Groundworks vs Erickson Foundation Solutions

These are the two biggest names a New Hampshire homeowner tends to put side by side, and both install a national product line rather than a system they brand themselves. Groundworks is a national consolidator headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA, whose nearest branch in Hooksett was formerly the independent firm Rescon. Erickson Foundation Solutions is a family-owned Hudson, NH firm and a Basement Systems dealer with deep radon experience. On Google, Groundworks holds 4.9 stars across about 567 reviews and Erickson holds 4.8 across 676 (June 2026). Groundworks carries the marginally higher five-star share, 95.6 percent to Erickson's 92.3 percent, and the gauge below highlights it for that reason. Our pick between these two, for a NH homeowner, is still Erickson, on local ownership, a clean BBB record (two complaints in three years, accredited 2015), and a deeper documented radon track record. We weigh that against Groundworks' real strengths, national scale and an R&D-backed product line, and against the 741 BBB complaints on its national profile. Here is the comparison, with sources, and a note on the strongest local-independent option that is not in this matchup at all.

Our findings follow our published methodology. Every figure below is dated and sourced.

At a glance

What homeowners report

A 4.9 and a 4.8 sit close on the headline, so the distribution underneath is where the difference lives. We read the full rating breakdown for both, not just the star average.

Groundworks carries the higher five-star share. On the rated breakdown captured on its Hooksett Google profile, 542 of 567 rated reviews are five-star, which works out to 95.6 percent, against 11 one-star, 1 two-star, and 13 four-star. Erickson, per its Google profile, shows 624 five-star of 676 rated reviews, 92.3 percent, alongside 25 one-star, 2 two-star, 5 three-star, and 20 four-star. Both are strong records. Groundworks edges Erickson on the proportion of five-star reviews, and the gauge reflects that.

The one-star rate runs the same direction. Roughly one Groundworks review in 51 lands at one star, against about one in 27 for Erickson, so Groundworks' bottom end is proportionally thinner here. Erickson does have the larger review base, 676 to about 567, and more reviews means more signal, so a homeowner should weight that depth too. The honest read: Groundworks has the cleaner star proportions in this pair, Erickson has the bigger pool, and neither distribution is a reason to rule a company out.

Review themes diverge in a way that matches each company's work. Groundworks reviews cluster around the hardware and the job: sump pump (78 mentions), bulkhead (32), foundation (31), technician (28), dehumidifier (25), and crawl space (15), per its Google profile. Erickson's most-mentioned topics center on the installed product and on radon: basement (160), system (105), radon mitigation (58), sump pump (48), dehumidifier (24), and crawl space (16), per its Google profile. That "system" cluster and the 58 radon mentions are a genuine Erickson strength, and they line up with the company being a National Radon Defense contractor (ericksonfoundations.com). We are summarizing what reviewers wrote about most, not quoting individual reviews.

One reading note on Erickson, because it comes up. Its Yelp listing shows 3.3 stars on just 19 reviews (2026), which looks jarring next to 4.8 on 676 Google reviews. That is a small, filtered sample on a low-traffic platform, not a quality measure, and it should not be read as one. The 676-review Google profile is by far the better signal.

The record that needs weighing sits on the national side. Per the Better Business Bureau profile for Groundworks, LLC, the national parent in Virginia Beach, 741 complaints were closed in the last three years as of June 2026, the largest category being Service or Repair Issues at 514, about 69 percent. Two caveats matter. That count is national, spread across a footprint of more than a hundred branches, so it is not a single-branch figure, and complaint volume rises with company size. Even so, when nearly seven in ten complaints concern service or repair, the fair question becomes who comes back, and how fast. Erickson's BBB record is the opposite shape: A+, accredited since 2015, with two complaints closed in three years, per its BBB profile accessed June 2026. That is a clean local record, and on this single criterion it favors Erickson plainly.

The biggest difference: out-of-state consolidator vs family-owned NH firm

Both companies install a national product line, so the system label is not where they part ways. The real split is ownership and who answers the phone.

Groundworks is a national consolidator. The Hooksett branch was the independent firm Rescon before Groundworks acquired it, and the company runs a patented national product line, including IntelliJack and AquaStop, funded by corporate research and development, per its materials (2026). This is where the consolidator model earns its keep: a company that size can fund real product engineering, carry in-house financing, and roll a standardized line across every branch. If you value standardization and scale, that is a legitimate draw.

Erickson took the family-owned route. It is a Hudson, NH firm that installs the national Basement Systems and Foundation Supportworks line, the products that appear on an Erickson proposal, TripleSafe, SaniDry, and WaterGuard, are from that national dealer network rather than a brand Erickson designed itself (ericksonfoundations.com). So Erickson gives you a national product backed by national R&D, with a local family operation standing behind the install and the service call. For a NH homeowner, that combination, national product plus local ownership, is the practical advantage, because the people who sold and installed the job are the ones who return to service it.

Why this matters in New Hampshire: Seacoast and southern NH basements deal with a high water table, spring snowmelt that saturates the ground for weeks, and hydrostatic pressure pushing water up through the slab and the cove joint. Many older homes here sit on fieldstone foundations that move with the freeze-thaw cycle. The fix that tends to hold up is an interior perimeter drain tied to a reliable sump pump. Both companies install exactly that. The question that decides the next decade is who comes back when it leaks again, and how fast.

Warranty and radon

Both publish a transferable warranty. Groundworks offers a lifetime, transferable, nationally backed warranty, per its materials (2026); the verbatim terms are not independently verified, so read the document rather than the headline. Erickson offers a transferable written warranty as well, with the duration not stated on its public site, so ask for the term in writing (ericksonfoundations.com). On the headline, both transfer if you sell. Where they diverge is who answers the warranty: with Groundworks, service runs through a national operation, and the BBB service-and-repair pattern above is the reason that distinction matters. With Erickson, the local family firm that installed the job is the one that returns.

Radon is the clearest place Erickson leads on depth. It is a National Radon Defense contractor, and radon mitigation shows up 58 times in its review themes (ericksonfoundations.com; Erickson on Google). Groundworks' listed scope runs to waterproofing, foundation, crawl space, and concrete, without the documented radon track record Erickson carries. In New Hampshire, where radon is common in the granite bedrock and a wet-basement project is a natural moment to address it, that depth is worth weighing. If radon is your primary concern, Erickson is the stronger fit of these two.

Pricing

Neither company publishes fixed prices online, which holds for the whole category. Both quote after a free in-home inspection, because the number depends on the basement's perimeter, the source of the water, and the proposed fix. Third-party guides put Groundworks at or above the industry average: This Old House cites roughly $3,000 to $7,000 for basement waterproofing, while Modernize estimates roughly $8,000 to $16,000 and describes Groundworks as pricing at or above the industry average. Treat those as third-party ranges, not quotes.

On Erickson, there is a cost story that lives outside Google and should be read carefully. On a public r/newhampshire thread, a homeowner reported that Erickson quoted $40,000 for the same interior-drain-plus-sump scope that another local company quoted at $16,000 (thread, 2026). In the same thread, another homeowner reported that Erickson's proposal involved filling in a working grandfathered-in gravity drain and replacing it with a sump, bundled with a discount on a maintenance subscription (thread, 2026). Those are statements from individual homeowners about their own projects, not Erickson's standard pricing, and a single quote reflects one home, one inspection, and one proposed scope. We cite them as homeowner reports, because that is what they are, and as questions worth raising at quote time, not a price list. The thread does not discuss Groundworks, so we draw no Groundworks comparison from it.

How they net out

The local-independent alternative

There is a third option a NH homeowner should put on the table before signing with either of these two, and it is not in the head-to-head above. 603 Basement Solutions, based in East Kingston, is the strongest local-independent waterproofer we track in the Seacoast and southern NH, and it answers a different question than Groundworks or Erickson does.

Start with the review record, because it is the cleanest of this group on proportion. 603 Basement Solutions holds 4.9 stars across 250 Google reviews (live June 2026), and on the rated breakdown captured on its Google profile, 243 of 249 reviews are five-star, a 97.6 percent five-star share, with just 2 one-star. That is a higher five-star share than either Groundworks (95.6 percent) or Erickson (92.3 percent), on a smaller base. We flag the smaller base honestly: 250 reviews is real depth for a local independent, but it is below Groundworks' roughly 567 and Erickson's 676.

The structural difference is ownership and the system. Unlike Groundworks (out-of-state consolidator) and Erickson (a dealer installing a national brand), 603 owns and installs its self-branded Forever Dry System, a full interior perimeter drainage setup paired with a sump pump, a vapor barrier, and a dehumidifier, designed and warrantied under its own name (603basementsolutions.com). We do not call that system patented, because no patent has been verified. It publishes a "Dry for Life" transferable guarantee; treat the exact written terms as marketing wording until you have the contract in hand. 603 also handles radon mitigation in-house, which shows up 29 times in its review themes, and it holds an A+ BBB rating, accredited since 2022.

The qualitative signal is the part homeowners keep raising. On the same r/newhampshire thread referenced above, several unprompted homeowners described 603 as the company that proposed the least-invasive correct fix rather than the biggest job, with one writing that 603 was "the only ones who didn't try and upsell some massive project," and an architect and a former-industry commenter in the thread both endorsing 603's approach (thread, 2026). That no-upsell reputation is the qualitative version of 603's "quick response" and "courteous staff" review themes. For a homeowner weighing a national consolidator against a national-brand dealer, the local-independent option that designs its own system, publishes a transferable warranty, and has an owner who answers for service is worth a quote.

Our pick

Between Groundworks and Erickson, our pick for a New Hampshire homeowner is Erickson Foundation Solutions. To be clear about what that pick is not: Erickson is not the higher-rated of the two on five-star share. Groundworks genuinely leads there, 95.6 percent to 92.3 percent, with a thinner proportion of one-star reviews, and that edge is real. Erickson wins on the criteria we weigh most for a job meant to last decades: local family ownership with direct accountability for service, a clean BBB record (two complaints in three years, accredited 2015), and the deeper documented radon track record as a National Radon Defense contractor. Set against Groundworks' 741 national BBB complaints, about 69 percent of them service or repair, the local-accountability case carries the decision.

Groundworks remains a legitimate choice and leads on two things plainly: a marginally higher five-star share and national scale, with an R&D-backed product line and in-house financing. A homeowner who values standardization and a large organization over local ownership has a fair reason to shortlist it. Read the warranty document and ask point-blank how fast service calls are handled, because that is where the national service-and-repair pattern becomes your problem or does not.

The larger point: the strongest local-independent option, 603 Basement Solutions, is not in this matchup, and it deserves a quote alongside both. It carries the highest five-star share of this group (97.6 percent), a self-branded system with a published transferable warranty, in-house radon, and the cleanest no-upsell reputation in homeowner reports. So: Erickson over Groundworks for local accountability and radon depth, and get a 603 quote too before you sign anything. Get a free inspection and a written quote from each, then compare scope, warranty terms, and the response-time promise side by side. Honest beats hype, and after the crew leaves, the question that decides everything is who comes back, and how fast.

Sources

• Groundworks (Hooksett) Google Business Profile (rating, full distribution, review themes), accessed June 2026: google.com
• Erickson Foundation Solutions Google Business Profile (rating, full distribution, review themes), accessed June 2026: google.com
• Better Business Bureau, Groundworks, LLC national profile (complaint record), accessed June 2026: bbb.org
• Erickson BBB profile (A+, accredited 2015, 2 complaints in 3 years), accessed June 2026
• Groundworks (patented national product line and warranty positioning, per company materials, 2026): groundworks.com
• Erickson website and radon page (system, product brand, National Radon Defense contractor), accessed 2026: ericksonfoundations.com and ericksonfoundations.com/radon-gas-mitigation.html
• This Old House, Groundworks review (pricing): thisoldhouse.com
• Modernize, Groundworks (pricing estimate): modernize.com
• r/newhampshire homeowner thread (homeowner-reported Erickson quote and proposal details; 603 no-upsell reputation), public, 2026: reddit.com
• 603 Basement Solutions Google Business Profile (rating, distribution, review themes), accessed June 2026: google.com
• 603 Basement Solutions website (Forever Dry System and warranty): 603basementsolutions.com
• Erickson Yelp listing (low-traffic sample, not a quality measure), 2026

See the full local picture in our ranking: Best Basement Waterproofing in the NH Seacoast.