Sleepy Owl

Anybody near the Heights/Memorial Park area have a referral for a reliable lawn guy? I live in a small, 4-townhome complex and we're looking for a guy that will be faster and more reliable than the person we're using now.

Thanks!

I've had a lot of experience with foundation repair companies recently. I live in a townhouse near the Heights that is one of four attached units on a common slab. The biggest problem with foundation repair companies is that most of them want to do as much work as they can while the crew is on site. That's why most of them will propose something totally different than what a professional engineer would say to do.

Here is my experience with different companies in town:

Atlas Foundation Repair- The sales rep came out to the house, shot elevation readings and proposed to put in 135 piers (total across all four units) at $350 each ($47,250). That would have been going through the floor. Tunneling would have added an additional $40,000 to the estimate. The proposal did not include the cost to break any builder's piers ($125 each).

Olshan - I believe these guys own Atlas. You will get the same estimate/proposal from Olshan. Olshan is the "national" brand name.

Du-West Foundation - The guy they sent to my house was a real sleazebag. He didn't take any readings, measurements, survey, anything. He just looked at the cracks in the floor and sheetrock. He looked at the sized of the house and said I should be prepared to pay $150,000 easily. He then went on to tell me that he personally had recently patented a new type of pier that if builders would use it, would remvoe the need for anybody to ever have foundation repair again. I asked him to leave my property and to never even think about coming back.

Allied Foundation- These guys are the bargain-basement shop in town. Their price is $150 per pier. Additionally they promise to be done in one day. The catch is that they will not do interior piers. Anyway, the guy came out and looked at my house. (I'm in the end unit, which is where 95% of the problems are occuring.) He proposed to basically put piers every 5 feet around the exterior of my unit only (total price of $2700). This was way different than what my engineer had proposed. When questioned, the guy from Allied got up on his high horse and told me that my engineer didn't know anything about levelling houses. He then went on to tell me that the engineer's methods for creating his reports were faulty, the equipment that he used was widely considered to be inaccurate, etc.

Anyway, he left me with his proposal. I talked to my PE, who said that what the guy from Allied was proposing would fix my problem, but would not necessarily be such a great idea for my neighbors. So, I asked him to come back and look at my neighbor's units as well. An hour before he was supposed to come back for his appointment, he called to cancel. Basically I took too long to decide, and since he had a backlog of work he really didn't need to spend any more time on me.

I asked my engineer for another reference on a repair company. I won't tell that company's name now since I don't really have enough information to form an opinion thus far. I will say that the guy is honest, straightforward, and is actually working with the engineer to come up with the best solution for everybody. His prices are very reasonable: $160/exterior, $225/interior breakout. His proposal is closer to what my engineer recommended - 44 total piers for a total price of just over $8000.

My recommendation for anybody needing foundation repair is to hire an engineer, then ask the engineer for references on a repair company. My engineer is Richard Keelan from Keelan Engineering Services. Telephone number is 281-339-5565. He's a very straight shooter and will be able to give you a reference for the best repair company for your particular situation.

Not at all, they can share, they all sit at a square table in a small conference room.

Bring a jacket, it is usually cold!

The 5 copies are only needed if you can't work it out with the appraiser in the "informal" meeting, which is just you and the appraiser. If it's not too much trouble I would make the 5 copies, just so they can't get you on a technicality.

Unfortunately, Toyota isn't in the home-building business.

Well...actually they are! Discovered this while working on a business plan for a local entrepreneur/architect.

http://inhabitat.com/blog/2006/06/23/prefa...prefab-housing/

I successfully protested my appraisal this week.

My house is 4 years old and has severe structural issues...a cracked slab, cracks in sheet rock, doors and windows that don't line up, flooring separating from the trim, etc.

The key is having an overwhelming amount of evidence. I had about 10-15 large color photos. I then showed him a report from a structural engineer, including maps that the engineer drew of all the damage in the slab. The thing that was MOST useful though was the estimate for repairs that I had. I just called a foundation repair company (Atlas) and had them give me an estimate of what it would take to repair.

In the end, all he did was take the amount of all my estimates and subtract it from the appraised value.

If you don't have any damage, my suggestion is to find a neighbor with a similarly sized home that has a lower appraisal. That's what I did for my girlfriend's protest, which we also won.

Best wishes...