Paid by you · not by contractors · back in 2 business days
The $79 Quote Autopsy
You are holding one or more waterproofing quotes and a decision worth $5,000 to $20,000. Send them to us. You get them back broken into line items, held against the published cost ranges, with everything vague or missing named in plain language, within 2 business days of us having the documents.
Read a complete example first: two quotes $8,550 apart, reviewed end to end, so you can judge the work before you pay for it.
Why we can say your quote is bad
A review is only worth reading if the reviewer is not paid by the people being reviewed. So here is exactly who pays us: you do, once, $79. We take no money from contractors in any form. No placement, no lead sales, no referral fees, no affiliate links. A contractor cannot buy a listing on this site, cannot buy a better position, and cannot buy their way out of a finding.
That is also why this is a document review rather than a free inspection. An inspection offered at no charge by a company that only earns if you agree to the work is not a second opinion, whatever it is called. We never see your basement, we read what you were handed, and we have nothing to sell you afterwards.
Your quote and your details are never shared with contractors. That is the whole product. See the disclosure page for the full accounting.
One trade only, and that is the point
We review basement waterproofing quotes. Not roofing, not kitchens, not HVAC. There are free tools that will read any contractor quote from any trade and score it against typical rates, and they are worth ten minutes of anyone’s time before spending money here.
What a general tool cannot do is tell you which of the five waterproofing methods you were sold, because that is not a pricing question. A $4,000gap between two quotes usually means one contractor is proposing to manage water that is already getting in and the other is proposing to stop it at the outside wall. Score both against “typical rates” and they both look defensible, which is true and useless. Name the method and the real question appears: which problem do you actually have, and has anyone established it?
That is the whole reason this is worth paying for, so it is worth checking before you do. The full worked example shows a complete review end to end, on two quotes $8,550 apart.
What comes back
A written breakdown covering four things. Two quotes $4,000 apart are usually two different jobs. The first job of the review is to establish whether you are even comparing like with like.
Which method you were actually quoted
Named explicitly: sealant, interior drainage, interior or exterior French drain, or full exterior excavation. Most quotes say “waterproofing system” and leave this to be inferred.
Whether it can be compared at all
Linear feet, square feet, pump and discharge inclusion. A quote missing these cannot be measured against any published range, or against another quote.
What is vague, missing, or moved to “additional”
The items that reliably reappear as change orders: spoil removal, landscaping reinstatement, egress, electrical for the pump, and permit responsibility.
What the warranty actually says
What is covered, who honours it, whether it survives the company closing, and whether it transfers when you sell the house.
What this is not
- Not an inspection. We never see your basement. We read your documents.
- Not engineering, legal, or construction advice, and not a substitute for a structural engineer where one is warranted.
- Not a verdict on a specific company. We assess the document, not the contractor.
- Not a guarantee of a lower price. Sometimes the honest finding is that your quote is reasonable.
How it works, step by step
- 1
You send the request below
Name, email, how many quotes you are holding, and optionally what is going on in the basement. No documents yet, and no payment.
- 2
We reply by email
A real reply to every request, telling you where to send the quote documents and giving you a payment link. If what you are holding is not something a document review can usefully help with, we say that instead, and you pay nothing.
- 3
You pay $79 and send the documents
PDFs, photos of a paper quote, or an emailed estimate all work. Nothing is charged until you have our reply and decide to go ahead.
- 4
You get the review back within 2 business days
A written breakdown by email covering the four things above, in plain language, with the published cost ranges the quote is being held against named and linked. The clock starts when we have your documents and payment, not when you first write to us.
- What if I have four quotes, not two?
- One $79 Autopsy covers the set of quotes you are holding for one job. Comparing them against each other is the point, so send all of them.
- What if my quote turns out to be reasonable?
- Then that is the finding, and it is written down with the reasoning. Knowing a $9,000 quote is defensible is worth the same as knowing it is not.
- Do you review photos, or only documents?
- Documents. Photos of the basement are useful context and welcome, but this is a review of what you were quoted, not an assessment of the building.
- What if you cannot help?
- We tell you before you pay. Nothing is charged until you have a reply from us and choose to go ahead.
- How long does it take?
- 2 business days from the point we have your documents and your payment. If a quote is unusually long or you send more than a handful, we say so when we reply rather than quietly running over.
Prefer to read first? The cost guide and method comparison are free and cover most of what a quote should say.