Before you hire
Choosing a waterproofing company
The company that inspects your house is also the one selling the repair. These checks help you tell a diagnosis from a sales visit, whoever you call.
What a careful inspection includes
The first ten minutes are spent outside. The roof edge, the end of every downspout and the tilt of the soil along each wall get a look before anyone opens the crawl space door.
In a crawl space they should go all the way in, not look from the door. In a basement they should check every wall, the floor joint and the outside of the wet side.
- Moisture readings taken on the wood, with the numbers shared with you
- A humidity reading for the air
- Photos of what was found, sent to you
- A plain statement of where the water comes from
- A written scope that follows from that statement
A visit that happens mostly at the kitchen table, with a price that is good only today, is a sales call. Thank them and get another view.
Questions that sort a diagnosis from a pitch
- What is the source of the water, and what did you see that shows it?
- If I could afford only one part of this proposal, which part stops the water?
- Which part of this proposal could I do later without harm?
- Are the people doing the work on your payroll or hired in for the job?
- Can you put me in touch with a past customer whose house had this same problem?
- What would make you come back under warranty, and what would not?
What belongs in writing
A proposal you can hold someone to names quantities and products. Feet of drain. Square feet of liner and its thickness. The model of pump and dehumidifier. Which walls. Where the discharge pipe ends.
- Start date, expected length and what could delay it
- Who restores drywall, flooring, lawn and planting
- Payments set against finished stages, not calendar dates
- The warranty: what it covers, for how long, whether it passes to a buyer and what cancels it
- Whether a permit is needed and who obtains it
Looking up a Georgia license
Georgia licenses residential and general contractors through a state board under the Secretary of State. The board's own questions page says a license is required to perform or offer residential or general contracting for pay, and that work which qualifies as a specialty trade is exempt. Its exemptions page gives the detail. Waterproofing firms sit on both sides of that line depending on what they take on, so ask which state license the company holds, or why it needs none.
Then check the answer. The Secretary of State's license search takes a name or a license number and shows whether the license is current. The same page links to the forms for filing a complaint.
On insurance, the board's page says general liability coverage is a condition of holding a residential license, and that Georgia requires workers' compensation only where a business has three or more employees. A small firm may lawfully carry none. Ask for a certificate of insurance sent to you by the insurer's agent, and ask how the people working under your house are covered.
Reviews and references
Read a company's reviews for how it dealt with things that went wrong. Every contractor has jobs that needed a return visit. What matters is whether they came back.
A reference from a job done two or three years ago tells you more than one from last month. Wet seasons are the test.
Hiring questions
How many companies should look at the house?
Two is a reasonable start. If they disagree about the source of the water, a third view is worth the time.
Do companies charge to inspect?
Some do and some do not. Ask when you book the visit so there is no surprise.
Should I be home for the inspection?
Yes, and go and look at what they point to if you safely can. It is far easier to judge a proposal when you have seen the problem yourself.