1. Where exactly is the water entering?
Not "the wall" — which wall, at what height, and what evidence says so.
In order
What happens, from your first message to the test at the end
You tell us what you are seeing
Where the water shows up, when it started, what the weather was doing. Photos help more than anything else.
Assessment on site, at no charge
Grade on every elevation, where the downspouts discharge, the foundation type, existing cracks, the sump if there is one.
A diagnosis in plain words
What is happening and what we would do about it — interior drainage, exterior waterproofing, a crack injection or a new drain. Where two options are valid, you get both with the trade-off.
Written scope and price
Exactly which walls, which method, what materials, what is reinstated and what is not.
Set-up and protection
Utility locates before excavation. Floor coverings and dust containment before any saw runs inside.
Work, then a test you can watch
Water run through the finished system, pump cycled, discharge checked outside. Photos of what was behind the wall are yours.
On the day
You see the sequence before it starts
Nothing on this list is unusual. It is written down so you can hold us to it, and compare it with anybody else quoting the same job.
Comparing quotes
Eight questions worth asking anyone who quotes this work
Including us. If a contractor cannot answer these on the spot, the number on the page does not mean much.
2. Why this method and not the other one?
There should be a reason to do with your house, not with what the crew is set up to do this month.
3. What is in the trench around the pipe?
Clear washed stone and filter fabric, or native soil? This decides whether it silts up again.
4. Where does the water go?
To a sump, to daylight, or to a pipe nobody has traced? Ask them to show you the outlet.
5. What is reinstated, and to what standard?
Backfilled and seeded is not the same as sodded; interlock relaid is not the same as replaced.
6. Who arranges utility locates?
If the answer is vague, that is the whole answer.
7. What is not included?
The exclusions list tells you more about a quote than the inclusions do.
8. What happens if it still leaks?
Ask what the remedy is and get it in the same document as the price.
Money badly spent
What we will tell you not to do
Three things come up on nearly every assessment, and all three are money spent on the wrong side of the problem.
- Waterproof paint on a wet wall. The coating is bonded to the surface; the water is behind it.
- Finishing a basement that leaks "only in spring". Spring is when it happens, and the framing will be in place for the next one.
- A sump pit with nothing draining into it. A hole in the slab does not collect water that has no route to it.
If someone has quoted you for one of these, we are happy to look at the quote with you.
Questions
Questions about how we work
Is the assessment really free?
Yes. We look at the basement, the outside of the house and the drainage, and tell you what we think is happening. If the answer is that you do not need work yet, that is the answer you get.
How long from assessment to quote?
The scope and price are written up and sent to you after the visit, not scribbled on a clipboard at the door. That gives us time to check what we saw and gives you something you can compare like for like.
What do you need from me on the day?
Clear access to the wall being worked on, inside or out, and somewhere the crew can put spoil and materials. For interior work, everything has to be out of the room first.