There are several factors to consider when choosing a concrete lifting company. Similar to any other service-oriented businesses, not all concrete repair companies are created equal. It is likely you have or will eventually encounter one or more unprofessional contractors in other industries. However, by asking the right questions of the companies you are interviewing to repair your concrete, you can avoid these common consumer pitfalls. Here are the best questions to ask your concrete lifting professional, including our responses as a company:
If the company you are considering isn’t licensed, find out if they need to be. Concrete lifting does not require a license in Texas and Tarrant County. Apex is fully insured with a $1 million umbrella policy and workman’s comp. We have all the necessary certifications in place to perform our work professionally and responsibly
In order to be properly qualified to install liquid polyurethane systems, it takes several years of training and certification. This is a very technical process and should not be performed without proper training and experience. There is no such thing as a simple repair. General laborers and subcontractors need not apply to perform highly technical repairs like ours.
Apex Concrete Lifting consists only of W-2 employees. To maintain the best product and service for our customers, it is important to retain our employees for the long-term! All employees also receive full background checks prior to employment.
Apex Concrete Lifting sales staff is fully trained on the methodologies of concrete installation and repair, proper and accurate bidding. They are the “doctors” in the field prescribing accurate and correct concrete repairs for our customers.
Unfortunately, some companies performing our type of work are not using the proper systems. There are nearly a 1000 different types of expanding foams and every one serves a different function. Other concrete lifting and concrete repair companies across Texas are using closed-cell polyurethanes that will raise your concrete, but are not designed for geotechnical applications. As a result, they are susceptible to failure.
Polyurethane equipment is highly specialized, expensive, and tedious to maintain. Equipment breakdowns in the field are a reality for inexperienced technicians and business owners, much to the detriment of the customer of course. Hours or days of delays ultimately cause unnecessary heartaches and stress for the impacted customers. However, barring any setbacks, most repairs will take less than a day utilizing a polyurethane process.
Apex’s technicians are fully trained on all aspects of our equipment, from start to finish. We maintain stringent daily equipment logs and procedures not only to keep our equipment running, but running correctly for the repair to be 100% successful.
Obviously if a company isn’t offering a warranty, move on. But remember, a warranty is only as good as the company backing that warranty. While industry warranties range from 1-5 years, generally speaking, always check the fine print! And keep in mind, if the company you are considering isn’t going to be around in 2-5 years, your warranty is useless.
Apex’s industry standard warranty is spelled out in the estimate your salesperson provides you. We will gladly answer any questions you have about our warranty. Warranty work represents less than 3% of the repairs we perform annually; extremely low for any service-based business.
Any major business should accept cash, check or credit cards. But how much do they require as a deposit to schedule your repair? Did you know that many businesses float equipment leases, rent payments and overall business expenses by accepting upfront deposits on work that hasn’t even been performed? Some of these deposits are as high as 50% or greater in the service industries. One bad month or two, the company you worked with goes under, and you are out of luck on your repair and your deposit. Not to mention they have you held hostage until the repair is completed on their own schedule, not yours … which can drag on, and on, and on…
Apex accepts all forms of payments and you don’t pay us until we have completed your repair and are satisfied with the work. Simple as that.
Even for the best concrete lifting companies out there, not all repairs go as planned. Reversing concrete failures in a matter of hours that occurred over many years, if not decades, can be a tricky process when the concrete doesn’t behave nicely. Cracking a slab or one that simply won’t lift can be unfortunate realities when it comes to attempting repairs on settled concrete. But when your contractor hits a snag, will they just pack up and leave? How will they resolve any problems with you, the customer?
In most cases, if Apex can’t complete the repair as planned, we won’t charge the customer. In many cases, we figure out a solution that still allows us to complete the work to the satisfaction of the customer. In the rare case that a customer isn’t satisfied with the end result, we will work with the customer on a resolution that is agreeable to all parties. We take great pride in having 100% satisfied customers who will provide life-long referrals for our business, so any complaints are handled quickly and effectively by our employees and owners.
The savvy consumer will ask to check references, but we are going to advise against this – YES, IT’S TRUE! Do you think the company you are considering is going to provide a bad reference? Quite the opposite; they will provide customers who only have one view of their services – EVERYTHING IS SUPER! (Who knows, maybe Uncle Bob is in the mix and you don’t even know it). There are several, free, online, contractor advocacy websites that provide unbiased reviews from customers who have used these companies for the same services you are considering. These websites include Yelp!, Angie’s List, HomeAdvisor, Google, the BBB and more. All offer unfiltered, and unsolicited reviews (good or bad) from the consumers themselves with the business proprietor having no control over what is posted about them. In some cases the repair process is not an inexpensive proposition and you want to make sure that you choose a properly licensed and certified contractor, and the best service company based on the information that’s available to you.
If the company you are considering isn’t licensed, find out if they need to be. Concrete lifting does not require a license in Texas and Tarrant County. Apex is fully insured with a $1 million umbrella policy and workman’s comp. We have all the necessary certifications in place to perform our work professionally and responsibly
In order to be properly qualified to install liquid polyurethane systems, it takes several years of training and certification. This is a very technical process and should not be performed without proper training and experience. There is no such thing as a simple repair. General laborers and subcontractors need not apply to perform highly technical repairs like ours.
Apex consists only of W-2 employees. To maintain the best product and service for our customers, it is important to retain our employees for the long-term! All employees also receive full background checks prior to employment.
The Apex sales staff is fully trained on the methodologies of concrete installation and repair, proper and accurate bidding. They are the “doctors” in the field prescribing accurate and correct concrete repairs for our customers.
Unfortunately, some companies performing our type of work are not using the proper systems. There are nearly a 1000 different types of expanding foams and every one serves a different function. Other concrete lifting and concrete repair companies across Texas are using closed-cell polyurethanes that will raise your concrete, but are not designed for geotechnical applications. As a result, they are susceptible to failure.
Polyurethane equipment is highly specialized, expensive, and tedious to maintain. Equipment breakdowns in the field are a reality for inexperienced technicians and business owners, much to the detriment of the customer of course. Hours or days of delays ultimately cause unnecessary heartaches and stress for the impacted customers. However, barring any setbacks, most repairs will take less than a day utilizing a polyurethane process.
Apex’s technicians are fully trained on all aspects of our equipment, from start to finish. We maintain stringent daily equipment logs and procedures not only to keep our equipment running, but running correctly for the repair to be 100% successful.
Obviously if a company isn’t offering a warranty, move on. But remember, a warranty is only as good as the company backing that warranty. While industry warranties range from 1-5 years, generally speaking, always check the fine print! And keep in mind, if the company you are considering isn’t going to be around in 2-5 years, your warranty is useless.
Apex’s industry standard warranty is spelled out in the estimate your salesperson provides you. We will gladly answer any questions you have about our warranty. Warranty work represents less than 3% of the repairs we perform annually; extremely low for any service-based business.
Any major business should accept cash, check or credit cards. But how much do they require as a deposit to schedule your repair? Did you know that many businesses float equipment leases, rent payments and overall business expenses by accepting upfront deposits on work that hasn’t even been performed? Some of these deposits are as high as 50% or greater in the service industries. One bad month or two, the company you worked with goes under, and you are out of luck on your repair and your deposit. Not to mention they have you held hostage until the repair is completed on their own schedule, not yours … which can drag on, and on, and on…
Apex accepts all forms of payments and you don’t pay us until we have completed your repair and are satisfied with the work. Simple as that.
Even for the best concrete lifting companies out there, not all repairs go as planned. Reversing concrete failures in a matter of hours that occurred over many years, if not decades, can be a tricky process when the concrete doesn’t behave nicely. Cracking a slab or one that simply won’t lift can be unfortunate realities when it comes to attempting repairs on settled concrete. But when your contractor hits a snag, will they just pack up and leave? How will they resolve any problems with you, the customer?
In most cases, if Apex can’t complete the repair as planned, we won’t charge the customer. In many cases, we figure out a solution that still allows us to complete the work to the satisfaction of the customer. In the rare case that a customer isn’t satisfied with the end result, we will work with the customer on a resolution that is agreeable to all parties. We take great pride in having 100% satisfied customers who will provide life-long referrals for our business, so any complaints are handled quickly and effectively by our employees and owners.
The savvy consumer will ask to check references, but we are going to advise against this – YES, IT’S TRUE! Do you think the company you are considering is going to provide a bad reference? Quite the opposite; they will provide customers who only have one view of their services – EVERYTHING IS SUPER! (Who knows, maybe Uncle Bob is in the mix and you don’t even know it). There are several, free, online, contractor advocacy websites that provide unbiased reviews from customers who have used these companies for the same services you are considering. These websites include Yelp!, Angie’s List, HomeAdvisor, Google, the BBB and more. All offer unfiltered, and unsolicited reviews (good or bad) from the consumers themselves with the business proprietor having no control over what is posted about them. In some cases the repair process is not an inexpensive proposition and you want to make sure that you choose a properly licensed and certified contractor, and the best service company based on the information that’s available to you.