Norfolk Post Tension Cable Repair

Did an OK job, but coordination and follow up are very lacking. I had all the major companies inspect my crawlspace since I had found out I had some moisture damage on some joists and knew that they would have to be replaced. I wasn't sure if I would go with the whole encapsulation job or just replace the insulation and moisture barrier beside the wood work. I went with Bay since they had the best estimate for the encapsulation and I liked the inspector (Michael) they had sent out. But once we settled on the job, things went downhill a bit. We were scheduled to start about 4 weeks after signing and the day before start day, I emailed to confirm and was told there would be a delay, how long I asked, they didnt say. Turns out the crew showed up the next day. These were the masons that were going to cut out a new opening in the crawlspace. But they couldnt get their saw started and came back later in the day. I had to help them figure out why the saw wouldn't start. Turned out that you needed to flip the switch to the "On" position. After that, they cut out the opening and left. The rough cut opening was left like that for almost two weeks with just a board leaning over the opening to keep the critters out. The actual Bay crew showed up a few days later to clear out all the insulation and plastic moisture barrier. That went well enough, two guys and piles of old nasty insulation. A day or so later, a guy came to spray the underside of the floor and joists with a fungicide. No problems there. The following week the work started. That took about 3 days where the joists were sistered up, and the encapsulation work was done. It was a pretty young crew, but they worked well. I don't envy them getting under the house to do that work. A followup appointment was made to install the dehumidifier and door for the new opening. That work was done by Cliff. He installed the dehumidifier and ran a pipe outside for the condensate. He asked where I wanted it and I told him about 10' underneath a screen porch. When he was done I went underneath the house to inspect the work. I saw light coming in around the area where the wood and masonry meet and asked him about how that could be. He said they dont normally insulate that. I told him that if I can see light, then air is coming in too. He agreed to foam that in with spray foam. I also noted that there were lots of bits and pieces of insulation still hanging down. He said he would have that taken care of too. And he could not install the door since all the masons had done was to cut the opening but did not install a metal lintel and left one half cut brick in place. We scheduled a followup about a week later since we would be out of town. While we were away, the mason came and finished the work. Cliff came back and finished the door. I was not happy with it and told him so. It was a rough cut piece of plastic that didnt fit the opening well. As it turns out the opening was not cut square and he cut the plastic with a hand held circular saw. I had expected something more professional and workmanlike. This was not it. He said this is all they ever do for a door. He also had to move the drain line since he had installed it about a foot in from the outside of the porch, laying in front of a yard cart I wheel under there for storage. A couple of weeks later I got an email from BAY asking if I would post a review and in turn they would give me a free service visit. I told them I wasnt super happy with the job and they sent a Seth, a QC supervisor out to inspect the work. He agreed with me that there were some things that could have been done better, including the door and the cleanup. But I also made a point with him that many people would never have gone underneath the house to inspect, especially if they are seniors or have physical problems, so the issues with the missing insulation (light shining in) would never had been corrected otherwise. That is unacceptable. He promised that they would come out to do more cleanup. I havent heard from the company since, and that is over a week ago.

Selected Ram Jack in Hampton to repair foundation after having 3 other companies give assessments/estimates. Ram Jack was the most reasonable and they offered financing if needed. I was able to do all this long distance as I live out of town. Debbie Lee, manager, was friendly and easy to talk with regarding work set up and payment. Any question she could not answer she put me in contact with Kenneth Lee, owner, who was able to explain installation in more detail. Had 8 helical piers installed around the perimeter of my town home. The job was done over a week. My realtor, Charles Davis, and Mr. Lee both took pictures of the work in progress. Pictures sent via email. My neighbor went over and checked the area where the work was done and commented that they cleaned up so well that you could not tell they were there. She also took pictures. Upon final payment I received the completed paperwork and a Lifetime transferable Warranty on the area that the piers were installed. I would recommend having Ram Jack do your foundation repairs.

The top level bullet points: Their inspector initially came by and told me in no uncertain terms about some issues with my foundation that later turned out to be not true. They rescheduled my appointment for the day of a hurricane, showed up and did it all in about 8 hours, when originally it was supposed to have taken 2 days. They rushed through it as quickly as possible. Nobody knocked on my door when they came, just showed up and started working without calling. None of the crew spoke english, so I couldn't communicate with them anyway. They killed all of my plants, including pouring concrete outside of the work area in some places. Left debris everywhere. Did not follow city code by having an inspector come out (had to get one myself, after JES gave me the runaround for 2 months). The work: Repaired foundation on corner of my house. They did not follow the plan they had told me they would. Stabilized my porch instead of my house because they didn't "need" to stabilize the house in one area. I was never consulted. This was at a cost of $1k to me because of the pylon they used. Rather than using 4 like they said they needed, they used all 5 because, I guess, they just had it on the truck and figured it would pay for it. They did not get these revisions approved by the city either. The city inspector confirmed this when I had him out. After the work they never inspected. Rescheduled multiple times for months. Kept calling for money before the work was done. I've never been as frustrated as I was with these people. I literally had to get a city inspector to call them and make them come out to inspect it with them before they would even look. Even then they tried to do it when I wasn't home. My house isn't falling down, but it wasn't to begin with so I guess they did a good job. Since they never told me when they started or finished though, I really have no clue if they fixed anything because I only have their word and the word of their sales guy to know anything was wrong to begin with. I wasn't given any info on how the stabilization went until I personally went to the city to get reports and have their people look at it. When removing my porch they cracked the blocks underneath so bad they shifted. This was never really fixed. They put new grout in, which cracked 3 times before they finally fixed it correctly. I wish I could recommend someone better to go with, but I don't know. Which is probably why they were able to pull all this on me to begin with. Have tons of before/after pics. Do not recommend working with them. I've had more and better communication with the lawn guy I pay to cut the grass than with this "professional engineering firm".