Advanced Foundation Repair

unknown

I used Advanced Foundation Repair several years ago to repair my foundation.  Overall they did a good job and I was satisfied.  Over the last several years I have asked them to come out twice under the "Lifetime Transferable Warranty" to check the house since cracks had appeared again.  They did this without problem or cost.  Typically they would inform me their piers are fine and I need to cut down trees etc.  This year I was informed I would have to pay them to come out and check their piers.  I believe this is just a cost of them doing business and it diminishes the benefit of a "Lifetime Transferable Warranty".  I have checked with other companies and the ones I spoke with do not charge to come back out to confirm if new issues are related to their previous work.  I will not be using or referring Advanced to anyone and recommend you consider how valuable their Lifetime Transferable Warranty really is.  I believe they use to be a good company but have gone downhill over the years.

Very professional and efficient. The crew did the work in just a few hours and cleaned up to where it looked like they were never there. We were very pleased and impressed.

Advanced Foundation Repair was recommended to me by several Home Builders and Concrete Contractors.
They evaluated my Engineering Report and came up with a plan to perform most of the recommendations.
Scheduling was about 2 weeks out.
This was a 3 Day Project, 1 for Pilings and 2 for Root Barriers.
They were on time and efficient.
Lawn was chopped up to dig for installation of Root Barriers.
They packed the grass back down upon completion and extra
hand watering was necessary to bring it back.
Did lose a couple of bushes due to Pilings, this is to be expected.
I am pleased with the work and will be recommending Advanced to my
old neighbors in Richardson!

The initial sales pitch and promises were great.   The actual foundation work went pretty well.
However, at the end the final leveling process was performed with a bubble level on the carpet and tile floor.  They seemed to be in a great hurry to finish by a certain time.
We have since contacted them to have service warranty work done.  At the "sales pitch" they informed that they would perform all warranty work free of charge, bring us extra dirt when it settled.  Now, that we need dirt, they don't provide that and in order to have them look at the cement patches that need repair and are lifting, they can't schedule us until the middle of December and will charge a $75 service fee.
In fact, I received a letter in the mail today, stating, and I quote, "at the time of your appointment a warranty service fee of $75 will be due...if you do not pay the service fee the technician will not perform the inspection".
What kind of company sends out a demand payment letter for warranty work.
I would not recommend this company to anyone for foundation work.  Just hoping they stand behind the work that is already done.

Update as of last service - 3/28/15
Here is the time line of the repairs that were done.
10/29/14 - requested repair work
12/10/14 - technician came to survey and evaluate repair requests
1/2/15 - received letter from Advanced stating they would take care of repairing patches, although not covered under warranty
2/18/15 - called to schedule repair - left message - no return call
2/19/15 - called to schedule repair - left message - no return call
3/6/15 - called to schedule repair - Person that I spoke with stated they had been busy but she would get repairs scheduled
3/28/15 - repair to patch made - It was found the original patch that was installed did not have the proper rebar installed and had lifted.  The workers removed old patch and replaced with rebar and a bag of sack-crete.  Seems to be holding for now.  My concern is that the other patches most likely do not have the rebar either, but time will tell.

Although patches were a problem, the house is still level according to the technician's survey.

I received a two other estimates for this job. I chose Advanced based on two friends I had known who had used their services and they were pleased with them. Their diagnostic program was very accurate. They did the work they needed to do. They were completed in about three days and cleaned up well. Their politeness and customer sensitivity was outstanding. They worked hard to keep the disruption to the house very minimal. I was impressed at their process and how careful they were in avoiding any unnecessary damage to my property.  It has been almost ten years now and the foundation is still in great shape. They did an excellent job!

I first had Advanced Foundation Repair looked at my house about 7 years ago. Over the last 7 years, the company checked my house 4 more times without charge. They told me that the large oak tree in my front yard was causing settlement. My kid liked the tree very much so that I decided to keep the tree. The Advanced Foundation repair built me a watering system to offset the affect of the tree several years ago. Along the tree grew bigger,  the front of my house settled about 3 inches, and the watering could not reverse the settlement any more.

The company came back last December and lifted my house. They were fast, clean, friendly, and careful. On top of all the job they removed the oak tree at no charge.

Now the house is very good after 8 months.  They do have life time warranty.  

Superb job.

unknown

House was restored to original position and crack in sheetrock was restored to proper position. However, the sewer line was broken and launched me into a MAJOR replacement of the sewer line. A minor foundation repair caused a gigantic sewer replacement to the tune of $23,000 for correction. The sewer comment is FYI and the foundation co. cautions that this may happen if the home has cast iron sewer lines. 
Homeowner agrees that landscape and irrigation lines that are damaged or lost are at homeowners expense, but company could be a bit more cautious in repairing the line and caring for landscape. In my case the irrigation line was severed, company attempted repair but the job was botched and I had to pay my irrigation contractor to locate and repair a leak that caused significant erosion. If you can repair the cut, you should be able to repair it properly and a test should be run to insure no leaks.

The initial installation went well.  However our ceramic floor tile popped up from the floor during December's cold weather.  We have no idea why that happened.  We called Advanced Foundation Repair on December 26, 2013 and requested an inspection of their work (lifetime guarantee).  They stated that they could not come out until Jan. 31st and they would charge us $75 to inspect their work.  The serviceman showed up on Jan.30th and demanded the $75 before he would inspect the foundation.  This seems like a money scheme business, not a service business dedicated to providing decent foundation service.

Let me begin by saying - to save you time and money reading this review - that I DO NOT recommend this company for your foundation repairs.   My only reason for using this company is because they had done the original foundation repair nine years ago and they require you to use their services for any additional work or their warranty is voided.   Thus, I wanted to ensure their warranty would remain in effect for any future repairs or new owners of our home.   If it had not been for that unique situation, I would never have used this company based on my relationship with them for the past nine years.

Overall, our 3200 sq ft, two-story, 3-car garage home now has approximately 35 concrete pilings total installed by Advanced Foundation Repair (AFR).   Nine years ago the majority of the pilings were placed by the previous owner, mostly around the exterior walls of the home and garage, and we were told by the realtor "the home's foundation had been repaired."   A year or two after purchase of the home we began to notice movement again with all the issues you incur with an unstable foundation. Several frustrating calls and visits from AFR over the years have resulted in them always having an excuse for the movement that is NOT related to the foundation or their repairs.  Mostly we were just told to water more....   After nine long years of trying to work with this company, they finally agreed that additional pilings were needed, as our living room/dining room (the core area of the home downstairs and overall support for the entire home) had sunk three inches!   It was obvious many years ago that we needed additional work and that our initial pilings also needed some adjustments, but this company will put you off with their excuses until your home needs major repairs and they can charge you more $$$$.  

Things I do not like and don't respect about this company:

1) They are not affiliated with the Dallas BBB.

2) Warranty.   Though it is a lifetime transferrable warranty (as they advertise), there is only a 30 DAY window after the closing date for the new owners to transfer the warranty into their name and there is a charge of $100 for this service.   If you do not comply with the 30-day window, the warranty is void.  This I do not understand.... this is a lifetime warranty for the structure of the home (not its owners) and it should not matter who now owns the property.  If this company's workmanship is worth being warranted, then I would think a company would be reputable enough to honor it no matter what.   Check this out with other foundation repair companies before you committing to a contract, as I have read this is not a requirement with most.  The 30-day issue makes me think the company is hoping to easily void the warranty with new owners who are not well-informed by their real estate agent of the urgency to comply.   This is shameful.   

2) The salesmen promise you one thing, yet the work crew deliver another.   Foremen do not speak English and have trouble reading the engineer's plan.   It is unacceptable to have a foreman in charge of a job that cannot communicate with the client and ensure the job is done to specs.  I felt very uncomfortable turning over my money and keys to our home to someone I could not discuss my questions, concerns and desires regarding the job itself and how to lock up my house after hours.  

Because of the language barrier and no assistance readily available via phone, mistakes are made.  I have contracted two jobs with AFR in the past.  One for a simple surface drain to be installed and our most recent foundation repairs (which was a combination of new pilings being added and older ones (installed previously by AFR) being adjusted.   There was an issue with the surface drain, in that the workmen dug a 20 ft trench the wrong way and had to start over once I called the office and had a representative of the company visit the site.  This was all due to foreman being unable to read the plans and I could not communicate directly with him.   Had the same issue with the foundation repair; foreman spoke very limited English and we were unable to discuss anything other than the payment (which was him pointing to our contract outlining the payment due) and to look at the engineer's diagram with him with a lot of head-nodding and pointing by the foreman of where our new pilings would be installed. We attempted to explain that we did not want our carpet moved from the living room (it had been rolled up tightly by the carpet installer and he preferred they just roll it out of the way as needed so not to wrinkle the berber) and our concern for the front entry tile, which is an expensive Italian tile and how they would protect it.  However, the carpet was moved into the kitchen, doubling it over onto itself and our tile was unprotected and now missing 1/3 surface area of grout that we must repair.   Luckily, no tiles were broken.  

3) This company does not prepare you (at all) for the scope of the job.   No one called me prior to the start date of the job.  I had to call to inquire about the fact that it was due to rain on our start date.  It was then we were told they don't work on rain days.   This made scheduling time off from work, hotel stays, and boarding for our pets difficult.   If we had known this ahead of time, we could have explained this to all parties involved earlier (instead of last minute) so everyone was prepared to be flexible - especially our employer.   This caused a lot of unnecessary stress and many phone calls to AFR, since we did not know the process, what to do, or how the rain would impact completion of our job.   It was also not explained to us that their plumber, who must in come after the job is complete, is to be scheduled by us and you are not provided with their name/number unless you ask.   Since we found this out at the end of the job, it held up getting the plumber out here in a timely manner and re-fitting of our carpet.   All this would have been no issue, expect you are returning to a home that is filthy and hard to live in with bare concrete floors, dirt and concrete dust on every surface in your home, and waiting for the carpet to be re-fitted after the plumber's inspection.  Very, very stressful.... and did not have to be this way if only you were walked thru the scope of the job and knew the necessary steps to take.   

4) Workmanship is sloppy.   Carpet removed from the living room without discussing with us first, even after we asked them not to (foreman had our phone number); entry way tile not protected and now damaged; pass-thru openings to other areas of the home not covered with plastic to keep dust and dirt in the work areas (which was promised by our salesman); outdoor furniture (which we had moved out of the way based on the engineer's diagram for piling placement) was stacked into a pile by workmen with legs pressing into the cushions with no regard to avoid damage; and a three-foot pile of dirt left inside our home in our master bathroom - just off our master bedroom - (which stank), instead of it being taken outside (during the job process) as we were told by the salesman.   That smell still lingers in our home...... 
 
5) Ethics.  This company has none.   They are difficult at best to communicate with and have every reason in the book as to why additional movement in your home is not related to their work.    Their motto is "Just water more...."

I could go on & on..... but for those who have made it thus far, I'm sure you now realize you need to pick another company.  I feel sorry for those of us who are stuck with AFR based on another owner's use of their services, just in hopes of keeping their so called warranty intact.    <

The job went well, and the work was done professionally and quickly. The crew arrived on time on September 11, and the job was finished on September 12. This is the second phase of foundation work done by this company. When I completed the first part a few years ago, I knew this area would eventually have to be leveled. However, I deferred it due to cost. When I called to have this job done, I called Brad Bertelsen as he had managed the previous work, and I was pleased with the results on that job.
Brad is very professional, and he knows what he's doing (according to my engineer--I don't really understand the foundation problems). I like working with Brad. He's very nice, and he is committed to doing things right. He called earlier this week to see if everything had been done to my satisfaction. I would highly recommend Brad and his guys.
As in the past, I contracted an independent engineer (Jim McNeme, with GEO Dynamics) who surveyed my property prior to this job. He indicated the piers previously installed by Advanced were holding well, and that no adjustments were needed. This gave me a higher level of confidence in contracting for the new work. He also approved the work before the holes for the piers were closed on September 12.
I won't hesitate to contact Brad should I have any foundation problems in the future, but I'll be surprised if I need anything further at this location!

They were prompt and they did everything that they said they were going to do. They also charged quite a bit but their price was comparable to everybody else. Time will tell the quality of their work.

The guy came in to look at the zip level. I thought he would give me the results of his findings, but they weren't very clear cut. They said to give it 3-4 months for the foundation to settle down. They have no integrity. They shouldn't stay in business. I have heard from so many people not to use this company. Bob is the company president. I don't know how a company can operate like that. You call them and you can't even reach them or they hang up on you.

see above

After reading the reviews online and soliciting a few recommendations through friends, we had Advanced Prolift examine our foundation after a crack appeared in our garage.  They conducted a thorough review and found that there were no foundation issues.   They did identify another issue with the garage, which we had repaired by another contractor.

The initial issue I was having was my front door was hard to open, there was 1 large crack at 2 different windows in my living room, and at the opposite end of the house a small diagonal crack at a window in my family room.  There were also some cracking in the ceiling in the toward the back side of the house.  Also, some interior doors didn't work properly.
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I obtained bids from 3 different companies and went with Advanced (the lowest bid).  The proposed 10 concrete pilings at the front of the house.  I questioned the estimator as to whether the proposed work would also fix the issues I was having at the back of the house and he indicated yes. 
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In the process of doing the work, my shrubbery and ground cover were totally destroyed.  Their contract disclaimer says they will replant landscaping but do not guarantee that it will live.  But there were so careless and did not even attempt to keep they shubbery alive.
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Once the work was completed the front door opened and closed more easily and the large crack at a window close to the front door closed but there wasn't much difference in the other areas of the house.  When I brought this to their attention the estimator didn't address my concern.  I was told to wait about 3-6 months before doing any cosmetic repairs.  The tunneling done underneath my front door destroyed my front steps, rendering my porch unsightly (i.e. cracked and uneven) and unsafe.  I've repeatedly asked for it to be repaired.  When they would finally send someone out to do the repairs (at least 2 or 3 different times) it looked no better afterward than it did before.  The last time it was done, I asked the worker why the work was repeatedly done so poorly.  He said rebar was needed but that he was not authorized by his supervisor to use rebar and therefore, the work he would do would not hold up.  I called the office and asked to have a supervisor, manager, or someone in authority call me to discuss the issue but I could never get the requested call.
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Each year since December 2007 (typically around December) I have had to have adjustments done since the front door would begin sticking again and the one large crack at the front window would open up again.  Each time my front porch has been torn up and never restored to anything close to an acceptable state.  I'm now having trouble AGAIN with my front door but it is worse now than it has ever been.  There is additional damage in my entryway (floor tiles broken, multiple ceiling/wall cracks, chair railing and baseboards uneven) plus visible damage outside on the foundation and brickwork.
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About 6 weeks ago an estimator came to see me about the latest issues I was having.  He made notes, took measurements, etc.  When I didn't hear back from him after 2 or 3 weeks, I called his cell number to get a status/information.  To this day (almost 5 weeks later) he has never called me back.
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I recently had a general manager come out because I wanted him to see the damage to my house and tell me how they could justify such poor work.  Basically, he could do nothing but concede that they could have done better and offered to 'upgrade' at no additional charge the 10 pilings that were previously done.  However, he said additional work is needed (concrete pilings around the entire house) for which they want to charge me another $18,000.  He didn't even bother to come inside the house.  Yes, there is considerable damage visible from the outside but it would have been nice if he had come inside to see what was going on.
With all the problems I have had over the past 5 years with the initial work they did (and can't even get them to fix a porch right) it's hard for me to trust them to pier my entire house.  The warranty they offer doesn't give me much peace of mind because 1) each time I have a problem it takes way too long between the time I call and the time when they schedule one of their estimators to come see me, and 2) I don't want to continue to have my yard/house torn up every year for adjustments.

Advanced Foundation did foundation work on our home almost 15 years ago -
that work was done satisfactorily from what I can remember.  Before
putting the house on market in June of 2012 and because of new crack, I
called Advanced for inspection to see if work was still stable.  I was
told it was going to be 6 weeks before they could come inspect even
though we had warranty.  At this time company could only find partial
record that they had done work on our home - thankfully I had all
documentation of contract to prove we had warranty and emailed it to
them.
They then called a couple of weeks later and tried to
dispute we had finished paying for job done.  When I disagreed, I was
told they would research their records, but never called me back - this
happened twice.  By this time we had contacted foundation company
recommended by our realtor, had an inspection and work done in about two
and a half weeks time.
Thankfully, before the purchase on our
home was final, I was finally able to talk to a very gracious supervisor
at Foundation who agreed that because of their incomplete records they
would honor the warranty which I could at least transfer to the new home
owner.
Most people I spoke with at Advanced were trying to do
the best they could do, but the experience in it's entirety was
stressful and frustrating.

The estimator arrived and seemed knowledgable and interested in proceeding.  The repair recommendation and cost proposal was promised  in a few days.  The recommendation and cost proposal never arrived.  After my calling Advanced in hopes of securing their proposal, I was promised again that the proposal would be sent immediately.  The company promised twice more but no proposal or explanation was ever received.

Last year the inspector told me everything was within range, but I needed to water every day to keep the foundation from drying out.  I did the areas he said to and this year it was fine.  He instructed me to keep doing it the same way this year.  He was very professional and informative.  He was the first foundation inspector (I have had other companies do this in previous years) to actually take time to address what I could do daily to keep repairs from having to be done.  This is the company I will call to make any future repairs.

I had 4 estimates for the job. They were not the cheapest, but I felt most confident in them. The work they did turned out great. I would definitely use them again.

At the time of the repair, they destroyed the hedge down the entire side of the house and we had low spots that we needed to repair. In 2011 we started to have more cracks in the bricks over one of the piers they had put in. They came out to inspect and convinced us that nothing was happening with the foundation and we should just patch the crack. Summer of 2012, the crack from 2011 opened to about 2 inches The roof is pulling away from the house, there are 2 more cracks in the foundation and several more cracks running up the walls. In the inside, doors don't close, there are 1/4 inch cracks splitting the tiles in the dining room, the crown molding is off in the corners by 1/2 inch and the chair rail by the same amount. Again Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair came out and stated that their piers were performing correctly and didn't make any suggestions as to how to stop or fix the damage. We had an independent engineer come and survey our foundation. We need an additional 11 piers and 5 of the 14 piers placed by Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair need to be adjusted or replaced.  We are still getting estimates from other foundation companies, all stating that until they dig up the piers placed by Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair, they will not know if they can adjust them or if they will need to replace them.  The bottom line is THEIR WARRANTY IS WORTHLESS. By completing this evaluation, I hope that other families will not use Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair and will therefore avoid the problems we are now facing.

I am updating my review to rebutt the Provider Response provided by Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair. 

They claim that when they came to our home in August 2012 that the home was in good shape. How do they explain all the cracks and damage and the fact that a month later, when an independent engineer came out he saw the need for an additional 11 piers and failure of 5 of their piers for a total of 16? There is no way that a house sustains that much movement in a month. They also claim that they offered to made adjustments to the 5 piers and to install the additional 11 piers at no charge. Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair did call me and they did offer to adjust the 5 piers at no cost. However, nothing was said about the additional 11 piers. I even
commented to family and friends that it was strange that they would offer to fix the piers already installed by didn't mention the additional work.
 
I am glad that I did not have them do any more work for me. Instead, I hired Fox Foundation Repair. They drilled 12 feet to bedrock before installing piers. They had to replace the 5 piers installed by Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair, which were not even close to 12 feet deep. 

I know other people who had their foundation repaired by Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair in 2002 and 2003.  Within the past year, both the person who recommended Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair to me and the person who made the recommendation to them have had problems with their foundations. For these people,  Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair denied any problems existed and did not provide warranty service.  Both of these people have also had their foundations repaired by companies other than Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair. 

My advice to anyone needing foundation repair work.  Hire an independent engineer to do the evaluation and make recommenations.  He has no vested interest.  Then get quotes from foundation repair companies and see if they can fix it per the recommendations from the independent engineer.  DO NOT hire Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair.


*Update 04/22/2013*
I am providing another review since, after I provided a negative review of Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair, LL on October 19, 2012, they were able to provide a comment to my negative review and I am unable to rebutt their comment.
They claim that when they came to our home in August 2012 that the home was in good shape. How do they explain all the cracks and damage and the fact that a month later, when an independent engineer came out he saw the need for an additional 11 piers and failure of 5 of their piers for a total of 16? There is no way that a house sustains that much movement in a month. They also claim that they offered to made adjustments to the 5 piers and to install the additional 11 pilings at no charge. Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair did call me and they did offer to adjust the 5 piers at no cost. However, nothing was said about the additional 11 pilings. I even commented to family and friends that it was strange that they would offer to fix the piers already installed by didn't mention the additional work.I am glad that I did not have them do any more work for me. Instead, I hired Fox Foundation Repair. They drilled 12 feet to bedrock and installed cement piers. They had to replace the 5 piers installed by Advanced Prolift Foundation Repair. Those piers were only 5 - 7 feet deep.

Bryce showed up on time on the day scheduled for the estimate. He did a thorough job and expained the process and the differences in the types of piers including why one would work better that the others for the type of soil we have in Flower Mound. They had a backlog of around 6 weeks to get a crew in to do the work.
The crew showed up on time but I was a bit dissapointed that no one on the crew spoke English. Bryce had suggested that it would be better to cut the hole in the concrete inside the garage so there wouldn't be a concrete patch visibile as you came up to the front door. I thought this made great sense but unfortunately, the crew cut the hole outside the garage. This also meant that they had to cut a piece of sprinkler pipe that went under the driveway. The job took most of the day and was done around 4:00. I'm not sure what was checked or verified as we couldn't communicate with the crew.
The next day, I noticed that water was gushing up from underneath the driveway. I called Advanced and they arranged for someone to come back out and redo the work on the sprinkler pipe under the driveway. This meant that they had to jackhammer out the concrete again. They arrived that same morning but never knocked on the door or asked to run the sprkinker to see where the problem was and they left without letting us know they were done. I ran the sprinkler and found that they still had not fixed the leak.
I called again and Christian came out the next morning to see what had happened. He agreed to have a sprinkler company come out and fix the problem.
Jesse's Sprinkler Repair came out the next day and said they would have to run a new pipe under the driveway. To do this, they would also have to remove a couple of bushes. They were able to pull the bushes, install the new pipe and clean up (including a great job of replanting the bushes) in less than 3 hours. If you ever need sprinkler work, I would highly recommend Jesse Muniz - 214-243-0387. Very nice fellow do deal with.
Overall, the work got done and the house is level. They could really help themselves by having someone on each crew that speaks English to review the work that is being done before they start and  follow-up when the job is done. We had issues with the sprinkler line but Advanced took responsibility and got it fixed.

Mr. Adams arrived on time and conducted a thorough and professional inspection of the interior after viewing the exterior areas I pointed out to him.  This company had done foundation work for the former owners and installed piers at the rear of the house.  The former owners had neglected to transfer the warranty, which would have cost only $10, so I anticipated all further work would be my full financial responsibility.  With a heavy heart, I awaited the results of the inspection.  When he was finished, Mr. Adams assured me that the cracks in the bricks were only "cosmetic"; the house had not shifted and was still as level as when they did the original work.  I was so relieved and grateful that the house was sound,  and that Advanced Foundation Repair was a company whose honesty and integrity I could trust.  If any further work is required in the future, I will be sure to call them.  Mr. Adams told me I would receive a report within 2 weeks with a few recommendations regarding the sticking back door and simple repair to the bricks.  I appreciate very much the reassurance that I do not have to have major foundation repair done.

The representative who came out recommend a company to go the work, that company came out and did the work and it only lasted for 6 weeks, so Fred the co-ower of Advanced Foundation came out and saw that the problem got fixed at his expense.  They really went above and beyond.