Garber-Chilton Engineers & Land Surveyors

After getting quotes from 4 different foundation repair companies I decided to invest in the expertise of a structural engineer. Enter, Dave Chilton and assistant Harley. Both arrived promptly and Dave advised me and examined the situation. Harley took tons of photographs of the building and surroundings. After thoughtful consideration, I chose a company to do the work and got Dave's approval. You get what you pay for. Peace of mind is priceless.

I initially hired this company to provide consulting services for removing a load bearing wall including load calculations and a schematic for how to remove and provide support for the lvl beams that would need to be installed. My initial consultation with them went very well. The walk through was detailed and he helped answer several of the questions we we had. They required payment up front for the services. At the end of the consultation they informed us that if this took additional time outside the normal it could be several hundred dollars more. This sounded odd to me as it was a 1 story ranch with a basement with a load bearing wall, nothing too crazy. We were told we should hear back by the end of the week with regards to the work he was going to provide with materials needed and plans. After the first week went by I left a message with the receptionist to give a call back. By the end of the second week and several calls later but no return calls I was finally able to get a hold of them. He told me would have it done within the next few days although he seemed to have almost completely forgotten about it. Fast forward to the end of the next week and several more calls later he finally returned our call at the end of the week and forwarded us what was essentially a 4 step process on what materials we needed with very brief descriptions on what needed to be done with it. There was also some uncertainty on one of the sections of non load bearing wall we were trying to move because they didn't completely scope out the attic. The call was pleasant and he offered to answer any additional questions we had but what he provided to us was not much of anything to give to a contractor for removing the wall. He also stated during a subsequent call that the schematic was not part of the initial fee and would cost more than the 600 I had already paid for. He reluctantly agreed to do some sort of hand drawn schematic for us. 1 and half weeks later plus the time we thought we were waiting initially for the drawing and we still do not have any information. I have placed multiple messages with the receptionist and usually the phone goes straight to voice-mail. The contractor was with us at the time of consultation and was also under the impression we would be getting a schematic. All In all I would never do business with them again. My family spent 500 for an architect to provide plans for a brand new house. I spent 600 to have what seemed like a nice consultation turn into running with my money and giving me a post it note of instructions.

I was very pleased with the report and the specific details on how my problems needed to be remedied.

I started to see cracks in a couple of walls in my house, so I asked David Garber to inspect the house and see if there was any structural issues.  David spent about two hours thoroughly measuring and inspecting my house and then followed-up with a nicely detailed report.  He did an excellent job of explaining why I was seeing the cracks in the walls and whether I needed to make any repairs to insure the health of my home.  Though the end result was that the house was just settling slightly, I thought the inspection was worth the money and time to give me peace of mind.  I will not hesitate to call David in the future if I see any potential structural damage to the house.

They were thorough. They came in and did what they needed to do. It was a good job.  I chose them partly because they returned my phone calls and showed up.

Garber-Chilton Engineers and Land Surveyors gave a very professional and thorough investigation. We feel very confident in his capabilities and expertise.

unknown

unknown

They came on time and spent about 2 hours measuring, assessing and reviewing. I received a written report with recommendations a few days later via email. I contacted David a few times via email with questions, which he answered promptly. My only issue was that I felt the cost for the number of hours spent in total was a little excessive, but I was very satisfied with everything else.