Can a waterproofing contractor in Orleans promise a dry basement?

A contractor can promise to do the written scope of work. No contractor can honestly promise a basement that never takes on water, and Ontario's Consumer Protection Act, 2002 says it is an unfair practice to claim that services have benefits or qualities they do not have.

The City of Ottawa names three ways water gets into a basement: sewer surcharging through the lateral, groundwater leaking through cracks or joints in walls or floors, and overland water coming in through windows, doors and cracks. The City's protective plumbing FAQ also lists what devices such as sump pumps and backwater valves will not stop: water through cracks in walls or window wells, failed foundation drains or sump pumps, overflowing eaves troughs and plugged downspouts, poor foundation drainage, poor lot drainage, and water sources inside the house. One scope of work deals with some of those paths, not all of them.

That is why the written scope is the thing to compare. A quote for exterior work on one wall says nothing about sewer surcharging, and a quote for a sump pump says nothing about a crack higher up the wall. What a contractor can stand behind is that the work in the written contract was done, to the Building Code minimums where the Code applies, on the warranty terms they put in writing.

On warranties, the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 deems services to be of reasonably acceptable quality, and a contract term that tries to cancel that deemed warranty is void. Anything beyond it is whatever the contract says. We found no Ontario rule specific to lifetime warranties, so get the terms in writing: what is covered, for how long, and whether they transfer to a buyer.

Ask each contractor to list in the quote which entry paths the work addresses and which it does not, so two quotes can be compared on the same footing.