Du West

Have had them out for over a week, The salesman came out and looked at the pier and beam home, took measurments and seemed like he knew what he was doing, that is where it stops. The home had to have several beams replaced, which of course cost money, but im still stuck with a unleveled home and they still did not repair the three places i keep telling them about.

I don't care about spending money on a home, but now i have more high spots in the home, then it started out with. You tell the guys and show them and they still do not understand you. This company is a joke, i will have to hire another company to come out and actually level the home in the mear future. They make excuses over more excuses.

I had to get them back out to fix my three spots and its still not fixed, they just want more and more money.

Please do not use and it will save yourself a huge headache. Over 10k spent and bery unhappy with job, not because of the money, but we feel its still unfinished.

In 2013 I had Du West repair the foundation at one of my rental properties. A previous contractor (hired by the previous owner) did work just prior to me purchasing the home in approximately 2008.

The person that came out (Gary) drew a diagram where piers were to be installed and estimated where 22 preexisting piers on the perimeter of the home were to be “shimmed”. I was charged additional for these shims. I questioned as to how Gary knew how many piers existed. I was told don’t worry about it, I would only be charged for the actual amount of piers found and if additional piers had to be installed I would have have to pay.

I didn’t have the diagram from the previous contractor at the time. Work was completed and all previous issues were resolved. In late August of this year I put this property up for sale. During the sell I disclosed the previous foundation work.

The buyer questioned the foundation work and stated cracks in brick mortar was present. I eventually located the contract and diagram of pier placement for the previous contractor. I now had both diagrams. To my surprise there were only 16 piers installed on the perimeter by the previous contractor.

The right side of the home only had 1 pier installed near the rear. This would seem appropriate as this is the garage side of the home and the problems were on the opposite side of the house. I called Du West, explained that the buyer was concerned about cracks observed (that weren’t repaired after the foundation was completed). I also questioned the pier matter since my bill was never adjusted when work was completed.

Letty asked me how did I know piers weren’t installed and the only way to be sure was to dig it up. Of course she was correct and I expected this response. I was told that I had to make an appointment for someone to come out and the nearest appointment was in approximately 4 weeks. I explained that the house was in escrow.

I was told the only thing they could do was call me if someone canceled. I took the appointment. As it turned out the day scheduled was great. I had to have major plumbing repairs done where the company repairing the sewer line had to tunnel in the exact area were no piers were installed according to the diagram of the company prior to Du West.

I warned the plumbing company not to disturb any piers. As they dug along the edge of the house they told me they didn’t locate any piers. The earth was exposed, as Letty arrogantly suggested. There were no piers.

Yet by Du West’s account they “shimmed” piers along this side. No problem I thought. The representative from Du West would be there the next day and could see for himself. Of course no one showed up or called for my 3 o’clock appointment.

I called the office and was told they didn’t see me on the schedule and they couldn’t send anybody. I explained my issue and that the area was uncovered so the representative could see for himself that no piers existed in that area. I had already asked that the plumbers not cover the area the day prior. They had finished this day and this was the last area to be covered.

No one came out. I was told someone would call me. On or about October 2nd Nick called and asked me to send him the diagram of the previous contractor and he would call me back. I emailed the information immediately.

A month later I had not heard from Nick. I emailed him. Again no response. I called the office and left a message.

No response. (“Gary” called several times a week when he was trying to get my business. Even began quoting bible verses when he discovered I attend church regularly). I was eventually able to speak with Nick.

He said he went out to the house. Why he didn’t ask me to meet him? I don’t know. What was he going to be able to see?

I don’t know. Nick as expected stated “Gary” nor “Red” (project manager that gave piers away to neighbors in my presence) worked for the company anymore. He said he believed all piers existed. He even tried to deflect the issue stating when he went to the house he observed 2 “cut outs” in the driveway where piers were shimmed by Du West that were not on the previous contractors diagram.

So therefore all 22 piers were present and shimmed and I was not due any refund. He begin telling about the years Du West has been in business but I doubt he’s been with the company very long. Why didn’t Nick ask me to meet him there or call from there? First of all if someone had showed they would have seen, and why would piers be in the driveway?

Second, the two areas in the driveway Nick deflected to were not where piers were placed. The driveway did and still does have major cracks. The previous contractor removed broken concrete in two of the worst areas and evened it out for me. Nick did not want to hear this.

He insisted that these were areas where piers were present and shimmed by Du West that were not showing on the previous contractor’s diagram so there must have been piers along the side of the house as well that the first contractor did not put on his diagram. If Du West had shown as promised they would have seen for themselves. I expected some excuse and never expected to receive a refund. Nick never explained what he he expected to see when he went to the house.

Du West was definitely not the least expensive foundation repair company I spoke with when looking to get the work done. I thought they would be honest. The issues were corrected. However I’m highly disappointed and now know they didn’t do all they charged me in at least one section.

I hope they did the rest of the work. It looks like they have a habit of not making appointments or calling as well.

Quick to bid $4945.00, then bid change order for a total of $8095.00 for a pier & beam 1100 sq ft home, took too long, no follow up as promised. Not worth the money!

I am actually thankful this appointment I had scheduled didn't work out because after reading the reviews, it sounds like this company starts out bad and just gets worse...I had an appt. scheduled a week in advance.

I took off work to be home. When they didn't show up I called and the receptionist at first said I had nothing scheduled and that she wasn't there the day I scheduled it so she couldn't help me. Nice. I then called back to see if they might be able to squeeze me in.

She then noticed that they had "left a message" to reschedule. I looked on my cell phone voice mails and recent calls and there was nothing from them. They made no effort to accommodate their mistake. She could have cared less.

I'm sure they don't care but not a good first impression and there are a dozen other companies to call so they've lost a customer based on an incompetent office administrator.

Not to mention-they charge $10 to for the estimate while everyone else is free! Who does that?!

Spent over $10,000 to have foundation repaired and I can't even get them to replace the small tree they killed. They keep telling me it will be replaced "next week" and then they never show up.

Of course, this is pretty minor considering the doors to the house still don't close properly which is why we called them on the first place. The additional $5k we had to pay to repair the damaged sewage lines they left us with wasn't exactly appreciated either.

Do your homework and find a foundation repair company with a better track record. Have already stopped payments until they respond and will be contacting the better business bureau.

I have all kinds of cracks in my walls, tile, floors, windows and the brick cracking on the outside. They came out and said they repaired it but my house continued to have additional cracks.

I hired a structural engineer and he said they needed to come back and do the job right.

DuWest came out and told me the house needed no additional work and it would only hurt the foundation if they leveled it and they wanted me to sign a contract stating that so that my current contract would be null and void. They also wanted me to have additional work completed on the other side of my house which would cost me more money.

I would not reccomend Du-West Foundation, I would love to go into details at this time however I can not. but what I can say is if you value your home, and your hard earn money contact an structial engineer not a foundation company they are shady. Also you can contact Rob Orr Our State Representive of Texas who is working on a law that prevents these foundation companies from cheating us the home owners... I agree with most of the complaints on this site and i hope you take these review's very seriously. I dont want anyone else to have to go through what I am going through now

Du West advertises to call them for a "Free Consultation". When I contacted them I was told by the lady that they would charge a fee to come out.

This fee to come out is what they call a "trip fee". They say the estimate is free but they have a charge to come out. If I pay someone to come out, then in my opinion it's not free.

If someone will give you credit for the estimate if you have them do the work then it might end up being seen as free but if you do not choose them to do the work for what ever reason then it was not a free estimate. I guess if they put that on their website they may not get as many calls for appointments.

I made an appointment with Du-West foundation repair 3 weeks ago for Monday, August 8 for 4pm. That was the soonest appointment they had.

No one showed. No call. No explanation. I spent 3 hours home waiting and had made special arrangements to be there.

Extremely unprofessional behavior. Probably representative of the company. Poor business practice. Highly do not recommend the company.

They sent a DVD to my home with typical marketing hype. They also informed me on the phone that to have someone come out they would charge me a $10 fee and I am in the Houston city limits.

I can just imagine what actually doing business with this company might be like.

Du-West Foundation in Houston, TX advertises free estimates on foundation repairs. I set up an appointment to have them do an estimate on a house I am trying to purchase. I also had my realtor call the person (Lettie) at Du-West who made the appointment to arrange to provide access to the property.

Everything was set or so we were told. Lettie assured my realtor that they would be there at the scheduled time to do the inspection and provide an estimate.

The appointment time (02/06/2008 @ 11:00 A.M.) passed and I did not hear from anyone regarding the outcome of their inspection. I called yesterday evening to get an update and was forwarded to Lettie's voice mail. I left a message asking for information and a return phone call.

I got no call or email or any kind of response so I called and spoke to Lettie a short time ago. She informed me that nobody had kept the appointment.

She said there was a $75 travel fee to come to Angleton to do an estimate, and that since nobody had collected the fee that they didn't show up.

Nobody ever mentioned any travel fees. It says nothing in their advertising or on their website about any fees for estimates. In fact they advertise free estimates.

Not only did they neglect to mention, or inform me about, or request any such fees, but they didn't bother to notify anybody that they had no intentions of keeping the appointment.

Neither did they call me after the fact to inform me they hadn't been to the property, nor did they even bother to return my phone call. I had to call them back, and then - and only then - was this Travel Fee brought up.

I spoke to somebody named Kenny who is supposed to be in charge and he made no effort to apologize or remedy the situation. I was extremely upset and made him aware of it. I could (and would) have gotten someone else to provide the estimate long before now if I had known Du-West would not honor their commitment.

They say they are the best. I say they are anything but. A responsible company would have provided truth in advertising, accurate, up-front information regarding fees and policies, and would have definitely informed the client that they wouldn't keep the appointment.

I am appalled that a business owner would be so irresponsible and nonchalant toward any past, present, or even potential client.