Mid-Atlantic Waterproofing of NY

Lloyd looked in the basement, boiler room (in the basement), outside, and gave a very long explanation of the job and sales pitch. He recommended a pump in the basement connected to pipes going outside and under the boiler room where water had been coming in for many years. This pump required a lot of digging and opening some walls to install the piping. The pump is an eyesore with two long electrical cords. Mid-Atlantic will not even accept an Angie's List coupon. I had to pay a handyman several hundred dollars to repair the walls cut for the piping. After they finished, water still came into the boiler room and they sent a different foreman to check the work. He said the pipe in the boiler room should have been installed lower down and he changed it. Water still came in after a rainstorm, but their work did decrease some of the water. We were told by the second foreman that the problem was coming from either the kitchen area or bathroom of my basement and they would have to rip out more walls to locate the cracks. That would mean more expensive repairs by a handyman! When I tried to reach Lloyd several times to find out the cost of locating the cracks (which I didn't even plan to have them do since they were already incompetent) he did not return phone calls or was just too busy to talk. It seemed like he had given up and would take the money for the pump that didn't stop water from entering the boiler room. I finally spoke to him briefly but he did not have a price to even look for cracks, and was supposed to follow up which he never did. Luckily I found an excellent waterproofing company that diagnosed the problem immediately, excavated outside ONLY to fix the cracks, without any damage to inside walls requiring repairs. They charged 1/4 of what Mid-Atlantic charged for the pump and I haven't seen any water in the basement since then. Stay away from Mid-Atlantic, I thought a big company would know how to waterproof a basement but with them it's trial and error.

Proposal was for a french drain system with a single catch basin and pump. A single trench to be dug along the front and side wall of my basement, wrapping around an interior concrete wall which separates the main area of the basement from a work room (and former coal bin). Trench and drain tubing to be graded and pitched so as to lead water to the catch basin and pump. When the day of installation came, the workers arrived promptly. The job foreman took one look at the installation plan and he realized that it could not be completed as originally planned. What the estimator missed was that the inner wall which separates the workroom from the main space was actually the foundation wall of the house and that digging down and through the floor in the doorway would compromise the footing of the house and make it structurally unsound. The foreman called Mid-Atlantic and a supervisor came over. His solution, and the only one truly possible: divide the basement into two areas (workroom and main room) and install two separate systems. This meant an additional cost that he stated was $2500. At this point I should have told him to either do it for the original price or to pack up his toys and leave. But we compromised and split his stated cost and added $1250 to the original price for the second pump system. The workers then proceeded with the work. They broke through the basement floor, digging trenches around the foundation, and put down the drainage piping system. Never once did I see them check the level to make sure it was properly pitched. While doing the work, they disconnected and removed an old sink in the basement and in moving it out to the yard it basically fell apart. I purchased a replacement sink and when their contracted plumber came the next day to make the pump connections I had him also connect the new sink. Mid-Atlantic originally balked at paying for the extra work for connecting the new sink, but I pointed out that it was *their* workers who broke it and that it was only fair that they pay for the replacement's installation, which they would have had to do if the old sink were reinstalled. Once the job was done, Mid-Atlantic did a reasonably thorough job of clean-up of the area. To date we have not had any issues with water in the basement so it's likely that the system is working as designed, although the pumps never have kicked in to my knowledge and there is only a little water in the catch-basin, left over from the pump tests at installation time. In summary: Mid-Atlantic's initial job estimator made a serious error in his remediation design that, had he done it properly, I would never have accepted the proposal for the job as it was too costly. And having made the mistake, they still tried to nickel-and-dime me for the additional cost of the plumbing hookup for the new sink. This is not the way to keep a customer happy and although the quality of their finished work appears to be adequate I cannot endorse them due to their business policies.

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Lloyd the salesman was very knowledgable and professional.  They were prepared to install the system immediately and believe it or not we did not price them around.  The company was very attentive from setting up the appointment, following up a few days before and even the night before.  The arrived with a full crew at 8 am and worked non stop till 5 pm and completed the job in one day.  The were neat and clean and very easy to deal with. Perhaps I paid top dollar, but sometimes its worth thet extra expense.  I have no idea if the system works, we have to wait for a huge rainstorm!

It went very well.  The foreman was very professional: explaining everything and getting my approval before proceeding. The work was performed quickly and cleanly.

Overall the work was done well and timely, however the cost was way way too much. The salesman used the gimmick of getting us to decide soon before a certain date or we would no longer be able to get interest free financing. He told us that his company was the only one that offered the interest free financing. I have since found out that other companies offer the interest free financing and would charge much less. Also the salesman really scared us about our foundation collapsing, which was probably very unlikely. Even if it did have problems the cost to fix the foundation probably would have been less than what we paid to have this system put in.

In general, I am satisfied with the design, installation and maintenance of their system.  Their installation team was very timely, proficient and professional.  Just after moving into my house, I discovered the basement was regularly prone to flooding.  The cost and hassle of routinely pumping several inches of water was unbearable.  Mid Atlantic was the most expensive estimate received, but I wanted to hire the most professional, experienced company to remedy the problem; cost was a secondary consideration.  Other bids received were from small, family owned companies, whom I didn't think had the expertise or staff to perform the work to my assurance.  Over the years, they performed maintenance service on their pumps, sometimes at no cost.  For the most part, the maintenance team was responsive.  Their pumps are very powerful and expensive, not some $150 ones you find at Home Depot.  After 8 years, my basement has not flooded, and that is the ultimate recommendation.
The only major drawback is that they do not build a drywell on your property to receive the basement water.  For this service, you have to find another contractor.
Finally, the salesmen were, well, salesmen, whose sole interest is to make the sale.

very unhappy

Eventually they did a good job. They used two different crews in three days. They started with once crew, they came back with another crew, and then they came back with the first crew. The foreman was only there 15 minutes on the second day when he was supposed to be there for the entire job. It took me months of continued calls to get things straightened out, but the work they did seemed to be pretty good. Dealing with them was a trial and I didn’t like the fact that they used two different crews in three days.

The project that they did solved a serious problem we had putting a normal sump pump. I would recommend them very much. They had to bring in jack-hammers with filters on them to absorb all the dust and all the mess. Then they jack-hammered a trench around the perimeter inside the finished basement so even before they came I had to pull the carpets, have the furniture’s moved, had heating capped off, wiring disconnected as it was a major thing. They put in a trench that was pitched on all four sides back to two big sumps around the size of 50 barrel drums and then sump those into the floors with great big sump pumps with one battery pump also. It was all done in the North West corner of the house and so it required an understanding of how to pitch it, how to install it and make sure everything was flowing the way it was supposed to. This came with a guarantee not only as far as we own this house but the guarantee passes to the next owner which was valuable for resell purpose of the house. They did a very good job and recommended them to someone already.

We were told that a foreman on the job would go over everything with us the day of the job.  No one did, since they could hardly speak english.  The person who could speak the best english was appointed, after I complained, and tried to make sure we understood what was happening.  They did a two day job in one day.  They were in a hurry, since this was after the hurricane and they had a lot of jobs to do.  They did not clean up the mess.  Telling us everythiing had to dry before it could be swept up.  N0t what they told us when they wrote up the contract.  They said it would be left clean, it was not.  We had work to do after it dried and we paid a lot of money to have additional work to do ourselves.  Also, the water they discharged onto our property was flooding our backyard and they were going to leave it that way.  After I complained and said we could not enjoy our yard anymore, and I told them I wanted the pipes to be buried, they agreed to do it.  Don't know if it was done right, since they did it very fast.  Now the water discharges into the middle of our yard and we have another problem to fix.    The salesman was very nice and came to the house when we called him with our complaints.  Unfortunately, he had to do what the workers said even though he told us he was a top engineer when he gave us his sales pitch..  Go figure!

They charged me about $7890 for their services. I am not that satisfied with them, but it’s better than nothing. If somebody comes on a job, they can’t just leave the job and if they say that they would finish in a day, they should better finish in a day. They said that they needed a couple of days on the documentation and I said okay. The day when the guys came, I asked them if they would finish it the next day since they said that they would finish in a couple of days. So, they said that they would finish it the same day. However, at the end of the day, they said that they couldn’t finish it. I asked them as to why did they say that they would finish it if they couldn’t finish it. Their price was too high. I saw all the references online and so, I went to them. The biggest mistake is that they do a good job, but they submit it to the other people when they have to send people out. That’s not right because I don’t need a subcontractor. I would not use their services again.

I spent about $16000 on that service and it was worth every penny of it.  First of all I liked that when the sales person came out he must have spent a good 3 hours here.  They went down and they used some machines and checked the foundation and everything like that.  I had other companies and they tried to sell me something.  I was also really impressed the way the sales person explained everything.  When  I call for an appointment; they request to have both my wife and me there and I know why now.  After what he went through to explain what was going on, I would have never been able to explain that to my wife.  They were very good.  The price might be a little more expensive, but it was worth every penny of it.  The biggest thing is that their warranty is good for life even if I were to sell this home it transfers to the next home owner.  If something goes wrong with this system and they even told me that if I get one drop of water after this system is put in that they would deal with.  They happen to break the top of my toilet in my basement, they replaced the whole toilet, and no questions asked.  Even when they put the line job o the streets for the sump pumps and when they were done I couldn’t even tell where they put the stuff and my lawn is my pride.  I would recommend them to anybody and I have already recommended them to others. 

We called to get an estimate and Andy showed up on a Saturday and stayed for over 2 hours. He did the "shock and awe" tactic of excavating outside of our house and then showed us what he proposed along with a folder of letters of recommendation. He said we could get a discount if we could work around their schedule and wouldn't have to wait the months he said it would take to get the work started. The men showed up with another name on the truck which I was not expecting. Only one person spoke English and Anthony the supervisor didn't show up until quite late. They worked all day. Unfortunately, the first rain we got we had water leaking from the floor and near the bottom of the stairs. We couldn't get Anthony to call us back so I put a stop-payment on our final check and called our sales rep Andy who assured us someone would be calling. Several days and several phone calls later Andy finally showed up to survey the problem and to schedule another work date. They showed up 2 1/2 hours EARLY and Anthony's response was "Yeah, I forgot to call you." They did additional work and the next day (Weds.) there was water still leaking at the bottom of our stairs. I called Anthony who said he would come out either Thurs. or Fri. and that he would call me. I called him Friday morning and he said he couldn't come out that day that he'd call me Mon. or Tues. to come out. It's now Tues. and when I called him in the afternoon he laughed and said he'd been very busy but that he could schedule a visit for NEXT THURS. I've just checked our basement and we have water coming in at at least three different locations. UPDATE: In December the new manager called to schedule a visit to see how things looked in the basement. He checked around and did a bit of tweaking in a few spots. He apologized for my bad experience and noted that Anthony no longer worked for them nor did the sub-contracters they used for my basement. I am happy to report that since he came out to fix the problem in May we have not had water in our basement which is a relief. I am waiting to see how it goes this spring and will be happy provide another update then. I do think that their sales reps could tone down their sales pitch a bit. Their product should speak for itself. I also think they are a bit pricey but that was my fault for not getting another estimate. I won't make that mistake again. I do think the the new manager they have working now seems to be on top of things and I hope that any future interactions with Mid-Atlantic will continue to be positive. Only time and a good soaking rain will tell!

This company was relatively cheap compared to other quotes and compared to what they did. The only thing was they were all basically Latin American who didn't speak English. They were very polite though. They may have been a little late but they had to come a long way so that doesn't matter. They worked non-stop until it was done. They were really good and I am satisfied with their work. Unlike a lot of companies they gave me a certificate of dry basement that guarantees their work and it is transferred with our title.

IT WAS A BIG MAJOR JOB. THEY STARTED OFF AND SENT ONE CONTRACTOR UP HERE, AND THAT GUY DIDN'T DO IT RIGHT. WE TOLD THEM WE WERE LOSING RENT MONEY SINCE WE HAVE AN APARTMENT DOWN THERE. THEY DIDN'T SEEM TO CARE. WE HAD TO HAVE THEM BACK THREE TIMES TO CORRECT MISTAKES THEY MADE. THERE ARE STILL LITTLE MINOR THINGS WRONG THAT WE DON'T EVEN WANT TO BOTHER WITH. WHEN WE FIRST STARTED WITH THEM, EVERYTHING WAS HANDLED PROMPTLY. AFTER A WHILE THEY WOULD NOT RESPOND AS PROMPTLY. SOME OF THE INDIVIDUALS WHO CAME OUT WERE EXCELLENT, BUT THAT WAS JUST PART OF WHAT THEY WERE DOING.