It splits sharply by fix: sealing a crack commonly runs $400 to $1,500 in 2026, lifting a slab with foam or grout runs $1,500 to $5,000, and holding a settled house on piers runs roughly $1,200 to $3,500 per pier, which puts a full underpinning between about $15,000 and $60,000.
Foundation repair is not one job with one price. It is a family of jobs that share a word, and the gap between the cheapest and the dearest is a factor of a hundred. What decides which one you are buying is why the foundation moved, not how bad the crack looks, which is why the first thing to buy is a diagnosis rather than a repair.
The figures here are typical national ranges for 2026 and local bids govern. Soil is the biggest single variable in the country: expansive clay, uncontrolled fill and a high water table each change both the fix and its price.
Get the engineer's report first
A structural engineer who does not sell repairs will inspect the foundation, take elevation readings across the floor, and write a report saying what moved, how much, whether it is still moving, and what the remedy is. That commonly costs $400 to $1,200 and it is the cheapest money in the whole exercise. It converts a set of contractor opinions into a specification that every bidder has to price the same way, and it gives you a document to hand a buyer later.
Repair companies inspect for free, which is a sales call. The estimate that comes out of one is not a diagnosis, and it will name the product that company installs.
Crack repair, and what a crack means
Most cracks in a poured wall or slab are shrinkage, and shrinkage is cosmetic. The ones that matter are horizontal cracks in a basement wall, stair-step cracks through masonry that keep widening, cracks wider at one end, and any crack with displacement across it.
Epoxy or polyurethane injection seals a non-structural crack against water and commonly runs $400 to $1,500 per crack. It stops the leak. It does not add strength and it does not stop movement, so injecting a crack that a moving footing is opening buys a repeat visit.
A bowing basement wall is a structural repair rather than a seal: carbon fiber straps run roughly $500 to $1,000 each installed, steel I-beam bracing $700 to $1,200 per beam, and wall anchors that pull the wall back toward plumb $600 to $1,500 each. A typical wall needs several.
Piering: what it costs and why it varies
Piering, also called underpinning, transfers the weight of the footing down to load-bearing soil or bedrock. It is what you buy when the house has settled, and the price scales with how many piers the engineer specifies and how deep they have to go.
- Push piers (resistance piers): commonly $1,200 to $3,000 per pier installed. Steel sections are hydraulically driven using the house's own weight as the reaction, so they work best under a heavy structure.
- Helical piers: commonly $1,500 to $3,500 per pier. Screwed in with a torque motor and rated by installation torque, so they do not depend on the building's weight and are the usual choice for lighter structures, additions and porches.
- Concrete or pressed pilings: commonly $500 to $1,500 per pier in the regions where they are standard. Cheaper per unit, less depth control.
- How many: a corner or one wall is often 6 to 10 piers, a whole side 10 to 20, a full perimeter 20 or more. That is why the same product produces bids from $8,000 to well past $60,000.
- Lifting versus stabilizing: piers can hold the house where it is or attempt to lift it back. Lifting costs more, risks new cracks in finishes, and is not always the right call. The report should say which is specified.
Slab jacking, drainage, and the cheap fixes that come first
Slab jacking raises a settled concrete slab by pumping material underneath it. Mudjacking, using a cement slurry, commonly runs $500 to $2,000 for a driveway, patio or garage section. Polyurethane foam injection runs roughly $1,500 to $5,000 for the same work: lighter material, smaller holes, faster cure, higher price. Neither touches a house foundation that is settling under load; they lift flatwork.
Drainage is the repair that prevents the expensive one. Regrading soil away from the house, extending downspouts and clearing window wells often costs a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars. An exterior French drain commonly runs $2,000 to $8,000, an interior perimeter drain with a sump $5,000 to $15,000, and a sump pump alone $1,000 to $3,500. Where water against the footing is what caused the movement, piering without fixing the water is buying the same problem twice.
What a seller's disclosure of foundation repair means
Repaired foundation on a disclosure is a fact to investigate, not a verdict. Ask for three documents: the engineer's original report, the repair contract showing what was installed and where, and the warranty. Most piering carries a transferable lifetime warranty on the piers, though transfer often costs a fee and sometimes requires notice within a window after closing, so read that before closing rather than after.
Then buy your own engineer's inspection, because the useful question is not whether the house was repaired but whether it has moved since. Elevation readings compared against the ones in the original report answer that in an afternoon. A repaired and stable foundation with paperwork is a normal house that some buyers will not touch, which shows up as a discount at resale; an unrepaired one with an open engineering question is a different purchase entirely.
Questions people ask
Does homeowners insurance cover foundation repair?
Usually not, because the common causes are settlement, soil movement and long-term water, all of which standard policies exclude as earth movement or wear. Sudden covered events can be different, such as damage from a burst supply line under the slab, and earthquake or sinkhole coverage is sold separately in the states where it matters. The declarations page and the exclusions decide it.
How long does foundation repair take?
A crack injection is a few hours. Slab jacking is usually one day. A piering job on one side of a house is commonly two to five days of excavation, driving and backfill, with landscaping and hardscape restoration after. Interior work in a basement takes longer because access is harder and the concrete has to be cut and repoured.
Can you sell a house with foundation problems?
Yes, and it happens constantly, but the market for it narrows. Most conventional lenders will not fund a house with an open structural defect, so the buyer pool shifts toward cash and renovation loans, and offers price in the repair plus a discount for the uncertainty. Getting the engineer's report before listing is what turns an unknown into a number both sides can argue about.