Absolute Foundations - Lethbridge

Beyond disappointed with Absolute Foundations! Unfortunately, this company came recommended to me after we found some water issues in the basement of a property we wanted to purchase. In order for Kirk to come out and do his thing, it was going to cost us $630.00. Not knowing any better, we had him come and go through the basement. Of course, the sky was falling. The basement needs this, the basement needs that, and "I wouldn't even think of finishing this basement." Essentially, Absolute Foundations tried to SCARE us into getting them to come fix this basement; all to the tune of over $32,000.00!!! $32,000.00 nearly made me choke, so that's when I started looking for a 2nd opinion. We had another company come all the way from Calgary to the Lethbridge area to assess our basement. They spent a lot more time going through the place, they laser-levelled the whole building, gave me a similar report, and really left me feeling confident that the basement issues were not a deal breaker for the purchase of this property. They did this all for FREE, and their quote came in at less that 50% of what Absolute Basements wanted to charge us. Remember the $630.00 bill I mentioned before? Now knowing that another company would actually come all the way down from Calgary, do a more in-depth assessment of the property, a full write up, and a quote at less that half of Absolute Foundations, I asked Kirk to justify his $630.00 charge. This went unanswered for nearly a full month. He then sent me a new invoice (with interest added). I told him I was waiting for him to respond to my previous e-mail from a few weeks ago before I paid my bill. He immediately responded with the following message: "Please find attached a copy of our text message conversation. If by 4:00pm today (August 3, 2018) the Invoice amount is not received, a copy of this as well as the invoice will be submitted to our lawyer and we will begin the process of filing a lien." Real classy Kirk! Real classy! Don't just take my word for it. Go ahead and do a little reading on the Better Business Bureau's website before hiring Absolute Foundations; I wish I had.

Kirk Maragh (Absolute Foundations) and foreman Andre created an attractive and legal secondary-suite in the basement of my 110-year-old house on the north side in Lethbridge. This work required extensive repairs to the existing concrete foundation as well as a sound knowledge of the City's secondary-suite requirements. This was not an inexpensive project but it was worth it. Kirk is a knowledgeable and ethical contractor who goes the extra mile to do the job right. Thank you Kirk and Andre!

I had another contractor that bailed on doing 2 egress windows and these guys stepped in, got it done and were so professional and easy to deal with. I’m really happy with my new windows and would highly recommend them!

Messaged Absolute Foundation Sunday about foundation repairs to several cracks in my basement. Not only did they respond promptly, we had our basement inspected the next day. Upon their thorough inspection, they discovered our basement windows were not properly installed and water poured right through! Alongside repairing our windows and replacing our lagging sump pump, they permanently repaired all our cracks with epoxy/polyurethane injection. Something that was done incorrectly by previous owners. This big job was all done within a week! With their life time warranty, knowledge and skills from both Kirk and Andre, I'm confident to move on to develope and just have peace of mind! Thank you! Absolutely recommend this company for all foundation work/repair and for honest, efficient and credible work!

Kirk was able to fix a long crack in my basement wall that was leaking. The crack has been there for 20 years. A previous attempt to repair it had failed and water was coming in to the basement during the snow melt and the summer rains. Absolute Foundations did a repair in April. The rainfall that has fallen since the repair was completed has been a good test of whether or not the repair is water tight. Yes. All is dry in the basement. So great to have peace of mind that the water is staying on the outside of the house. Thank-you Kirk.

To those of you who are suffering through the unsettling situation of living in a home with foundation 'issues' (cracks, leaks, flooding, or having small critters entering your home uninvited) take some comfort in knowing that there is an honest company that is willing to work with you to get things put right - Absolute Foundations. Our home was an historic home of 115 years with a partially 'dug-out' basement - when foundation deterioration, street vibration, and utility construction created the untenable situation of living in a broken house that we could only partly use and enjoy. As we looked for contractors who would be willing to 'fix' our house rather than 'tear down' our house, we quickly ran out of options. Then, as you are, we found a company - Absolute Foundations - on a web search. They seemed interested in helping with our 'non-basement'. Hallelujah, help was on the way - and someone else cared! Working with Kirk and Andre at Absolute was the ray of hope that kept us going through what turned out to be the raising of our house, complete construction of a new basement and services, and the lowering of the house onto its new foundation. It was a difficult job in exceedingly difficult and tight surroundings - yet the Absolute Foundations Team came through for us time after time. Yes, we are believers - and you will be too - you can get honest advice and the help that you need to deal with your foundation and renovation concerns. If you want to work with a company that has extensive knowledge of foundation construction and repair, and the permitting and code requirements to get the job done right the first time - give Kirk a call and the Absolute Foundations Team can get to work for you.

In mid October of 2017, Absolute Foudations poured three walls of an ICF foundation. In two of those walls, the forms failed during the concrete pour. The more serious failure resulted in a split near the SW corner that permitted concrete to slump out to the exterior. In attempt to plug the leak, dry gravel was poured into the top of the form to suck into the split as if it was radiator stop leak. The sum of this failure and urgent fix is loose gravel and voids leading to the overseeing engineer's instruction letter for how the full height of the defective portion must be cut out and replaced. The fourth wall done in pressure treated wood is sufficiently out of whack (up to 1 and 1/8in out of vertical) that the engineer has also specified that it be rebuilt from scratch. Despite correspondence stating that they are paid in full, Absolute Foundations has finally admitted their intent to do a runner. We have given them the better part of a year since the engineer's instruction to replace the defective walls. Other lapses include knocking live power service off of the exterior wall. In order to get timely and effective repairs, we retained the electrician. As the situation deteriorated, we had to remove Absolute Foundations from the building permit and have relied on the engineer to have serious defects dealt with properly. Client privilege between A. F. and the engineer has been used more than once to stymie communications between we (the homeowner and permit holder) and the engineer. After the footings, foundations walls are usually poured in one go. Done correctly on stable, well drained ground a foundation should last a century. Ours is already a patch job. The last picture is of the empty space left above a door frame on the initial pour. The digital record suggests we were the ones who discovered that void. Did we get peace of mind from Absolute Foundations, 1611653 Alberta, proprietor Kirk Anthony Maragh, not quite! Rather we had multiple unpleasant discoveries regarding workmanship. Better Business Bureau has more online about this business. Lessons learned: 1) ICF can conceal a lot. 2) Retain engineer directly so that one has full communication and adequate time to review drawings. 3) In many ways, the building permit process and inspection staff are excellent protection for homeowners.

We purchased a used home in lethbridge. There was a bad crack in the foundation. We got in touch with kirk at absolute foundations. He showed us how it would be repaired and kept us in the loop the entire time. This ia a guy that is very proud of what he does and his workman ship is excellent. Would definitely use again if needed Thanks guys for a great job