Level Best Foundation Repair

I’ve worked with Darrel from Level Best twice. In both cases I had a home under contract in which my inspector had concerns about the foundation
In both cases, Darrel advised me the property was within spec and he didn’t recommend any work be done.
He’s clearly not interested in selling a service when it’s not needed, which is pretty rare

If I could give them less than a star I would. Level best did every conceivable thing wrong while leveling my foundation. Their crew not only destroyed the foundation in my addition, they damaged my deck, improperly back filled many of the holes they dug around the house, and they charged me for permits that were never pulled. So be aware of that right up front. They didn’t do the paperwork with the city they are required to do to be able to perform the work they that you’re paying them for. They will tell you they did but only over the phone. There are huge cracks in my broken foundation that they didn’t tell me about! They did this to my home and left it like this and allowed me to pay them as if nothing was wrong. To make matters worse they rearranged a bookshelf in my home to disguise the damage they’d caused so they could still get paid. These people are the absolute lowest of the low. I am a veteran of a couple of wars and this was supposed to be my dream home and these people have taken my money and destroyed it. Do not trust them they will steal what you worked hard for. I am lucky I have a contract that they failed to fulfill so I can sue them, be careful when dealing with this company they will lie right through their teeth to get your business and then they’ll leave you high and dry and worse off than you were before.

We are still In the midst of working with them, it’s been an extremely frustrating experience to say the least. I feel like the work (so far) is done well but there have been so many miscommunications and misfires.
–The estimate included 4 piers that turned out to not be necessary, we were then billed for those piers.
–They «finished» the area quoted and left after telling me I had to get a new estimate, despite me continually pointing out rotting beams. I was told by the estimator before we accepted their bid that any rot would be replaced at that time.
–Made appt with Brett to come out again and instead of coming to my house he called and asked me to text photos, then a week later he finally comes to look at the rotting beams.
–Another week passes and still no estimate but they call to let me know i’m on the schedule in 2 more weeks (well past my siding and window install dates and DURING my roof install).
–They started 2 days after the day they said they’d start, and never let me know!
My main gripe with this company is the lack of responsiveness and communication. I should have realized when the initial estimate arrived more than a week late, it would be downhill from there and to go with another company.
I timed my entire exterior renovation allowing for delays and now my siding is going up while I still have rotten beams. I will surely fail inspection for the siding. And they claim I’ll be credited that $ 800 I was over-​billed for. They even called and badgered me for payment before the job was even done! Nice that they can find the time to contact me when they think I am behind on my payment!
Every time I call they say I need to speak with Deborah who is always out to lunch or in a meeting. I send emails which are ignored. Then someone calls to remind me i’m on the schedule and I have to start over telling my story. They are clearly disorganized and don’t value their customers. There is a huge communication breakdown and because of this the customer pays the price. Cross your fingers they don’t screw up my new siding and windows if/​when they finally get around to fixing this.
Caveat emptor!

Darrel from Level Best just came out to my house to look at my cement skirting. I was thinking about replacing it due to water getting under my pier and beam house. Darrel assessed the situation and recommended that I take different measures to keep the water in — measures that didn’t include hiring them to replace the skirting. I really appreciate his knowledge and his honesty. And, he saved me a bunch of money. Good stuff.

Darrel came to inspect the foundation yesterday. He was fun to chat with, and very informative. Thankfully our foundation appears to be in excellent shape! He showed me one area that had minimal erosion and told me how I could fix that myself. Thanks for everything, Darrel!

I had 1 other foundation company before LB come out and they gave opposite reports. Had a structural engineer out and he confirmed in writing what Centex said… no work needed. Darrel said we needed 14 piers at a cost of approx. 5k… I felt I was dealing with a used car salesman.
He also stated he always sides with the buyer… what he should do is tell the truth.
I would never allow another Lever Worst employee on any of my clients properties… period.

I can say two, and only two, good things about Level Best — their work (if you can get them to do it) appears to be sound, and their prices are reasonable.
Here’s the rest of the story though:
They are terrible communicators who just don’t show up when they say they will or do what they say they will do. Here are the details:
— They pushed back the start date of my work 3 times, eventually starting 5 weeks after we agreed.
— They lost the keys I gave them to access the property.
— They took ~ 6 weeks and repeated phone calls to get them to finish the skirting part of the project.
— They left the jobs site a complete mess and it took 5 weeks and repeated phone calls and photos to get them to come back and clean up.
— They left my deck disassembled and it took an ADDITIONAL 4 weeks and repeated phone calls to get them to come back and re-​assemble it properly.
Official project start date: ⁶⁄₁₅ (after multiple delays). Official end 10÷19…
Do not work with these guys if you value communication or the slightest adherence to deadlines.

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. Stay away from Level Best Foundation Repair. We recently hired them to replace the skirting around our house that we were currently selling, and it was a nightmare situation. Do yourself a favor and hire someone else. It was so bad, we currently have a case against them with the Texas Real Estate Commission.
We were told the project would take 1 day as the house is only 720 sq. ft. On the day repairs were scheduled, the foreman showed up late, and asked what needed to be done on the house. He had never even seen our proposal. So we told him the skirting on the house was being repaired. Due to a family emergency we had to go out of town that day.
5 days later, I received a call from my realtor saying the condition of the outside of the home and the skirting was disastrous. They had ripped out the skirting and left in pieces all over the front and back yard. The only new skirting that had actually been completed was the portion that was written NOT to be done in the proposal.
They had stopped working on our house the first day, and left our house, while we’re selling it in a very bad state for 5 days. Our realtor was so appalled, she took pictures. The company never called to tell us that they had stopped or why. When we called no one knew what had happened.
Then they said it’s because they wanted us to talk about foundation issues although no one had ever called us. They just stopped working.
We told them we did not need them to work on our foundation, and yet they wouldn’t leave it alone. It took an entire week to get them to finish work on the house.
We would call everyday asking for a status on the job and no one would call us back to give us an update. We felt helpless as we were out of town. I called once at 5:30 to see if I could get information and Darrel told me I shouldn’t call after 5:30, and then said he couldn’t give me an update on my house.
THE WORST PART about the entire situation, was when Darrel called to inform us that he had been hired to do the inspection on our house by our potential buyers and that he was going to tell them about foundation issues we wouldn’t allow him to fix. His behavior on the phone was less than professional.
Although we informed him of the huge conflict of interest, he continued with the inspection and gave them a bid to fix the foundation that was higher than he had given us prior. We now have a case with the Texas Real Estate Commission regarding their inspection license. SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHE AND HIRE SOMEONE ELSE.

Level Best saved me after Centex royally screwed me over. With one day left in my option period to purchase a new home, CenTex didn’t show up to do my foundation inspection after my regular home inspector suggested one. I called Level Best in a panic and they got me in within 24 hours.
Darrel was the inspector and he was so flexible – first there were issues with getting the right code to get into the house– he was patient and rescheduled so that he could come back after I got the right code. Then he came out during a torrential downpour and was friendly and professional, took measurements throughout the house, and walked the outside of the house with me to show me where I needed some gutter repair and additional dirt to prevent water pooling around the foundation. He went above and beyond (particularly considering it was a free inspection!) and the company as a whole was amazing to work with.
I highly recommend them for foundation inspections. (And avoid CenTex!)

These folks did a repair on my house in 2010, a year before I moved in. Four years later the walls and joints are riddled with cracks, and every time it rains we’ve got a new door jam that swells up so the door won’t stay shut. Here’s some pictures:
Keep in mind these walls were painted after the foundation work.
Beyond that, they dropped the ball on the permitting process, and now I can’t even move forward with other renovations on my own house because their permit is blocking future work. Their office is unresponsive and difficult to work with in resolving the matter.

I guess they did an OK job with the foundation repair, although after reading the other reviews, I am now questioning their ability to gauge the level of work needed. The problem I have is that their work crew splattered concrete all over my front window. I have asked them several times to come out and clean it, but to this day (8 months later!) no one has shown up. I’ve given them several opportunities to make it right, but now I have no choice but to leave a negative review. I guess I’ll be scraping my window this weekend.

My experience with this company (Mark was the inspector) was as good as it could get… There were wall cracks in one of the investment properties and I called several companies to come give me an estimate. Mark was the only one who was there to HELP… not make $$$ like other foundation repair companies. His estimate for the repair was reasonable and his inspection was thorough. He also made recommendations which were honest and unbiased… I would hire him for all the future work!

After purchasing a new house, my wife and I had several foundation specialists come look at the foundation based on queries in the inspection report. Level Best sent a sales rep who told us the foundation was is in good shape, and we don’t need to do anything. He did suggest, if we wanted to bring the foundation up to ‘current code’, that we could add two shaker beams with concrete piers, but that was not necessary and everything else looked great!
We ended up hiring another company who gained our trust when they told us that a large portion of the perimeter beam that supports the house was rotted through, and had pictures from the crawl space to prove it! Included in their estimate were several photos where a pencil was jammed most of the way through the perimeter beam at several different load-​bearing points on the foundation to show how bad it was. In addition to replacing the perimeter beams, they installed the two shaker beams with eight monster Steel Piers. They also did a level adjustment, which Level Best told us they couldn’t get closer to level if they tried.
As we were settling up with the other company the owner handed me a chunk of the old perimeter beam which literally crumbled in my hand! In hindsight, I am so glad we got the foundation work done and I’m shocked that Level Best didn’t catch something that seems so critical and obvious even to my untrained eye.
A word of warning to all, read the reviews and make sure you get a detailed evaluation to avoid ‘change orders’ after you have signed with a company!

Level Best came by and did an assessment. Courteous. Nice. On time.
E-​mailed me a copy of the proposed fix and an estimate of the cost. I e-​mailed them the next day with the simple request of:
«How early can you guys start? How long will it take?»
There was 3 people on the company in that E-​mail.
Not one has responded to me. I’ve given them more than 2 weeks to respond… if it is this hard to get a hold of them now when they want your business… maybe they don’t want my business… can you imagine what a nightmare it will be if anything goes wrong or when they actually start working on my property?
Either these guys don’t need my business or are just incredibly disorganized. Either way, «meh. I’ve experienced better»

I am currently going through a foundation repair for my condo with this company. Unfortunately, this company was chosen by our HOA with no say by the owners on who was chosen. Now going on 5 weeks, this has been absolute HELL!!! The workers are rude and disrespectful to those that live here. They do not clean up after themselves — constant litter and garbage from their lunches and blocking driveways without notice. The foreman for this job is never around… and all the workers feign only speaking spanish! I suspect I will be cleaning up rocks, debris and garbage long after they are gone! COMPLETE NIGHTMARE!!!

Back in 2011 when we had the severe drought, I noticed expanding gaps in my siding on my walls. I called Level Best based on their great Unilocal reviews, and Johnny came out to make an inspection.
Johnny took measurements and verified that I only have 0.75″ of level difference, which did not warrant any work. I appreciate his honesty and professionalism.
Now in 2013, I noticed my walls separating from my ceiling, so I called Level Best again. Kenny came out this time, and made a thorough inspection of my foundation and walls. He came to the same conclusion that my situation did not warrant any work yet, and gave recommendations on how to maintain moisture in my surrounding soil. Kenny also gave me an option to install supports in my foundation if I wanted to get some reassurance.
I’m very impressed with the honesty of this company, having spent the time to make inspections, and even giving good advice to avoid requiring their services.

Every time you see all 5-​star reviews, you wonder if they are real. I’d like to add a good measure of reality (smile).
LBF was professional in their dealing, their work and the care they took to keep my yard from being overly impacted by the foundation work. The leveling seems to have worked.
However, it has taken forever to get the city inspectors report. Not so much the City of Austin’s fault, as the staff at LBF. SO I’D STRONGLY SUGGEST TO INSIST ON GETTING THE CITY INSPECTION IS DONE BEFORE MAKING A PAYMENT. I know this creates huge cash flow issues, but it would inspire even a modicum of diligence on the part of the staff.
Second, also check if all your sprinklers are working as expected before approving the work done. A couple of my sprinkler heads weren’t relevelled and were drowning in their water.
Even so, I’d call LBF again.

We had several foundation companies bid out the 30 piers needed for leveling out our slab foundation. It was definitely a learning experience as to why each company varied in their recommendation as to what needed to be done.
It was difficult getting further explanation from each company. Until finally I was directed to Leija, one of the owners of Level Best. He was so pleasant to work with and made sure I understood each step of the way. I would give this company 3 stars if it weren’t for Leija’s redemption — his follow up and diligence to make sure we were pleased!

When you have a potential problem with your foundation, it’s a big deal. You need someone you can trust. Mark lived up to all of the positive things other people have said about him here on Unilocal.
Mark came out to my house this morning for a free estimate. I had some concerns about some foundation flaws that were found in my house’s inspection report and wanted to make sure everything was okay. Mark was:
1) On time.
2) Very helpful.
3) Incredibly nice.
He told me that most of the problems were only cosmetic. He gave me a few tips on how to solve them, measured my foundation just to be sure, then went on his way. He was even very polite about the fact that my dogs were barking at him and jumping all over him. Highly recommended.

I’m not here to play the blame game. Having said that, I had two other companies come out to inspect our house who told me that I was going to have to spend between $ 4000 and $ 5000 to repair my failing foundation. Do I look like I’m made of money? Yes, I know I’m «so money» but that doesn’t mean I have bags of cash to throw down on work that doesn’t need to be done.
Mark Knowles from Level Best came out this morning and measured my house for problems. Twice. He measured it once, and said that he’d like to do a repair, but there wasn’t a repair needed. I got very excited, but thought maybe he was doing something wrong since I had two other estimates that specified we’d need the entire right side of the house to be piered. I showed Mark one of the estimates and the drawing that the other guy did, and maybe as a point of principle, he measured again. The other company was off by as much as an inch and a half on a couple of their numbers. What’s that old joke about why some men have trouble with measurement… something about 4 inches being 9 or whatever?
So, I’m not going to go bad mouthin’ the other two companies, but I will say that I have been a salesman in my life. I’ve sold aluminum siding, Mexican handicrafts, lawn care, theatre ticket packages, internet advertising, and I’ve even sold money (mortgages). There are some sales people/​consultants/​specialists or whatever you want to call it who love money and they will tell a consumer what she wants to hear to get her dough. It’s true, I’ve seen it. There’s an historical basis for Boiler Room.
However, there are some folks who get into sales because they really want to help people, and they believe their product or service is truly better than any other choice. And coming from that perspective, they would rather make no money than to damage the credibility of their company or product. I felt that way when I worked for The Body Shop and sold the shit out of some Satsuma bubble bath (because I love that stuff.) Mark was one of these people who just really wanted to help. He came a bit early and didn’t stick around to chew the fat. I guess he was out the door to try and find a homeowner who really needed foundation repair, rather than try and railroad me into paying for something I didn’t need.
Though I haven’t confirmed this, I have also heard Level Best is the top foundation repair firm on Angie’s List.