Dave Marcotte Foundations

When I finally decided to do something to my somewhat leaky basement by calling around for quotes, Dave's quote came right in the middle - not the cheapest and not the most expensive. However, Dave came right on time to look at the problem, provided a detailed and professional advise on the issue and emailed a detailed quote that very evening. The other companies/persons I called for quotes showed up a day late or never at all. One guy even suggested that it would take him half a day to calculate the cost of the potential job but finally gave a ballpark quote, after I pressed him for one, of "at least $48K maybe more" even without taking any measurements - buddy didn't seem interested in the job at all so I figured he wasn't going to be feeding his kids or grandkids on my coin. The only positive about buddy was that he arrived on time to look at my basement, which is what Dave did. In retrospect, if I had known what I do now, I wouldn't have bothered wasting my time calling around for quotes; I would have just called Dave to schedule my job into his work schedule.

When Dave came over to look at my basement, he took one look and told me what the problem was - weeping tile failure - and suggested that I get rid of the existing leaky cold room. Dave came two days earlier than scheduled (Spring 2010) to start the work. He removed the old crumbling precast concrete porch, tore out the cold room, dug a trench around the whole foundation, placed a waterproof coat around the exterior of the foundation, covered the whole exterior with platon membrane AND styrofoam as an added insulation barrier, filled up the trench with 3/4" gravel, replaced my fence and patio stones, built a new footing for the new precast concrete porch, and replaced fresh topsoil in the areas that required it. Complications arose with a thicker than usual foundation footing but Dave and crew worked hard to get things done correctly. Most importantly, Dave and crew trucked away tons and tons of the clay soil that was dug out and they replaced the excavated clay soil with 3/4" gravel and finally with fresh topsoil where required - he did not attempt to maximize his earnings by doing it the easy way and backfilling the trench with the clay soil. The job took approximately 7 or 8 days and was messy as heck as we had at least three rainy days. The guys, however, worked their butts off and never complained about anything.

When a "problem" arose a month or two after the completion of the work, Dave came out promptly (and right on schedule as usual) and demonstrated that it wasn't a problem after all. When an issue arose early this year(2011), Dave came by and fixed it. I quote Dave saying "I'm not happy, this should not be happening, I'll get it fixed" - he was by in less than a week to fix the problem. My basement is now dry, it no longer has a somewhat musty odor and I can finally get it finished. I also did notice that my dehumidifier didn't kick on as often as it did in the past.

It is good to know that we have contractors in the Ottawa area who will not compromise their reputations by having too many work crews (some not even properly trained for the job) in order to maximize profits. Dave Marcotte Foundations has one working crew with Dave Marcotte in charge of that crew. In doing so, Dave controls the quality of every job he does. More importantly, Dave stands behind his work and his reputation. Now I wonder if I can convince Dave to get back into basement renovations..... perhaps in the winter......