Guide
Choosing a foundation repair company
The company you reach through this site is independent, and so is your decision about whether to hire it. This page is about the checks that are yours to make.
The rule in Texas
There is no state license to look up
Texas does not license foundation repair contractors. The trade is not among the industries regulated by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and a 2013 bill that would have created a license failed in the Texas House.
So anyone who tells you a company is state licensed for foundation repair is mistaken. What exists instead is a set of smaller checks. Each one is quick.
Five checks
What you are able to verify
- City registration
- Frisco requires contractors to register with Building Inspections before working in the city. Search the company on the city's eTRAKiT site.
- The engineer
- Get the name of the engineer who will stamp the design and confirm the license in the state engineer roster. Engineers, unlike foundation contractors, are licensed by the state.
- Insurance
- Ask for a certificate of liability insurance sent to you by the company's insurer, not a photocopy handed over at the door.
- The permit
- Ask to see it before work starts. In Frisco a foundation repair without one is missing a legal step. See permits in Frisco.
- Past work
- Ask for the addresses of recent jobs in Frisco and look them up in the city's permit records. Read what past customers say, and give more weight to accounts of how problems were handled than to praise.
The warranty
Six questions about the warranty
Most foundation repairs are sold with a long warranty. The length matters less than the answers to these.
- Who stands behind it? The local company alone, or a manufacturer or insurer as well? If the company closes, who do you call?
- What does it cover? Usually the piers that were installed. Parts of the house that were not supported are normally outside it.
- What is the remedy? Re-adjusting the piers is typical. Repairing new cracks in brick or drywall typically is not.
- Is there a charge for adjustments?
- What cancels it? Some warranties lapse if a plumbing leak goes unrepaired or drainage is not kept up.
- Does it transfer when you sell? Ask what the buyer has to do and by when.
Get the warranty document itself before you sign the contract, not a line on the proposal that says one exists.
Slow down if
Reasons to get another opinion
- The price is good only if you sign today.
- Nobody measured the floors.
- You are told a permit or an engineer is not needed.
- The proposal has no drawing showing where the piers go.
- Full payment is wanted before work begins.
- Questions about the warranty get a brochure instead of an answer.
Foundation repair in Frisco and nearby
Describe the problem, book the inspection
This number is for foundation repair on houses. Say where the cracks are, which doors stick and how long it has been going on. If part of the house shifted all at once, there is a gas smell, or brickwork seems about to come down, clear the house and dial 911 or the gas utility before anything else.
Ready to have someone look at it?
Phone and say what you have noticed. The foundation repair company on the other end is independent of this site and takes on houses in your part of Collin or Denton County. Ask it for a time to come and inspect.
Call (972) 430-3959Your call may be recorded. Read how referrals are paid for and what happens to call details.