What is the average cost of foundation repair?

Angi's national cost survey puts the average foundation repair at $5,176, with most homeowners spending between $2,225 and $8,135. That average covers everything from sealing a crack to underpinning a whole house, so it is useful as a sanity check and useless as a prediction for your house.

How much is one pier?

Steel push piers run $1,200 to $3,000 each nationally and helical piers $1,500 to $2,500. A typical residential job needs six to ten of them, which is what puts most pier-based repairs in the $9,000 to $25,000 range.

Why do two quotes for the same house differ so much?

Usually because they are not for the same work. One may be a Level A visual walk-through with a pier count estimated from cracks; the other a Level B evaluation with measured floor elevations and a pier plan. Different pier counts, different depths, and different types produce very different numbers. A written scope naming every pier and its location is what makes the difference visible.

Is the cheapest quote ever the right one?

Sometimes, and the way to know is whether the scopes match. A cheaper quote for the same measured pier plan is a better deal. A cheaper quote that skipped the measuring and guessed at half the piers is not cheaper, it is smaller — and the rest of it arrives as a second job later.

Does homeowners insurance cover foundation repair?

Movement caused by soil expanding and contracting is typically excluded from standard homeowners policies, which is the exact mechanism at work on clay. Damage caused by a sudden covered event, such as a plumbing leak under the slab, may be treated differently. Read your own policy and ask your insurer directly rather than taking a contractor's word for it.

Can I do any of it myself?

The structural work, no. The prevention, yes, and it is the best value in this whole trade: keep rainwater discharging well away from the slab, keep the ground sloping away from the house, and run a soaker hose 12 to 18 inches out during dry spells in short frequent runs. That costs the price of a hose and a timer and it addresses the actual mechanism.

What Foundation Repair Costs — San Angelo, TX Guide

Read this part first

Every number on this page is national market data published by cost-survey services. It is here so you have a reference point before a number is put in front of you, which is the thing most homeowners are missing when they make a five-figure decision. It is not what your repair will cost. Nobody can tell you that from a web page, and a contractor who quotes a price before measuring your floors is guessing. Get a real number for your own house, measured and in writing →

The overall picture

Average foundation repair, all types: $5,176.
Most projects land between $2,225 and $8,135.

Pier work

Steel push piers: $1,200 to $3,000 per pier.
Helical piers: $1,500 to $2,500 per pier.
A typical residential job: six to ten piers, so roughly $9,000 to $25,000.

This is where quotes diverge most, and almost always because the pier counts differ. A pier plan produced from measured floor elevations and one estimated from a walk around the outside are not the same product. The four things worth asking of every quote you get →

Leveling

Foundation leveling, the most common repair nationally: $1,500 to $10,000.

Pier and beam

Pier and beam repair: $1,500 to $15,000 typical, with the full span running $800 to $25,000.
Re-shimming piers: about $1,600 average, most jobs $1,200 to $2,000.
A single added pier: $800 to $4,000, around $2,000 typical.

What moves the number on a San Angelo house

Depth is the big one, and it is a local factor rather than a general one. Piers have to reach past the layer of soil that responds to the weather, and around here that layer is deep: the USDA records cracking in the Tobosa clay near San Angelo reaching 20 to 60 inches down. A pier stopping inside that zone is founded on ground that still moves.

After that: how many piers, whether access is easy or the work is under a patio or inside the house, whether under-slab plumbing needs testing, and whether drainage or a nearby tree has to be dealt with so the repair holds.

Ground and climate facts on this page come from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Official Soil Series Descriptions for the Tobosa, Lipan and Angelo series (all three mapped in Tom Green County) and from NOAA climate normals for San Angelo. Cost figures are from Angi's national foundation repair cost survey and HomeGuide's pier and beam repair cost data.

The cheapest thing you can do

Prevention costs almost nothing and addresses the actual mechanism. Keep rainwater discharging well clear of the slab, keep the ground sloping away from the house, and hold the soil moisture steady through dry spells with a soaker hose 12 to 18 inches out, run in short frequent stretches rather than one long soak. On ground that stays cracked open 210 or more cumulative days a year, evenness is the whole game.

What foundation repair costs