Ram Jack of South Carolina

A Homeowner whose home has foundation problems seems to go through several distinct stages prior to having foundation repairs made.

There is the denial stage, where sticking doors, cracks in brickwork, and other signs of foundation settlement are ignored for as long as possible; then there is fear, the homeowner believes that intrusive repairs will be required - landscape near the house will be destroyed by deep trenches to get down to the foundation; next there is the education phase, where homeowners learn that repairs can be made non-intrusively by piering, a process where a bracket is attached to the concrete footing and a steel pier is driven down to solid ground, providing proper support to the home.

For homeowners who hire Scott Erlewine, owner of Ram Jack of South Carolina, Inc., and Atlanta Ram Jack, Inc., there is another stage to go through: "The main thing I like about installing Ram Jack piering systems is the look I see on the customers face when we finish the job. I can see a huge weight lifting off their shoulders. Their home is their most valuable asset, and in many cases they had tried to put their homes foundation problem out of their mind," said owner Scott Erlewine.

Erlewine started out in the construction business as a framing contractor. He soon thereafter became a general contractor building houses. He added building poured walls to the company's repertoire in 1997. But opportunity knocked as the firm began receiving calls from the yellow pages to make foundation repairs - though his company was not listed in the yellow pages under the foundation repair category.

In 1999 they purchased the Ram Jack dealership from Ada, Oklahoma based Ram Jack Distribution Systems, Inc. From that point forward it has been full speed ahead and Ram Jack of South Carolina, Inc., is now one of the top Ram Jack dealers in the United States. The firm won Ram Jack's 2001 Dealer of the Year Award, which was presented to them in May 2002 at the Ram Jack Dealer meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Fittingly, the award was a hand-blown glass Ram.

South Carolina has proven to be a good location for a foundation repair business. The soil is sandy in the eastern part of the state towards the coast - sandy soil is not too hard on foundations. But the rest of the state is generally clay soil and thus there are problems with foundation settlement. In Charleston, the soil is a mixture of sand and clay: there can be extreme soils problems in the Charleston market.

On a job in Charleston recently, Ram Jack of South Carolina found the bottom of the footing five feet down and the footing was wood instead of concrete. As they worked, the excavation filled with water - so they pumped water as they made the repairs. "Charleston is full of surprises," according to Erlewine.

Keeping surprises to a minimum for his customers is a main driver of Erlewine's success. "Communication on the job is the most important aspect of our service, "notes Erlewine. "I always let customers know the worst-case scenario. People envision what they are going to get and I make sure those expectations are realistic. Ultimately, if issues are given proper explanations, the majority of people are sensible and realistic."

An example of good communication is what happened on a job in Charleston recently. Erlewine notified a customer a pier being drilled was going extraordinarily deep to reach the bedrock (ultimately the pier went 165' deep). He could have drilled away without notifying the customer, then simply handed the customer a bill for all footage over 30' as is in the contract. "A little extra effort communicating pays off big in customer satisfaction," notes Erlewine.

Erlewine sees steady growth ahead for his company. His firm has started doing foundation repair in Atlanta, Georgia. The population in Atlanta is what drew them to the area: in addition, the soil is clay, similar to the soil in much of South Carolina.

Erlewine also sees a possibility for his firm adding on mud-jacking services so they can fix sunken sidewalks and concrete slab areas; and also repairing basement walls with carbon fiber reinforcing. "In Atlanta there are a lot of basements where the walls have bowed in."

Ram Jack of SC Inc.
2075 US Hwy 21 S
Ridgeway, SC 29130
(866) 735-3085 - TOLL FREE
(803) 223-0764
(803) 337-3202 FAX
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www.ramjacksc.com