Aquaguard Waterproofing

I contacted Aquaguard to obtain an estimate for work in my basement. A representative arrived on time, and provided a thorough explanation of what would be required to address my issues. He drafted up a written proposal. He asked if I wanted to move forward, and I indicated I was in the process of seeking other estimates from other companies. The representative then berated me for bothering to obtain other estimates, and implied I had not been very forthcoming with him, when I told him he was the first person to provide an estimate. I felt this personal attack on my character was unwarranted and I asked the gentleman to leave. Based solely on this gentleman's behavior, I will not be utilizing this company for services, or recommending it to anyone.

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They did exactly what they said they would do, their cost was exactly what the estimate was, the workers were very courteous, and they did a good job overall. We were very pleased with them. I got estimates from 4 providers - all off of Angie?s List - and Aquaguard were the least expensive of the group. I thought that by far they gave the best service during estimates and the follow through.

We were experiencing dampness and mildewy smell in the unfinished part of our basement. We called Aquaguard and several other companies. The one good thing I can say about Aquaguard- they were prompt in returning my call (within the hour). Appointment was made for several days later. In the meantime, several other companies called back. One guy was particularly helpful. He inquired about our type of foundation (cement block), and said that he only worked with poured concrete. However, he spent another ten minutes explaining what I could expect in cost, and what to look for when choosing a waterproofer. He specifically warned me against companies that do a high-pressure sales job. He said, "they will emphasize coming at a time when BOTH you and your husband will be there, etc." I laughed, b/c this was exactly what Aquaguard had done. He continued, "they will do a lengthy exam of your home, then give you a figure, and pressure you to sign. If you feel comfortable with them, hold off for a couple of days. You'll be AMAZED at how much they come down in price." His advice turned out to be spot-on. The Aquaguard guy came and spent over 2 hours explaining in great detail the problems he observed, recommending a french drain. He seemed knowledgeable, and had us almost convinced. I will say that it was comforting that Aquaguard has been operating under the same name for 20+ years (another thing the other guy said to watch out for-- waterproofers who change their business name don't have to stand by their warranty). He then gave us a quote that seemed high. We told him we'd get back to him. He instantly took it down $1500! Told him we still wanted other opinions. Two days later, we received a phone call from Aquaguard. The lady wanted to know how our experience was, then said that the General Manager himself wanted to come out, and could offer us significantly lower pricing b/c we were Angie's List customers. She offered a time for the following Monday. Since I was driving and didn't have my calendar, I asked her to have the GM call me that day to confirm. He showed up without calling and took me by surprise. I said something about having forgotten, to which he responded, "Women tend to do that." Excuse me?! On that note, he looked around, and told us that ours was one of the top five worst cases he'd ever seen- far worse than his tech had thought. Since we've never had any standing water, my husband questioned this. GM responded condescendingly, "Do I NEED to take the level out again?" He said it was so bad, and the necessary work so extensive, that he wasn't comfortable giving us a quote (although he said to expect around $20K). He recommended we have one of HIS engineers come out to do a full report- to the tune of $1700. Needless to say, we did not go with Aquaguard. We found another structural engineer who said our problems were minor and easily fixed w/ a dehumidifier, gutter repairs and some external drainage landscaping.

They did the entire job in one day. They scheduled it during one of their breaks on another job. They showed up in the morning and work on it till they are done. They cleaned up real nice after they were done. No mess in the basement, no mess in the yard and no mess in the driveway. Everything was completely squared away. They were very efficient.

I was happy with their services.

The estimator seemed very knowledgeable. They called within a couple days to see if I wanted them to do the work or not. They offered me a discount. The crew did a nice job. They cleaned up after themselves. They got the job done quickly and efficiently.

They were absolutely fabulous. There was nothing I didn't like. When I called Angie's List, I had several different people to research. I called them all and one company actually recommended Aquaguard to me. The manager came out and gave me the estimate and told me what they were going to do. They came out when they said they were going to. They did everything they said they were going to do. When there was a misunderstanding with the extent of the work that was supposed to be done, I called them and they apologized and sent someone out very quickly to come and do the work. They were thorough professional and considerate of me and my home. They really went out of their way for me. It really was wonderful. When it came time to pay, I paid more down than we had originally agreed. When the lady who actually does the books, found that the number was different, called me to make sure that it was correct and I wasn't being overcharged. I appreciated that honesty. I would recommend them to anybody, anytime. This was the best company that I've worked with in a long time!

Salesman, friendly pleasant and knowledgeable, Initial estimate to high, willing to negotiate. Met second time with manager (James) very helpful. Original estimate of time needed 1 1/2 - 2 days with a crew of 3. Crew of 5 showed up right on time and completed all work in 6 hours. Left everything neat and clean. Very efficient. I hope that this actually works but won't really know until the next major rainstorm. I liked their guarantee, and hope never to need to use it.

I was worried that AquaGuard wouldn't do the work for me because the worksite was 100 miles away from Washington (in Luray, VA to be exact). But they promptly scheduled an appointment and the estimator, Dennis, arrived right on schedule. He spent 2 hours with me measuring, assessing, digging, etc. to figure out what exactly the condition of the building was and how best to approach solving the water issues. The only glitch in the whole business came in actually scheduling the work; Dennis gave me a target window for getting the work done but I had to call 2 or 3 times to actually get on the company's calendar. But after that the crew came out on the day they promised, did the job very professionally, did it cleanly and finished up in two days' time, as promised. The crew leader, Chito, called me a couple times from the worksite to make sure they were doing everything I wanted, and then again when it was all over. It was a tough job because the crew had to be imaginative in hoisting water tanks off the floor so the wall covering could be installed and the new cement basement poured. When I saw the place after the work was done I was stunned at the difference. It is no longer a bleak damp hole in the ground. It is a clean, dry usable room!

They are very thorough explaining how intrusive the process will be. You have to be prepared for a complete upheaval of your basement and the aftermath. They are professionals and of the 3 companies I talked with -- Aquaguard was clearly the best one.

We signed the contract to have 2 egress windows installed at the end of March 2008. At that time we made it clear that the work needed to be done by mid June as we had an au pair who would be living with us as of July 1, 2008. The salesman assured us that we could expect to have work begin by mid May. Because of delays in Aquaguards building permit preparation and the fact that this past spring was a wet one, work did not begin until approximately mid June. The windows were installed in the nick of time and we were able to get someone to repair the drywall but we only made our deadline by the skin of our teeth. The paint was literally just drying as our new au pair was moving in. The last hitch came as I checked the Montgomery County Maryland Web site only to find that the there had never been a final inspection done on the job. I called Aquaguard and James and Dennis took care of the inspection and we passed our final on Thursday of last week 10/29/08. I must say that I was generally pleased and found all of the people I encountered to be pleasant and helpful.

We are not just satisfied with Aquaguard's service but astonished. When the inspector arrived at our home he was not pushy like other companies we had out but very informative. Courteous and thorough come to mind. He walked with my mother and I, showing us pictures and answering all of our questions. He also informed us about payment options available that would fit our budget. We have lived with this problem for a very long time and want to sell the house, but know we needed to fix the water in our basement first. When it came time to have the work done, the crew that arrived was first rate. They were just as courteous as the inspector and very efficient. We were amazed that after the job was finished, our white carpet in our basement was still white! The crew was so respectful in my mom's home. They did everything to keep this dirty, muddy job clean. We could not have asked for more. We can now breathe a sigh of relief and really enjoy our dry basement. Thank you Aquaguard for repairing our home.

Getting the estimate was a terrible experience. Two guys in suits came over and spent 1-1/2 hours looking at the basement and explaining the work and talking about how great they were. They kept telling us we'd get special treatment because we got their name from Angie's list. They gave us a high price and said they'd call the manager and he would lower it. After the call, they lowered the price by about 25%. They said negative things about other companies, but neglected to tell us that their company had just been bought by someone else and things were changing (something I found out later). Overall, I'd say they insulted our intelligence by making the phone call to the "manager".

We had a window-well sump pump and a couple of wall cracks in our unfinished business that would leak when it rained really hard. The sump pump would sometimes not work and I'd end up with an inch of water in the basement. After this happening one too many times, I decided something had to be done. I contacted three companies and AquaGuard was the first one I interviewed. I was immediately put at ease by Sam Weisgal, the inspector they sent out. He also called me before he showed up to let me know he was running late and then called again when he was on his way. Sam gave me the history of the company, showed me certification, explained how he came to work for the company and assessed the basement and area around the house. We then sat and talked about what AquaGuard could do to help remedy my problem. He spent a lot of time showing me how their system worked and how it was different from other companies. He answered my many questions and I never once felt I was being pushed into anything. I had two other companies to get quotes from, but after visiting with the second and third company, and feeling like the reps were condescending to me and their products weren't as good - I knew I was going with AquaGuard. The day of the repairs, the team showed up on time, helped move some heavy objects I couldn't move myself, suggested some easier ways to work with getting the equipment and stones into the basement and made the experience pretty easy on me. From the first meeting to the last, AquaGuard came through with flying colors. They were more expensive than the other companies I interviewed, but the experience I had with them was well worth it.

They were here on time. When they came here the sales man took his off shoes, they explained what would be going on. They fixed the problem the first time. They made sure that dust wouldn't come up the steps, the used quieter tools so that they wouldn't disturb us up stairs. They did exactly what they said they were going to do, on time, and clean.

It went very well. I was quite impressed with the work crew's efficiency. The foreman, Joe, had several tricky problems to solve relating to the layout of my house, and he did so with confidence and effectiveness. The overall result exceeded my expectations. They were able to install the window drops, despite a number of other pipes that were in the way. They were able to install the basin for the sump pump right where I was hoping they could. They were able to install the outflow pipe in such a way that it is almost invisible. Finally, though I was expecting that they would need to demolish more of the drywall in order to install the waffle board, they managed to keep the damage to a minimum, thus saving me money. And though the concrete was harder than expected and caused delay, the crew was willing to stay until 7:30 p.m. to finish the job in one day, as promised. And since the project was completed, we have had a few big storms...with NO water getting in! As for the price, given that I decided to go "standby," they were willing to give me a 12% discount! And throughout the process, James at AquaGuard was always there to answer my questions, no matter how silly.

AG failed at every stage. JR spent about 2 hours at my house in Sept. Most of that time he spent telling me why AG was better than all the competitors. He frequently named competitors and talked very negatively about them. STRIKE ONE. He touted the Angie's List award that his company won and claimed that nobody else in DC area had won one. This is false. Check for yourself. STRIKE TWO. He showed me data about the number of complaints AG has received. I looked this information up on the BBB after he left, and his information was both incorrect and outdated. STRIKE THREE. In fact, I'm not sure where his information came from, as it did not correlate with that of the BBB. He showed me complaint data on all of the competitors to compare. I kept repeating to him that I wasn't interesting in his competitors, just AG. He tried to hard sell me on a price. He quoted me $5,754, then quickly reduced it to $4587, but then said I had only one week to accept at this price. I told him I would think about it. He questioned me. At the end of the contract, it says, "Please rate our representative for an automatic $50 savings." I was told if I marked "Yes" on all 4 questions, I'd get $50 off. I'm not sure where or how this information is used. Finally, before JR left, I asked for one thing. I simply asked for 4 or 5 names/numbers of people in my area who used AG recently so that I could call them. JR said he'd give me one thousand names, that's how confident he was. I said, "No, just four or five names are sufficient." I even wrote down my email address for him, so that there would be no confusion. He promised to email me the next day. He never emailed, EVER. STRIKE FOUR. One month passed and I got a call from AG. I told them I never received an email with the referrals I requested. He took down my email-I had him repeat it-and said he'd email them to me right away. He never did. STRIKE FIVE. He also said he could save me a lot of money because of some economies of scale as they were doing some work in my area. This sounded dubious. They wanted to send their most senior/head inspector over to my place. I reluctantly set up an appointment for a day in mid Oct, between 12 and 2PM. I rushed home and waited. I didn't hear from anyone, so at 11:30AM, I called to confirm. The inspector canceled, but nobody bothered to tell me. STRIKE SIX. I rescheduled for 6-7 PM. Again, nobody bothered to show up and nobody called me. STRIKE SEVEN. To recap, AG did the following: 1) High pressure sales with "one week only price"; 2) Failed to provide any referrals after I asked THREE TIMES; 3) Failed TWICE to show up for an inspection and did not call; 4) Provided conflicting permit info; 5) Wasted my time. How a company represents itself, from sales, to customer relations, matters. I'm sure AG will respond to this posting, as that is their m.o. I'm curious as to their explanations, as I never got ANY.

The estimator who showed up was quite knowledgeable. He used some high-pressure sales tactics, which I'm not really fond of, but he did know his product and what should be done. He was polite and came by the next day to deliver and go over the contract. First off, they were late. When they weren't there 25 minutes after the half hour window they gave I called up the main office. I was greeted with incredulity that I called since they weren't "even a half hour late." They finally called up 20 minutes later and said they'd be yet another hour. In the end, they showed up over two hours after the start of their half hour window. Not a promising start. The crew proceeded to work straight through, from about 10:30 A.M. to around 6:00 P.M., completing a big job in one day. Unfortunately, they didn't patch the wall cracks like was agreed and so had to come back the next day. They also offered to leave the dirt they excavated from the basement behind to help me regrade the property. After being assured that all the concrete would be removed, leaving only dirt, I agreed and was thankful for the service. Unfortunately, I had to leave for the day and when I returned (after they had left), I found chunks of concrete, both large and small, throughout the pile. Now I'm left with a useless pile of trash. It'd be good to fill a giant hole, but not for regrading near the surface. Finally, part of the contract was that the head of the firm was supposed to examine cracks in the walls to see if they required structural stabilization. When I called up to ask about his report, not one person I talked to knew anything about it. The foreman said he didn't have a clue what I was talking about and that I had to ask the chief. I called up the company and went through multiple people who had no clue about what I wanted. Finally, the head of the company called me back and assured me he was totally on top of the situation, that he'd talked to the foreman throughout the process (which was odd since the foreman didn't know what I was talking about), and that everything was ok. He admitted that he hadn't personally seen the cracks, but that he didn't think anything was wrong. He agreed to go on record as saying that there was no structural problems, and I let the matter lie at that. The whole process, however, did not instill great confidence in either the competence of the firm. The base work seemed to have been completed in a professional manner at a very good price. I just wouldn't look to Aquaguard to do anything beyond the basic waterproofing service.

They did beautiful work! The basement has been bone-dry since they came out, and there is a lifetime warranty! They were really nice to work with!

Aquaguard came on 6/10/08 to look at water leaking into the basement from outside. I had discovered an opening of an old coal chute outside the house directly adjacent to the area where the water appeared to be coming in. All of this was shown to the technician. Immediately he "diagnosed" the problem without investigating intensively how deep the chute was or where it led. He told me that water was seeping from the garden through the brick wall and into the basement. He also indicated that if left untreated it could undermine the foundation of the home. I was quite surprised at how quickly he drew that conclusion but trusted that he was the expert and must know what he was talking about. At no time did he ask me to open up the drywall inside the basement to further investigate where the coal chute was leading. While I had tenants currently living in the basement at the time, the continual water leakage was an unacceptable condition and I would have done anything necessary to diagnose and remedy the situation as quickly as possible. He told me that all the work would be done in one day at a price of $6258. He also stated (and wrote on the contract agreement) that the work would likely start "on or about 3 weeks". He neglected to tell me that the permit to do the work usually takes a month after it is submitted to the DCRA (according to DCRA). After not hearing from Aquaguard for 3 weeks I starting making phone calls and sending emails. No response. The receptionist on several occasions took the message and told me someone would call back, no one did. She often stated that the manager Dennis was on the phone. To reach him I finally told her I'd hold. She began to make up excuses for why no one had contacted me without even looking up my file. She said the permit is pending at the DCRA (I contacted DCRA and they informed me no permit had been applied for at my address). Dennis finally contacted me around mid July and said they could do the work. I told him then that it would have to now wait till the last week of July as I would be in Europe during the 3rd week of July. The work was not done till August 5. The workers were pleasant and professional. The work done was great. A few days later, when the lawn was watered, water began to pour into the basement again. I then opened up the drywall inside the basement, higher than where Aquaguard had opened it to install the flashing. The coal cute opened into the basement half way up the wall and therefore the newly installed sump pump was completely useless at preventing water from flooding the basement. In order to fill in and waterproof the coal chute Aquaguard charged an additional $3,150 and took no responsibility for the misdiagnosis. They claimed I prevented a proper diagnosis because I refused to let them open the drywall to investigate (a lie). I believe the initial work ($6,258) was completely unnecessary.

We were happy with the comments other people left for this company on Angie's List. They gave us a discount on the price for being members. They took about a week to install the sump pump. We were happy with the results.

Recently, in May, after a torrential rainstorm, we got tired of water in our basement and decided to have our basement looked at as we have had water problems in the past and the present situation was getting even worse. We asked a few companies to come out and give us an estimate. I won't mention names, but out of 4 companies, 3 were absolutely atrocious. Their so called inspectors turned out to be high pressure salespeople with little knowledge or time to answer questions. After researching their companies and how long they said they'd been in business, I found out each one was less that honest as they had dissolved and forfeited their corporate structures quite a few times. In fact, I also found that two were operating under various names and trade names which they'd formed quite recently. Then we had a company from Beltsville come out for a basement inspection. Aquaguard Waterproofing. I was expecting a salesperson but was pleasantly surprised when the inspector they sent, a gentleman named Sam, was not only very knowledgeable, but actually had a construction background as well as having soils and concrete experience when he'd worked for an engineering firm here locally. They stated that they'd been in business for over 19 years, and being the skeptic I am, verified on line through the secretary of state, not only in Maryland, but I searched Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania as well.They also claimed to be the only 'Certified' waterproofer in the area, which I also verified at the www.nawsrc.org website. Plus he mentioned Angie's List and that they were the Baltimore and DC Super service award winner. At that time I didn't know of Angie's List, unfortunately as it would have saved me quite a bit of time. Sam was completely thorough in his inspection and explanation of the problem and the various solutions, although I was concerned that his price was higher than any of the other companies. He explained that it would be better to spend a little more now, than a whole lot more later. I agreed that price wasn't the issue - that my worst nightmare would be to spend a fortune and still have water problems. I went with my gut and I'm glad I did - the basement is now without water, even after a few storms. The crew was amazing as they had to work around several obstructions, hauling tons and tons of gravel and cement, up and down our stairs, as we don't have a doorway in the basement. I was really surprised at how much work they accomplished, and how clean they left my basement. Needless to say, I am completely satisfied with Aquaguard and Angie's List as well. I expect to be a member for a while and will gladly refer family and friends to what I consider is the only honest waterproofer in our area. Thanks Sam.

They did excellent work the worker was very nice, he loved to talk to us. They did great they got the job done quickly and and cleaned up after themselves well.

We choose to get a 2nd opinion and the other company quoted us $7,850. Aquaguard was scheduled to come out and complete the work on July 29th, 2008 and we heard nothing from them. On August 6th, 2008 we wrote and sent a letter to Aquaguard about the estimate, the cost and that we would like to cancel our contract. We received a phone call from them and they stated they would have to keep our $4,000 if we decided to cancel the service. We have since received a refund of $5000.