JES Foundation Repair

JES uses independent crews which probably doesn't distinguish themselves from their competitors. The crew which worked on my house were fast and efficient but unless I was not staying on top of their work, short cuts were going to be taken, i.e. failure to replace decking screws when my deck was removed and failure to cleanup certain areas. When I pointed this out to the representative, these issues were corrected. However, I did have issues with the installation. Part of my porch had been removed when it was discovered that three push pier anchors were not needed. Instead of just taking that off the price of the job, they decided to install the three in the rear of my house. Unfortunately, the installation was near my heat pump units. Much of the debris made contact with my units. I was concerned about possible damage, and had the HVAC representatives come out to inspect the units. This was at a cost of $102 which JES refused to pay since there was no damage to the units. Secondly, the porch had to be replaced. Since this was done, the concrete is cracking in certain areas. Finally, in the areas where the anchors were installed, the crew used Sakrete to fill in the drilled holes. This has left an unsightly eyesore in my driveway. Finally, my biggest objection is that no one other than the crew visited the sight and discussed the scope of the work being done with me during and after the job was completed. All correspondence was done by phone or email. It's too early for a proper evaluation of the work done. However outside of the concrete cracking on the porch, the Sakrete stains in the driveway, there has not been any noticeable cracking in the walls or foundation.

The engineer (Todd Simmons) came out, set up some lasers, and quickly determined that the foundation was settling and we needed piers to jack up the house. I?m not an engineer, but I don?t understand how he can determine what the problem and the solution is only by looking at some laser measurement at a single moment in time and emphatically assert that ?the house is moving man?. It seems like one should have to know initial measurement from which compare to be able to say the house is moving? Maybe at least look under the house? I don?t know he was the expert. When I asked questions he got more and more defensive and condescending. All of that is fine. But, then he tells me that the info is going into some public engineering database and I am obligated to tell if I ever sell the house. Huh? I explained that no one told me that. And he responded with ?of course?, ?I should have known? and ?All this costs money and aint free?. Finally, the engineer followed up with several emails with picture showing horror stories of what will happen to me. The pictures were from a block foundation and my house is poured. They have good reviews. Maybe it was just this engineer.

I called for an estimate. The rep was on time and spent a lot of time gathering detailed information and taking measurements. In the end, I felt like the price was too high. I was uncertain about the use of so many smart jacks, and ultimately preferred solutions offered by another company that repaired existing piers and used the Model 200 push piers where needed throughout the structure. The salesman was nice and patient with my questions. However, I do not like the "sign now for a discount" tactic. In his defense he did extend the allotted time to make a decision a few days out. But I am of the opinion that you should offer the most competitive price up front and not try to incentivize hasty decisions on the part of the consumer. It gives the impression that you are in a rush to "seal the deal." Just give me the best price you got and if your quality of work and price is fair I'll choose you.In the end I was able to have quality work done, and not sacrifice by settling for a half-solution for thousands less than this company.

Arrived promptly for estimate. Very receptive to negotiating price and scope as met our needs. Started exactly as scheduled and completed the job within the scheduled time. Completed excavation so that there was little visible disturbance once backfill was complete. Provided patch for small area of asphalt driveway which was disturbed at no added cost. I was surprised at how little disruption we had inside the home while they were completing the foundation work. A very professional firm who did an excellent job. They will return twice to make adjustments as house settles following initial work.

The estimate was much higher than the other company and they were going to do a lot more work that wasn’t necessary.

JES replaced a sump pump, and put another layer of cement on the floor in my basement. The workers dumped the left over cement in my yard, and left some bricks outside. I was surprised they needed so many workers to do the job. They kept going in and out. I didn't have a second opinion before I hired this group, which I should have done. We haven't had enough rain to see if the sump pump actually works, but I hope it does. I have just noticed cracks forming on the floor. I will not use JES Construction again.

They quoted a high price for a lot of services that were unnecessary. We were able to get it done for about a tenth of the price they quoted.

I chose to get a quote from JES after seeing ads for them on TV. I should have suspected something from the start when the woman who booked the appointment for the estimate asked me if my husband would be home with me of would I be alone. Who asks that? Unless they company has issues in that dept. So, the rep shows up on time and listens to my concerns about my foundation. Since the heavy winter we had I notice changes in my exterior of my craw space. Well, he assured me that the foundation is sinking and I need it fixed immediately. That was quoted at some 22K (for a 1400 sq ft 2 story home). Well, I began to get the full court press about the dangers of living in a home that is sinking and how most insurance companies don't cover damages from that. After he crawled under the house and showed me critical issues that needed to be addressed via digicam he then jotted some notes down took some measurements and indicated that the total cost to fix my sinking foundation would be a whopping 32K all together. I indicated that would not be happening. I told him I wanted to get some other estimates and he then pressured me for who I was getting estimates from and he went on to tell me how they did business and how they were not a good choice. I indicated I needed to make some phone calls as this was a huge financial commitment. He was rude and asked me who in the world I needed to call. Can you believe that? That was most certainly NONE of his business. The he broke down the cost to just the minimum that needed to be taken care of and that cost would be about 11K, but if I signed a contract with him right there on the spot I would get a discount and this break and that break where the total came to about 8K. That's still a ton of money to me. So, I said no. I still needed to do some more research at which point he told me that the discounts and offers were only good while he was there. I thanked him for his time and asked for a copy of the free estimate that the TV ad indicated and he refused to give me one. I later had my whole home inspected and while he indicated I needed some work done it didn't even come close to 8K. I was so angry when the JES rep left. He was pushy and rude in my home. Don't use them.

I received the proposal a month before we started the work. When I sent the deposit in, the sales person called to tell me when they crew would be there to complete the work. It rained the day they were supposed to do the work, so the crew showed up the next day at 1 PM. I asked them if they knew who was going to do the work inside the house and they told me that they had been sent top brick up the hole and they had no info on the rest of the project. They were sent because they had finished another job and they were told to come to my house next: to fill up their work time. I questioned the process for completing the whole project and they had no clue. They were told to come to my house and brick the well. They asked if I had the brick to use and I said no. They were some in the back yard that were taken out when we had some landscaping done to keep the water away from the house. They scavenged through what was left and I guess found what they need. It us a few hours to work out the difference of opinion about the scope of work. I had to leave and they were still working. I was gone 2 hours and I came back to see the wall bricked, old bricks scattered in a pile and a;; the materials we had used to cover the hole were scattered around the drive way space. I still do not know if they completed the work in the crawl space. No one has shown up to make an attempt to let me know if the work was done. And the work they did (replace a 3X 4 space with brick) and put 2 concrete blocks under the floor support in the crawl space cost $2,300. I would not use them again. I had read the reviews on Angie's list and most were very favorable. My experience gets a D.

There was an issue with the foundation repairs on one of the corners. They came back and looked at the issue 3 months later, said that they could not do anything and charged me $198.00 additional to look at it.

They were pretty honest. They told us that we really did not need to do any foundation raving. They told that our foundation was straight.

They were professional, but the quote was horribly expensive. They were very responsive.

Very professional, very knowledgeable. They were on time.

They were extremely thorough. Their pricing was way too high.

They were a little too pricey, more than what I wanted to spend.

There was nothing that I disliked about them. They did what they said they would do. They started on time and they finished on time. They did everything they said that they were going to do. They were right on price and everything. They didn’t go over anything. They said that it would take one day to dig up the holes for the place for the foundation, which they did. They also said that they would come back two days after it dried and put everything else together which they did as well, and they were out of here. I haven’t compared their prices to anyone else. There was someone else who was cheaper in terms of price. JES put in two of the required materials under two low bearing walls but the other guys wanted to put in one. So I went with JES because of the two required materials that were put in. The quality is pretty good from what I can see. I haven’t crawled under the house to see everything. They responded quite well. They were on time. They sent me an email informing me when they were going to show up. They gave me a whole outline of everything. They were pretty professional. They came the first day and then they came back two days later and completed the job. They didn’t make a bigger mess than they had to. They cleaned up after themselves. I will use their services again in the future.

They were very good and responsive. I liked their services and will use the same in future.

They gave me reason to question their competence. They said a beam was cracked. I never noticed it and other contractors did not find the crack. I don't think they were being honest. Their quote was very high.

I am now waiting on them to redo my flooring that they didn't do correctly the first time. 10-30-11 - JES came back and completed the repair in the proper way. This was done the latter part of September. They had to replace the linoleum twice as the first replacement job buckled too. My hats off to JES for showing stickability and seeing the job was done right.

They came out, didn't walk around to show me anything or explain anything. They only offered one solution which was a $55K piering of the entire house. Other company's who wanted to pier the house offered more for less, explained everything and spent hours with me. The foundation only has hairline cracks here and there. I bought in a structural engineer and they showed the real problems, support beams were sagging and it had nothing to do with the foundation. The only thing JES could say was well at least its not a $100K job. oh and our house is 2 story, 2400 sq ft.

I had JES come to my house to give me an estimate as well as tell me what needed to be done. I chose structural engineers because I had been advised that this was what was needed to "fix" my home. The overall experience from first contact to cancelling the work, was dealt with in a very pleasant manner and after listening to my situation the owner refunded my deposit in full. The total cost of the work to be done would have been $23,000. VERY PRICY but I intend to have them reevaluate and do the work when my circumstances change.

We had the middle of our house and one corner of it sinking, some mold, and standing water in our crawl space. Terry Garmon who is a very nice architectural engineer/sales guy came over and took a look, took a ton of measurements, crawled under the house to inspect it and then came and told us the bad news of how much damage there was. He was very nice, explained everything so that even this blonde could understand it. Told us his recommendations of what was needed immediately and what can wait till later. Terry walked us around the house and told us things we could so to prevent further damage, like making sure the water from the gutters don't drain next to the house. He wasn't pushy like most sales guys. He was even having fun playing with out new kitten with his laser lights when he was taking his measurements to see how much the rooms slanted. Within a few weeks they came out and first did the Smart Jack system to stabalize the middle of our house and treated the mold that was under there. We signed a second contract with them at that point to get the Push Pier System to stabalize the corner of our house and order the Cleanspace Encapsulation System (basement waterproofing system). Even though Terry said the basement waterproofing system wasn't a necessity at that time, he did explain how it would keep the mold out of the house and prevent further damage and later expensive repairs. On June 8th-10th, their was a crew of 5 guys out here working on the house. They were all very nice, and courteous (my husband happened to be working the night shift hat week so he was asleep during the day while they worked under the house. They made sure they kept fairly quiet so that he could get sleep.) When they were finished you couldn't tell they were ever in my yard, they picked up everything! The crawlspace is very clean now, my kids and I had fun crawling around there after the guys left to check out all the work they did. They weren't kidding when they said they could make it so clean you could eat under there if ya wanted to (we didn't test that theory).

From the inspection through the installation and cleanup, they did a very good, competent job. In addition, they showed up on the date promised and completed the work as advertised.

We have signed a contract with them, but the work has not been done yet. They are international. The house was built in 1964. Our neighbors told us that the previous owners had to have it jacked one time. We were not informed when we bought the house that it had been done. I decided to go with the company and it was probably the best decision because the people that came out were very thorough. The actual work on the house will be started on June 27th. The estimate was $43000.00. I cry when I say that. The quote may be slightly less because when the engineer came out for JES, he told us they would put in 27 piers rather than the original 29 that was estimated by the man who came out and gave us the first estimate. The price therefore should be around $41000.00 or $40000.00. JES was rather convincing in showing where the house is lower in areas. It is sagging diagonally. The north east corner and the south west corner are low, so they have to jack those up and level things out. I was disappointed because they said they were going to send an engineer in the first place to look at it and they didn't. They sent a salesman, but they insisted that these people that come out to give the estimates are highly trained by their engineers and he used the laser as well. When the engineer came out, I was very impressed by him. He was very knowledgeable and explained exactly where things would go and why and which were the best places to put the piers and the best ways to do the work. I was not impressed when dealing with the office when I called in first. I asked if the engineer was coming out and they said he would. Maybe they meant eventually and I thought they meant he would come out to give the estimate. After we signed the contract, I didn't hear from them. I called to set up an appointment to have the work done and they told us they had us down for July 20th. Nobody had called to ask us when it would be convenient with us and actually we are out of town on July 20th. I was impressed by the engineer, but otherwise I have been disappointed. They have been very responsive as far as coming out. When we called, they set up an appointment right away. At one point I thought of canceling with them. I wanted the engineer to come out and speak to us and explain why it was so much and see if he would lower the estimate. He came out within the week, so he was very responsive. They were on time. The engineer was very professional. The salesman took about 3 hours and talked mostly about how wonderful the company was and how they did things that the other companies didn't do. He was trying to sell us and I was anxious to get to the nitty-gritty. He could have told us and given us some estimate along the way. He went through the whole spiel and told us how they had jacked up houses and redone houses that had been done by other companies and made us go through his notebook of show and tell. He was trying to sell us on the company before letting us know what we were going to be facing.

I received an visit/inspection/estimate of sealing my crawlspace. Professional representative but I did not go with them due to the high cost and lack of any insulation/foam board installed...I was looking for more of a cleanspace, with hopefully a little bit of energy cost savings. JES doesn't offer this service.