Wu Construction

I don’t write on Unilocal as much as I should, given how much I use it. But after the experience I just had, I thought my review of Wu Construction could help people in the future. In all, I recommend this company with some caveats.
I’ll just tell you my story. I came home after work on a Friday to find standing water in my finished basement, coming up from under the carpet. Disaster. And, the timing could not have been worse. Many of the top local plumbers on Unilocal were closed on weekends.
First, I called a 24-​hour service (stop freakin!). They charged me $ 100 just for the visit (in their defense, they did come promptly at 8pm on a Friday). The gentlemen were nice, but did not inspire confidence. They wandered around the house and never did seem to come to a conclusion about what was causing the leak. They quoted me a price of just under $ 6000 to drill a 20-​foot trench and install a sump pump. I decided to look for other bids. But remember, this was a Saturday morning. Many plumbers didn’t even pick up the phone. Mr. Wu called me back that morning, set up a visit for Sunday morning.
It was like night and day between Mr. Wu and the other guys. He diagnosed the problem quickly and confidently. He seemed to genuinely want to find the most cost-​effective solution. His 30 years of experience shows. I’ve seen other reviews note that he is not a native English speaker. This is true, but I had no problem communicating with him. Especially since he is very responsive to texts. He even encouraged me to text him pictures of my problem beforehand to see if he could diagnose the problem that way.
In the end, he offered to basically do twice as much work (longer trench) at about $ 1000 less than the other guys. We started two days later, he finished the job in a day. He did not ask for a dime until the job was done (the other guys charged $ 100 for the visit, and then wanted a $ 3000 deposit before starting).
So why 4 stars instead of 5? I have two beefs. The first is – he did not inform me that his workers would tear open my drywall when drilling the trenches. When I saw this after the project was done, he said he did not have time to repair it, so I needed to hire someone else. Of course, then I had to scramble to find a drywall contractor at short notice, and had to pay more for it. Lesson learned — always ask whether I will need to hire someone else after a contractor’s done. Still, it would have been nice if he had told me this beforehand. (Note — he did offer to pay a small portion of the other contractor’s fee — a nice gesture).
Second, when his workers put up plastic to capture the dust when drilling into my concrete foundations, they used staples. They put staples into the ceiling, the wood surrounding my closet, etc. Just shoddy stuff. And then they yanked the plastic off but left the staples there. What’s wrong with tape?
In the end, I’d use Mr. Wu again and recommend him. He was responsive, trustworthy and did good work at a reasonable price. I would just ask a lot of questions before the project began to make sure I understood exactly how it would go.
PS – I did call him again, after we discovered more water coming into our basement, this time from above. He diagnosed the problem from a photo. Told us we how to solve the problem and didn’t charge us a dime and without tearing my house apart to find the problem. I guarantee another company would have torn our ceiling apart, but this man knows leaks.

Really happy with the French Drain and Sump pump that Wu installed. These guys had a sense of urgency and the quality of work was very high. They came in and took care of it all very quickly and were responsive to my questions and concerns. Great job!

Called them for basement water intrusion after a heavy rain. A guy showed up to look at the issue. The guy can’t speak English. How can we tell him what’s going on or how can he tell us what he thinks. Mr Wu… send someone who can speak English. I asked him if he speaks mandarin or Cantonese. He didn’t even know what is mandarin or Cantonese. When he left, he gave us a business card of this company and pointing at the number to call. Waste of time.

Wu Construction quickly diagnosed a problem that two other companies had failed to do, thus fixing a basement that had leaked during moderate & heavy rains for years! I have not had a drop of water come into the basement since their repairs. I cannot recommend this company highly enough!

We received their number as a recommendation in two places (next door neighbor and fb QA, Magnolia, Ballard parents). Called and the gentlemen picked up. He promptly told us the cost and he would «text» us to set up an appointment… Still waiting for the appointment as we replied with our address.
Look else where for credible service … Appointment less in Seattle.

They do good work for a reasonable price. I have always been happy. Their lead Estimator just retired, so they have another guy that is not really up to par. The work itself it great; just make sure the Estimator covers everything. I had them do a crawlspace estimate recently and the guy basically admitted that he didn’t look at everything. I don’t blame him as that is one thing I don’t do is go into crawlspaces. Sorry buddy, that is your business, so it’s good if you cover it. The Client picked someone else that actually looked at the work involved.

I called Wu construction at the recommendation of my real estate agent after our new, finished basement flooded. Victor came out to our property, himself, and gave us a detailed bid for the scope of work. He was extremely knowledgeable. His bid was fair and beat out his competitors — some of whom wanted to charge us 3x as much as Wu for the exact same work!
Victor said his team would install a sump pump in our crawl space and connect all of our gutters to a drainage system that would run out toward the street. His crew started work the following day — a Saturday — and worked quickly to get the job completed. I was completely impressed by how hard his crew worked and with the immaculate condition they left our yard in.
After the job was finished, we had another flood in the basement. Luckily, Wu Construction guarantees their work for 25 years. Victor came out immediately to assess the problem and sent a crew out the same day to begin digging a French drain along one side of our house. Again, they worked incredibly hard — in the rain. They worked quickly and quietly. Immediately, we saw the water in our basement subside and began to re-​dry it. Victor even helped us clear a clogged drain pipe free of charge! Victor was determined to remedy our flooding problems.
After that, we experienced another small flood at the foot of our basement stairs. Again, Victor immediately came to the house with a crew and began work. They jackhammered up the cement beneath the stairs and created an interior French drain. That was the end of our flooding nightmare.
I would HIGHLY recommend Victor Wu and his team to anyone who needs help with flooding or drainage issues. He was extremely helpful, responsive, and competitively priced. He honored his 25 year warranty even before we paid for the initial work. I was so very impressed with the customer service and the integrity Victor showed to us. It was wonderful to work with someone like Wu Construction during such a stressful time in our lives! I can’t recommend them enough!

Victor and his crew are extremely knowledgable and experienced. I called Wu Construction on the recommendation of my house inspector after learning that my house was settling and causing extensive issues in my kitchen. I called Victor on a Saturday and he came out on Sunday morning to look at the problem. He quickly identified the case of the problem and outlined a very clear plan at raising the house back up to level. He over-​designed and over-​engineered the fix so that I would never have any issues even 30 – 40 years from now. He went above and beyond what he said he would do (at no additional cost) simply because he wanted to make sure it was done right and that I was happy. Customer service, quality of work and a very fair price made me a very happy customer. I hope I don’t have to call Wu Construction use them again but if I ever have any other issues with my house, I’ll be Calling Victor Wu first to get his opinion. He has 30 years experience and knows how to get things done. Very satisfied.

I had to put in a retaining wall in my basement to separate the crawl space from the full height portion of the basement that was dug out in the 1960s. At the time it was just a wall of dirt. They recommended a cinder block retaining wall reinforced with concrete and rebar as it’s much cheaper than all cement. This saved money and still was to code. The basement has stayed dry and I can now finish the basement.
They did an excellent job and came it exactly at their quote. I had two other quotes that were much higher. Highly recommend these guys.

I was having water issues in my crawl space and called Wu Construction. The owner, Victor Wu, came out himself to do the estimate. He was extremely knowledgeable pointing out things that other estimators missed and had lots of good suggestions. I was so impressed with Victor that I selected Wu Construction to do my drainage project.
The Good: Victor was very adamant about digging out and inspecting a nearby downspout for damage to the underground PVC piping. He was the only estimator to bring this up and it ended up being a huge benefit as the PVC pipe was indeed badly cracked and spewing water into the ground nearby the foundation. His crew fixed that right away free of charge and installed a catch basin in that area also at no additional charge. After a hard days work, his crew still took the time to inspect the exterior of the crawl space and seal any potential point of entry for rodents as well as replacing some insulation that was water damaged all at no extra charge.
The Bad: His work crew of five men consisted of 3 Latino workers who could not speak English, 1 Chinese worker who could not speak English nor Spanish and thus could not communicate with his own crew, and a Latino foreman who spoke somewhat decent English. It was challenging at times trying to communicate with the crew. Victor came out during the work, but only spent about 15 minutes on the job site to briefly inspect the work in progress and then left.
It’s only been a few days now, but I suspect the broken downspout was the cause of the water problems and fixing that will prevent almost all of the water from entering the crawl space making the expensive interior drainage system unnecessary. I wish we would have inspected that first and potentially saved me from the whole drainage system, but he was also the only contractor to even mention the potential downspout issue so we would have never even caught that without Wu Construction.

My husband and I own a small construction company. We have worked with Victor Wu on many occasions and have always found him to be honest and fair. His work is always completed on time and we are confident to give Wu Construction our highest recommendation.

I’ve had Victor and his team do drainage work on two of my homes. One time in winter 2005 and then again in fall 2007. They were responsive and quick with their work. To this day, no drainage problems in either home. Victor is very knowledgeable about drainage issues and he stands behind his work with a 25 year warranty. I’m selling one of the homes, and I misplaced the warranty. I called Victor up, he provided me one that I can transfer to the buyer (at no cost of course!). I recommend him to other people, and you can bet if I have any future problems, he is the first person I will call.

I am a long-​term real estate broker and VERY cautious in my reviews. I had a friend that wanted to buy a house that Wu had done foundation work on. It was a competitive purchase so we won the house in a multiple offer situation after a pre-​inspect. Wu was legally off the hook. When we got the invoice from the Seller it had no stated warranty. I called the owner (Victor) and explained our concerns and he, without hesitation, offered to give our client a warranty on the work they’d done without reservation and provided that warranty within a couple of hours.
Our inspector was impressed with the work Wu Construction had done and how thorough they were and I was impressed with Victor’s willingness to stand behind his work even though he had no requirement to do so. I am totally impressed.

Outstanding Service!
Wu Construction (drainage
) really stand behind their work.
May 2012 they installed a crawl space drainage system to remedy a home inspection defect for standing water in multiple areas of the crawl space. The inspector reinspected the crawl space and closed the defect, and I have been in the crawl space a few times since and all was well.
Late March 2012 an HVAC installer reported an area in the crawl space where there was some water under the vapor barrier which I immediately reported to Wu Construction. They were out within the week to diagnose and remedy the problem — now that is great service. All covered by their warranty.

I have dealt with Wu Construction several times over the years on several different
properties and have always found them to be top notch in their assessments and work, but also more than competitive in their prices. I have seen them compete with other companies in drainage work and have found them to be up to half the price! I also once had a buyer purchasing a home where the work had been done by them and there was a small issue and they were right out and took care of it immediately. Their guarantee has been the same as their competition and they have always been very professional in every transaction. Pamela Bailey, Windermere Real Estate

I was surprised recently to see that this company was still in business. Several years ago, Wu Construction took my $ 5,000 without ever solving my drainage problem.
My basement had cracks in the floor and walls which tended to look a bit damp year-​round. The basement never flooded, but just smelled musty. Wu Construction told me they could fix the problem. They did dig up the inside perimeter of the basement, and put in French drains. That didn’t work, so they dug a hole and installed a sump pump, which died after a few days because it was running continuously. Their «finish work» was very unfinished looking, and the dampness problem stayed exactly the same. I called a couple of times, and Mr. Wu told me that they would be back to fix it, but never contacted me again. I am a single woman, and I feel that they took advantage of that. Their crew was pretty gruff and intimidating, too. I guess that’s why I never pursued it further, but they knew that they had my money and never solved anything. Just left me with a smelly sump hole in the basement floor, covered with a plastic lid.
I’ve never had any other home services company rip me off. I guess that this company figured I’d never say anything, but here I am.

I hired Wu Construction to do a number of projects on a fixer-​upper I bought last spring. Overall, my experience with them was positive, but there were a few things that cost them stars in my book.
First off, the good: Probably the best thing about Wu Construction is their estimator Dave. Dave is absolutely amazing. He is knowledgeable, helpful, and was very willing to work with us to make sure that we ended up with what we wanted. I can’t even count how many times we changed our minds about one particular part of the project and Dave not only helped us figure out what we wanted, but he was very good about making sure that the changes we wanted got done properly.
Wu Construction also is very about making sure that we were happy with the quality of their work. About a week after they were done it we discovered that one whole wall had not been properly primed and needed to be redone. The guys from Wu Construction were down there the next day to redo the work – no hassles and no extra charge.
Unfortunately, there was also some Bad: Our project was about a five day job. Unfortunately, about four days in the workers from Wu Construction vanished. I was told that various people were on vacation, maybe they were and maybe they weren’t, but the end result was that last days worth of work lingered on for three weeks. It was insane and very frustrating. If not for the fact that they drew my project out far far longer than it needed to go I’d probably give them four or five stars.
Dave is awesome, though. He was worth the hassles.