What Should I Ask a Crawl Space Company Before Hiring Them?

Four questions. What materials are you going to use, what is your installation process, where do you get your products, and what does the long term maintenance or service plan look like.

I recommend those to everybody, including people who are about to call somebody other than me. Then I will answer all four for my own company, so you can see what a real answer sounds like.

Question one: what materials are you going to use

You are looking for specific product names, not adjectives. Premium and high quality are not answers.

Here is mine. Woven vapor barrier on the walls and piers, a thicker woven barrier on the floor, carrying a twenty five year manufacturer guarantee against deteriorating, off gassing or producing odors. Aprilaire dehumidifiers. ProFlow 2000 for French drains, with a lifetime guarantee against clogging and deterioration.

This question matters more than people realize. There is a very commonly used encapsulation material in this industry that absorbs moisture, delaminates, and produces an ammonia type smell a couple of years later. If a contractor cannot tell you exactly what he is hanging under your house, you cannot check whether it is that one.

Question two: what is the installation process

You want to hear the order of operations and what happens to your house while it is going on.

Mine looks like this. Discovery call to understand why you called. In person inspection where I crawl the entire space and take photo evidence. One to three quotes at different budget levels. I show you every photo and walk each quote line by line, including what materials cost me, what your cost is, and my exact profit margin. Then if you move forward, a start date, daily updates on progress, and a walkthrough at the end where I ask you to point out anything you are unhappy with. We fix it before I accept any payment.

Question three: where do you get your products

This one sounds odd until you understand what it tells you. A contractor with real supplier relationships in this trade knows his materials and can get parts. Somebody buying whatever is on the shelf that week cannot.

It also tells you whether he can service what he installs. If your dehumidifier throws an error code in year three, does he have the part or does he have to order it and wait.

Question four: what is the long term maintenance plan

Most homeowners never ask this, and it is the one that costs them later.

Dehumidifiers have air filters. Most manufacturers recommend cleaning or changing them every six months, depending on the model. The Aprilaires we install have filters that can just be cleaned rather than replaced, which saves money over the life of the unit.

They rarely break. When they do, they give you an error or a disturbance code. I keep everything at my shop to fix those, and I can usually do it almost immediately. Aprilaire also makes WiFi models now, so you get notified the moment something is wrong rather than finding out when your house smells again.

One more, if you want a fifth

Ask what happens if you are not happy at the end. I crawl every customer through at the finish and ask them to point out anything they do not like. If there is something, we fix it before we accept payment. That is rare, but the policy is the point. Ask me all four. Call 910 580 1836.