The Waterproof Guarantee

When I got into waterproofing I had NO idea this industry was so… Scummy. I would get home after to customers feeling deflated and infuriated by the stories being shared. Some stories are such repulsive examples of unskilled salesmen gone wild you wouldn’t even believe me if I alluded to them.

So now I vent my frustrations here. On the internet, like a good American. Using contract and video evidence. With a little bit of flair, and hopefully some laughs, Better Basements will be seen as consumer advocates and make an impact on an industry in a death spiral.

***Enjoy (minimal proofreading takes place).***

That quote you got to waterproof your basement where the selling points are their “special” patents and Lifetime “warranties” is misleading at best and a class action lawsuit waiting to happen at worst.

Don’t read in between the lines. You don’t need to. The loopholes and morally questionable contractual practice are in plain English.

And so will be my evidence, opinions, and feelings on such business practices.

Lets put a target on our back, shall we?

To be clear: Our approach to waterproofing is simple, proven, and done by THOUSANDS of contractors across the world. Most of which are great.

We are talking about < 300 that have done an exceptional job at appearing to be industry trailblazers with answers to problems that never existed. Where they effortlessly get discredited is method. But no one seems to be attacking them on contractual claims and marketing efforts.

You can get away with this in the 90s and early 2000s. But now information is abundant and homeowners are excited to make educated decisions.

So let’s make them.

This discussion will lack any construction sciences or drainage placement discussions – that argument is easy to win and we do it all day everyday.

The truly DISGUSTING Claim Being Made.

The Lifetime “Warranty”.

We only offer a Results Based Guarantee. If we install a waterproofing system in your basement, and there is water entry afterwards, that would qualify as a warranty claim (duh).

• What does a claim look like?
  Easy, we fix it.
• What if you can’t fix it, my basement is just too wet?
  Has never happened before, but you would get your money back. Seriously.

The Results Based Guarantee in a Nut Shell

Say we will do something (Waterproof your basement)

  + 

We waterproof your basement 

= 

Contract executed

Time goes by and water enters basements 

+ 

Homeowner informs us 

= 

We fix it, or money back

(NEVER happened, easy to guarantee, another convo)

“This Is Basic and Obvious”

– You (probably)

But with SOME large waterproofing contractors operating in North America it is not practiced. And if it was we wouldn’t be prepared to hit you with mountains of evidence that builds from hundreds of sources every single day. 

Selling the guarantee and not the product is Sales 101. Even Tommy Callahan called out this practice and he got a D+ !

Tommy Boy – Fancy Guarantee (Link to the great comedy scene in movie history for your pleasure)

Tommy Callahan did exactly what I am trying to do with this document. Dismantle the Product Based Guarantee. Why would you want a Lifetime Warranty on a product that won’t work in the first place? He said it more colorfully than I, but, you get the jist…

The Product Based Guarantee in a Nut Shell

Say they will do something (Waterproof your basement)

+

Install product they claim is special and revolutionary

=

Contract executed

Time goes by and water enters basements

+

Homeowner informs company

=

Company tells homeowner one of the following (because it is in the contract and they can)

Real Examples

“We will get a crew out there to fix it asap!” And they will usually. We recently spoke to a customer that had gotten them out SEVEN times. They would come out and put various caulking on and occasionally even remove and reinstall some of their proprietary “drainage”. 

Sure seems like it doesn’t work doesn’t it? Remind you, that ALL this damage and repairs caused from a failing system is never covered under warranty. This particular homeowner was smart enough not to finish their basement until proof it was working. But accepted the fact that they would never fix it.

One of our homeowners in Gresham Oregon sent a competitor proposal AFTER we sent ours AND after she accepted this competitor.

She was so pleased with our professionalism she shared their contract with us as a courtesy and said she really loved their LIFETIME Warranty, despite knowing our approach was superior. But she felt they would do right by her. 

After I showed her some video evidence of these very common failures and we examined all the contractual outs for their LIFETIME “Warranty” she promptly cancelled her appointment, got her deposit back, and has now had a basement dry from Better Basements for over a year now!

This line is one of my favorites:
“…Systems that drain to daylight cannot be warranted by the contractor…”

Image from waterproofers warranty sent to us from this homeowner.

What does this really say? 
Well I assume it means exactly what it says. If the “waterproofing” system discharges water to daylight then the contractor is not responsible if it does not drain enough water.

Why is this CRAZY?
One of the self imposed industry standards is to discharge all water to daylight and at least 15’ away from the home or as far as possible.

This exclusion would very likely negate all of our waterproofing systems ever done and all the systems they ever did.

That’s it? What ELSE?!
Glad you asked. And if that wasn’t enough to encourage you to steer clear of Product Based Warranties, lets read on…

“…does not drain enough water, does not drain water from under the floor, clogs or freezes. While drainage systems clogging or malfunctioning from iron ochre, iron gel or iron bacteria from the soil are rare, the contractor cannot be responsible for these situations, and that system will require cleaning, flushing or other service as necessary to keep it functioning for that particular situation…”

At risk of turning this warranty discussion into a construction science debate I will keep my rebuttal simple.

It is not rare. HOWEVER, It is easy to avoid clogs if you install proper drainage with the proper amount of fall surrounded by the proper amount of filter rock. Which is EXACTLY the back breaking process that many of these “proprietary” systems prevent you from doing. 

The more hilarious thing is that in their brochures they usually reference “traditional” systems clogging and how THEIR system is the only system that doesn’t clog! Yet many of these (yes there are dozens) have contractual outs that make it so they don’t have to stand behind clogs. If they don’t clog, then why can’t you stand behind them if they do?!

This is a blaring example of a Product Based Guarantee that has results exclusions. 

If the system clogs or doesn’t drain enough water then the contractor is not responsible for it. But that egregious exclusion doesn’t even matter in most scenarios because most all systems discharge to daylight.

But don’t worry, this is a rare situation. Just trust them, it even says so in their own warranty. 🙂

Where is the Outcry?

A long time ago I finished my pitch on the importance of drainage placement and avoiding DIY systems hidden behind fancy brochures and untrained salesmen. When the homeowner said something that changed the trajectory of my life forever.

“What you are saying makes sense. But they have a LIFETIME Warranty. So failing is their problem, not mine.”

Odd take. But ok. 

Because this company offered financing I couldn’t beat (I can now) and a “warranty” I hadn’t developed the courage or skill to mock she went with them. EVEN THOUGH she knew I was right, that salesman did such a good job selling her on the warm feeling of a guarantee he won her business. And I did such a bad job in earning her trust I did not deserve it. 

I KNEW I was right (and so did she). But where was the outcry of these systems being installed and failing? I drove home in disbelief and wondered where the outcry of these system failures were. I KNEW I was right. Water does not flow uphill or without proper slope. I KNEW they failed a lot, because we were ripping them out!  

Well the outcry is everywhere. And just like every homeowner that believes the empty promises these gimmicks come with, I wasn’t looking for it. There is outcry. And TONS of it. I just needed to look for it. And didnt even have to look that hard. 

Pictured is Peter O’Shea. He has become one of a few legends in our niche world. Yes he is standing next to a giant pile of junk that had a lifetime “warranty”.

I came across Peter’s robust YouTube channel in a search for a better way to communicate with customers about the construction sciences of drainage placement after my conversation with the homeowner who said “it was their problem”.

I thought I needed to communicate the construction sciences better to get people to realize it didn’t work. But that would never work when they weren’t teaching construction sciences, they were only putting a guarantee on a box and selling a guarantee. What happens later is the legal department and their boss’s problem. 

Yes, these homeowners on the East coast in Peter’s videos likely had the same exact warranty and contract from a contractor that may or may not be in the same or similar “dealer network” (think franchise) as we have here in the Northwest. 

But why were they having it ripped out when they had a Lifetime “warranty”?

Probably because the Lifetime “Warranty” was a product based warranty not a results based warranty like anyone with the slightest moral compass. And the product that they are warranting was never designed to do what they are verbally saying it will do. BUT, in their defense, I don’t think they believe it either because the language in these contracts provide them the power to not stand behind the work.  

This video is one example of MANY I will provide over time. 

If the results were warranted, then why is Peter out there ripping it out? If the results were warranted and the problems they claim these products fixed existed, why do so few contractors install it? Wouldn’t we ALL be installing a product that takes 70% less time and material to install for the same price if it worked? 

Well it just MIGHT be because the results aren’t actually warranted. And relatively speaking there aren’t many companies installing this junk, but many of the ones that do perceive themselves to be too big to fail. And many of these salesman are SO well trained and skilled with words you have no reason not to believe what they are doing isn’t the norm. 

That Isn’t Us, Don’t Worry!

“That is only a problem on the East coast. That isn’t us, don’t worry!” Was the reply I heard today. Yes today’s yelling into the abyss was caused by that very quote that a Lifetime Warranty salesman told a customer.

That is what they are, Lifetime Warranty Salesman. Not waterproofing salesman, or Project Advisors like what we call our estimators. They are selling a lifetime warranty (a piece of paper) and depending on the economy they may also sell some decent financing. 

We have our own videos and pictures of these failing and getting ripped out but we always share them from other states to build credibility to the claim they fail and don’t get fixed. I never thought I would have to think of a reply to “well that isn’t us”. Even though in the videos you can see the logos and the branding and their “proprietary” basins and colors!

Look. If you believe that, I got a bridge to sell you. I will even give you a deal. It even comes with a Lifetime Warranty!

What is your failure rate?

As I have gotten more vocal and enraged about this egregious misuse of customer trust other contractors have shared their pictures and stories with us. Some publicly, some in private. Plenty local, most out of state. It has been really encouraging to speak to these contractors about their success rate after waterproofing. 

I started asking this question almost out of a lack of confidence in myself. The more we installed the more I understood what was going on I truly did not understand HOW the systems we installed could fail. Yes we make mistakes, but true systems failures appear to be relatively impossible. 

So I would ask my reputable competitors nation wide, what is your failure rate? Because mine is zero… And pray and hope they would say zero too and make me feel not crazy (spoiler alert, it was always 0)!

0%. Is the amount of failures you should expect your waterproofing contractor to have. There are likely hundreds of waterproofing contractors throughout the United States that maintain this 0% failure rate. There are a handful of contractors that have been taking the same approach to waterproofing as we do since the 1970’s and some advertise over 100,000 homes waterproofed and a 100% success rate!

What is the failure rate of many of these “special” and “proprietary” systems? Many of which come with Lifetime “Warranties”, well of course it is hard to say with certainty. I generally say that many have an immediate failure rate of approximately 10% and long term failure rate of drastically higher.

There are a handful of contractors that have left these dealer networks and speak pretty openly about the 10% failure rate being the cause for them to second guess the efficacy and ethics of what they were doing. 

I spoke to one contractor that left one of these product franchise type networks and before he landed on doing drainage the guaranteeable and proven way he interviewed at another network. When he told them he left the other product franchise over the high failure rate and morally questionable Lifetime Warranty he asked what their failure rate was.

Well. They refuse to track it.

“The margins of a healthy business are here. We don’t need unnecessary tracking.” Is the language and tone known to be thrown around. I actually wouldn’t have a problem with this if it wasn’t for the product based Lifetime Warranty that is advertised as a proper results based warranty. 

But when you run a construction company like a tech company (which this particular company is known for) you end up treating customers like a piece of data and not a homeowner who earned your trust and invited you into their home. 

What is your failure rate? Better Basements and the majority of waterproofing contractors, it is 0%. Some of which actually do offer Lifetime Warranties. 

Why should we not be ok with a 90% chance to succeed? Well that is the immediate success rate. This particular contractor would say 10% will fail within the first year then you have another large jump at 5 years and then he claimed a startlingly high failure rate over 10 years. High enough I refuse to share it because it seems like it could be hyperbolic which would discredit me. But I believe him.

BUT HOW DO THEY GET AWAY WITH IT?!

I do think this time is coming to an end. Many of these product franchise companies made a fortune in the 90s before the popularity of the internet and social media. With new Private Equity money into the home services industry as of the last few years it appears to be a major part of discussion again. Contractors, like ourselves, are speaking more boldly and getting more skilled in the business side of construction.

So how do they get away with it? Well they aren’t entirely. The reviews and rage online exist. The small claims court and contractor board claims are there. But more importantly, and sadly, the homeowners who feel defeated and taken advantage of are more plentiful. 

More often than not when we encourage people to leave online reviews or speak to a lawyer they just sigh and accept they got taken and would rather just move on. 

Now that Better Basements has really become a beacon for consumer advocacy I get sent contracts and proof of failure regularly. What is interesting is some of these contracts are no longer as egregious. Now a few claim a Lifetime Warranty without some of the product guarantee language and they simply just ignore you or send people out 7x to do worthless repairs (literally I had a homeowner tell me they had been out 7x over 3 years).

Mike (seen in video) at Premier Basement Waterproofing is one of the more public waterproofing contractors that used to sell a product like the one you see him ripping out. This product I know very well and usually does have a Lifetime Warranty.

Evidence is undeniable

The evidence of silly shortcut systems answering questions to problems that never existed is mounting. Besides a wet basement and an expensive bill to refinish your basement after being duped by a strong sales pitch you are often left with the following:

• Lifetime Warranty that they don’t stand behind. 
• Lifetime Warranty that ONLY has guarantees that don’t need to be made (Lifetime Guarantee against a piece of plastic not corroding? LOL, thanks man, I will pass)
• Lifetime Warranty on a product that wont EVER work so you send out a crew of workers over and over again to do just enough to keep you off the internet (wear you out)

All of which I have personally seen and experienced helping homeowners go through.

***Updated weekly, monthly, quarterly, or whenever I get the itch

More to come always, thoughts always incomplete, and nothing being said has ever been or ever will be aimed at one particular company or product. But if you want a particular company to install a time proven and tested waterproofing system. Give us a call. It ain’t cheap. It ain’t fun. But it works. Guaranteed.