As a foundation repair contractor, I remember talking with many of my colleagues in the industry about the woes of managing foundation repair salespeople. One would say, “I have one guy who can sell ice to Eskimos, but I have to send someone behind him to fix everything he gets wrong.” Then another would chime in, “Well, I have a guy who never has a problem with what he sells. Problem is, he sells almost nothing!”

What this demonstrated to me, viscerally, was the difference between a sales-oriented mind and a detail-oriented, analytical mind. I became convinced that it’s hard, not impossible, but hard, to find both in the same person.

For those familiar with DISC personality profiles, here’s how we saw it: When we hired people for data collection, the ones who succeeded were high S and high C types. S for Steadiness and C for Compliance. These are your detail-oriented, rule-following types.

Salespeople, on the other hand, were more successful when they had high D and high I. D for Dominance (assertiveness), and I for Influence (sociability). A bookkeeper, for example, would likely be high S and high C. Most salespeople would make poor bookkeepers. And most bookkeepers would make poor salespeople.

When it comes to gathering data, inspectors tend to have personalities and strengths rooted in objectivity, attention to detail, following protocols and rules, and being precise. They’re typically high S and high C types.

Salespeople, on the other hand, have particular strengths in being influential, thinking outside the box, listening well, helping people identify their goals, guiding and advising, and juggling multiple tasks at once.

Henry Ford got it right when he realized that specialization leads to better productivity.

When it comes to analyzing the data, engineers possess a significant advantage. They go through five years of university courses in structural and geotechnical engineering, where they learn to apply the scientific method to problem-solving. Then they spend about three years apprenticing under the guidance of a licensed Professional Engineer, followed by two very difficult exams—the FE and the PE.

They’re trained to develop abstract thinking and use hypothetical reasoning. They learn to use data to drive their decisions with mathematical thinking.

Foundation repair salespeople, on the other hand, usually learn about foundation repair from their sole-source supplier during a seminar that lasts a few days, maybe more than once. Their training is more oriented to making use of foundation repair concepts in order to maximize their sales.

The problem is that most forensic engineers haven’t been trained to understand residential construction practices or what is actually constructable when it comes to foundation repair. So there’s room for improvement on all sides.

Soil Mechanics

Forensic geotechnical engineers, in particular, study the geologic history of an area. They learn how the soil layering was deposited over geologic time scales, along with other natural processes such as uplift, faulting, subsidence, and erosion, and how these processes affect each layer.

Each layer can have a different mineral composition, density, and reaction to water. The layering isn’t even, and in some places, certain layers may disappear altogether. Water moves through these layers at different rates and affects each of them in unique ways.

All of these processes can be happening at the same time, even within a small area, possibly within a single residential lot.

If anyone tries to offer opinions on soil movement and forces without being a geotechnical engineer, they’re either yanking your chain or they don’t know what they don’t know. For more information, see this blog. 

Structural Load Paths

Often, the roof loads take unexpected paths down to the footings. Sometimes, there are interior bearing walls that don’t look any different from non-bearing walls from inside the house. In addition to gravity loads, there are lateral loads that need to be accounted for, including shear loads and other loads that structural engineers are trained to understand. This is particularly important with crawl spaces. The spans, spacing, and depth of supports are critical in supporting the loads above them. And they often don’t line up vertically. 

The repairs proposed by foundation repair salespeople result in modifications to the structural components of a home. How is it okay for non-engineers without a license to be engaged in this activity?

Heave vs Settlement

Foundations with slabs-on-grade are often subjected to upward forces from expanding clay soils. Often, they move upward in the center of the home, more so than the edges. To the untrained eye, all that can be seen is that the perimeter of the home is lower than the middle area and is often mistaken for edge settlement when in fact the edges have never moved at all. 

Most foundation repair suppliers don’t offer products designed to address expansive soil heave. As a result, they spend little to no time educating foundation repair salespeople on how to recognize this issue. Because of that, salespeople don’t discuss it with the homeowners they come in contact with. If the only tool you have is a hammer, then all your problems start looking like nails. And that is exactly what happens. Every foundation repair is understood through the lens of the suppliers’ products.

Conflict of Interest

Engineers and home inspectors are barred from accepting payment that is contingent on the results of their findings. That’s a good thing. In many states, the Boards of Technical Registration oversee the conduct of both engineers and home inspectors, ensuring honesty and ethical behavior.

But there’s no such oversight for foundation repair salespeople in most states. These individuals are typically paid on a commission-only basis.

Foundation repair salespeople are motivated to make sales. Many earn between $100,000 and $300,000 per year, and if they don’t hit a minimum of $100,000, they’re often let go.

That creates an inherent conflict of interest with foundation repair salespeople that does not exist with inspectors and engineers. 

So yes, they’ll come out for free and do an “analysis,” which is really just a sales presentation dressed up to look like an engineering evaluation, in the hopes of earning a large commission. Or even a small one.

Design Donut Hole

Currently, there are no states that I am aware of that regulate foundation repair salespeople’s designs. The state boards that oversee contractors only oversee workmanship and explicitly do not regulate any kind of design work. The state technical boards that oversee design professionals have no jurisdiction over contractors. So, as a result, there is no oversight for these designs. The local jurisdictions that require permitting do not regulate these designs either. More on that in a later blog post.

Severity Allowances

How do we determine the severity of the movement with a foundation in place? Foundation repair salespeople often use fictitious scales of, say, 1–10 with an arbitrary assignment designed to motivate a buyer to buy. These subjective representations have no basis in allowable limits of objective engineering.

Engineers, on the other hand, utilize the PTI industry-accepted allowable limits of both tilt and deflection. These are numerical models that are derived from floor-level data points and applied specifically to foundations.

This is not the only model. Another numerical model utilizes the radius of curvature, designed to differentiate between sharp changes vs. gradual ones. Perhaps it will replace the current PTI methodology. More on this subject here in this article.

If you asked any foundation repair salespeople about any of these engineering-based models of severity calculation, they would be completely clueless. Isn’t this one of the most important things that people want to know? How bad is it? Is it bad enough to recommend or require repairs?

If the only answers are subjective hyperbole by those who benefit from sales, that is a problematic process.

Peer Review

Most foundation repair salespeople engage in what is referred to in the industry as the “one-call close.” The salesperson shows up and stays in the house for 3–4 hours “educating” the homeowner. They show up, draw a floor plan, take a few elevations, and develop a “repair plan,” followed quickly by a contract and collection of a down payment.

There is no opportunity for peer review. How important is this? It is the basis of the scientific method, with almost all scientific papers requiring peer review before and after publication.

All of us are subject to heuristic shortcuts as a result of our inherited genes. That being the case, we all need to look at how we can minimize these simplistic shortcuts that result in high error rates.

I realize that I am at odds with the entire foundation repair industry on this subject. In my previous company, I utilized licensed professional engineers and their team to collect data, analyze it, draw supportable conclusions, and recommend repairs. I tried to convince everyone to use this method. I utilized this method profitably for many years. I had almost no takers. I shared all of this at the foundation association meetings. No one ever called to help them implement this methodology.

Key Takeaway

In summary, commissioned salespeople are not a good fit for gathering data, analyzing it, hypothesizing several conclusions, working through them with all the data, and arriving at recommendations that are in the best interest of the homeowner.

Professionally trained and certified inspectors are qualified to collect the data in a professional manner. Forensic engineers are the best qualified to analyze the data, arrive at conclusions, and make recommendations.