FAQs
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
Constantly. In fact, we encourage it for our staff as well by offering paid building/ engineering classes and small bonuses for completing them. Waterproofing is not always black and white... and sometimes there can be multiple issues that are not visible until one issue is fixed. By encouraging our Field Supervisors and FSIT's to gain more knowledge in all areas of construction, they are more likely to recognize these secondary issues more quickly.
- What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH! Here is the main problem with contractors in America: WE OFFER FREE ESTIMATES. We have to offer free estimates, because it is the industry standard and people like things that are free. But here's why it's an issue - it is a waste of the salesmans/inspectors money to go to a clients home and tell them to fix their downspout (waterproofer) add salt to their water softener (plumber) or put snow melt in their gutters to keep the roof from leaking (roofer) ... especially when the inspector already tried to talk that customer out of the inspection by prequalifying them over the phone but the client Insisted that he come take a look at it. Do contractors walk away from jobs all the time because of this? Yes. But are salesman, paid almost strictly on commission, going to refuse the quote if there could be a potential second issue? No. If a contractor tries to give you advice on the phone, LISTEN. They are professionals, and that's why you're calling them. Ultimately, they are trying to save you money and save themselves time. But you cannot and will not get something for nothing, and no salesman is going to waste hours of their day driving around and not quoting the job. One particular job I remember: As the Vice President, I rarely go on sales calls. But I like to make sure that I understand everyones working conditions, so I went on this one. It took me roughly 45 seconds to identify the problem. The woman had a flower box. The flower box was lined with concrete blocks that were too close together, and it was sitting over the sill plate on the home. The water couldnt escape through the concrete block liner, and was forcing water to flood that area by the home damaging the interior floor joists in the process. I showed her what was going on, and told she could easily fix this by removing the flower box. She was almost awestruck, as she pulled out quotes from 3 other companies . $3450, $5300, and $12,700 (these people insisted she needed a full basement tile system because the problem would get worse).
- What questions should customers think through before talking to professionals about their project?
2 things - 1) I wish customers were familiar with the products they were purchasing. Those epoxy injections and tar coatings are such a waste of money, and give them a maximum of 3-5 years before they crack and leak again.. but people spend hundreds/thousands of dollars on them, thinking they will last forever. But ultimately the tar coatings last long enough to get the builder out of his warranty on the home, and the epoxy injection isn't sold with a good warranty. 2) I wish that drain tile systems weren't the industry standard. In some cases, they are necessary, but at the end of the day, all they do is hide the water near the footing (Sure, it eventually drains out of pipe, but that pipe only has a slope of 1 INCH over 16 FEET... and that's if you get a GOOD contractor to install it) so really what's happening, is all that water is sitting in an open pipe right by the concrete footing and deteriorating it - which can cause serious structural damage years down the road. Then you have to look into wall stabilization.... it's just this downward spiral.