U.S. Waterproofing Celebrates 60 Years of Fixing Leaky Basements Across Chicago

Fam­i­ly-owned Com­pa­ny Reach­es Remark­able Busi­ness Feat

(Chica­go). Gen­er­a­tions of Chica­go home­own­ers con­tin­ue to trust their base­ment slum­ber par­ties, row­ing machines, laun­dry, foos­ball tables, and drum sets to U.S.Waterproofing’s care and expertise. 

In spring 2017, the Rolling Mead­ows-based base­ment water­proof­ing com­pa­ny cel­e­brates 60 years of service. 

U.S. Water­proof­ing was found­ed in a small Chica­go garage by mil­i­tary vet­er­an Albert Wein­er. He named the busi­ness after the coun­try he proud­ly served. Soon his fam­i­ly joined him. The busi­ness is still locally‑, fam­i­ly-owned today.

“In pop cul­ture, base­ments get a bad rap, says Matthew Stock, Weiner’s grand-nephew and cur­rent pres­i­dent and CEO of U.S. Water­proof­ing. ​“But, in real-life, base­ments are where some of the best fam­i­ly mem­o­ries hap­pen. I remem­ber hang­ing out with my friends and cousins, play­ing ping pong and pool, watch­ing Super Bowls in my own. From the very begin­ning, U.S. Water­proof­ing has ded­i­cat­ed itself to help­ing Chicagoans keep their below-grade liv­ing spaces safe and dry, pre­vent­ing and mit­i­gat­ing water damage.” 

Stock adds, ​“We are hon­ored that in 60 years, our com­pa­ny has grown from one employ­ee to more than 150. I learned from my dad, Jer­ry, who led our firm for decades, we treat them well, like fam­i­ly. We are for­tu­nate that our team is incred­i­bly loy­al. Many have worked up the ranks like I did, such as our only non-fam­i­ly co-own­er Bar­ry Schilling. Today, more than a dozen employ­ees have been with U.S. Water­proof­ing for over two decades. With this team’s com­mit­ment, we’ve fixed more than 300,000 base­ments across the region over the last 60 years.” Today, more than a dozen employ­ees have been with U.S. Water­proof­ing for over two decades. We learned a long time ago that if we take good care of our employ­ees, they will take great care of our customers.”

Among many hon­ors, U.S. Water­proof­ing is a proud recip­i­ent of the Bet­ter Busi­ness Bureau’s esteemed Torch Award for Mar­ket­place Ethics along with the accred­i­ta­tion firm’s A+ rat­ing. U.S. Water­proof­ing is also a decade-long Angie’s List Super Ser­vice Award company. 

Root­ed in tra­di­tion­al ideals, the com­pa­ny also has embraced new philoso­phies and tech­nol­o­gy over the years. ​“We learned that pro­vid­ing peo­ple with online DIY tools and resources was an impor­tant way for us to serve our cus­tomers and our com­mu­ni­ty,” says Stock. The company’s online Learn­ing Cen­ter boasts hun­dreds of how-to-water­proof lessons. And, fur­ther embrac­ing tech­nol­o­gy, cus­tomers now can make online appoint­ments ²⁴⁄₇. In response to cus­tomer demand, U.S. Water­proof­ing added con­crete rais­ing and job prepa­ra­tion ser­vices that com­ple­ment water­proof­ing ser­vices. Today, it is one of the largest home improve­ment com­pa­nies in the Chica­go area.

“We’ve enjoyed tremen­dous growth in these six decades,” says Stock. ​“But most impor­tant to us is that we still are fam­i­ly-owned and oper­at­ed. We con­tin­ue to serve our cus­tomers with prac­ti­cal and rea­son­ably-priced solutions.

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