Healthy Way Waterproofing & Mold Remediation LLC

To clarify where I'm coming from, let me just say that I am writing this review only because I just received a notice from a collection company stating that I owe $445.00 to Healthy Way Waterproofing & Mold Remediation.  My basement does not leak anymore, I now have 2 sump pumps and I am happy with the job that was done. I think it was expensive since I received a quote that was $2000.00 less from another, but less reputable, company.

When the salesman, Brian, came to my home for an estimate, he was very nice and informative. He said he would email a quote to me which he did promptly. The quote was for the sum of $16,693.00 which was broken down into a deposit of $6677.20, 2nd deposit of $9515.80 and final payment of $500.00.  I was told that the job would take about 2 days. I paid my deposit on 2/22/13 and the work began on 3/7/13 or 3/8/13.  My basement was torn up using a jack hammer and sometime during the day one of my neighbors complained to someone about the noise. The following day, just after the work crew arrived, two inspectors from the borough of North Plainfield arrived and asked the foreman for the construction permits. Healthy Way never applied for the permits.

I am single, female and just assumed these guys knew what they were doing. I am responsible for not performing "due diligence." I should have found out, myself, whether or not permits were needed.

A neon red "stop work order" was pasted on my garage door (which made me feel like I had a scarlet letter on my chest) and the workers were thrown out of my house with the threat that if they set foot in my home before they applied for and received the necessary permits, they would be put in jail.

I was contacted by Brian # 2 who asked me what happened. I told him and he said they never needed permits before from any other town and he would look into it. After a week of not hearing from anyone I called Brian#2 and asked him what was happening. He was surprised that the work wasn't being done and said he would get back to me, which he did not. I called him again and I was told that he thought a permit was needed by a licensed plumber but that was not a problem because they had a licensed plumber.  A day or so later, I was informed that they did not have a licensed plumber and I would have to find one to reinstall the basement sink which they had removed.  I found a licensed plumber who put the sink back and he also gave me permit papers. Little did I know that he gave me the permit application and not the actual permit,  When  I next spoke with Brian #2, he told me that the county clerk did not have the plumber's permit. This is when I realized I would have to go down to the clerk's office and give them the application.  The plumber paid for the permit and all was clear for Healthy Way to complete the job.  The work was finally completed on 4/23/13, approximately 6 weeks after the two day job was started.

In the interim, more water leaked into the basement and my toilets were pumping waste into the basement due to a cap that was not sealed when the workers were thrown out of the basement.  A lot of the items which I moved so the work could be done were now contaminated by sewer waste and were destroyed.  As an aside, and this is not Healthy Way's fault, I had to move a lot of heavy items to the center of the basement and I developed sciatica which has not completely resolved and has cost me approximately $6000.00 in medical bills. My insurance company reimbursed me $542.00.

About a week or so after the work was completed, I listened to a phone message from Brian #2 stating that he forgot to tell me I still owed, I think he said, something like $220.00.  I ignored the call for two reasons: 1. I had a canceled check in the amount of $10,015.80 on which I had written "final payment" and 2. I thought I would receive an invoice explaining what this extra charge was about.

A week later I had another message from Brian#2 who again said I owed $220.00 and I should call him.  I again ignored him and waited for a bill.

This past Friday, 9/6/13, I received a letter from Transworld Systems, a collection company, demanding $445.00 payable to Healthy Way Waterproofing.  I called the city clerk's office and found out that this is the cost of the permits for my waterproofing job. Knowing what I had gone through with this company, even she was incredulous that they were asking me to pay for the permits.  Upon carefully reading my contract again, the only mention of permits in it is that I agreed to let an inspector into my home to evaluate the work that was done, "if permits are required by our municipality."  Well, I fulled my obligation. I let the inspectors in.  

RE: Provider Response
Mr. Lanfrank, rather than call you directly, I would like your response on Angie's List. Am I still in collection for the permits your company didn't get or am I now a satisfied customer?

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Estimate prepared was professionally done and steps to be taken to rectify problem were explained in a courteous manner.  Estimate prepared in detail listing steps to be performed, cost and approximate date when work would begin.  Work was completed before anticipated date.  Areas in yard that were dug up were replaced and barely noticeable. After work was finished a walk through was done to ensure that I had a complete understanding.

I was emailed photos of the step by step removal of old insulation, mold treatments ant the poly and R30 insulation install and everything went well, I'm out of state and JohnForsyth was my contact and he keep us informed. A project well done.

Very professional and HONEST - they could have performed work that wasn't needed because we were inexperienced in this area. Their inspection was very thorough and educational. If we had had a problem, these are the people we would have used. We were very confident dealing with them and would highly recommend them to anyone who suspects they may have am old or water problem.

Work was done professionally.  Cost was high.

Overall our experience was a good one. From the initial conversation with Chester to set up an appointment to the inspection with John the Remediation Specialist. Our concern for mold growth due to Superstorm Sandy motivated our decision to have the crawl space and garage tested on our 2 bedroom home. Our goal was to just get another estimate but after hearing the results of Jonn's inspection my wife and I decided to have the garage tested in case it wasn't necessary to spend the extra cost of having to remove and replace the sheetrock and insulation and remediate for mold. John was professional and friendly, arrived on time and educated us on the different procedures for remediation in our situation. The whole process took approximately 3 hours from start to finish. We are still waiting on the results from the garage sample. We may just remediate under the crawl space depending on the results of the garage which was not too bad in fact the mold that is under there was from before the storm, it's just the bottom part of the floor joists, not the sub-floor, whew we are lucky !!!

They encountered problems along the way which they rectified

The package only came with two tests but they said I needed to an outside sample in addition to the indoor tests so I had to buy another test when they showed up but they gave me the discounted price.  The tech was a very nice guy, friendly and personable.  We had a good chat, he did the test and was on his way.  The only issue I had is that they never got back to me with the results and I had to call many times before I finally got someone to tell me the results.  Then even though the mold counts were very low someone on the phone tried to get another person out to sell me services but I declined as the tests showed very low levels of any contaminants, less than the outdoor sample.  It is a business so you can't knock them for trying to up sell you.  The services they provided via the Angie's list deal was a good value so I have to give them an A

Workers came on time. They put up plastic sheeting to minimize the spread of dust and ran a ventilation fan to blow dust and dirt out of the house. Three workers came and they  hand carried concrete debris in buckets a long distance to the dump truck outside. They worked quickly and completed the job in one day to my surprise. This job included installation of a PVC drain pipe for the sump pump in a crawl space about 70 feet long. Not an easy job for them and at no additional cost to me. They cleaned up by sweeping the floor afterwards which was acceptable but I also needed to vacuum the area later. The plastic sheeting was not a perfect barrier (it fell) but was ok. They explained a little about the sump pump maintenance but not much about the battery back up. I thought the overall job was good and the workers worked very hard in a difficult condition.  I was impressed. It was costly but necessary. I see no mold and the musty odor in the basement is gone.

The initial phone call was great; they could do the sampling at a reasonable cost ($175 per site sampled) and almost immediately. They promised a letter of interpretation for my lender within a week of the sampling. The agent was prompt arriving to my home, but did not listen to my request and did not seem to understand that he was only taking tape samples. He walked all over my basement, all the while explaining the methods of remediation HealthyWays uses. I finally had to tell him that I was not paying for anything except the tape sample for which I had contracted. He then tried to do me a "favor" of sampling both dark spots on one tape. The subsequent results were unusable: the letter of interpretation had errors of fact (home described as an apartment; letter asked reader to refer to page 7 of a lab report that only had 5 pages) and questionable conclusions (i.e. the only tested item to come in at "moderate" was mycelial fragments and the lab stated that no spores were detected but the agent went on to say "For any species of mold to be in a moderate indication of growth, means there is probable active growth and mycelial fragments throughout."   The lender couldn't understand the letter. I asked for a new letter to interpret the lab results. No one responded but my check was cashed. A week later, a rep called on the phone to do a satisfaction survey! I told her no...not so much. The original agent  then called and rescheduled, came back and performed a second set of sampling (each site on separate tape this time). He promised to rush the samples, as I was running out of time with my lender. Then he had a personal issue but nobody bothered to follow up and my sample didn't even get sent to the lab until I demanded the new letter of interpretation. By the time the second letter got to me, my window had closed and the refi did not proceed. I had to get another appraisal, another $400. Please note that second appraiser looked at the same spots on the basement masonry and said it was efflorescence.
     HealthWays tried to upsell me; they did not meet their deadlines; they did not respond to my emails; they were not professional supervising their agents (I should not have had to track the poor guy down post-surgery to find out where my second sample had gotten to); and most damning, their letters of interpretation are boiler- plate, with spelling, factual and grammatical errors, that all seem to be written to compel insurers to pay out on mold remedialtion claims.

Healthy Way did our basement mold remediation on June 25, 2013. The cost was $7300.00.  Brian Culley was their representative who did the testing and made arrangements for the job to be done.  From start to finish, he gave us outstanding service:  without fail, he was patient, pleasant, helpful, reliable, accommodating and quick to respond to calls or e-mails.  Because of my husband's health, Brian even took it upon himself to arrange for a crew large enough to do our four-day job in one day so that the noise and disruption would be minimal.  It was a very happy surprise to learn of this, the day the crew arrived, and we were very grateful.

On June 27 I e-mailed Brian, listing several issues we had concerning the job crew.  Brian replied right away with a sincere apology and immediately forwarded my e-mail to the owner and to Brian Daneman, Healthy Way's Service Manager, who came to see us on August 20, listened closely, and very carefully went over each of the issues with us.  He apologized sincerely for each, attended to those he could take care of that day and said he'd speak to the crew about all issues. (Listed below)

Before this listing, I want to state that both Brians have now (9/2/13) inspected our basement and said the work was done well. And because of the professionalism exhibited by both of these gentlemen in their dealings with us, our feeling is that this was definitely not a typical crew, so we would give Healthy Way another chance, should the need arise.   But we would most certainly not accept the same crew!  If someone else were doing this review, I'd want the details so, while it makes this review lengthy, here they are:  

1) They were very careless in handling and storing our belongings that needed to be temporarily removed from the basement or moved to another area of the basement to clear the areas where they needed to work.  (Brian D. said they are taught to be careful, and they knew better).       2) They didn't rehang the basement door correctly so that, if we hadn't taken care of it temporarily, the door would have banged into our TV every time it was opened. (Brian C. came to do the post-remediation testing and hung the door correctly.)      3)  As the crew was setting up, I asked Edgar, the foreman, to keep closed a door they'd left open to the outside.  He implied it wasn't necessary, because the crew was working in the basement and were always going in and out.  However, there was a whole room between the basement and that open door, so the open door said "Welcome" to any creature from outside that might have wanted to come in, and would give them access to the whole house --  insects, bees,  squirrels, groundhogs, skunks; we've even had a bear in our backyard. The heavy plastic they hung would not have been a barrier for any creature with claws. and if it wasn't airtight, the flying/crawling creature would find their way upstairs, as well.     4)  When the job was completed we asked them to put back where they belonged, the basement items that had been stored in our garage or moved to another area of the basement.  They did so reluctantly, and about 80% through the replacement, Edgar, the foreman, told us "We don't usually replace items. They don't pay us to  do that."  (We had understood that they would do so.)  We were told by Brian D.  that "They're paid to do what we tell them to do.  In any event, Edgar had no business saying that to you, a customer."    5)  In preliminary discussions, Brian Culley had told us to be extremely careful that nothing moldy be put back into the basement., so we assumed that the crew would look for mold on all items before they moved them back.  Evidently not, because when Brian D. was here to address these matters, he found and removed some moldy items that Edgar had allowed back into the cellar.  I didn't have much faith in Edgar's mold-detecting competence by this time, anyway, because I had asked him before he started the job if a certain item was moldy.  He said "Yes".  But another workman (who I believe was his father), took it from Edgar, examined it and said "No, it isn't."  Brian D. confirmed on August 20 that it was definitely not moldy.

It turned out that the air quality was good, but the mold behind the tub was Stachybotrys, A.K.A. "Black Mold" which needed to be removed. This is where things got problematic for me. I knew going into the test that I would feel uncomfortable having the same company perform remediation that did the test for obvious reasons. I only chose Healthy Way because of the positive reviews on Angie's List and the promotional offer. Long story short, my insurance adjuster along with several other mold remediators thought that Healthy Way's plan for remediation was excessive, so I ended up going with another company. I really liked the people and Healthy Way and would probably use them in the future for remediation, if need be. I would prefer to have the mold test done by an independent company.

They were expensive but very good. They had to remove everything, three dumpsters full of stuff. The used the HEPA filters in the house the entire time. They had to move furniture and stuff and I would not have been able to do that on my own.

My crawlspace flooded due to Hurricane Sandy. Without hesitation I contacted Healthy Way. They had performed some work for me in the past and I was very pleased. They quickly got an inspector to my home and he gave me a written estimate on the spot. I contracted them to clean, dry & mold remediate my crawlspace. They scheduled the job for me the following week. In the mean time my neighbors had gotten estimates from other companies and their prices were much higher. It was obvious that Healthy Way wasn't profiteering like many other companies during this horrific event. The job took 3 full days and when they were done my crawlspace looked & smelled better than before. Some of my neighbors decided to use them as well and they are all very pleased like us.

I must state that I almost did not even bother to get an estimate. I called and spoke to an individual that insisted my wife be home when a rep comes by to review the work and provide an estimate. If not, I would have to pay for an estimate. That was a first. I was patched through to one of the foremen (I assume) and he explained why they had that policy. While I understood their reasoning, I did not agree with it. So I politely told him, he can either come by and provide a free estimate, or I call someone else. Needless to say, he agreed to come by sans my wife.
The estimate for the waterproofing was high, but the mold remediation was lower than expected. That said we came to an agreement on price and services. This experience prior to the actual work was why I gave a "good" rating, rather than an "excellent" one on some of the bullet points. The work itself went smoothly. Came in on time. Cleaned up after. Still waiting for that major storm to dump a few inches to put the system to the test, but so far I have not gotten water where I used to when it rained about an inch.

Job went very well.  Anthony , the salesman was very thorough and patient while trying to explain what was needed and what would be done.  The crew showed up on time, worked all day for two days to finish on time.  They were very neat and professional. All in all I was very satisfied with the quality of the work done.  I do think they are more expensive the other companies, but found that you can negotiate with them.  Given the quality of the job, I didn't mind paying a bit more.  Now I'm waiting for a heavy rain to test the new system.

They were unresponsive and unprofessional, I would never use them for any large job as they couldn't even complete a small easy job.

They did a quality check and told me what is needed to be done. They came and did the job and everything but I think I have spent a little bit more. However, I will still consider their services in the future.

Overall they started on time and finished on time-other companies should emulate their commitment to excellence.

The marketing person visited the basement. Spent enough time to go over what he saw and gave me the estimate. As most do, he gave an exorbitant price but then offered 20% discount if I am willing to start very soon (well know tactic). I bargained it down further based on the estimates I got from other contractors.
Few things promised in the contract were not taken. One of them is that they would have a de-humidifier during the cleanup which never was brought. The contract said that they would take care of all the trash that gets generated but when the work started it became apparent that a second dumpster was needed. I was asked to pay for it and I refused because the contract did not mention that they cover for only one dumpster. They evenutally brought the second dumpster.
Similarly, while talking with the owner over the above issue, I heard him say that he wanted to finish the work in three days that they said it would take. I found it rather odd because i was told that they will work for as many days as it would take to finish the work at no extract cost. Fortunately the work did not exceed three days and if it did and they wanted me to pay for those extra days, I would have refused.
There was also miscalculation of amount of work involved in the cleaning the basement contents with chemicals. When it was consuming lot of time, I decided to move them out of basement and get them cleaned later so that they can start the basement mold treatment immediately. I wish they knew how long it would take. 
Apart from this, I felt that the work was done professionally. The team came on time, helpful in explaining their work. Left the basement relatively clean. They saved as many things in the basement as they could for future rebuilding of the basement.

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My experience with this company could not have gone any better. They were very professional from the moment I called. The inspector came out when they said he would. He explained eveything to me so that I understood it. He gave me a fully detailed proposal right on the spot and answered all of my questions. After getting 2 other estimates, we knew that Healthy Way was the best choice. Boy were we right! The crew came on time and walked me through everything that they were going to do. They were very clean and when they left they would always let me know.
The job took 3 days and then a few days later they started the remodeling. WOW is all I can say. The crew that came to our house did an amazing job. We now a have dry, mold-free basement that we spend ALOT of time in.

Overall the work was performed and seems to do its job. Although there were a number of starts and stops the work was performed very well.

I spent about $2000 for their services. They were prompt and explained to me exactly what was going to be done. It was a good presentation. They gave me an estimate within an hour. If needed, I would use them again.