Hiring
Choosing a foundation repair contractor
Settle the diagnosis first, then compare bidders line by line on the same written scope.
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Written by HyreFoundation Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking
The short answer
Choose a foundation repair contractor by making every bidder price the same written scope, ideally one from an independent engineer you pay.
Then compare method, pier count, assumed depth, the overage rate, warranty terms and how long the company has traded. Check licensing and insurance yourself.
A contract signed at home often carries a federal three-day right to cancel.
Key takeaways
Three bids against three different diagnoses are not three bids.
Ask how long they have been trading.
Nobody selling you piers will mention it.
The ten things to check
In rough order of how much they matter, which is not the order a sales visit will present them in.
Licensed in your state, engaged and paid by you, with no relationship to any repair company. This is the whole ballgame and everything below is secondary to it.
Requirements vary enormously by state and in several states there is nothing to check. Ask for the number and verify it with the board yourself rather than accepting a logo.
General liability and workers’ compensation, confirmed by certificate from the carrier. A PDF emailed by the contractor is not confirmation.
Method, pier count, where each pier goes, assumed depth to bearing, target lift, and the rate that applies if bearing turns out to be deeper than assumed.
A company that sells one product will find that you need that product. One that can explain why a method was chosen over the alternatives is a better sign than one that has no alternatives.
Particularly on slab foundations, where a leaking supply or drain line under the slab is a common cause and lifting the slab can break more of it. Ask whether a static test happens before and after.
What is covered, for how long, whether it transfers to a buyer, what voids it, and whether it covers only the piers installed or the area around them too.
Operating history is part of the product when the product is a thirty-year promise. Check the entity with the Secretary of State, not just the trading name on the truck.
Whether cracks get filled, doors rehung, floors, landscaping and hardscape put back — and by whom. This is commonly excluded and commonly assumed.
Work on comparable properties nearby. Soil conditions do not travel, and neither does experience of them.
What a comparable set of bids looks like
The left column is the point. Two of these can be compared with each other; the third cannot be compared with anything.
| Option | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Bidding against | Your engineer’s report · Your engineer’s report · the bidder’s own free inspection |
| Method stated | Helical piers · Push piers · "foundation stabilization" |
| Pier count | 14, individually located · 14, individually located · not stated |
| Depth assumption | Stated, with an overage rate per foot · Stated, with an overage rate · not stated |
| Target lift | Stated, with the limits acknowledged · Stated · "maximum practical recovery" |
| Plumbing test | Before and after · Before and after · not included |
| Warranty | Transferable, 25 years, terms attached · Transferable lifetime, terms attached · "lifetime" with no document |
| Reinstatement | Included and itemized · Partial, itemized · excluded |
Illustrative layout, not real companies and not real prices. It demonstrates what makes a bid comparable; no firm is described or rated here.
Get an independent diagnosis before you compare bids.
Choosing between bidders only works once there is a scope to bid against.
If the only assessment you have is a free inspection from a company that would be paid for the repair, you do not yet have something to bid against — and that is the step where the money is actually won or lost.
What to ask before you sign
What is the rate per additional foot?
What to have ready
With the elevation survey, if you have one. The whole process hangs on this document.
Every crack, with something for scale, ideally taken more than once over several months.
From your elevation log, if you started one.
Its age, the foundation type, and any previous repair or insurance claim.
Trees removed or planted, a new patio or driveway, irrigation, a drought, a plumbing leak.
Where this goes wrong
It can be entirely honest and it is still a sales visit — the person diagnosing works for the company that would be paid to fix it. Two free inspections are two sales visits, not two opinions.
A cheaper number for fewer piers at a shallower assumed depth is not a cheaper price. It is a different job, and usually a smaller one than the house needs.
Foundations move over years. Pressure to sign today — a discount that expires, a crew "already in the area" — is a sales technique, not an engineering finding.
A transferable lifetime warranty from a company that dissolves or is acquired may be worth very little. Longevity and legal entity are part of what you are buying.
An engineer referred and paid by the repair company is not the independent check you think you bought. Engage one directly.
Lifting a slab over a leaking line can break more of it. Finding out afterward is expensive and the argument about who pays is worse.
Get connected
Tell us about the work
Three short steps: the job, your home, and how to reach you. Nothing goes to a foundation company unless you agree.
A straight answer first. Matching is still being built, so this is not an instant quote. If a wall is moving or a door frame has racked out of square this week, call a structural engineer first.
Find a Foundation Professional
Tell us what you are seeing and where you are. We will follow up about connecting you with foundation professionals serving your area.
Questions
How many foundation repair quotes should I get?
Is the most expensive foundation bid the most thorough?
Can I cancel a foundation repair contract after signing?
Should I pay a large deposit for foundation repair?
Do I need an engineer if the contractor says I do not?
What if my state does not license foundation contractors?
Written and audited by
HyreFoundation Research Desk
Primary-source research and fact checking
We read the model building code, the federal soil and moisture guidance and the insurer position ourselves, and we publish each figure with the document it came from and the date we retrieved it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we say so instead of printing it. HyreFoundation does not inspect, engineer or repair foundations. Authorship is organizational: this desk, not a named persona.
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How this desk works
- Primary sources only. Code statements come from the International Residential Code, Chapter 4, as the model code. Soil statements come from USDA and USGS. Insurance statements come from the policy language and the Insurance Information Institute. We open the source rather than cite a blog that cites it.
- The code is a model, and adoption is local. Your jurisdiction adopts an edition and amends it, and foundation chapters are amended more than most because frost depth and soil are local facts. Every code figure says so.
- We hold no job data. We have no dataset of bids, pier counts or invoices, so no page claims an average from one. Calculators show the arithmetic and the inputs they assumed, and label the result as an estimate.
- We do not diagnose your house. A crack guide can tell you which pattern to measure and when to call a structural engineer. It cannot tell you whether your foundation is failing. An engineer on site does that work.
- We do not repair foundations, and we take no payment for placement, ranking or a favorable mention. Nobody buys a position on this site.
Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold. Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.
Information on this page is general and varies with soil, climate, foundation type, building code, insurance policy and circumstance.
It is not engineering, insurance or legal advice, and no page can tell you whether your house has a structural problem: that needs a licensed professional on site.
HyreFoundation is an independent foundation resource, not a repair contractor or an engineering firm, and does not perform, supervise or warrant foundation work.