Groundworks Toronto

We had some water seeping into our finished basement after two days of heavy rainfall. It's our first Spring in the house and this was our first water problem. We had four waterproofing companies and one general contractor come in to give us quotes, ranging from $3000-$9000. Everyone suggested digging from the outside (through our concrete laneway) except for Roy at Clarke Basement Systems. He was the first person to really stop and think about the problem and where the water could be coming from (it was leaking in one specific area only and it wasn't a huge amount of water). After cutting out a small section of water damaged dry wall, Roy suggested installing a sump pump with the water guard system along the section of wall that had the seepage only. He said his guys would rip out only the necessary section of dry wall. Plus he mentioned the city's subsidy program for installing the sump pump which would help us pay for the wall/floor repair. It was our most affordable option, and one that made the most sense. Jose and Lucio came to do the job and were an absolute pleasure. Really nice guys who were respectful of the fact that we wanted minimal damage done to the area. Upon seeing the site, Jose decided to make a few changes to the plan, in terms of sump pump placement and how much wall to rip out. It made sense and I appreciated his thorough assessment before starting the job. It also didn't affect the quoted price. It's been a month now, and after a very wet Spring, no more seepage! The sump pump has been working well (and actually we're surprised at the amount of water it's been pumping out!) The only reason I haven't given this company 10 stars is because we're still waiting on the itemized invoice required by the city to apply for the rebate. I've called and emailed about it, and the girl I spoke to on the phone wasn't knowledgeable about the rebate process (I went online to find out). It really shouldn't take a month to mail out an invoice! Many thanks to Roy, Jose and Lucio.

**Update - Winter 2011: I've changed my rating from 9 to 7 because we are now realizing that the way they placed the discharge pipe is totally unacceptable for winter months. Don't know why we didn't think of this at the time of installation, but the ice build up along a walkway & sidewalk is now a problem we have to resolve. I contacted Roy for his suggestions on how to fix this, and his response was "most people are just happy to have what you have, or you'll have to run a pipe through the house out the front wall"...which isn't possible given our basement's layout.