When I was a new real estate agent, I wanted everything to be black and white. If a home inspection flagged the foundation, I figured we’d call a specialist and get a straight answer. Either the house needed foundation work or it didn’t. Simple enough, right?
Then I learned you can send three different specialists to the same house and get three completely different diagnoses. One says to keep an eye on it. Another wants to put piers along one side. A third comes back with a plan that makes you wonder if they all looked at the same house.
That was frustrating when I was new. Over time, I learned to ask each person what they saw, what they think caused it, and why they’d do the work they’re recommending. Those answers tell me a lot more than the number of piers on a bid.
Start by finding out how level the slab is
A foundation repair company will often come out at no charge and take elevation readings. In plain English, they measure how high or low different parts of the floor are relative to one another. I think that’s a great place to start.
The readings give you a snapshot of the slab on the day it was measured. From there, I want to know whether the numbers line up with what’s happening in the house. Are doors sticking? Are there cracks in the drywall or brick? Do we have older readings to compare? A low spot could have been there since construction, and an elevation map by itself can’t tell you whether it’s still moving.
Here in McKinney and across much of North Texas, we deal with clay soils that swell when they get wet and shrink when they dry out. Buyers coming from other states are often terrified when they hear the words foundation movement. I get it. Around here, we hear it often enough to know what questions to ask before deciding how big a deal it is.
Who I call, and why I still want another opinion
I use John Lee with DFW Slab Repair. He’s someone I call when I want to get a read on what’s going on. Even when I have someone I trust, I still think it’s worth getting more than one opinion, especially if the proposed work is extensive. DFW Slab Repair website
In my experience, some of the big companies you hear advertising all the time on FM radio can oversell the amount of work a house needs. When one company recommends significantly more work than another, I want them to walk me through where they’d put the piers and what they expect each part of the repair to accomplish.
A structural engineer generally charges a fee for the inspection, and sometimes there’s a backlog before they can get out. That matters if you’re a buyer with a short option period. I’ve also had engineers recommend more work than I expected and more than other specialists thought was warranted. I still value an independent engineering opinion, especially when the signs of movement are significant or the repair plans are all over the map. I want to understand what’s driving the recommendation before anyone starts digging.
What happens when you lift a foundation?
When you lift part of a slab, the house above it moves too. A door that was sticking might start closing properly. You can also get new drywall cracks, gaps in trim, or cracked tile. If I’m helping a seller plan foundation work, I’d rather have that conversation before they pay someone to patch and paint the whole house.
The lift can also disturb plumbing under the slab. That’s why plumbing testing is often part of the repair process. Testing before a lift can help identify an existing leak, and testing afterward can check whether the lift affected the water supply or drain lines. I like to ask up front who’s handling the tests and whether they’re included in the bid.
When a buyer calls me worried about a foundation note in an inspection report, I want to get specific. What did the inspector see? Do the elevation readings support it? If two people recommend different repairs, can each explain why? Sometimes the answers make a house we were worried about feel a lot more manageable. Sometimes they tell us the work is more than the buyer wants to take on. Either way, that’s a decision we can make with more confidence than we could from the word foundation in an inspection report.
If you’re buying or selling in McKinney or around North Texas, my team at Tye Realty Group can help you work through those questions and figure out what the findings mean for your deal.