Neal's Basement Waterproofing and Foundation Repair Reviews (%countItem)
Neal's Basement Waterproofing and Foundation Repair Rating
Address: 4829 S Meridian Ave, Wichita, Kansas, United States, 67217-3707
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I contracted Teresa with Neal Construction to fix a leak in my basement January 2019. She proposed an injection with Epoxy in the crack, steal beams to "prevent further inward movement", as well as pulling up my deck to get to another wall (which was disproved as actually needed by her employee doing the work so I didn't do this), and mud jack the front sidewalk (which was discredited by the employee doing the work saying he wouldn't do it and that it doesn't work, so I didn't do that either). The injection cost $2000, and didn't work. In fact the probes she put into the wall actually provided a direct route for the water into my basement, making the situation worse because the sealant never sat up. She came by, saw the issue, promised to fix it during "dry season", and temporarily applied plastic tubes to each port and draped them into a mop bucket I had to contain the draining water. She never returned.
The steal beams that cost me $2100 was a complete hoax as well. While I was waiting for her return, I had a company come out and test the trajectory of the wall. Since 1969, it had moved less than an 1/8 of an inch. Her assessment of the wall moving was a complete lie. Nevertheless, I had already had the work done. But, on further inspection even the placement of the beams was subpar. They were applied to the wall with a thin layer of cement, that already started chipping off within the first year of them going up. The assessment of the beams actually concluded that the beams were a risk for safety if pressure was ever actually placed against them.
At the end of the day, she was dishonest in her promises to fix the issue in the basement. She made the issue worse and never returned to my home despite her promises. She took advantage of my lack of knowledge and talked me into a form of treatment that never needed done and was done at subpar quality at that.
Beware of working with this company. Leaking basements are hard and emotionally frustrating for families. All I really needed and wanted was help. She took me for a lot of money and left me with more of a problem than I started with, plus an additional financial hit. It's been a hard process. Apparently morals and ethics aren't important when you are running a business like Neal's Construction.
I feel bad that this has happened to Lisa and of course want to take care of it for her. Due to all of the spring rains that continued into the summer, it fell through the cracks when we got extremely backlogged. I am disappointed that she did not call me again. I have been in business for 36 years and do take care of any warranties that come up. I also have never lied to a customer about the work that is needed to correct a problem. Her walls were definitely moving inward and needed to be braced to stop the movement. If there is a problem with the grout between the wall and the beam, that is something easy to correct and we are happy to take care of that, as well.
In regards to the leak, we prefer to fix it from the outside but in this case, it is behind the front porch. The only way to fix it from the outside would be to break out the concrete porch cap, which would be extremely expensive. I recommended that the grade outside of the porch be corrected to prevent water from being funneled under the porch. I then told her that we could epoxy inject the crack from the inside. She chose to not have any of the recommended grade work be completed. Consequently, when we have rains, water is funneled under the porch, saturating the soil and leaking into the crack. The area has to be completely dry for the epoxy to set up. I do understand her frustration and we will take care of the epoxy work if she wants to give me a call. I have tried to call today and do not reach either Lisa or Cortland.
Worst experience ever, working with this contractor!
She was unprofessional, paranoid and did not honor her original proposal of cost. AND DID NOT PULL CITY PERMITS! BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY!
I', not sure what she means by her statement that I did not honor my original proposal of cost. My estimate was for $8325 and that is the amount that she was billed. Janeene contacted me by phone from out of state in November frustrated that she had a house that she was selling. She had already spent quite a bit to get it ready for sale. Now that there was a contract, there were questions raised regarding the foundation and she wanted me to look at it. This house was built in 1908 and I did note considerable deflection of the foundation on the south side and recommended replacement of that portion. Because of her frustration with how much she had spent already and would need to spend now for the foundation I chose not to include a price for site specific engineering and permit which would be $650. That doesn't mean that the work would not be done correctly. In hindsight, I regret making this decision. However, when she expressed concern, I hired a structural engineer to inspect and write a report to satisfy her concern. He wrote a two page report for that I sent to her and her realtor so that all concerned would have a copy. The structural engineer concluded his report by stating "the work was completed as professionally as possible given the circumstances".. We did additional work, at no extra charge, that was not part of the contract, such as relaying some block under a center load bearing wall that had been removed by others, prior to our arrival, We also insulated some plumbing that was close to the exterior wall. These things were done at no charge to her.
I'm not sure what she considers being paranoid other than expecting to be paid before she closed on the house. We completed the work in November, she was closing December 21, and she told me that I would have a check by the 21st. When I didn't have it by the 21st, I contacted her and her realtor asking to be paid out of closing. It is required that all contractors be paid before a house closes. In Janeene's defense, she told me that she had ordered the check from her bank on December 17, but I had not received it.. At my request, she did work with her bank to transfer money that day. To this day, January 5, 2019, I still have not received the check that she states that she sent.
In conclusion, we take great pride in our work and have since the mid 1980's. We get referred on a regular basis by multiple realtors and repeat customers. The work done at this home was done with the upmost care and as professionally as possible. .
If I would have known she was not going to pull a City permit, I would have never hired this company and the structural engineer she hired was obviously biased and a friend of hers.
My realtor would not recommend Theresa Neil either due to her poor communication skills that include screaming and yelling on four different occasions to both of us. Very unprofessional.
Having been in the foundation repair business for 35 years, I do know all of the structural engineers in town, but that doesn't mean that they are biased. They still have a responsibility to report their findings honestly. The work was done properly and in a professional manner as reported by the structural engineer. I regret not adding the additional fee for permit and engineering and letting the customer decide. I really was doing all this in her best interest and hoping to save her a little money.
I know of only one occasion that our conversation got a little heated and that was the day of closing when I still had not been paid for the work and expected to be paid and she wanted me to wait for a check to arrive in the mail. She lives in Florida and I had never met her. I was the one who had invested a lot of time and money in replacing a portion of her foundation and doing everything she had asked so that she could get her house sold. I did lose my cool when she expected me to wait on a check to arrive, not knowing if it would. To this day, I still have not received that check. Janeene did call her bank and they were able to do a transfer so I did get paid that day..
Oh come on!!!! Not pulling a REQUIRED City Permit was "NOT IN MY BEST INTEREST" as you state. You put my property, house and your business at risk with the *** AND you would have added this additional cost into the proposal just like every other contractor does that I have worked with in the past.
The original invoice for the "scope of work" was for $7950 for the foundation work. A "crawl space" could be added for an additional $375 UPON MY REQUEST!!! I NEVER REQUESTED one; however, Teresa built it anyway in an effort to pad the bill making it $8325 instead.
The job was also delayed a week because of all the issues this company had to fix that were not done right in the first place and they had to call in a structural engineer to tell them how to level the floors in the house and fix all the other mistakes they made.
She had a meltdown twice with my realtor and twice with myself...yelling and screaming! She does not handle herself with dignity nor respect and does not communicate in a professional manner. I have never worked with such an emotional, paranoid contractor in 42 years and with 4 rental houses in 3 states.
Regarding her implication that I never sent the payment, .I sent her a ONLINE CHECK on 12/17/18 and it was to be delivered on 12/21/18 per my bank records; however, Teresa called hysterical on the 21st saying she had not received it. I told her it was the holidays and must be delayed by the post office. She then started screaming and threatened to stop the closing of my house that was taking place within the next two hours. Asking her to calm down in an effort to find another solution, I told her I would call my bank for direction. My bank suggested cancelling the check and just do a a direct transfer from my account to hers since we both banked at the same institution. So her implying that I didn't send her a check is bogus as I sent her proof of the check being sent from my online banking account.
Again, I have worked with hundreds of contractors and have NEVER had a contractor scream, yell and threaten me.
Look at her reviews on ***. This is not the first instance of her unprofessionalism.
That is all I have to say, as Teresa will continue to write a book on her defense.
AGAIN....LET THE CUSTOMER BEWARE OF THIS BUSINESS!!!
Once again, I have not received her check. I did not contact her yelling and screaming, but did insist that I be paid before the closing. Permit or no permit, the work would have been done the same. The structural engineer was not to tell us how to do our job; he was brought in to satisfy the customer that the work was done properly and verify that nothing else was needed to meet any structural requirements. I am happy to leave the reputation of my business in the hands of the structural engineers and the many people who have met me, worked with me, and refer me on a regular basis. I am not perfect, but I do strive to do the best on every job given all of the circumstances.
Once again, a check was sent, cancelled and was paid in full with a transfer of funds. Nice try...however, you will NEVER get a reference from me!!!