The Ranking
Our top 6 foundation contractors in San Antonio
San Antonio foundations move because of what sits under them. Much of the city, especially the East Side and Northeast, is built on dark, expansive clay that local crews call black gumbo. It swells after heavy rain and shrinks hard in drought, and South Texas gets plenty of both, so a slab can rise and settle by different amounts on different sides of the same house. On the North Side the clay is thinner and limestone sits close to the surface, which brings its own problems with uneven bearing under a slab. The result is familiar to most homeowners here: cracked brick, doors that stick in August and loosen in winter, and gaps opening above kitchen cabinets.
Most homes built since the 1960s sit on concrete slabs, and repair usually means steel or concrete piers pressed down under the perimeter beam, with interior piers set through tunnels when the middle of the house has dropped. Older neighborhoods such as Monte Vista, Alamo Heights, King William and Tobin Hill have many pier and beam houses, where the fix is new supports, shims and sometimes new beams in the crawl space.
Before signing a large contract, pay for an independent structural engineer's opinion. A foundation company's evaluator is also its salesperson, and an engineer with no stake in the job can tell you whether the house needs ten piers, thirty or none. You can check an engineer's licence with the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. Some companies on this list include an engineer report in the price; ask who hired the engineer.
Texas does not license foundation repair contractors, so there is no state number to check for any company here. Look closely at the warranty instead. Ask whether it is lifetime, whether it transfers to a buyer and at what cost, and whether it covers re-leveling or only the piers. Ask whether a plumbing test is included, since a leaking drain line under the slab is a common cause of movement and plumbing falls under the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners. Then ask whether the City of San Antonio requires a permit for your repair and who will pull it.
