The best way to learn about foundation repair?
Homeowners and real estate professionals inevitably come across foundation issues sooner or later. Nowadays, the course of action is to Google “foundation repair” or “free analysis by foundation repair companies” and investigate. This is problematic. Why? Because relevance in Google’s algorithms is partly achieved by spending money on paid ads and other traffic enhancers, including a concerted effort to garner positive reviews from every single customer. Most foundation repair contractors are part of a network or belong to a large, PE-backed company. This allows them to leverage marketing in ways that others cannot. Is this ultimately the best course for homeowners and real estate professionals? Is this in their best interests?
I queried Claude AI for problems in the industry, and this is the answer I got:
Common Industry Problems
Overdiagnosis and Unnecessary Work
Many companies exaggerate minor settling issues as major structural problems requiring expensive repairs. They may claim that normal hairline cracks indicate catastrophic foundation failure, when in reality, they’re often just cosmetic issues resulting from normal settling.
High-Pressure Sales Tactics
Some contractors create artificial urgency, claiming your home will collapse or become worthless without immediate repairs. They may offer “limited-time” discounts or refuse to provide written estimates, pressuring homeowners to sign contracts on the spot.
Inadequate Inspections
Quick, superficial inspections that miss the actual cause of foundation issues. Problems like poor drainage, plumbing leaks, or soil issues may be ignored in favor of selling expensive foundation work that won’t solve the underlying problem.
Poor Quality Materials and Workmanship
Using substandard materials, inadequate pier depths, or improper installation techniques that lead to recurring problems. Some companies cut corners to maximize profits, leaving homeowners with repairs that fail within a few years.
Red Flags to Watch For
The most reliable warning signs include contractors who demand full payment upfront, refuse to provide references, can’t show proof of insurance and licensing, or create an extreme sense of urgency around normal foundation settling. Legitimate companies provide detailed written estimates, encourage getting second opinions, and can demonstrate a solid local reputation with verifiable references.
Getting multiple opinions from established, licensed contractors and understanding that most foundation issues develop gradually over years (not days) can help homeowners avoid these common pitfalls.
Given my experience, I can say that, for the most part, it is not hallucinating. Perhaps I can spend more time on this particular answer specifically. But to the last point… get multiple opinions (and bids).
3 Bids… Three Scopes
Three foundation repair contractors come out and give three scopes of work, most of which do not agree with each other. This helps the contractors escape apples-to-apples bids. This allows them to then engage in pontifications about how smart and qualified they are and how the competitors are getting it wrong. The reality is, in fact, that all three may have it incorrect or at least not fully correct. See my most recent blog post on this.
Sales People
Foundation repair salespeople are educated by their single-source supplier to provide the solutions that this supplier provides, and are silent on all other realities. As outlined in my previous blog, they often don’t possess the detailed mindset, the education in soil mechanics and structural load paths, and the oversight needed for this.
Engineer Qualifications
Compare this to the detailed mindset that inspectors and engineers possess, their five years of formal education (for engineers), and oversight, and it quickly becomes apparent that for homeowners, this latter group is in their best interests. Most states regulate both home inspectors and engineers and oversee their workmanship. They have entrance requirements that involve testing and apprenticeships.
Problems with Engineers
I regularly get calls, texts, emails, and social media contacts from homeowners looking to find good forensic engineers all across America and Canada. See my blog on the subject of qualifying engineers.
I then dove into an internet search to find qualified residential forensic engineers. I searched for several terms similar to this in North America and then drilled down on their websites to confirm that they provide these services. I have not called many of them yet to see exactly what it is they do for an investigation, but some of them I have spoken with.
Almost all of the engineers that I found were structural engineers, and many of those who claim to offer “foundation repair engineering” really only provide a spacing calculation for permit requirements. Almost none of them provide upfront analysis to vet the problems and provide data-driven solutions. More on this in a later post.
Very few engineers provide residential forensic work to begin with, in comparison to work in infrastructure, commercial, industrial, mining, and similar sectors. When I point this out to engineers, they say that is where the money is and the least risk. Wrong on both counts. See my post on qualified engineers.
When I point out the problems in the industry to these engineers and their oath to protect the public welfare, they shrug. Apparently, it’s not important to them.
Even the engineers who really try to make a difference in this space lack the feedback from contractors on the constructability of the specified solutions. Clearly, more work needs to be done to provide homeowners and real estate professionals with better solutions.
Sometimes I get pushback from foundation repair contractors on line. They tell me that its not worth the large amount of money spent on engineering in order to get specified solutions for foundation repair. I agree this a problem. Its why I am working really hard to bring the costs down with some innovative collaboration and systems.
I push back on the cost/value of hiring an engineer with the following:
Dr. Analogy
I like to use this analogy. If you were really seriously sick and didn’t know what the problem was, let alone any possible solution… would you pay money to go to a real doctor, or would you, for free, visit a pharmaceutical sales rep?
Professor 1:10 Returns
When I was a student at Arizona State University in Architecture, I had a professor opine that for every dollar spent up front, $10 was spent during construction. Is this really right? How? Below, I show the nuts and bolts of how this works in foundation repair.
Ways to Save Money and Get Better Value
While free analysis by foundation repair companies might seem like a bargain upfront, the hidden costs and risks make professional engineering services a smarter long-term investment.
Apples to Apples Bids
When an engineer investigates a problem and provides a data-backed solution with specifications on a plan, this can then be bid out to foundation repair companies. Now, the game of inflating the price but selling on “other issues than price” is minimized. Other issues like, “We are smarter and understand the problem, unlike our competitors.”
Now, they must provide a bid “per plans and specs” or they will be a “non-responsive bidder.” If they have questions or concerns about the plan, they can raise those during the bidding process in an open and transparent manner.
The end result is that they now must compete on price. They know they must sharpen their pencils and submit bids as low as possible to win the job profitably. I know because, as a contractor, I have been in this position and have frank relationships with other foundation repair owners who have as well. The savings here will likely pay for the engineering costs.
Saving One Pier
Piers cost around $2,500 each. Saving one pier will easily pay for the engineering services, let alone two piers or more. What if no piers are really needed? The savings will be many times the cost of the professional investigation. The likelihood of no serious repairs is high based on the recommendations I am seeing today from foundation repair companies. At the very least, a time-based monitoring system to gauge future movement should almost always be a serious consideration. That will guide whether repairs are really needed or not.
Bid Management
I have been a part of the commercial “bid-build-buy” process and have seen firsthand the gamesmanship that often occurs in that world. I can see that homeowners are not equipped to deal with those games. Engineers can help homeowners manage this process and ensure that the award goes to the bidder who provides the best value for their service. This, again, makes the engineering service pay for itself on just this one item.
Special Inspection
Currently, most jurisdictions lazily let the foundation repair contractor hire their own special inspector. This is contrary to IBC guidelines. It allows the relationship between the contractor and inspector to trump what is best for the homeowner. For example, one pesky problem that comes up over and over is the distance between the face of the footing and the face of the side-loading bracket that holds the pile. If it is not flush, its capacity is seriously diminished. Inspectors who want to continue doing business with a contractor will often overlook these discrepancies. What if the pile spins out? Homeowners are ill-equipped to deal with these kinds of things.
A much better plan is for the engineer who designed the plan to oversee the work to ensure that it is installed per their intended plan. The engineer should control the relationship, not the contractor. This may not save money on the first costs of construction; however, for the value of work received, it is a huge increase in value.
Change Order Management
Now, let’s discuss the work itself. On at least 50% of foundation repair projects, after the work has started, the contractor comes back to the homeowner to inform them that there are “unknown conditions” that require additional work… of course, at an additional cost. “You need five more piers at a cost of $2,500 each.”
Why does this happen so often? I have seen this not only in my own company but also in many others that I’ve worked with in the past. First, the analysis and sales-authorized repair plans are flawed, as we have already discussed here and in many of my other posts. Second, the field workers, particularly the foreman, are paid on a percentage basis. If, for any variety of reasons, they are losing their incentive pay on a particular job, they will suggest additional work in order to get back in the black, so to speak.
Homeowners can’t manage these claims. They usually shrug and reach for their wallet. Some push back. Then, the contractor ramps up the pressure. He says, “If you don’t agree with this, then we cannot warranty the work with our ‘lifetime warranty.’” More on “lifetime warranties” in a later post. At this point, the homeowner usually buckles.
However, if the engineer who did the original analysis and provided the plan is overseeing the work and managing the contractor, the contractor will think twice before bringing up the subject of change orders. And if they do, they better have their ducks in a row, because the engineer will look more closely at the conditions and any proposed additional work with much more knowledge than the contractor has at their disposal.
This alone will save the homeowner many times the cost of the original engineering evaluation.
Letter of Completion
When the project is completed, the engineer can provide a letter of completion that holds tremendous value—much more so than the “lifetime warranty” that the contractor provides. If a later claim is made that the home still has foundation issues, the engineer’s letter trumps anything put out there otherwise, saving the homeowner untold distress, money, and just plain brain damage.
Conclusion
After analyzing all of the factors, it becomes abundantly clear that free analysis by foundation repair companies comes with a cost that is far more than the cost of professional engineering. Now we just need more engineers to provide this service.
This blog is right-on, does a great job of pointing out the pit-falls of this industry. However, when your facing a serious foundation problem that has to be dealt with I highly recommend reading this blog to educate yourself before getting sucked into a bigger problem than you started with.