Foundation Repair questions from Collin County homeowners

Piers run $400 to $700 each installed, and most homes need between 8 and 20. The typical job in McKinney lands in the range of $4,000 to $12,000. Pier-and-beam releveling starts around $2,500. Every pier is listed with its own price on the quote.

A homeowner inspection is free. It includes a floor level survey, an exterior and interior walk, a drainage check and a written report. An independent engineer's report is $450 to $800.

The clay under most of Collin County shrinks when it dries and swells when the rain comes back. The soil under the edges of the house dries first, so the perimeter drops while the center stays put. A plumbing leak, a big tree or a downspout dumping at the slab makes it worse in one spot.

Usually not on their own. Movement in the middle of a slab points to a plumbing leak or a tree far more often than to soil at the edges. We run a hydrostatic plumbing test, $275 to $425, before quoting interior piers.

In the dry months, yes. The goal is even moisture around the whole perimeter, not wet soil. A soaker hose a foot or two out from the slab, run on the same schedule all summer, does more than most people expect.

The clay is at its driest from late July into September, after weeks of 100 degree days with almost no rain, and a lift reads truest once the October rains have put some moisture back in the ground. Repairs can be done in any season. The one thing to avoid is lifting a slab at the driest point of the year, because the lift will not read true once the clay rewets.

McKinney, Plano and most Collin County cities will not issue a foundation repair permit without a pier plan sealed by a Texas licensed professional engineer, and McKinney also wants the engineer's final report before the permit is closed, so we bring an independent engineer in on every permitted job. Outside a permit, an engineer's report is worth paying for in a sale, a lender's file, an insurance claim or a dispute with a builder. For a settled corner with an obvious cause and no permit involved, the free inspection is usually enough to decide.

Pier work needs a building permit in McKinney, Plano, Frisco, Wylie and most Collin County cities, with sealed engineer drawings in McKinney and Plano, and we pull it as part of the job. Driveway and patio leveling and most yard drainage do not need one, and under-slab plumbing repairs go on the plumber's permit.

Texas does not license foundation repair contractors, so there is no state license number to check for pier work. The licenses that matter are the engineer who seals the plan, licensed by the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, and the plumber who runs the hydrostatic test. Our crews are insured and work under both.

Yes. The pier warranty is written, it goes to the next owner of the house, and the pier drawing stays on file for the buyer's inspector. Texas sellers must complete the TREC Seller's Disclosure Notice, which asks directly about foundation and slab defects, previous structural repair, improper drainage and soil movement, so a documented repair with a transferable warranty is far easier to explain to a buyer than a known problem left alone.