Kevin Carey was unable to see major foundation issues. Cost of repair, $35,000. Our first time hiring a home inspector, we expected a professional service, but ended up losing our life savings.
Our experience with Clarke Basements was horrendous. We thought we did our homeowork, having interviewed several companies. Ultimately the reviews sold us. Steve is an excellent salesman, but unfortunately he doens't have the knowledge or he failed to take us seriously, but we warned him that brick work would need to happen before they did the foundation. We sent pictures, emails, etc. Day one the crew shows up and within hours comes to a halt. Brick problems need to be addressed first. This added $5,000 more to our cost. The next 2 months we literally chased these guys to come and do the job. Phoned them, texted, emailed. This one week job turned into 2 months of muddy watery pits, parking tickets when we couldn't park in our driveway....a nightmare. One day they packed up just after lunch and left without a word. We figured they would be back because they were still supposed to do a 12 ft section in the front of the house where there was a large crack. We emailed Don Clarke and he said steve or the contractor would explain that to us. So we waited, emailed and chased again. The contractor showed up with bills in hand and a tube of filler for the crack. He had no idea why the job was unfinished. Don said the money was put elsewhere but we never had any contract change orders. Clarke said he didn't know about any crack, but him and steve were both shown it and it's in the contract and emails. We asked that the work be finished, but Don sent a somewhat whiney email about how it was such a difficult job and they were glad it was over. He literally gets our life savings so I can't feel too badly for him. In the spring we will have to hire another contractor to finish the job. Go through word of mouth, don't always believe what you read online and reviews. Lesson learned.
