"Cliff Notes version:
<br /> work took longer than originally anticipated
<br /> mixed signals between salesman and on site crew lead guy
<br /> mediocre job of post-job clean up
<br /> physical end results of job were less than satisfactory in some areas
<br /> - Read on if you want the long version -
<br /> We chose SRF based on a realtor's personal recommendation, Angie's List reviews, a good price compared to other quotes, and because our initial contact and consultation with Craig made us very comfortable with working with them. So everything up until the point that work began was great, and they excelled above the 4 other companies who we got quotes from in their professionalism and service. Craig drew up a plan to install 26 exterior piers (the entire perimeter of the house) and 2 interior piers.
<br /> Work was scheduled to start on a weekday, with crew arriving between 7am and 9am. I took off work, set my alarm for 6:45am, and then at 11:45am the crew finally showed up. The crew chief said he did not have my cell phone # (it was entered incorrectly on his sheet) and that they had a staffing problem and were short 1 or 2 guys. So they got started with the crew they had. The crew chief told me right off the bat that I needed 27 exterior piers, and probably don't even need to worry about the interior ones, but maybe we'll see later after the exterior ones are done. This is my first interaction with this guy, and there was no hand off from Craig (salesman) to Fernando(?) (on site crew leader), just all of a sudden the guy at my door is telling me that the plan I had agreed to after very careful consideration and discussion with Craig was not completely accurate, as his guys are already starting to dig. OK, 1 pier difference, whatever. I emailed Craig and he assured me that Fernando knows what he's doing, he said he'd talk to Fernando, and he said it wouldn't affect the price we had agreed on. Good.
<br /> Fernando still wasn't sure about doing the interior piers, even after talking to Craig. So they proceeded with the exteriors, and said they'd assess that situation after they started lifting the outside, to see if the inside was going to sag or not. Sure enough, there was major sag along a long interior wall as soon as the outside perimeter starting getting lifted. The details are hazy, but I think Fernando claimed "I'm not real sure if lifting here inside is going to do what we need it to do. We could try it and see. I asked Craig to step in. Craig sent a different onsite guy. Maybe a different sales guy, maybe a different crew chief kind of guy. He seemed to know what he was doing. He said yes lets go ahead and try the 2 interior piers as per the original plan. We did those 2 interior piers, they lifted as much as they could, and guess what - it did practically nothing. The wall along which it was supposed to lift (spanning from front edge of house to back edge of house) did not seem to be getting any support from where they were lifting. Our living room floor now looked like a large shallow soup bowl, being higher on all sides, and considerably lower in the middle. Fernando and the other guy that was sent in (Chris?) figured maybe they weren't lifting on a beam, or maybe I had a broken beam, or maybe I had a poorly constructed foundation or maybe they were just in the wrong spot. They said, "We can try digging a few more holes and see if maybe lifting somewhere else will help." At this point we were already running behind schedule and our house was turned upside down due to the interior jackhammering and all the fallout caused by that (moving out furniture, covering stuff up, peeling back carpet, sealing off doorways to keep out the dust....) so I said NO do not start randomly trying to guess at where the magic spot is. It will cost me more money, more time, more hassle, and may or may not even do anything to improve the situation.
<br /> In the meantime, the exterior pier count had gone up again. Fernando and crew decided that even more were needed - I think we ended up at 30 piers outside and the 2 inside. However, our contract agreement had been that "If any existing previous piers are found after digging, and are found to be usable, we may use those existing pier footings and adjust them as needed, and will reduce $100 per each one of such piers if any are found." I asked midway through the digging if any had been found. I got very vague answers. "Yes we can tell there was previous foundation work here". And "Yes we found some existing piers". But there never was a clear answer if they re-used any existing footings or not. When I pressed about it, it was more or less decided that it would just all even out. They installed 30 piers instead of the 26 on my estimate, but "some of them" were on existing piers, so that all evened out. Or at least they say it did. Nothing was ever shown or fully explained to me on how that math worked.
<br /> I had been told to schedule a 2 or maybe 2.5 day window to have all this work completed. Because of the late start, short staffing, confusion on the interior pier issue, it dragged out to 3.5 days for completion. Even when they had "finished" I had to email Craig to send them back for a bit more cleanup. They attempted to clean up, but still had mud streaks on some walls and all over the porch, and a bit of trash around the yard. They had to come back on the 4th day to replace a sprinkler head they had broken, but they were able to do that while I was back at work (finally).
<br /> I was also dissatisfied with how they treated our plants in this process. They had to dig many of our plants out of their way to perform the work, which I understand, but very minimal care was taken with them. It was 25 degrees while they were digging, and they left several plants with just their bare roots lying out in the front yard for 2 days while they worked. Most of these bushes died because of this. They completely buried another 2 small bushes with the dirt removed from a nearby hole, and those never fully recovered either. I didn't expect this process to be easy on any of the landscaping, but I'm sure they could have taken more care with the plants they were working around and relocating.
<br /> A few days after completion, the independent engineer came to inspect. That went fine, luckily, even though there were obviously areas (interior) that hadn't been lifted back to where they should be. Weeks after that, I never saw the report, or any final paperwork. I was supposed to get a map of where all the piers were installed (since the actual installation differed from Craig original plan), and I was supposed to have a copy of the engineer's report. I had to email them weeks later to get all of that.
<br /> End result - the perimeter of our house is level, and all of our exterior door frames are pretty much square again. However, that interior wall is sagging, and our living room is bowl shaped. Because of that, the wall is now floating, and also on one side is somehow shifting down-hall also. Hard to describe, but basically while it was all being lifted, one corner of our house was also sliding towards the neighbors. So we have door frames that are now 1.5 inches wider at the bottom than they are at the top. And we have a couple of walls that are only connected from above to the ceiling joists, and not below to the concrete sub floor. Improvement from where we began? Yes. Is my house now properly square and level everywhere as I feel like it should be? No.
<br /> On a positive note, Craig was always great to communicate with, and he is the reason we chose to work with SRF. I wish he could have been onsite through the whole work process, but we never once saw him again after the agreement was signed for the work to begin. From there it was handed off (poorly) to Fernando and/or Chris.
<br /> Also, they were kind enough to also do a quick re-level on the 12x12 shed in the back yard for no charge.
Cody J. on July 2015