Jay and the crew at Pheonix got us out of a pretty spectacular jam. We bought a home built in 1880 with sellers that had been in there for almost 50 years. What we did not know, and what our inspector failed to notice, was that the sellers had been gradually filling in gaps in the brick foundation with clear silicone caulking, and never went back to repoint with mortar. This went on for years. It gets better.
We brought in a local mason with decent reviews and a reasonable quote (. They agreed to remove caulking where they found it on two of four foundation walls, and repoint with appropriate mortar. This was a "spot repoint," and ONLY caulking would be removed. Supervisor arrived on time, got two guys to work grinding out the caulking, and left to 'run an errand.' Hours later I get a call saying he'd left his guys unsupervised, and they ground out ALL the mortar to more than an inch deep along one whole wall -- every brick -- and in some places all the way through to the other side. Without exaggeration, several bricks were left floating freely and could be pulled fully out of the foundation wall by hand. The mason sat in his van for a while coming up with a new plan to address the damage his crew had done. He returned with a new offer: instead of under $4k for the original work, now we could pay them $26k to completely replace the two sections. No thank you.
After this fiasco, we had to find someone who understood not only the original foundation of our 1880 home, but who knew how to repair the new damage appropriately AND who could be trusted to get the job done without causing any more damage in the process. We were skeptical and cautious as we reached out to people via Thumbtack and phone calls. After collecting estimates, we decided to give Pheonix a chance for several reasons:
1. The work is guaranteed for life
2. Jay is a strong communicator who does not pressure customers
3. Reviews on Networx were all strong -- though no other sites had info on the company
4. Their license came back clean with no complaints
5. Pheonix committed to a timeline that prevented water seeping in with rains we had at the time
6. Their price was not the lowest, but was very reasonable. One masonry company quoted nearly double Pheonix's estimate.
The job was estimated to take a little over one day, and arrangements were made for Jay to collect our 50% deposit and begin work. The crew arrived on time (a few minutes early in fact) and got straight to work with no fuss. Jay stayed on to supervise and ensure no repeat of the other guys' screwup occurred. I got a check-in call about midday to say that the work was going more quickly than expected, and another before my own work day had ended saying they'd be wrapping up shortly. I couldn't get out of work, but Jay offered to hang around until I got home so we could review the work together before he collected the final payment.
A few things stand out. First, the job was done thoroughly and neatly - the lines are clean and the sections they worked look great. Second, as supervisor, Jay literally stands by the work; he was present and involved in the repair, and waited over an hour to be sure he was personally present to review the work with me. Third, the team went beyond the scope of what was agreed, but in a way that was respectful and added value without increasing the risk of damage to our home. Jay was not satisfied with the spot-repointing, as it left a patchwork appearance between old and new mortar. The wall the other guys screwed up had all clean, fresh mortar showing because all the mortar had been removed before Pheonix got there. To bring the other wall up to his own personal standards, Jay made the call that they should repoint the whole section, not just the caulked bits, so the finished product would match on both sides. This added hours on the clock for his team, and used more materials to complete, but he did not ask for a dime. He was more interested in ensuring that we loved the result, and willing to work with Pheonix in the future.
We absolutely recommend Pheonix Waterproofing & Masonry. Do not let the odd spelling turn you off (ask for the story behind it), and do mention Mike in Whitman if you work with Pheonix. Once our bank account recovers from buying our first home and doing a lot of unexpected repair work, we will have Pheonix out again to shore up the rest of our foundation, no question. read more