Consumer Beware – Consumer Tips for Hiring a Foundation Repair Contractor

Every year we are reminded on how important it is to practice “Due Diligence” when hiring a contractor.  I often hear the “horror” stories from clients who have made mistakes they regret.  Does any of this sound familiar?

• “I hired them because the company I was referred to by a neighbour was so busy they couldn’t see me right now.  These guys could see me today”
• “The guys I should have hired were booked for 4 weeks”
• “They were cheaper”

All too often during our busy season, I’ll see ads pop up online (Kijiji etc).  While a lot of reputable people use this medium, there are also all too many who use it’s anonymity  to their benefit and take advantage of consumers who want someone quick, cheap and easy.  Here are a couple of examples of what we were called in to fix after a client had hired someone else who was quicker and cheaper.  In both cases the client was now paying twice for the same repair.

Case # 1:  Client had called us originally and was told that due to call volume it would be 4 weeks before we could repair their basement.  They chose to look online for someone else.  They found someone on Kijiji who could come out right away.  This fellow performed his repair by gluing on a garbage bag, charged the client $1000 then left.  When the repair failed, the client tried getting ahold of the “contractor” with no luck.  After some checking, it turned out that the “contractor” they hired had no Business License, no insurance and no office.  He was just trying to pick up some quick cash.  They called us and we scheduled them for a proper repair.  Our foundation repairs are completely guaranteed in writing.

 

Case #2:  Once again the “quick, easy and cheap right now contractor” swooped in and charged a client for an incorrectly performed repair.  We were called in and provided a detailed written estimate, scheduled a proper repair and performed the work with success.

CHECK OUT YOUR CONTRACTOR:   There are many tools in our website to help you with this process.  Please feel free to use our consumer tips when comparing contractors for any service at your home.

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