Speed of drain installation: 5 stars
Effectiveness of drain: 5 stars
Cost: 5 stars
Quality of work: 5 stars
Speed of basement rebuild: 3 stars
Responsiveness to phone calls: 2 stars
On December 21, 2018 at 8 am I walked into the finished basement of my newly purchased home to find a frightening amount of flooding in various areas around the room. I called my mom - who has lots of experience with this stuff - and she called Jim Holloran at Morgan Waterproofing. His team installed the French drain she has in her basement, so she thought it'd be a good idea to get them to come out and look at my place.
Later that same day, Jerry (Jim's son-in-law), came to survey the situation. He said we needed a French drain to stop the water from coming in, and he priced it out for us right there. Part of the basement needed a roughcast finish (more expensive), and part of it was OK with the vinyl finish (less expensive). He also quoted us the cost of re-finishing the basement by putting the drywall and trim back up, re-installing my sink and toilet, etc. The initial quote we received was $11,035.00. (Sidenote: Jerry handled my crying and shock like a pro. It must not be a fun job informing people that they have to spend a shit ton of money on something they didn't ever expect.)
We ended up receiving a 5% discount for paying cash, and another 5% for being a repeat customer (thanks, mom!). At the end of the day the total cost for the project was $10,000.00, even. I recommend talking to Jim directly about the cost or your project. He will work with you where he can, especially if you pay cash.
Jim sent 4 men over on Monday the 31st (New Year's Eve) at 8am. By 2pm that day they had all my tile jackhammered and part of the drain installed. They surprisingly came back at 8am on NEW YEARS DAY and finished the entire drain by 12pm. While the work was taking place everything was a horrific disaster-zone that I could barely bring myself to observe. My basement floor was muddy and messy and there were construction materials all over my back yard. However, when the men departed after finishing the drain installation everything was 90% cleaned up! They even went so far as to mop the floor. Sure, there was still a little mud, but they really did clean up after themselves very well.
I was very impressed and felt that things were going great, until it came time to schedule the rebuild of my basement and bathroom. I could detail each phone call and voice mail that I left that didn't get returned, but the bottom line is that there definitely was a lack of communication and responsiveness when it came time to start scheduling the rebuild of my basement. From the time I started nagging Jim about the rebuild to the time Jerry actually came out to start it, it was almost exactly 3 weeks.
However, once Jerry and Mike finally came out to start the project they did things as expeditiously as they could. Jerry was sure to directly communicate with my family about when he was coming, what he was slated to do, and how many hours he thought he'd be there. I found Jerry to be a more responsive communicator than Jim, so once it was time to work directly with Jerry again things got better on that front.
All-in-all I believe the quote to be completely reasonable and appreciate Jim's flexibility with the discount. Construction is hard, and nothing really ever goes as planned, so as frustrating as those 3-ish weeks where I felt I was getting pushed to the side were, I know it could have been worse. The most important thing is the quality of the work, and I am completely satisfied in that arena. In the grand scheme of things 54 days of inconvenience is well worth the security of knowing that I can put my couch and carpet back down and my items won't be destroyed by groundwater seepage.
Random tips/suggestions:
**If you have a tile basement, I suggest staying home on the day the cement is poured. When I first walked downstairs and saw the cement application I was distressed because it appeared very sloppy and my basement was beautiful before the demo and drain installation. However, my mom (aka my savior) came over and together we cleaned up the edging of the still-wet cement. It looked a thousand times better after we cleaned it up. I don't blame the workers for not making it PERFECT, but this is YOUR drain in YOUR house, and you shouldn't be afraid to tweak the work they do. (Photo attached of how clean the cement/tile transition is now/)
**Don't be afraid to put imprints in the cement while it was still wet. It's a nice way to make lemonade out of the lemons of having to do this work. Plus anyone who owns the home after you can easily cover up your personalization!
**Cover ALL OF YOUR STUFF in tarps with extra-wide duct tape before work commences. Between the muddy water splashes, Spackle drippings, and drywall dust, your stuff is going to get contaminated. You can't expect the workers to cover everything so that it stays 100% safe! read more