“Ben and Zen Construction were the perfect contractor to renovate our foundation. Our 100+ year old house had a partially dug out basement that had a terrible leak and leaked like crazy.

We contracted with Ben to do a full foundation dig out and underpinning, along with full perimeter and underslab drainage. In the bid process, it was clear that not only was Ben knowledgeable but also flexible and willing to work with us. That attitude transferred over to construction and throughout Ben was incredibly easygoing and didn't sweat the small stuff. The result was an efficient process that didn't have cost overruns or any delays - Ben said it would be done in four months and for the contracted cost and it was.

While many parts of our project were straightforward, there were several aspects that were challenging from a construction perspective. We had a brick chimney/mantle/hearth that was integrated in the existing foundation that we wanted to keep. This required careful planning to stabilize while the old foundation was demolished and new foundation poured. Zen was able to stabilize the chimney and pour a new footing, and now six months later there is no settlement, cracking to the chimney or nearby stucco, and the hearth looks great.

The old foundation had been renovated previously and when Zen started demolition, it was clear this previous renovation had been done cheaply and dangerously. Ben worked quickly to stabilize the house and come up with a solution that would fix the problem and wouldn’t break the budget. I cannot stress how major a shift this was to the project, but Ben was able to come up with a solution that didn’t alter the schedule and for minimal extra money.

It has now been 6 months since the construction ended, and we are partially through another weird west coast winter and so far, the basement is dry, there has been no settlement to the foundation, house, or surrounding ground.”