CENTEX HOUSE LEVELING

Centex did foundation reinforcement work to level my house in the fall of 2005, and have now been back out 4 times to correct the work. The last time the inspector came out without providing notification he was coming. I wasn't able to meet with him and now I have to wait more than a month before they will send him back out to my house. Meanwhile, doors are sticking and drywall cracking once again.

Manny, Luis, and his team performed with the utmost professionalism. They arrived on time (early) and worked all day, only stopping for lunch. They worked quietly and were respectful of the facilities, the homeowner (me), and family pet. Upon completion, the yard was restored to its original appearance with not one piece of cardboard or one extra stone to be found on the premises. The doors now close easily and some cracks have nearly completely closed. This is south central Texas and the soils shift. No matter what the future holds for this structure, I want to commend the Centex crew for their exemplary performance.

It took over 24 hours for the company to return a call for an estimate. We set up a time when our dogs would be boarding so it would be easy for the estimator to work. He did not show up. When we called the company over an hour past the scheduled time, the receptionist told us we had to call the estimator on his cell phone and track him down ourselves! He did not answer his phone and did not return our call until the next day. By then, the dogs were home, but he wanted to come by and do the estimate with less than 30 minutes notice. We declined the estimate and went with another company.

I was quite pleased with the work and employee attitude during the original job. The warranty work was a completely different story. On the first day, one elderly (for the task) gentleman dug holes. The foreman didn't even leave him any water. Three other men joined him late in the afternoon to complete the digging. The following morning, the crew replaced piers and raised the foundation. When the major cracks appeared and fireplace bricks separated, I asked the foreman to explain. Suddenly his English was very poor and all he would say was, ''Fine.'' Two reputable (don't rely just on BBB reports) foundation repair companies have since told me that Centex routinely cuts corners, and even pointed out the mistakes that were made and explained why they were mistakes. One reputable company has agreed to redo Centex's work properly this time.