Archive for the ‘Discount Foundation Repair’ Category

Why Does the Cost of Concrete Slab Foundation Repair Vary by Contractor?

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Five reasons for foundation repair cost differences:

  1. Pier spacing: There are established quidelines for pier spacing for both one and two story concrete slab foundations. Sometimes these are violated to provide a “low bid”
  2. Cost of installing piers: The installation cost for concrete cylinders pilings is dependent upon soil moisture and installation technique.  When soil is dry, a reputable company will water inject to achieve greater piling depth. Water injection takes longer and costs more in materials and man-power. The result is well worth the additional cost of foundation repair.
  3. Pier type: In the Dallas Fort Worth area the two most common piers are concrete pilings and steel piers. Steel piers are driven to rock or shale, while concrete pilings are limited in depth by soil moisture and the weight of the house.  A deeper drive is alway preferable.  In areas of Houston, where rock is 600 feet deep, steel in not practical.
  4. Insurance: A reputable company will carry Liability Insurance and Workers Comp Insurance.  This insurance is expensive.  Workers Comp Insurance assures that if a worker is injured at your house, his injury is fully covered by the company. Without the insurance an injured worker can seek reimbursement for all medical costs from the homeowner.
  5. Permits: There is the direct cost of the permit, and the indirect cost of an engineering report by a professional engineer. Skipping the permit process can save upwards of $600…unless the city catches the violation.

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Discount Foundation Repair in Dallas Ft Worth Texas – Part 5 in a Series

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

One way to keep the cost of foundation repair low for the contractor is to not pay for insurance.

As a homeowner, you need a foundation repair company that has current insurance: both Workers Compensation and Liability Insurance.  In Texas

the cost of most Workers Compensation Insurance policies run about 8% of wages.

It is not mandatory that the employer insure his workers against on the job accidents.  Most accidents occur at the job site, on your property.  You, the homeowner, could be held liable if a worker is injured while working on your house.

Liability Insurance is also not mandatory.  I am not going to speculate as to what may go wrong during foundation repair. Suffice it to say that Granite Foundation Repair carries liability insurance for $1,000,000 per occurrence.  A million dollars of insurance to cover the unforeseen.   Liability insurance runs $1500-2000 per month.

As a condition of ongoing membership in the Foundation Repair Association, Granite Foundation Repair, Inc. carries both Liability and Workers Comp Insurance.

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Discount Foundation Repair in Dallas Ft Worth Save $1000 – Part 4 in a Series

Friday, January 1st, 2010

This is part of a continuing series to educate the homeowner on how low cost foundation repair companies may cut corners.

“Save $1000 on discount foundation repair”.  You may have better luck with the tooth fairy, because foundation repair is not a non-profit business.  To save a $1000, shortcuts will be taken.

Labor is a major component of foundation repair cost.  Budget foundation repair companies reduce the cost of labor by using semi-skilled and even unskilled contract labor.  Day  laborers can save a lot of money, and with any luck, they won’t damage much of your property.

Granite Foundation Repair does not use day laborers because they aren’t attuned to proper installation processes.  Following a prescribed installation process takes time and training. Which means that one must invest in a well trained work force.

Contract labor  typically saves upwards of 20%.   In the long run the contractor may experience a high warranty claim rate, but will he even be around when you need him.

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Discount Foundation Repair in Dallas Ft Worth Texas/ Part 3 in a Series

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

This is part of a continuing series. Don’t be mis-lead by deep discount foundation repair .

A disreputable foundation repair company will short drive piers/pilings. Saves on material cost and installation time.   It is easy to drive short pilings in clay soil when concrete cylinders are used.  And for a couple of years, all will look fine.  But don’t be mislead.  Read on:

Pressed concrete piling depth is achieved by using hydraulic force against the weight of the house.  The dryer the clay, the more force is required to achieve pier depth.   The goal in driving pilings is to drive downward to the zone of minimal seasonal moisture variation, or rock.  At the zone of minimal seasonal moisture variation, the pier provides maximum long term support.

Four most concrete slab house repairs, at Granite Foundation Repair, we prefer steel pilings, which always drive to rock.  A lot can be done though to drive concrete cylinders/piers/pilings to maximum depth.  During dry weather, there are several tricks that a discount foundation repair company can use to level your house while attaining a pier depth of 3-5 feet.  This depth is good enough to lift the house, but not to provide long term stability.

What is the foundation repair company’s warranty and remedy for a sinking pier?  ADD MORE STEEL SHIMS. That often fails to stop future subsidence.

Here are 3 ways to achieve maximum depth, maximum stability, which the discounter will avoid:

1. Water injection:  At Granite Foundation Repair, we typically hydrate dry clay soil in 3-5 spots per pier using high pressure water injection.

2. Slow, steady hydraulic driving: A patient installation crew member can achieve 2-5 more feet of depth by using a slow push.

3. Don’t take breaks: When the drive of a single piling is interrupted for more than about 20 minutes, the force to resume the drive increases exponentially with time.  During a drive, a cone of soil occurs at the end of the concrete pier. When the drive stops, the cone disappears.  Resuming the drive means overcoming the forces of flat clay resistance.  Also, during a continuous drive, clay particles slip past the porous concrete. Stop the drive and the clay sticks to the cylinder.

Good stable foundation repair is as much about the process as it is about the base material.  Discount foundation repair is all about taking shortcuts to save the installer money.  In the long run the homeowner may have a lot more problems as a result of deeply discounted foundation repair.

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Discount Foundation Repair in Dallas Fort Worth Texas: Part 2 of a Series

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Foundation Repair Cost can be cut by increasing pier spacings.  Discount foundation repair companies will claim to save you money by installing less piers than you need.

The Foundation Performance Association has adopted standards for concrete cylinder pier placement along the exterior walls for residential construction.  Below are  few excerpt from the report:

Single story brick veneer house shall have piers spaced no more than 8 feet apart.

Two story brick veneer house shall have piers spaced no more than 6 feet apart.

When a porch, patio or dormer extends more than 3 feet, there shall be a pier/piling at each inside corner, each outside corner, and with separations not to exceed 6 or 8 feet as defined above.

Where a wall changes direction, a pier or piling shall be placed at each corner.

Interior pier spacing is 8 feet on single story and 7 feet on two story.

There is a lot more to pier placement than these excerpts, but by now you should get the idea.

Compare repair plans.  Ask each company about the logic behind its pier placement.

We are not suggesting that every house exterior and interior needs to be wrapped with piers, but we are suggesting that a contractor can offer a cheap price by cutting out much needed piers.

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Discounted Foundation Repair in Dallas Fort Worth Texas Part One of a Series

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Far too many companies prey upon homeowners with the lure of discounted foundation repair.  This series of articles will touch upon several ways a foundation repair company can offer cheap, discounted foundation repair.

Part one: Are materials cheaper?  The foundation repair material is only cheaper if the discount foundation repair company uses inferior foundation repair materials.

One way to do this is to use low quality concrete pour samples, given away free by the state and federal highway concrete test houses.  The 12 inch cylinder looks like a normal pier component, but the giveaway is the absence of a hole in the center.  During highway construction, concrete samples are poured and tested for strength.  The lot of samples is retained until all reports are submitted. Then, pass or fail, the samples are scrap for the test house and given away to anyone who wants to cart them off.

So ask to see a sample of the pressed concrete pier before you sign the contract.  Then, be present during installation.

At Granite Foundation Repair we buy from reputable manufacturers who have submitted representative concrete cylinder pier samples to an independent test house.

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Why do I have to pay for a building permit to fix my foundation?

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

To shave the bid price, or to save money, some foundation repair companies fail to include a building permit in the bid, and will not obtain a building permit to repair a foundation.

A few cities require no building permit, such as Rowlett Texas and Rockwall Texas.

In Fort Worth a building permit must be purchased and displayed prominently the day before any foundation repair work begins.

Permits aren’t cheap. In addition to the building permit price of $40 to $250, there is the cost of the foundation engineer’s pre repair and post repair reports, which adds another $500 to the cost of the foundation repair.

The problem with failing to get a permit when required is that each city has its own fine structure for the property owner and contractor.  And the city will stop a non-permitted foundation repair until all of the paper work is correct.

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