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Foundation repair cost calculator
Most cost calculators multiply your square footage by a made-up number. That is not how foundation work is priced in Texas. Contractors here quote per pier, so this tool models your perimeter, works out how many piers that length of wall needs at code-standard spacing, and multiplies by real published DFW per-pier prices. Every line item is shown, and every rate is sourced at the bottom of the page.
Common questions
How many piers will my house need?
It depends on how much wall is moving and how heavy that wall is, not on the size of your house. The Foundation Performance Association’s underpinning standard caps perimeter pier spacing at 8 feet on center for a one-story home, 7 feet for one-and-a-half stories or two-story brick over the first story only, and 6 feet for a two-story brick exterior. Most DFW jobs land at 8 to 12 piers; severe cases run past 20.
Why is the range so wide?
Because the two biggest cost drivers are invisible from the street: how much of the perimeter is actually moving, and which method the contractor chooses. A pressed concrete piling runs $300 to $700 installed in this market; a helical pier runs $1,200 to $2,200. Same house, four times the price.
Is foundation repair more expensive in Dallas–Fort Worth than elsewhere?
Roughly the same on average, with a longer expensive tail. City cost indexes put Dallas around $4,900 and Fort Worth around $4,800 against a national average near $5,100, while other published sources put Dallas slightly above national. What is different here is the Blackland Prairie clay, which drives deeper and more numerous piers on the harder jobs.
Should I pay for an engineer before I get bids?
If more than one corner is involved, yes. An independent Texas-licensed professional engineer runs about $350 to $1,000 for an inspection with an elevation survey, and their report gives you a scope that every bidder has to price against the same way. Ask specifically whether laser-level elevation mapping and a re-inspection after the work are included in the fee.
Do you sell my information to contractors?
No. There is no matching form on this site. Nothing you enter into this calculator is transmitted anywhere — the arithmetic runs in your browser.
Where these numbers come from
Every rate in the calculator is a figure published by a Dallas–Fort Worth contractor, a Texas contractor, an industry association, or a national cost index. None of it is estimated by us. Where sources disagree, we used the local figure and widened the range.
- Pier spacing standard (8 / 7 / 6 ft maximum on center) — Foundation Performance Association, FPA-SC-08-1
- Pressed concrete piling $300–$700 per pier, drilled bell-bottom $800–$1,200, typical DFW job $5,000–$8,500, permits $50–$350, hydrostatic test $150–$500, cosmetic repair $1,000–$5,000 — The North Texas Home Guide, DFW foundation repair cost guide and Stratum Foundation Repair's published DFW pricing guide
- Steel push pier $1,000–$2,000 and helical pier $1,200–$2,200 per pier, drainage correction $1,500–$8,000, pier and beam work $3,500 and up — Level Home Foundation Repair, DFW cost page
- Bell-bottom pier selling price $650–$800 and itemized per-pier cost breakdown — Dawson Foundation Repair's published price list
- Interior pier premium of 20–30% and the finding that interior piers are needed on only 10–15% of Texas jobs — Anchor Foundation Repair and Allied Foundation Repair's price list
- Pier and beam releveling $1,500–$10,000 and sill beam replacement $4,000–$12,000 — Foundation Compass, Texas pier and beam costs
- Engineer inspection $350–$1,000 in Texas, and $1,100 flat with the elevation survey included at one DFW-area firm — Foundation Compass and Tri-County Foundation Repair
- Root barrier $50–$75 per linear foot with a $1,000–$1,500 job minimum — Dawson Root Barriers and Advanced Foundation Repair
- National average of roughly $5,200 with a $2,200–$8,100 range — Angi, HomeAdvisor and This Old House. Note these three trace back to one dataset, so treat them as a single anchor.
- Dallas $4,900 and Fort Worth $4,800 metro averages, and the $225 typical Dallas permit — FoundationCosts.com city index
Three of the itemized contractor price lists we drew on were published before 2023 (Dawson, Anchor, Allied). We used their structure and ratios, and took absolute dollar figures from 2026-dated sources wherever both existed. Full working notes are on the methodology page.
Next step
Take your range and get two or three written bids that each specify method, pier count, depth, and warranty terms. The directory gives you phone numbers and websites with no form in between.