When I purchased my house I did so knowing that there were three foundation cracks, all superficial and not penetrating the foundation to the interior of the home. I hired Martin, owner of The Parging Doctor to re-parge my house as much of the original parging was cracked or discoloured. I informed him that the work could not start until I had the foundation cracks fixed. He then said he could do it as his previous employment was with a local foundation company.
Within a week of the job, two of the three cracks had returned, indicating to me they were not properly repaired before being covered. Incidentally, Martin said he would perform the repair himself but instead sent staff to complete the entire job.
The crew returned within a month to apply more parging - over the existing problem. The very next day, it cracked again. At this point it was October so he suggested waiting until the spring. In March he contacted me saying my house was on the schedule. Months went by with me frequently asking when the job would be completed but phone and email messages went unanswered. Finally one day he wrote to me and said he couldn't help me as his company only handles the cosmetic portion, not foundation issues, despite his insistence he could do the job and the three year warranty he gave me on the work. At this point I asked for a refund on the foundation crack portion of the work. Again, silence was the response.
Martin is good at selling his abilities and will make you feel comfortable hiring him, however once the work is done (by others) don't expect to hear from him again or to honour whatever warranty he gives you. UPDATE, one year later. There are now several additional cracks in the parging running down that side of the house. These are found where there were no cracks in the foundation at all.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $2,200.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- Focus only on parging, not foundation repair of any kind.