Foundation Repair
San Antonio

Hairline cracks in drywall or a stem wall that open in late summer and close after the fall rains are seasonal movement on expansive clay, and most San Antonio houses have them. The ones worth an evaluation are cracks you can fit a coin in, stair-step cracks in brick at a corner or above a garage door that widen year over year, cracks with one side offset from the other, doors and windows that jam year-round rather than in August, and floors that slope enough to feel. Photograph every crack with a coin for scale and write the month on the photo; the pattern over two seasons tells more than any single crack.

Typical San Antonio ranges in 2026: pressed concrete pilings $350 to $600 per pier, pressed steel piers $1,000 to $1,800, drilled bell-bottom piers $1,200 to $2,200, helical piers $1,500 to $3,000. Most homes need 8 to 12 piers, so a typical slab repair lands between $4,500 and $14,000, and a major repair with 20 or more piers runs $15,000 to $35,000 and up. Pier and beam leveling runs $1,500 to $5,000 before any rotted sill or beam is replaced. Drainage correction and root barriers often cost less than piers and are sometimes the whole fix. Every number goes in a written proposal after the evaluation.

The soil decides more than the salesman. In deep Blackland clay across the northeast, south and the I-35 corridor, pressed concrete pilings reach refusal at a useful depth and have a long track record at the lowest cost per pier. On the north and northwest limestone, in caliche, in fill and wherever pilings stop within a few feet, steel piers press deeper and more predictably to a stable stratum. Mixed lots sometimes get both under one house. Drilled bell-bottom piers come in when an engineer's plan calls for them, and helical piers where vibration next to a stone wall or a light structure matters. The evaluation and the elevation survey pick the method; the proposal explains why.

Two soils and a climate that swings. The Balcones Escarpment runs through the metro from southwest to northeast. South and east of it the houses sit on Blackland Prairie clay that swells after a wet spring and shrinks through a dry summer, lifting and dropping the edges of every slab. North and west they sit on Edwards limestone with thin soil, caliche and fill on cut lots, where slabs settle unevenly on a mix of rock and dirt. Add roughly 32 inches of rain that arrives in bursts, drought years like 2011 and 2022 to 2023, live oaks and pecans drinking from one side of the foundation, and cast iron drains leaking under 1950s to 1980s slabs, and the doors start sticking.

No. Texas does not license foundation repair contractors at the state level; the Texas Residential Construction Commission was abolished in 2009 and nothing replaced it. Structural engineers are licensed by the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, which is why an independent engineer's evaluation and letter matter here more than in licensed trades. The things that stand in for a license are the written proposal with the pier plan drawn, the City permit, the hydrostatic test before and after, elevations recorded, and warranty terms you can read. Ask for all five before signing.

Usually not for soil movement. Texas homeowners policies generally exclude damage from settling, cracking, shrinking and expansion of the soil, which is most San Antonio foundation movement. The exception is damage caused by a plumbing leak under the slab: depending on the policy and any foundation or seepage endorsement, part of the repair may be covered, often with a cap. A hydrostatic plumbing test, dated photos and an engineer's report are what the adjuster asks for. Read the declarations page and call the agent before work starts, and keep the failed section of drain.