BaseWorks is the basement underpinning company Hamilton homeowners call when a foundation needs real structural work, not a patch job. Our crews lower floors, rebuild footings section by section, and waterproof from the inside out - from century homes in Westdale to newer builds near Waterdown. Every stage is engineered, permitted, and inspected before we move forward.
BaseWorks handles every stage in-house, from first excavation to final inspection - no subcontracted crews, ever. As a full-scope basement underpinning company, Hamilton homeowners get one accountable team for everything listed below.
SERVICE 01
Basement Underpinning
Underpinning lowers your basement floor by digging beneath the existing footings and pouring new concrete in staged sections, so the structure above stays fully supported throughout. For Hamilton's older semis and detached homes with shallow original footings, this is usually the only way to gain real headroom - most projects add 2 to 3 feet. As a basement underpinning company built around Hamilton's mix of century brick and postwar block construction, we run every stage ourselves: engineering, permit submission, section-by-section excavation, and the mandatory inspection before each pour.
Basement lowering drops your existing floor level to gain ceiling height, using either full underpinning or bench footings depending on what your foundation can support. Owners of Hamilton's 1920s-to-1960s housing stock hire BaseWorks specifically because we know how to work around clay soil, shared party walls, and the city's staged inspection process without cutting a single structural corner. We're a basement underpinning company that quotes one fixed price, runs our own crews start to finish, and hands over a basement that clears every Hamilton Building requirement - ready to finish.
+2-3 ft CeilingParty Wall AgreementRental Suite Ready
Every excavation opens the door to water intrusion, so waterproofing is never a separate line item on our underpinning or lowering jobs - it's built into the same crew, the same timeline, the same accountability. Interior drainage channels, sump pump installation, weeping tile replacement, and exterior membrane coating are planned and installed as one system, not handed off between trades. Given Hamilton's clay-dense soil and the age of much of its sewer infrastructure, a properly engineered drainage system is what separates a basement that stays dry for a decade from one that doesn't.
A walkout gives your basement its own exterior door and street-level access - one of the requirements Hamilton enforces before it will sign off on a legal second suite. BaseWorks builds the staircase, the concrete retaining walls, and the surface drainage as a single permitted scope, so you're paying for one excavation and one inspection schedule instead of two separate projects stacked on top of each other. Recent walkout builds span tight lots in Stoney Creek, Westdale, and Ancaster.
A crack, a settling footing, or a wall that's started to bow is never the actual problem in a Hamilton home - it's a symptom of something moving underneath. BaseWorks starts by finding what's causing the movement, then injects epoxy or polyurethane into active cracks and adds underpinning to any section that's lost load capacity. The repaired area gets waterproofed from the inside out before we leave, because sealing a crack without fixing the drainage behind it just buys you a repeat visit in two years.
Turning a crawl space into a full-height basement isn't a smaller version of underpinning - it demands the exact same discipline: new footings poured below the existing foundation, engineer-stamped drawings, city permits, and an inspector signing off on every single pour. We've dug out crawl spaces under Hamilton's rows of 1940s and 1950s bungalows, including sites where a bobcat physically can't get in and the whole excavation is done by hand. Send us your dimensions and we'll walk you through exactly what your space needs.
What sets BaseWorks apart as a basement underpinning company Hamilton homeowners actually recommend.
Nothing gets brokered out to a third party. From the first permit application to the final floor pour, it's our own crew in your basement - which is exactly what you want from a basement underpinning company handling structural work.
Fully Permitted - Every Project
Any real structural work in this city requires a permit, stamped engineer drawings, and an inspector's sign-off before the next pour can happen - Hamilton Building doesn't make exceptions, and neither do we. Every submission, every drawing, every inspection is handled in-house, because a skipped step doesn't just risk a fine, it risks your home's resale value and your family's safety.
Fixed-Price Quotes - No Surprises
Nobody gets a phone quote from us - a project manager walks your actual basement before any number goes on paper. That written proposal covers labour, materials, dump truck runs, permit fees, and engineering, all rolled into one figure. If it's something we should have caught during the walkthrough, it doesn't show up as a change order later.
Own Crews - Zero Subcontractors
Whoever quotes your job is on-site when the work happens - we don't hand your project to a crew we've never worked with. Excavation and concrete teams operate under direct BaseWorks supervision from the first demo swing to the final trowel pass on the new floor. One phone number, one project manager, one team responsible for the whole thing.
15+ Years of Hamilton Foundation Expertise
You can't learn Hamilton's soil from a textbook - the unstable clay, the century brick foundations, the semis built inches apart from their neighbours all behave differently than what a crew from out of town expects. Fifteen years and 300-plus projects across Stoney Creek, Ancaster, Binbrook, and Waterdown have taught us exactly where the surprises hide, so we catch them before they become a change order mid-project.
HOW WE WORK
Inside a BaseWorks underpinning project, from first visit to final pour.
No basement is better than the footings holding it up. Below is the same sequence our crews run on every job, regardless of size - a modest Stoney Creek semi and a full detached rebuild in Waterdown both go through these same six stages.
A project manager comes to your home, measures existing ceiling height, checks the foundation walls for movement, and looks at drainage and soil conditions on-site. Within 48 hours you have a written fixed-price proposal in hand - nothing to sign at the walkthrough, no pressure either way.
02
STEP 02
Engineering & City Permits
A licensed structural engineer produces the stamped drawings your permit application needs, and we submit the complete package to Hamilton Building ourselves. Expect 4 to 8 weeks in the queue - we handle every city comment that comes back and keep you posted along the way, so you're never chasing us for a status update.
03
STEP 03
Demolition & Site Prep
Old flooring and any framing in the way come out first, with debris hauled off site as we go. If there's enough side-yard access for a mini-excavator or bobcat, we bring one in - it cuts down the hours spent hand-digging and shortens your overall timeline.
04
STEP 04
Section-by-Section Underpinning
Working around the full perimeter, we dig and form sections roughly 2 to 3 feet wide, pour concrete into each one, and let it fully cure before touching the next. A City of Hamilton inspector signs off on every single pour before we're allowed to start the next section - that sequence never gets shortcut, because it's what keeps the house standing while we work.
05
STEP 05
Floor Excavation & Waterproofing
Once every perimeter footing has passed inspection, the old slab comes out and the middle of the floor gets dug down to target depth. Drainage channels, new weeping tile, and the sump pump system go in first, then the newly exposed foundation walls get their waterproofing membrane - moisture protection built in during construction, not bolted on afterward.
06
STEP 06
Final Floor Pour & Handover
A 4 to 6 inch gravel base gets spread and levelled across the entire floor before any concrete shows up. We trowel the new slab flat, clear the site of every last bit of debris, and go through a final checklist with you in person before handing over the keys. What you're left with is taller, dry, and fully permitted - ready for whatever comes next.
5.0
★★★★★
5.0 average · Google Reviews
CLIENT REVIEWS
What Hamilton homeowners say.
★★★★★
"Our Stoney Creek semi had a 6-foot ceiling that made the basement unusable for anything but storage. BaseWorks got us to just over 8 feet, handled the permit from start to finish, and hit every date on the schedule they gave us. We've had a tenant down there for almost a year now with zero issues - worth every cent."
MK
Michael K.
Homeowner - Stoney Creek
★★★★★
"I called four different contractors before landing on BaseWorks, and they were the only one who actually explained what the permit process involves instead of just quoting a number. The crew showed up on time every day, kept the site clean, and every section pour passed inspection the first time. That's exactly what you want from a basement underpinning company in Hamilton."
SR
Samantha R.
Homeowner - Ancaster
★★★★★
"Our old clay weeping tile had basically failed and water was coming through two separate cracks every time it rained hard. BaseWorks handled the underpinning, tore out and replaced the weeping tile, and put in a real sump pump system, all as one job instead of three separate visits. It's been dry through two full winters now - that alone made it worth doing right."
JT
James T.
Homeowner - Waterdown
SERVICE AREAS
Every Hamilton neighbourhood, one local crew.
We're a Hamilton-based basement underpinning company that doesn't outsource by area - the same crew that works downtown handles calls out in the surrounding suburbs. Most homeowners get their assessment booked within five business days.
Whatever the issue - a ceiling that's too low, water finding its way in, a suite that needs to be made legal, or a crawl space you're ready to dig out - a BaseWorks estimator will walk your foundation in person and leave you with a written fixed price, not a ballpark guess. As a basement underpinning company Hamilton homeowners tend to call first, we typically get assessments booked within five business days.
