trying to get the grass to grow on my lawn. They would arrive around noon, work 30 minutes take lunch and only work a 3-4 additional hours. This was a horrible job that took months, from start to finish it took 7 months.

Update 6/11/12: Inspection was rejected, the ground in front of the house is sinking after being filled in 3 times, no one from JES has ever called to follow up. Summary:  The finished product is anything but. The floor was never leveled (or even moved), there was poor to almost no communication. The finished concrete is rough and full of imperfections. It is a lottery if you will get a competent crew or not. The system should work (it hasn't rained yet so who knows) but after $17k and 4 months I expected it to at least look finished. I would not recommend them, or use them again. This project was one mess after another. It started last year when mud started coming in under the walls of my finished basement. Turns out a previous contractor who put in a main sewer line hit the outside wall and knocked a block 0.5" into the house. This prompted me to call numerous engineers and basement experts. JES was the last contractor to put in their bid as it took over a month to schedule their sales guy to come out (the other contractors took 2 weeks to a month, it was a very wet fall). I liked what Nick Feaster had to say, and explained to me what they were going to do to fix my problems. They were going to install 8 wall anchors thru the basement wall that was bowing in and attach them to plates placed in a trench approximately 10' out in the front yard (this is known as a dead man) This solution has the potential to actually straighten the wall. All others wanted to put in either steel or fiberglass reinforcement to hold the wall in place. Next they were going to dig down against the foundation of the house on the outside and uncover the knocked in block, try and knock it back into place and re-tar the area so mud would stop leaking in. Last they were going to install their preferred drain tile system (every company has their own best system, but they all basically do the same thing) and sump pump. This was to cost me $12k (about average for the other estimates I got) I signed a contract and put down a deposit on November 26. Work was scheduled for 3 days to start JANUARY 19th A week before work starts I give them a call to make sure we are still on schedule, and to emphasize that they need to call MISS Utility as the gas company has installed new gaslines. They assure me that everything is on schedule and called in. On the day of scheduled work, a JES crew showed up and began to get to work laying drop clothes and putting up plastic everywhere to take care of the dust they were about to make. I pointed out to the lead that MISS Utility had not been out yet and again reminded them of the two gas lines buried in the front yard. He apologized and said that the office should have taken care of that, but he would get an emergency call in to get the lines marked (which they did). While they are waiting on MISS Utility, they begin to break the concrete for the sump well. Here they discovered the the concrete slab was "floating". All of the soil that was supposed to be holding up the floor had washed out (probably thru the broken sewer line that was replaced the year before), and the only thing holding up the floor was the footers. (I would like to note at this time that the basement floor was very cracked and pitched due to the settling of the slab previous to JES doing any work, something I would have thought any one of the 4 basement contractors that I had look at the place would have noted). Now work in the basement is stopped and the office is called to figure out a solution to the floating slab (they cant continue removing concrete as eventually the whole slab would just collapse). By the end of day one the trench is dug, the concrete that was dug up was replaced, and calls were made to the front office who is supposed to call me to discuss solutions (job foreman tells me about "mud jacking") January 20: The JES crew begins installing the wall anchors, while I am frantically trying to find other contractors to bid this mud jacking. Eventually the JES office contacts me and explains to me that they have a sub contractor that will come in and pump a slurry or grout under the slab, eventually building up enough pressure that the slab will lift, and has the potential (no guarantee of how much movement) of leveling out my current floor. He says it will take approximately 2 trucks to do the job, and they can only deliver one truck per day at the cost of $1800 per truck). After a few more phone calls on my part, I conclude that this is the best solution, and the cost is reasonable.(I only found one other contractor that would even think about doing the job and was going to charge about the same). The mud jacking is scheduled to happen FEBRUARY 6 and 7. By now all the wall anchors are in, and I was informed that the County Inspector is not going to show up today, so they are going to take pictures of the excavation work that they did and finish back filling their trench, and that will be enough for the inspector. As of April 11, 2012 the permit is still open (not signed off by the inspector). February 6: The mud jacking contractors show up sometime after 11am. They begin drilling holes every 3 feet making a swiss cheese pattern on the floor, the are also telling me that they need the rest of the basement cleared as they need to drill EVERYWHERE. This would have been great information to have in the preceding 3 weeks before they showed up. With a little bit of shuffling of stuff, they are able to drill enough holes to begin pumping what turns out to be just powdered limestone. Unlike grout or concrete slurry which I was led to believe that they would pumping, this stuff will never truly harden, just dry out. They leave after their truck is empty, concerned that they did not get very far on the first truck, and may need a third. February 7: Holes are continued to be drilled and limestone is pumped. By mid day they inform me that they will need at least one more truck, can they come back tomorrow. JES office calls me and basically tells me the same thing, they will need a third truck, and quite possibly a 4th. The third and fourth truck will be delivered at $800 a truck. February 8: continue drilling and filling, 4th truck will be necessary. That evening they call me and tell me that their truck has broken down, and they will not be able to finish the job until February 10. February 10: Unfortunately I am out of the country the rest of that week, so I am no able to observe the final day of mud jacking. The drain tile is scheduled to be installed MARCH 10. March 10: A different JES crew shows up and begins the demolition of the concrete to put in the drain system. They use NO drop-cloths, NO plastic, they are running their wheel barrows over the carpet, there is dust flying EVERYWHERE. They are getting ready to install the sump well, which is full of holes to collect water, and I ask them what is going to keep all the limestone slurry that is currently holding up the slab from washing into the well. They look at me like I am speaking a foreign language. Turns out none of them speak English very well. They have no idea what that gray paste (limestone slurry) is. I then ask them when they are going to drill the holes in the block wall (to drain out what ever water collects there) and they say they aren't going to drill holes. At this point I am LIVID, I call JES to find out why I don't have a competent team out here, and they inform me that my original crew was given the day off because they have to work Sunday. I continue to ask questions about how they are going to keep this slurry from washing away (the tell me they will use erosion cloth which this crew does not have), and they have no idea why the current crew will not drill holes in the block (they are having trouble communicating with them as well) Eventually the crew packs up their tools and go home. I am assured that someone will call me first thing Monday morning. I am left with a filthy basement with a trench running along the walls.

The inspector found the source of the moisture in the wall to be a tiny leak dipping from the connector in the sewer pipe.  Then he told me that 3 small puddles of water that I had found weeks earlier on the floor in the middle of the basement were NOT caused by seepage.  Another company was not sure, but did not have the experience to decide for sure that it was not a seepage problem, since there was no buckling of the laminate flooring. The workmen were prompt and efficient.  The did a good, neat job.

See above. At this point I would tell anyone to get an estimite from JES. The only Thing I might disagree with JES is At one from date of installation They will come out and ops check system for a 199.00 dollars. I think that is very high? I have one coment on Feb. magazine, on the changing of the Light switch, a 100 to 120 dollar to change a switch? Go to Sears and buy their wiring book, they have a step by step on how to change a switch. Turn off power  before working job.

They were clean and did a good job. I am very happy.

Overall it went very well. Before they came, I removed everything in the basement away from  the walls and removed the paneling.  The walls were bare except where an interior wall intersected the block wall at a 90 degree angle.  I also had two 15-Amp 120 volt circuits and outlets installed where the sump pump system would be installed. They came on the appointed day within 10 minutes of the promised arrival time.  The first thing they did was to cover air vents and put up plastic dust walls covering all the "stuff"  and interior walls that were not involved in the work in the basement.  They also put down a heavy floor covering in the halls.  Next, they dug the channel in the floor at the base of the block wall.  After that, they installed the vapor barrier membrane on all the block walls, a nice wrinkle-free and tight job.  The second day, they installed the sump system, the sump pump discharge pipes, and the water channel at the base of the wall.  Then they back-filled all the holes and trenches with stone and covered over with cement.  After that, clean up, remove plastic "walls, ' and gone.   Aftermath:  The basement is no dirtier than after all the work I did to tear out the paneling and old ceiling and is arguably cleaner.  I will certainly be making much more of a mess moving things and refinishing the spaces.  The work is done neatly.  My wife tells me it already smells dryer and less musty.  This is after a wet snow fall while the work was in progress. So I am happy and now confident  the investment in refinishing the basement spaces will create a more comfortable and healthier living space than what we had before the work was done.   I am also confident that I won't have a water problem if we see another tropical storm of the size that caused the flood in the basement that started this whole process.

All members of the JES crew were excellent and very professional. Work and cleanup was performed that exceeded my expectations. I will use them again for other projects.

I contacted this company for repair of your basement. We had issues with water on floor and foundation walls cracked/bulging. The person who came to perform the estimate was very thorough and professional and we based our decision to employ this company on this presentation. The work crew arrived as scheduled and on time. They were considerate of our property by protecting the flooring on the first level ( no outside basement access). Crew was courteous and were extremely hard working. The lead was very helpful in answering the questions I had during the work process. There was a mix up on when the crew for the foundation repair was to show up, but this was resolved so they were here in conjunction with the waterproofing crew. Overall, the work was explained very thoroughly to us prior to proceeding and there were no surprises when the work actually commenced. Their pricing was higher than other companies but we feel the final result was worth the money spent. Since this work was done, we have not had water on the basement floor ( even after 12 inches of rain in one week). We would highly recommend this company to anyone considering this type of work.