Common questions. Straight answers.

Crack injection runs $400 to $1,200 per crack. Helical or push pier underpinning runs $1,800 to $3,500 per pier installed; most settled corners need 4 to 8 piers. A typical full repair on a 1,800 sq ft home runs $12,000 to $35,000. Free onsite inspection. Flat-rate written quote before any work starts.

Usually not. Standard California policies exclude soil movement, settlement, and earth movement even when caused by a plumbing leak. Sudden damage from a covered peril (vehicle impact, fallen tree, water-main break) is the exception. We document the cause carefully so if there's a coverable angle, your adjuster has what they need.

Yes. Through GreenSky and Synchrony — same-as-cash terms up to 18 months on qualifying jobs, longer-term fixed rates for larger projects. We give you the application after the inspection. No pressure, no upsell.

By the engineering, not by guesswork. The structural engineer's stamped repair plan specifies pier count, pier type, depth target, and any additional work (drainage, slab jacking, crack injection). We bid the plan; you see the line items before any work starts.

Helical piers are torque-verified during install, so capacity is known before the bracket goes on. They win on light structures, ADUs, and decks. Push piers carry load by friction along the shaft and use the building's own weight as the reaction force; they win on heavy two-story homes and masonry construction. The right answer depends on the soil profile and the structure.

As deep as needed to hit competent soil. In San Diego County we see piers terminate anywhere from 8 feet (decomposed granite over bedrock in inland canyons) to 35+ feet (deep clay or alluvial fill near coastal valleys). The torque or refusal-pressure reading, not depth, tells us when we've hit the right strata.

Sometimes, sometimes only partially. A house that settled slowly over decades has redistributed its loads and refit its drywall at the new elevation; lifting it can do more cosmetic damage than the original settlement. A house that dropped quickly (plumbing leak, fill failure) can usually be brought back close to original. We give you a lift target that balances correction with risk.

Slabs settle differently than raised foundations. Interior settlement (a specific room dropped while the perimeter is level) usually means a void under the slab — fix the cause (often a plumbing leak), fill the void with polyurethane, lift the slab. Perimeter settlement needs underpinning at the stem wall. Different problems, different tools.

Diagonal direction, vertical offset between the two sides, width greater than 1/16 inch (about a credit card edge), location at door or window corners, and any crack that runs through both sides of a wall are all structural-suspect signs. Cosmetic shrinkage cracks are vertical, hairline (less than 1/32 inch), evenly spaced, and tend to appear in the first year after a pour.

For a hairline cosmetic crack on the inside face of a stem wall, yes. For anything full-depth, anything weeping, or anything you suspect is structural, the DIY kits do not put enough product into the full depth of the crack — they seal the surface and the crack reopens behind the patch.

Epoxy bonds the two sides of the crack back into a structural unit, but only when the crack is dry and stable. Polyurethane expands when it contacts water and seals against active leaks but does not restore structural strength. Dry and stable: epoxy. Wet or active: polyurethane plus a separate look at the cause.

Free inspection is a 30-to-60-minute repair-quote visit; we walk the property, identify likely issues, and give a verbal estimate. Paid inspection ($450 and up) includes a full level survey, photo documentation, and a written report — that's the version you submit to a buyer, seller, lender, or insurance carrier.

For anything beyond a single crack injection, almost always. The City of San Diego and most San Diego County jurisdictions require a stamped repair plan for pier installation and major structural work. We coordinate the engineer, plan, and permit so you don't chase three vendors.

Yes. We pull the permit, schedule the city or county inspector, and pass the inspection. Permit fees are quoted as a line item, never marked up.

Only if the cause is the foundation. Most foundation failures in San Diego County have water somewhere in the story — drainage that lets uphill runoff hit the stem wall, plumbing leaks that wash out fines under the slab, expansive clays cycling wet/dry. We address the cause first, the symptom second; otherwise the repair just resets the clock.

If you have a hillside lot, a wet crawl space, or a basement that takes water during winter rains: yes. Almost always. A properly built perimeter drain is 40-year insurance for the price of a cheap car. We design daylight discharge wherever the lot allows; sump pumps only when there's no choice.

Common across inland north county and east county. Clay swells when wet and shrinks when dry; a foundation that moves with the soil season after season eventually fatigues. Repairs in clay zones almost always pair underpinning (stable, deeper bearing) with drainage retrofit (keep the moisture cycle out of the active zone).