Drainage and Erosion Solutions

I'm happy to say that after the recent two-day deluge, the channel drain performed flawlessly, and due to proper sloping the pad never had any water accumulate on it. We are extremely pleased after having lived with flooding for many years. DES showed up on the date promised, and continued work each day thereafter until the job was done. We particularly want to thank Dave Robey who envisioned the way to fix the problem and oversaw the project. We had a lot of questions and concerns and he patiently addressed all of them. Also thanks to Juan, the foreman on the project who made sure everything was done correctly, and to his crew. We would highly recommend the company to anyone who has water/drainage issues around their house.

We have gotten water in the basement of our house several times over the years and had been attempting to manage the drainage situation by digging channels for the water to run off. That wasn't working, so we called DES. Dave Robey came out and assessed the situation. He identified two options: one more robust, digging down to the foundation to lay a water barrier and lay drain pipe to channel the water away from the house; the other, to only dig down about three feet and do a similar thing. Dave and I thought we could get by with the lesser approach. Dave made an appointment for a few weeks away. He called to remind me they were coming. They arrived promptly in the morning on the designated day and they were nearly complete by the end of the day. It rained that afternoon, so they didn't want to replace sod in the rain, so they came back the following morning to do that. The guys worked hard and did an excellent job. And they cleaned everything up afterward. I would definitely use DES again if I needed further excavation and drainage work done; and I recommend them highly.

We had 3 estimates done and Drainage and Erosions was the same as one and lower than another(because they added things which did not need to be done). We chose D and E because Mark Lane told us what we needed, no add-ons, and he would be on site to oversee the project, as opposed to a salesman you never see again. When the project was scheduled they came when he said and finished when he said. The carpentry work in the bedroom matched the existing paneling, the window is nice looking and allows a lot of light, the window well itself is nice and the cover is very easy to use. Their clean-up was good, too. We could not be happier from beginning to end.

Called Drainage and Erosion after late summer flooding. They said they were busy and I said I wasn't in a big rush. 3 weeks later they called to say they could schedule an appointment. The guy came out, we talked for a good long time. He suggested many ways to solve my drainage and erosion problems. Within a few days Drainage and Erosion cashed my check for the consultation. 3 weeks later I still didn't have what I paid for, no quote, no proposal, no nothing. I called and after a week I received a check for $150. Very frustrating because I have big drainage and erosion problems and now I have to start over.

In the end, Drainage and Erosion did a great job. Ken Fraine arrived for the estimate on September 23 on time and was very professional. We felt comfortable with his company because he has a MS in Civil Engineering and provided a sound proposal. Subsequently, we had a home inspection and the inspector confirmed the recommendations. The work crew that installed the downspout extensions, catch basin, and soil excavation carefully removed plants and sod and reinstalled it. The finished product was excellent. Ken said that it would take a few weeks to get the work done and I was OK with waiting. However, I expected that Drainage and Erosion would call me to schedule the work before they showed up. Due to confusion with having two customers with the last name "Jones", I received a call on Oct 25 and was told that the workmen had shown up at my house but that Miss Utility had not marked the lines. They finally figured out that they had the wrong house and called Miss Utility for the markings. They said that they would be back on Friday or Saturday to do the work. I called Drainage and Erosion on Friday afternoon (Oct 28) to see if they were coming. More confusion from the office. I called back on November 4 to say that I was becoming less satisfied with them because I still had no idea when they were coming. I received a call back saying that someone would call me the week of November 7. Imagine my surprise when I returned to my house at noon on November 7 and found that a Drainage and Erosion work crew had dug up my front yard!! Fortunately, I had flexibility that day and called work to say that I would be at home and would miss a meeting that I normally attend on Mondays. I asked Ken for a copy of the sump pump specs on Sept 27 and Oct 14, but never received it. During the installation, the foreman left the door open and our dog got out. He helped me find the dog once I complained about the situation. Both Ken and the foreman were very professional. I was very upset that the workcrew showed up without notice and the foreman handled that well. I rated professionalism as "Fair", responsiveness as "Lousy", and Punctuality as "Bad" because of the lack of communications regarding scheduling the work and because of lack of follow-through on the specs.

They were supposed to come to my house at 9 am to do the assessment. No one showed up and no one called me to say they would not be here at the agreed upon time. I called them and they tried to get someone to come to my house. They were unable to get a hold of the person who should have come out, so I cancelled the Big Deal with them.

They did class work and I give them the highest ratings across the board. They know what they are doing and they do it on time. They make things very neat at the end and I was very satisfied. They were very thorough in their initial assessment of the problem. Their final price was actually less than what the estimate was. It is hard to say what you need to do to correct a problem until you dig into the ground and find out what the problem is. They were on time and I have never seen a group of people work as hard and as diligently and as professionally. They put back everything at the end of the job and did the sodding on it. They are professionals. I remarked to my wife that I couldn't believe that they were doing all of the work they did for the price they charged.

The person that came out was prompt and willing to explain his solutions; he was good. We just decided to go with someone else. I will consider them again in the future.

I contacted Drainage & Erosion Solutions via Angie's List email and received a system generated email to call them which I had done a week earlier but got NO response. I have called at least 3 times and was told that an estimator would call me as soon as one was available. I was particularly interested in getting an estimate for an exterior French drain and waterproofing the exterior foundation walls from them due to review both here on Angie’s List and other recommendations.

Even though at the end we decided for other contractor because we are redoing the patio as well, they very responsive and professional. They also seemed very knowledgable. I would definitely recommend them.

I had an evaluation to discuss water which came into the basement during the recent heavy rains in early Sep 2011. I believe it was Dave who did the evaluation (I may have the name wrong). He was knowledgeable and worked hard to fit me in to their busy schedule. Unfortunately based on the structure of the townhomes, the fact that I had previous outside waterproofing done, the location of the leak and other factors, it was hard to ascertain where exactly the leak could have occurred. It was recommended I contact another contractor that does inside work, Value Dry, who unfortunately felt my problem did not require scheduling someone to come out examine and to just advised me to "wait and see". I guess my biggest complaint is the waste of 150.00 to have someone come out just to tell me what I already know (which is we can't identify the exact reason the water is coming in and then have the recommended company who could possibly help with the problem pretty much not even interested in coming out to see the problem). Overall, the engineer was knowledgeable, I'm sure they do good work, but the $150 is a bit steep to only have air in my hand at the end of the day.

They did a good job. They showed up on time and were nice.

This was an excellent company to deal with. The technicians were prompt, and their price was quite reasonable.

Never happened...comapny never showed up for scheduled estimate.

Overall they did a GREAT job. They took care not to damage the material laid done by the radon remediation specialist and saved me having the radon person from coming back to work on the plastic sheet laid down by the radon guy.

Summary: D&E is an engineering firm and the results you receive from their work reflect the quality and expertise of a team that really knows what they are doing. That might lead you to think they are more expensive, but for our project I found their rates comparable. In practice, I received far more than I expected and certainly felt the money was well spent. Details: Our home was built in 1980 and has a partially exposed foundation (i.e. walk out basement). However, one side of the foundation is not exposed and the builder did not waterproof the outside. For the most part, this was not a major problem for us but it is typical of homes of this age to experience hydrostatic pressure at the water main entry. In other words, the pipe that brings the water into the house can be a highway for groundwater to enter the house if it is not properly waterproofed from the outside. During periods of extreme rain, we would get a little seepage around that pipe. The previous owners had tried to seal the pipe from the inside with waterproof cement. This is not the way to do it. The foundation needs to be sealed from the outside and better yet you need to get the water away from the house to begin with. I selected D&E because they are an engineering firm and they did the job right. Dave Robey performed the initial survey and provided a menu of services from which I could choose as much or as little as I wanted. I never felt pressured to do more than what he felt was the "minimum", but I ultimately selected to do quite a bit more. ** Note: If you have them come out for an estimate, you should know that it will cost $150. They are an engineering firm and you will get a detailed specification of the work they recommend. The amount will be applied to the balance of any work they do, but you are not obligated to use their services. Even without selecting D&E, I felt the $150 was worth it for the consultation. Here is the full list of services they performed: 1. Excavate entire front of the house to the foundation and seal the exterior walls 2. Install water barrier (i.e. plastic) to shift water away from the house 3. Install downspout drain lines from all four corners of the house >10ft, with pop-ups 4. Excavate and install 40ft of french drain along the driveway to dry up problem wet spot in the yard 5. Regrade all exposed sides of the house The foreman, Juan, was exceptionally professional and knowledgeable. The crew of men who came to our house were not only punctual and professional but also friendly and hard working. In addition to the work above, they also mulched all of my beds, even the ones that weren't tied to the work they were doing. I didn't ask for this. This was something they just tossed in. They also did a fantastic job of cleaning up. There wasn't a clump of dirt to be found anywhere in the yard. As timing would have it, they finished the work just before Hurricane Irene and I'm glad they did. In addition, several weeks later we received over 11 inches of rain in a single day. I suspect our little trickle of water would have been a major disaster. Of course, because D&E did such an amazing job not only was my basement bone dry but the problem spots in the yard were perfectly dry as well. (yes, even after 11 inches of rain) I highly recommend D&E.

Mark Lane was very professional and easy to work with -- he was clear in his description of the problem and his proposed solution and did not attempt any hard-sell of other work beyond what we asked. His work crew were hard-working, on-task, and professional. Th work was completed in a timely manner and he returned to do some additional minor work to complete the job promptly. This work was done before Irene and recent downpours and that corner held up despite the rain. i recommend him.

Very rainy day. Supposed to be here 8:30/9:00. I called and they were delayed on another job. Came at 11:00 and left about 3:00. Overall courteous and seemed to do a good job. No complaints so far. He said to call if I had a problem.

I called them and was told up front that they were an engineering company and didn't do landscaping and that they would charge $100 to come provide an estimate and that if I hired them it would be applied to the job. I decided to go ahead and have them come out. My townhouse is on a hill and nothing will grow there so my attempts at planting ground cover or doing anything else wasn't helping with the terrible erosion problems I was having. There was a gully running along the side of my house and undermining a huge tree next to the house. With some of the monsoon rains we had it would get like a waterfall. Dave Robey came and provided the estimate. He was extremely knowledgeable and admitted that often people get an estimate and design from them and then decide to try to perform the work themselves. He proposed digging a 4 foot wide swale that followed the lines of where our current erosion was occurring. They would then line it with plastic and rocks. They didn't use "rip rap" which is commonly used in many of the public works projects you see but would use larger rocks. They also buried the run off tubes from my two downspouts on that side of the house and ran them into the swale. On the front of the house and back Dave threw in additional tubing to extend both mine AND MY NEIGHBOR'S ! downspouts so they wouldn't pool directly at the foundation of my house. Now I'm looking forward to a hard rain so I can see how it works! It looks like it is going to do the job perfectly. And I have to say it is actually attractive. The rocks match the color of my house and porch (gray)-- even though that is a coincidence. They seeded and mulched around the swale so the finished job looks very nice. Did it all in one day. It was more expensive than I really had anticipated, but if it does the job then I'm very satisfied.

I scheduled a meeting with Dave Robey. Initially there was confusion on the meeting time, but Dave called and texted me to let me know. We ended up rescheduling a few days later. Dave explained that there would be a $150 evaluation fee, which was of great value to me. Dave thoroughly reviewed just about all aspects of the property and drainage. With his help, I came to the conclusion that another company could best do the work I needed for interior waterproofing... versus externally removing fill dirt and waterproofing the foundation from the outside. (a service which DES would have performed) Dave made a recommendation to Value Dry (see other report) and immediately placed the call to get me on the schedule for a follow up. I very much appreciated that Dave did not try to sell me more than I needed, wanted or could have afforded to accomplish the mission of a dry basement. Dave provided a full written report and assessment to Value Dry (who performed the waterproofing work).

I called the company. They responeded within 24 hours and sent someone out for an estimate. We got a draft and drawing of what would be done. Within a week we received a detailed proposal and a start date. We signed the proposal and put 1/3 down. We were given a start date. A week before the start date we received a confirmation and Miss Utility came to mark the gas and water lines. When some changes had to be made because of what the workers found when digging we were told immediately and given the cost of doing something different. They did a great job . we are very satisfied and would recommend the companyand use them again.

The estimator was on time, professional, and very informative. He measured the yard, made recommendations and promised to get back with a bid within a week. However, he explained that this company only does the patio and drainage issues related to the patio. He said I would need to get a carpenter for the stairs. He kept his word and delivered the bid, but given the cost did not included the stairs, it was way over my budget. I think if I had severe drainage issues, this would be a company to use. However, I am looking for overall hardscaping, they just didn't fit this time.

Overall we had a very positive experience with Mark and his crew, and would gladly recommend him to others. There was a bit of a delay in initially getting started, in part due to Alexandria permitting. They appeared to do a very thorough and careful job on the retaining way and the Alexandria inspectors noted that it was a very good quality job. The stone flower bed is very attractive. We get tons of compliments from folks on the yard improvements. The wall price may have been a little high, but Mark is really good about not adding on costs as things come up and easy-going with changes, and the quality of the work may justify the price premium. I wish we'd considered them also for our basement waterproofing.

Very well, there is no flooding in the basement as of yet.

The basement of our 1966 home had noticeable surface water infiltration/seepage, especially during heavy rains. Mark Lane of DES came out and assessed the problem by inspecting the interior basement walls, noting the discoloration patterns. He said he could offer a number of fixes, only one of which he could guarantee – complete waterproofing (see work description above). We opted for that approach to protect the investment we had made in refinishing much of our basement. He was very professional and direct. He recommended extending the downspouts to get water as far away from the house as possible. To address the erosion issues we were having, he originally proposed filling in with soil and reseeding, but he actually installed sod at no additional charge. He was easy to deal with in coordinating his work with disconnecting and reconnecting the A/C condenser, which had to be done by an HVAC contractor. His work crew came out several days later and did what appeared to be a thorough job. The work took about five days, mostly because the sealant had to dry for a day or two, and damp weather also added a day. Mark warned us that one of our large plants might not survive the removal and replanting process, but they tried anyway and it seems to be doing well. After the project, there is no more seeping and dampness (so far), and you cannot tell that days before we had what looked like a dry moat dug out around a quarter of our foundation. He also re-mulched the refilled area, which was not in the proposal. Overall, we are pleased with the results and felt we were dealt with more than fairly. We did not compare prices other than reviewing other reports for what seemed to be similar work, and our job seemed to be in line. And after seeing the amount of labor involved, the overall price seemed fair. (His crew did not use excavation equipment because, as Mark explained, it could lead to damaging the foundation, and it would be difficult to negotiate around the gas supply line. Bottom line: I would recommend DES and Mark Lane – and will consider them in the future for other drainage issues on the property. They were able to address both our water leakage and erosion problems rather than having to use multiple providers specializing in only waterproofing or landscaping/grading.