What a foundation inspection covers
A foundation inspection has two halves. The measurable half is an elevation survey — recording the relative height of the floor at points throughout the house to produce a map of where it sits now. The interpretive half is a walk of the interior and exterior looking for the damage pattern that movement produces, and for the water behaviour that causes it.
Neither half is much use alone. A floor that is an inch out of level tells you nothing about whether that happened in 1978 or is happening now. Cracks without measurements tell you something is wrong but not how far it has gone. Together they let someone form a view about whether the movement is historic and settled, or active and worth correcting.
The elevation survey
An elevation survey is taken with a manometer, a rotary laser, or a digital level, depending on the contractor. Readings are taken on a grid across the floor and recorded relative to a chosen reference point, usually the highest reading rather than any absolute datum. The output is a set of numbers showing how far each point sits below that reference.
What matters in the result is not the single largest number but the shape of the surface. A floor that falls away evenly in one direction suggests one kind of movement. A dished centre or a domed centre suggests another. An abrupt step across a short distance suggests something different again, and often points at a localised cause such as a leaking line rather than general soil movement.
No house is perfectly level, including new ones. Construction tolerances allow meaningful variation on the day a slab is poured, so a reading is evidence rather than a verdict.
The most valuable thing you can do costs nothing
Ask for a copy of the elevation readings, not just the conclusion. If you have the house surveyed again in a year, comparing two sets of numbers is the only direct way to establish whether movement is still active. Many disputes about whether repair was necessary come down to nobody having the earlier measurements.
Contractor evaluation or engineer's report?
These are genuinely different products and the distinction matters.
A foundation contractor evaluates the house and proposes a repair. Many do this at no charge. The evaluation is competent and the survey is real, but the business model is selling repair, and that is worth holding in mind when the recommendation is a large one.
A licensed professional engineer is engaged by you and produces a written report with a seal. They have no financial interest in whether work happens. They will say if the answer is “monitor this for a year” or “fix the drainage and nothing else”, which is an answer a repair contractor has less reason to reach. Engineers charge for the report.
A reasonable rule: use a contractor evaluation to find out whether anything is wrong. Bring in an independent engineer before committing to a five-figure repair, when two contractors disagree, or when you are buying the house.
What an inspector is actually looking for
Beyond the numbers, the exterior walk covers brick and mortar for stair-step cracking, the separation between brick courses and window frames, whether the slab edge is visible and level, the grade falling away from or toward the house, where gutter downspouts discharge, and how close large trees sit to the foundation.
Inside, it covers doors and windows for square, the gaps where trim meets wall and where cabinets meet ceiling, cracks in drywall running diagonally from door and window corners, and floor covering for tenting or separation. In a pier and beam house the crawl space is entered directly: supports, sill plates, joists, moisture, and evidence of rot or insect damage.
The water evidence is as important as the structural evidence. Standing water against the house after rain, a flower bed holding moisture against the brick, a downspout discharging at the corner, or an unexplained rise in the water bill all change the interpretation of the same set of cracks. Our drainage page covers what to do about each.
If you are buying a house in Texas
A general home inspection is not a foundation inspection. General inspectors note visible evidence and routinely recommend further evaluation by a specialist, which is the correct and limited thing for them to do. If the report says that, treat it as a prompt rather than a verdict.
On a house with visible movement, a sealed engineer's report before closing is usually money well spent. It gives you a number to negotiate against and establishes a baseline for whatever happens afterwards. Ask the seller for any previous foundation work paperwork: the scope, the elevation readings taken at the time, and crucially whether the warranty transfers to you.
What an inspection costs
Contractor evaluations are frequently offered free, because they are the front end of a sales process. Engineer's reports are charged, and the range depends on the size of the house and the depth of the report.
We do not set or quote either price — the contractor or engineer does. For context on what repair itself costs when it is warranted, the Texas foundation repair overview sets out the variables that drive the number, with published third-party ranges attributed to their sources.
Reading the report you get back
Three things are worth checking in any evaluation before you act on it.
- Are the raw measurements included? A conclusion without the readings behind it cannot be compared against anything later.
- Does it identify a cause? A report recommending piers without saying what moved the soil has addressed the symptom. If the cause is a drainage fault or a plumbing leak and that is not fixed, the same thing happens again around the new piers.
- Is the scope specific? “Install piers as required” is not a scope. The number of piers, their locations, the system used and the target depth should all be written down before you sign.
If the answer turns out to be that the house has moved and needs correcting, the route depends on construction type: slab underpinning for slab-on-grade homes, or crawl space work for pier and beam.