Foundation repair cost: $2,224 to $8,134 (This Old House)

Foundation repair cost by method

National figures. Where publishers differ, both are shown; the ranges are not merged.

Angi's August 2026 data puts foundation repair at $5,174 on average and $1.50 to $12 per square foot, and This Old House's October 2026 guide puts it at $5,179. Both agree on $250 to $800 for a crack, $1,000 to $3,000 per pier and $20,000 to $23,000 to lift and level a house. HomeGuide's February 2026 guide gives wider job totals: settling or sinking $4,500 to $20,000, underpinning $10,000 to $20,000 in its table and up to $30,000 or more in its text, and house lifting $10,000 to $40,000. Labor is around $200 an hour in Angi's and This Old House's figures.

Do this now: get the price in the right units

A foundation quote is only comparable when you know the unit. Before you sign anything:

1. Ask for the pier count and the per-pier price. Angi and This Old House put piers at $1,000 to $3,000 each; HomeGuide puts helical piers at $2,000 to $4,000 and says a typical house needs 5 to 10, spaced every 5 to 8 feet. Ten piers at the top of either range is a very different job from four.
2. Ask what is being lifted and to what. The ASCE Texas Section guideline warns that "it is unlikely that elevation adjustments will result in a level foundation" and that underpinning does not improve the parts of the foundation that are not underpinned.
3. Get the drainage line itemized. Angi lists drainage system installation at $2,800 to $6,500 and poor soil drainage fixes at $800 to $15,000. Grading and downspouts come first and cost least ($500 to $5,000 for grading in HomeGuide's figures).
4. Ask whether an engineer designed it. An engineer's report is $300 to $1,000 (Angi) or $500 to $1,000 (This Old House). Foundation inspection cost explains who writes what.
5. Check the permit. Angi, This Old House and HomeGuide all list permits at $75 to $150; HomeGuide's helical pier guide puts foundation building permits at $600 to $3,600 in some places. Ask who pulls it.

Is it urgent? When cost should not be the first question

Price shopping is fine for a crack that has not changed in a year and a floor that has sloped since you bought the house. It is not the first question when a wall has moved since you last looked, a horizontal crack opened after heavy rain, water is rising with power on, or plumbing under a slab has stopped draining. The foundation repair hub lists the emergency signs; the basement crack repair guide explains which crack patterns engineers flag.

Cost by foundation type

Angi, August 2026; HomeGuide, February 2026. The wide ranges reflect crack repair at the low end and piers or wall rebuilds at the high end.

Slab, pier and beam and crawl space repairs overlap because the method, not the foundation, sets the price. This Old House says costs "average about the same for all foundation types, except for pier and beam and stone foundations." Pier and beam work is often framing and shims rather than concrete: HomeGuide's sagging floor guide puts sistering a joist at $150 to $325 and replacing one at $350 to $1,000. The foundation underpinning guide covers piers, leveling and mudjacking vs polyurethane foam in detail.

Slab foundation repair cost: mudjacking vs foam vs piers

Lifting a sunken slab costs $4 to $9 per square foot by mudjacking and $8 to $25 per square foot by polyurethane foam in HomeGuide's November 2025 guide, with minimum job fees of $300 to $700. Angi and This Old House list mudjacking or slabjacking at $500 to $1,300 and $550 to $1,300 for a typical job. HomeGuide prices an 800-square-foot basement floor at $3,200 to $7,200 and a 1,500-square-foot foundation at $6,000 to $13,500, says mudjacking lasts 5 to 10 years or longer, and says it is not suitable for crumbling concrete or weak soil, where it adds load. A slab that has settled because the soil under it moved is a pier job, not a lifting job, and that is where the $4,500 to $20,000 settling range comes from.

Foundation replacement cost

Replacing a foundation costs $20,000 to $100,000 in Angi's and HomeGuide's figures, and HomeGuide's crack guide puts a complete rebuild at $25,000 to $75,000 or more, with lifting the house for the work able to exceed $100,000. Replacement is the last answer. Most of what gets called a failing foundation is a settling corner, a bowing wall or water, each of which has a repair in the table above.

What drives the price

• Access. A finished basement, a crawl space under 18 inches, or a slab with plumbing in it adds labor at around $200 an hour (Angi, This Old House).
• Soil. A soil report runs $500 to $3,000 (Angi, This Old House). Expansive clay, a high water table and frost each change the method.
• Depth to bearing soil. HomeGuide puts helical piers at 10 to 30 feet typical and charges $20 to $25 or more per extra foot.
• Water. If drainage caused the movement, the drainage is part of the bill: $2,800 to $6,500 for a drainage system (Angi), $500 to $5,000 for grading (HomeGuide). See basement waterproofing cost and French drain cost.
• Engineering and permits. $300 to $3,000 for a report depending on the publisher and scope, $75 to $150 for permits.

Insurance and licensing

Standard homeowners policies exclude flood, earthquake, landslide and sinkhole damage and damage from lack of maintenance (Triple-I), and the Maryland Insurance Administration says water that seeps in through a foundation wall or floor is treated as a maintenance issue and generally not covered. A burst pipe is the usual exception. Does homeowners insurance cover home repairs covers the lines.

Texas has no state license for foundation repair: a 2011 bill that would have created one (S.B. 1399) said at the time that "there is no state regulation in place to directly mitigate these risks," and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation's list of 41 regulated industries still has no foundation repair program. Other states differ, so check your own state's contractor board, ask for the license number if your state issues one, and ask for proof of insurance either way.

Foundation repair cost by city

Local pages with local rules and prices: San Antonio, Fort Worth, Dallas, Kansas City, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, Oklahoma City. Calls go to an independent company that serves your area and takes this kind of job; hours vary. How calls work.