Foundation Repair for Home Buyers

Repairing your home before a sale: what you need to know

Foundation problems in and around Austin, Texas, are very common. If your dream home has foundation problems, there are simple ways to establish a fair price for the repair and correct the problems.

Home Buyer Foundation Austin Texas

Home buying can be a stressful time. For most people it is the single largest purchase they will make in their lifetime. In the Austin, Texas area, more than 40% of our homes have issues with their foundation, making this an extremely common situation. Most of the homes in and around Austin are built upon expansive clay soil that increases greatly in volume when wet, then shrinks back when dry. This variation creates stress on our foundations, and over time can cause foundation issues that must be repaired by a professional.

At Douglas Foundation Solutions, we understand that foundation education is a large part of our job. We are pleased to shed some light on common questions that homebuyers have when purchasing a home in the Austin, Texas area.

We recommend two avenues of support:

  • You can have the seller call Douglas Foundation Solutions and we will offer a repair bid to the seller.
  • If the seller does not want to be involved, we suggest you hire a licensed structural Professional Engineer (PE) to make a foundation inspection and a prepare repair plan if one is needed.

Note: If no repairs are needed, only an engineer can tell you the home’s foundation is performing as it should. Foundation repair contractors cannot legally state that a foundation requires no repairs.

Multiple quotes from different foundation repair companies will be confusing, because each company will offer their own opinion with their own solution. Some will have many piers and others will have fewer piers. Plus, all of these plans may be in conflict with the seller who may already have had the foundation inspected by a professional engineer; if so, there could be legal issues if a pier salesman undermines the sale.

Note: Foundation repair contractor quotes will not typically help you get the lowest price for your home; they will only confuse the sale process. A seller can easily reject them all as coming from a “salesman.” Start with an independent professional engineer to get the purchase on the right track.

To maximize equity when purchasing a home while minimizing costly surprises and mistakes, we recommend hiring a professional engineer to determine if the foundation of the home you want to purchase is performing as it should. Your engineer can develop a written report of the foundation performance. Professional engineers are the only people who can legally verify the status of a home’s foundation.

If the foundation does need repair, be sure to ask the professional engineer for a plan of repair. You can then use the engineer’s plan of repair to get competitive bids by foundation repair contractors. With this repair plan, the sellers, buyers, contractors and banks will be getting quotes based on an equal number of support piers which will facilitate the purchase. Another suggestion would be to work with the seller and have the seller work directly with Douglas Foundation Solutions. We will take care of the work and engineering in a seamless way and provide final engineering documents after the foundation work is performed.

Douglas Foundation Solutions is different. We offer more pier solutions than other companies because every project is unique, and no one pier solution is right for all foundations and soils. We are engineer driven and use the repair plan, coupled with our experience in repairing thousands of foundations in the Austin area, to provide you with quality work that will last.

We can provide contact information for professional engineers to help you. Pricing depends on the depth of the investigation, size of the home and any repair plans that may have to be drawn up, but generally falls within a $350.00-$800.00 range.

Foundation Repair for Home Sellers

Repairing your home before a sale: what you need to know

Repairing the foundation of your home or business before a sale can be a quick and simple process. Eliminate the guesswork and costly repair negotiation with the buyer by repairing your foundation before placing your home or business on the market.

Home Seller Foundation Austin Texas

You are not alone.

It’s the sad truth that many homes in Central Texas are in the process of shifting over time. This is due to the nature of the clay soil that predominates in this region. Clay soil expands when it is wet and contracts when it is dry. Over time, through the cycles of rain and drought, this causes movement in the soil beneath your home, which can result in stress and shifts in your foundation. More than 40% of the homes around Austin, Texas have an issue with their foundation.

At Douglas Foundation Solutions, we understand that correcting a foundation issue is not fun for most people. However, by becoming informed and taking the right approach you can quickly get your home in a sale-able condition and move on with your life.

When selling your home, it is important to identify the key drivers that will make the sale of your home successful.

If your home has, or you suspect it has, foundation problems, the best approach is to learn as much about the problem and its solutions as possible. We invite you to review the collection of common questions and answers that we have heard from home buyers in the Austin area.

Key Points to Remember:

  • Correcting foundation problems before placing the house on the market broadens your potential buyer pool and helps you sell your home at the highest price.
  • Have your home’s foundation evaluated by a professional engineer before you put your home on the market.
  • If a problem is found, have Douglas Foundation Solutions fix your foundation. We will provide an engineer’s letter to give to potential buyers. All of our slab foundation repairs have a transferrable lifetime warranty.

Have Douglas Foundation Solutions do an evaluation and provide repairs if needed. All of our foundation solutions for slab homes will provide the buyer with a transferrable lifetime warranty on the foundation. All of our solutions will provide the buyer with an engineer’s letter to take to their lender.

Hire a Professional Engineer (PE) to evaluate your slab’s performance. They will write a report stating that the home’s foundation is performing as it should. Only a professional engineer can legally do this. This stamped letter can be used to satisfy buyers and lenders that the foundation is properly working. Give this information to all of your prospects.

Douglas Foundation Solutions can do the repair prior to closing and have the payment for the repair made from the escrow account. As an alternative, the buyer can contract with us and do the work after the close of escrow.

This can be true for some buyers, but having the repairs done by Douglas Foundation Solutions can actually can increase the buyer pool. Foundation repair is incredibly common in the Austin area, so finding a home without an existing problem or a previous repair may be a challenge. Smart buyers and agents know that if they buy a home fixed by Douglas Foundation Solutions, the foundation is stronger and has the benefit of a lifetime warranty for slab foundations.

Buyers and their agents are always trying to reduce the cost of the home purchase price and maximize their investment. Foundation repair is extremely common in Texas. Over 40% of the homes around Austin have foundation problems. It is very likely that your buyer will be informed enough to require a foundation inspection. Count on sophisticated buyers to check the foundation and attempt to reduce the purchase price with exaggerated repair plans from foundation repair contractors designed to reduce your sale price.

If you hire a professional engineer to develop a plan of repair for your foundation, you can request bids from multiple foundation repair companies and compare quotes based on one plan instead of multiple opinions by each foundation repair company. You must ask for a plan of repair!

Unless the buyer has an engineered repair plan, the quotes are not valid and do not have to be honored.

Contact Douglas Foundation Solutions