AFS Foundation & Waterproofing Specialists

Great! Very professional.

Went very well.

very satisfied.

Their price was reasonable. They were courteous. It took them 9 days to try to get the order right and get the right equipment which was supposed to be a half a day job. It wasn't exactly what we thought it was going to be because the communication between us and the supervisor and the team that came out to do the job was not good.

Everything is working okay. I recommended them to another person and was supposed to get a referral payment.

He was very professionally and he gave a lot of information in the mail. He provided excellent service and I recommend him to everybody. He was not very expensive. He told us exactly how he is going to do it and gave a quote along with options.

Steve Scates, based out of Irondale, arrived at my home on time at 5:30pm with the appointment made just that morning. I had requested an immediate appointment because I am selling my house and the buyer's inspection report came back with "The back right basement wall has an existing water stain on the bottom of the block." I needed an inspection and possible repair before I could close on my house in two weeks. He inspected the area and said I had no issues; he then went into great detail to explain the reasons why and told me what I would have seen if I did have a problem (the problem identified on the home inspector's report was actually a little mold on the surface of the block, in a corner where items where piled against it and didn't allow for air circulation - there was no actual water leaking problem). I asked for an inspection report and he said he couldn't provide one due to the laws of Alabama (only Professional Engineers can provide written opinions like that). I didn't want the expense of hiring a licensed Professional Engineer (I'm a degreed Mechanical Engineer but I don't hold a PE license, so in Alabama I can't provide any official opinions about anything either.)Solution? Steve gave me his business card and told me to have the home buyer and home inspector call him. He could give his verbal opinion and they could decide based on that information if this issue could be considered resolved.Also, we were looking at the roof when he arrived and he climbed the ladder to help us figure out a different issue on the inspection report. Steve gave me valuable information to help me decide the next step for that item too. Cost = nothing! Their initial evaluation is completed at no charge.

It went very well. They got to work right away and cleaned up right after they were done.

DO get and Engineer in. One thing I would advise is to get STRUCTURAL Engineer to look at the house it may cost more. But it is worth it. as the placing and the number of support are very important. Only one person out of the five company 's that came out told me to get the engineer. The reason he said was yes he could fix the wall, but sometime in fixing the problem is causes another problem that may not be so obvious , like if the house is leaning, this could make the house continue to move at a faster rate. It is very important to place the brace's and tie backs in the right place and spacing.

AFS salesman Steve came to our house in Mobile, AL, measured the altitude of various points throughout the house, entered these into his computer, and (on the spot) gave us a computer generated, professional-looking estimate of his recommended plan of repair based on the measured elevations throughout the house. We asked for both recent and several-year-old references. Though some had complaints, they weren't really substantial and all recommended AFS. Our neighbor had tried a poured concrete repair, but due to our soil type, had to have it re-done with AFS. His painful experience was in our favor (and it was actually the poured concrete company that recommended AFS to us). I gave them a B in punctually, because they had to delay our work by one week, because of hard rain that caused delay on another job; not their fault, but it inconvenienced me a lot. I gave them a B on price, because it was really expensive; their price is probably fair, because of their large staff, the work they had to do, and the lifetime guarantee - so I still gave them an overall A. Of course, time will tell if we are really happy and I'll update this rating later either way. Our house varied by 3 inches in elevation from front to back; the settling had accelerated at a terrifying speed for several months. The work they did, did not lift the house as much as I'd liked, but if they had lifted it more, they would have risked cracking the foundation. They raised it some and stabilized the house from future settling. The work was done 2 weeks ago and the house is still repositioning itself. Some areas have continued to improve. We plan on waiting at least 2 months before we re-hang doors or fix the remaining plaster cracks. I highly recommend Steve, we were honest with him and he was honest with us. He worked with the company engineers to cut down on the number of piers we would need and saved us money. I would want to caution the readers about two things. 1) if you are getting a loan to do this, estimate 2-3 pier sections more than the two 7 foot pier sections AFS uses in its estimate; our work took over 2 sections more per hole. 2) The crew will drive a 5 foot wide bob cat along your foundation to install the helical piers. They will remove and replace your shrubs, fence, deck stairs, etc, and put them back; but their way may not be your way. If you have certain expectations, remove them yourself. I was glad that we removed our deck stairs ourselves; we found out that they were too old to remove and put back and I would have been mad if they had turned our "beautiful" deck stairs into the splinters we did. Steve happens to be a carpenter and offered to bring his saw and help us cut 3 new stringers the next time he is in the area. I'm happy. I have tried to keep all hyperbole out of my rating and give you only the facts.

Overall I was pleased with the work. I talked to several companies and there were positive and negatives on all of them. I ended up using AFS because I felt their recommendations more inline with what needed to be done and they appeared to have more experience doing this work than others. The prices were pretty much the same per pier for all the companies. I actually had another national company scheduled but I had difficulty getting in contact with my rep after the work was scheduled and then when the crew arrived they would not dig because utility locators had not come to mark, but I still don't know who was suppose to call. I canceled the job and this is when I called AFS back. The sales guy (which is one issue I have with these companies and the work they do) was in constant contact and did what he could to answer any questions, even having one of the owners contact me. I would highly recommend getting a certain number of additional extensions for free or a limit to how many you would pay for. This issue seems to be common across the references I called that no one knows how many, if any, extra extensions would be required ahead of time. Someone from the office called to confirm the schedule and the crew arrived when they were suppose to. The crew was very professional and seemed to know what they were doing. As with any type of construction I would recommend overseeing the work being done to ensure it is to your standards including cleanup. They had to return the next week to complete the concrete work outside due to rain. The concrete work was probably the area I was least satisfied, but I knew going in that cutting concrete and repairing was probably going to be difficult to do properly by a non-concrete crew. Any type of construction work is going to be difficult to get an excellent from me (I'm a little picky) especially the invasivness of this type of work but overall I am satisfied with the work performed and most of the references seemed to have a lot of the same comments I came away with.

Very loud when they were jack hammering the concrete. That is to be expected.

I judge home construction and repair jobs by the crew who does the work and the quality of their skills. This compnay provides very good crews with strong skills and a good work ethic. However, Do not pay them until you are satisfied. A lack of payment is the only thing that gets the office staffs attention. The work crews were wonderful and very professional and considerate when responding to my questions. The pricing consultant was very helpful, honest, and informative. They deserve A's for their work efffort and consideration. The office staff however should receive "C" so when I averaged the two different teams together the company gets a "B". The office staff did not know when I was scheduled for repairs. When it had been a month since I last heard from them I called to ask when they were coming and the staff person said "I have been trying to call you everyday for weeks! We need to come tomorrow!" - I work at home and I am home all day so I do not believe she was "trying to call me everyday." Come to find out - One of the speciality items that had to be ordered was NEVER ordered. While the work crew started to break up my concrete, I compared the original contract with the work order, and I pointed out to the work crew that they lacked the materials and critical details I had discussed with the pricing consultant to complete the job. The crew chief was very embarrased, apologized, and called the office. They completed all the work they could and left. Over two weeks passed and I never heard from the office staff about the problem - even though I refused to pay for the work. Finally after two weeks, when I started calling the office everyday, the office staff gave me reason after reason why they had not yet ordered the materials to finish my job. However, after venting my frustration upon every living being in the office, when the materials finally arrived a month later - the crew finished the job quickly and after 6 months of rainy weather, I can report the work was very well done. I therefore was very satisfied with the job because I would rather have top notch work done on my home and explode all over the staff than have a sweet little staff person and a lousy repair job.

Removed landscaping around the house. Then Dug holes 6 foot apart with front hoe & installed 9 helical piers. Three were hand dug. Raised the house to rest on these piers. Problems with doors & cracking in exterior brick walls, as well as interior cracking in plaster. Many cracks in exterior brick was worse. Had to remove some doors & adjust. Some cracking continues in exterior & interior.

This firm advertises heavily in our area. So I gave them a call to set an apporintment. A representative arrived a week later on May 24, 2011 to provide an estimate for the job. About 4 weeks later no estimate. I inquired about the status of the estimate an was told that they were very busy and I should expect to receive their estimate soon. It's now August 8, 2011 and no estimate from the company nor any follow up from their representative. I would not waste my time on this compay. They appear to be all smoke and mirrows!

They said that I did not need the sump pump. They were extremely prompt. Their person came and looked. He knew exactly as to what needed to be done. They set up a date and their person came on that date. He was very punctual. They told me that they would call me on that date with the expected time of arrival and they did that. They came on time and finished the work. They cleaned up impeccably after themselves. Everything that they did was exactly as to what they said that they would do. The work was excellent and they were very good. I would use them again in the future without a doubt. The good thing was that their work was under life time warranty. So, if I sold the house, I could transfer the warranty to the buyer and it would be under the warranty for them as well which was what I liked about them. If the same problem occurred in the same area then they would do it again free of charge. They stood behind their work. It has been two years and I have not had any problem. I have not had any new problem coming up in the vicinity of the area that they did the work.

All in all, it went well. Only took a few days. During the jack hammering the tried to seal off other finished area of the basement from the dust and were successful. They do not replace the sheetrock wall after installation, so we had to hire another contractor to repair the sheetrock, sand and paint before the new carpet was reinstalled. But that was made clear that that was not a part of their quote, so I don't feel there was any misunderstanding of the extent or coverage of their services. Overall - good experience.

The initial assessment with the sales rep was a great experience. Very knowledgeable and informative. The work crew came on time and was very courteous. The problem came during the first had rain after the sump pump installation... A Sunday night, around 11:00pm. I heard and alarm going off in my crawl space. After some internet research, I found that the alarm indicated a failed pump. I crawled through the mud under my deck, entered the crawl space, and found the sump pump overflowing... and the power cord wrapped neatly around the top of the pump. Above the pump, an outlet. I will acknowledge that the initial quote did mention that I had to install (2) GFI outlets for the system. However, I did not get the courtesy "We've installed the drainage system, but it is not yet functional" follow-up. In addition, I found that they had left the crawl space lights on, did not replace the vapor barrier in spots, and did not put removed insulation back between the floor joists. They did come out and rectify the matter. In all: great initial contact, but the installation crew could have been a little more detail oriented.

Terrific feedback for a solution that has solved my problem and minimized my fear of a worst case scenario.

They were polite and timely. Due to a heavy work load we had to wait 3 to 4 weeks before they could fix our problem. They were worth the wait. You never know how well the job is done until that first really heavy rain. We were very pleased. In a world of poor quality and rip-offs they really came through.

We scheduled a meeting to discuss some foundation "settling" problems, which had resulted in several cracks over our doors and windows. Two days before the consultant arrived, we received a book outlining the many problems associated with foundation damage, dirt crawl spaces, and poor water-proofing. When the salesman arrived he completed a thorough inspection of the foundation and offered several suggestions which included, interior piers ($2100), exterior piers ($7300), an engineering consultant to advise us on "possible" root damage to our garage, a dry crawl space system ($1900), and a dehumidifier ($1600). We agreed to have seven (7) interior piers installed to help prevent the cracking walls and were given a $100 discount for mentioning Angie's List. We were notified when the crew would arrive and were told exactly what they would do. The crew arrived on Wednesday 4/1 to pour the footers, and completed the installation of the piers on Friday 4/3. The work was completed to our satisfaction.

I requested a quote for foundation work the week before Christmas 08. Arrangements were made to meet the engineer on Dec 23, 08. Before the date of my appointment I received a very professional packet containing descriptions of services and an impressive list of references. The inspection of the property on the 23rd took very little time, the gentleman was very courteous and professional. He told me he would do his best to email the quote to me the next day. I did not receive the quote, but it was the holiday season so I didn't think anything about it. After 10 days (Jan 2) without receiving the quote I called the engineer. He apologized and promised me the quote the next day. The quote never arrived. Two weeks later (Jan 16) I called the main office and talked to the receptionist and relayed my situation. She apologized and promised to have the engineer call me with the quote information. On January the 20th, still without a quote, I called the main office again and talked to a different receptionist. She also assured me that she would get in contact with the engineer and he would give me the quote. A few hours later I did receive and email with the quote information. Almost one month after initial inspection. Here is the actual quote: "Sorry I have taken so long to respond but after looking at my notes I believe that it would be in your best interest to contact a structural engineer . Bill xxxxx is good his number is xxx-xxxx. After you have this done I will be more than happy to quote this job per engineers recommendation." My understanding is that the engineer responsible for the quote is also the owner of the company. I have not contacted Alabama Foundation Specialists again.

It was expensive, but I was expecting it to be more expensive. They dug down about 12 feet and put some large supports in. They scheduled a time, and they had the utility companies come to mark any utility wires. They came out on time, finished before they were supposed to, and cleaned up everything great.

Their behavior was more appropriate for a rock concert. The antics continued for hours. I began to be concerned about the quality of the work being performed. The crew moved some furniture to have better access the work site and found an old bottle of Vodka; I wrongly accused the crew of bringing the bottle and being drunk on the job (an easy explanation for their behavior). When I called Jim and his supervisor to report the problem, I was told by the supervisor that I was mistaken (he was right, Rudy the crew leader explained that the bottle was mine). But it wasn't what the supervisor said, it was HOW he said it. The supervisor came to the home to inspect his crew's work. He told me in a very condescending manner that I was the first to ever have a complaint and dismissed his crew's earlier behavior. He had the attitude that boys will be boys and I shouldn't be concerned about quality of their work because of their reputation. His dismissive attitude was offensive.

Alabama Foundation Specialist did a fantastic job on my basement. We were very pleased with them. They were very timely and showed up when they said they would and finished the job quickly. The water proof system has worked wonderfully. Their price was the best I could find and they gave us a free estimate.