Hydro Max

Description of Work: My mothers basement was leaking along one wall. It had been waterproofed from the inside several years earlier and had not leaked until just recently. The company that originally waterproofed the basement installed drains all around the inside walls. They did a good job. However after the record rains we have had lately she started having water leaking along the front wall only. I had called Roto Rooter to check the drains for possible blockages. Originally I was told they would check for blockages in the existing drainage system previously installed from inside the basement floor using a small camera, and check to make sure the water was draining out the pipe to the back of the yard by "jetting out the drain". They assured me it was an easy fix and would be finished in one day. I live approx. 1/10 mile from Moms house. They were suppose to call me before they arrived so I could be there while work being done. My mom called me at home to tell me some men were out in the yard and was upset. She has short term memory and gets upset and worried when anyone she does not know comes to the house. I told them this to avoid undo stress on her. I am her caregiver. I was at her house in less than 5 min. I noticed that the sign on the truck said Hydromax, not Roto-rooter and asked them if they were with Rotorooter. The story was that Hydromax had bought the Rotorooter franchise in this area. I did not see them use any type of camera to check for blockages along the front wall that was leaking. The man in charge was Joe. He looked around downstairs to assess where the water was leaking in along the front wall. I also showed him where the basement floor had been repaired after having waterproofing pipe installed years before. After looking downstairs he said that he would need to apply waterproofing to the front outside wall by digging down to the basement floor. Which he did using a backhoe with a big bucket shovel to expose the wall. Joe said the front brick stoop/ steps to front door had to be removed also. This was not discussed when given original estiment. The steps were brick and were part of the character of her house. I asked if he was going to put them back when done. No, of course not. However I was told the cost to replace would be minimal. Around 800.00. Estimates so far range from 2800.00 to 1500.00. That is not minimal to an 80 year old woman on a fixed income. Joe and his assistant dug removed dirt along exposing the outside wall, painted the wall with something black, and filled the dirt back in. All of the landscaping in front had to be removed which was understandable. Another expense for mom to redo. I requested the front brick stoop be left so who ever was hired to replace could try to make it look the same. It went with the house and was unique. Joe insured me any brick mason would be able to go by my description and hauling it off would be best because it was no longer useable. The work was finished before dark and even though there was quite a bit of brick, old pipe, and debris laying around I paid him in full by check made out to Rotorooter with the understanding he would be out the next day to pick it up and fix the yard. When they finished it looked ok, except I had to find someone to replace the front porch step. The next night it rained and we had more water than ever in the basement. So I called them that morning and they came out and after seeing the water leaking in streams, they said it was their fault and would fix it. A few days later they came out and redid the job, they only dug farther to the other side of the house. By then the yard was not in good shape. They dug up old clay tile, left bricks lying around and the basement leaked with a very slight rain again about two days later. I called the owner of Hydro-max several times and left messages on his cell phone, but he never replied. So I called Roto Rooter and told them the basement was still leaking, and Joe would not answer my calls. They said they would call him and have him call me. They were very nice, and seemed honestly concerned. I waited all week-end for his call, then I called Roto Rooter back. He finally called and said they never gave him the message. He sent his son and another young man out to dig some more and add painted something black on the wall before covering it up again. By then the yard looked like a cow pasture. Their were big ruts from the heavy backhoe, and when I spoke to Andy, (on the backhoe), he said he thought it looked fine, and they were finished. About that time a contractor putting a roof on the house across the street came over when he saw how bad the yard looked, he couldn't believe they were actually going to leave the yard looking like that. It had what looked like bowl for a lake in the middle of the yard, ruts almost a foot deep, and nothing attached to the gutter downspout to drain the water away from the house. He gave them advise on what they needed to do, like bringing in some dirt to fill in the holes and ruts, and making the yard slope towards the street as it was before they tore it up. Before they left they had attached a big black rubber hose to the downspout lying on top of the ground which was angled towards the house. I called them again, and things were pretty tense. The older man that originally came out said he wanted to make it right, however he sent his son to do the work, and he was upset when I told him he needed to fill all the ruts and holes in the yard with dirt and slope it towards the road along with burying the pipe under the ground. He had a small truck and had to make 3 trips to get dirt to fill in the ruts and other damage the backhoe caused. The young man was obviously furious about having to go after the dirt more than once to fill in the ruts. I can understand his frustration, I was frustrated too. The contractor from across the street said it would take at least a tandem load of dirt. I'm not sure but I think that is a lot more than the 3 pickup loads he went after. I went out when I saw them putting up their equipment to leave. I asked him if he was comming back to finish the yard and he said "it looks fine to me". He said I hope you approve because I'm not comming back! I told him I didn't expect to have to call after they said it was fixed the first time. However, I he would be hearing from me again if the basement leaked after the next rainfall. The yard was in terrible shape and was going to have to be completely done over by a professional landscaper, however I told him it looked a lot better this time. It was getting late, and I said something about putting out straw. He said "I hope you approve because I'm not coming back! I told him I didn't think I would need to call him back after it was fixed the first time, but he would be hearing from me if the basement was still leaking after the next rainfall. I'm still waiting on the rain, and hoping I will never have to deal with this company again. The saga continues, the next rainfall still had water streaming in from same places only worse, so I called Rotorooter and spoke to the receptionist. She was and has always been very nice and honestly concerned. She notified the co-owner of the company and he came out with a nice assistant to go over the problems I had been having and was very apologetic. He spent the entire day in the basement cutting holes in the floor where the drainage pipe was, and found a 100% blockage in the pipe along the front wall. He was going to put in a sump pump but thought opening up the blocked pipe may fix our problem, and save the expense of new sump pump. I honestly think he is trying to make this right, even though there are still 3 holes in the floor to the pipe so when it rains we'll know for sure then he said he would come out to fix the holes in the concrete floor. Nathan (co-owner) working with me, and states he wants to make things right. He has asked me about the estimates on fixing the front steps so I hope he is going to comphensate me for this expense. He gave me two references, however they were not licensed and bonded. Which I now check, and they were way off the price the reputable contractors I have estimates from. I've already out more than 375.00 to have the yard seeded and leveled out by another company. This job was started 10/19/11. Still unfinished. Jackie Underhill.