The Cost of Foundation Repairs

1. Foundation Repair Projects Start With An Inspection
2. Choosing The Right Contractor
3. Estimating the Cost of Foundation Repairs
4. Make Sure You Hire A Reputable Contractor

Looking for information about the cost of foundation repairs? If so, you’ve landed on the right page!

After you’ve decided you need to have foundation repair work done on your home, your next question is probably, “What’s it going to cost?”

This is a difficult question to answer with a “one-size-fits-all” calculation. There are a lot of variables that go into estimating how much foundation repairs are going to cost. That is why most honest foundation repair companies don’t post prices on their websites.

At Bay Area Underpinning, we have experts that come to your property and inspect the situation. After a thorough evaluation, we’re able to determine what it will take to stop the cause of the problem and repair the damage that already exists.

Foundation Repair Projects Start With An Inspection

Usually, what starts the ball rolling, is the homeowner noticing a wall crack, uneven floor, or other sign of foundation damage. The homeowner can either ignore the damage, try to fix it themselves, or contact a foundation repair professional.

If the home is being put on the market, an inspection may have been performed, but those are usually pretty general. They may note a crack or something but won’t pursue the cause. If someone did spring for the cost of an authentic engineering report, the information is there but can be too technical and not written for the typical layperson.

At Bay Area Underpinning, we send out an expert to thoroughly examine your property. We squeeze into crawl spaces or other areas the homeowner may not access or even know about. We’ll look for more indications of what is causing the foundation damage. We also perform floor elevations of around the entire perimeter of the home. This will typically tell us how much the home has settled and in what areas the home is down the most in settlement.

Also read – Concrete Slab Foundation Repair.

Bay Area Underpinning vehicle in front of a house

Choosing The Right Contractor

Make sure that the contractor you hire knows what they are doing. Foundation damage isn’t something that you want to take lightly. You may know a good handyman or general contractor, but unfortunately, they’re probably not going to have the skills or equipment to do the job correctly.

Best case scenario, you have a temporary fix; worst case: you have a bigger problem than you did when this all started. Other contractors will try to sell you “solutions” that are easy and highly profitable for them but leave you in a dangerous situation.

Foundation repairs can be costly, in addition to the fact that the weight of your entire home is resting on the foundation. Taking a shortcut or trying to save a buck can cost you more than you could ever even begin to save. Make sure you hire a reputable company with warranties and insurance. Sketchy, fly-by-night contractors can cause more damage than they repair.

Estimating the Cost Of Foundation Repairs

Some of the factors that go into estimating the cost of foundation repairs include:

Length of foundation
Ease of access
The extent of the damage
Landscaping and concrete that may need to be removed and replaced
Height of foundation
Cause of the damage
Chosen repair solution: This might be helical piers, push piers, slab piers, drilled concrete piers, or other solutions.

Make Sure You Hire A Reputable Contractor

Of course, many other variables can impact the final cost of a project. However, a reputable contractor should provide you with a realistic estimate and break down the items that make up the cost. If they’re unable (or unwilling) to do this, move quickly onto another contractor because this is a sign of dishonest business practices.

An honest contractor won’t try to sell you on hiring them. A good foundation contractor knows that their honesty, reputation, and communications will do the selling. We’re pretty busy, so we’re not going to add busy work to our schedule just to make a dollar. We want your home to be strong, stable, and safe, and if we think we can do that for you, we’ll let you know.

When hiring a contractor, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Talk to people who have hired them in the past and ask them questions. People aren’t shy to share good or bad experiences and will encourage or warn you about using a particular contractor. If you’re intimidated by a contractor before you even hire them, think about how they’ll treat you once they’ve pocketed your money.

We want our friends, neighbors, and families to have secure foundations and peace of mind. If you have any questions about foundation repair in the Bay Area, please feel free to contact us to learn more and to schedule a free foundation inspection. We’ll answer your questions and let you know what we can do for you.

Schedule Free Inspection

Ted Dryce

Content Writer

Ted is an SEO Content Writer who has been with Groundworks since 2021. He’s covered home repair topics ranging from crawl space encapsulation to regional soil conditions. When he’s not working, Ted is performing improv comedy and working on his own creative projects.