Foundation issues, have gotten quoted 5-16 piers, what should I do?

Question

I have a foundation that has settled around 3" on the back corner of the house that I am trying to flip.  We are building a retaining wall and going to underpin the foundation with concrete piers.  My issue that I am having is I have been quoted 5 to 16 piers from 4 different contractors.

I have decided to have a structural engineer come out and give me a structural report to determine what he thinks needs to be done and build based upon his findings.

My issues that I am having is that I have a contractor who claims the house only needs 5 piers and is at $3200 and provides a 'Lifetime Warranty'.  If there are structural issues in the future does the liability fall on me or the contractor who installed the 5 piers?  What if he goes out of business, dies or otherwise would this lifetime warranty be worthless?  Would I be liable for the foundation repairs, or does it matter as long as it is disclosed with the sales contract?

Any thoughts on what I should do here?  Will I have any issues selling the house if I just get the 5 piers done by the contractor with the lifetime warranty or do I need to have a structural engineers drawing and approval to attach to the sales contract?

Thanks for your help!

Aaron McGinnis · Answer

You've done the right thing. IMO, the ONLY correct way to approach a foundation issue is to start with an engineer's recommendation.

Marcin G. · Answer

how many of those deals required cosmetic repairs vs something major as us foundation underpin ?

why would you scare potential buyers with "as-is" close ? the consumers nowadays are either scared ..or confused ...or both ...I like to keep things super easy for them ...full disclosures ..great pictures, reports etc .if you did the job right following your attorney's advice ..then what are you afraid of ? in my opinion as-is is not a great strategy on rehab. it sounds like .."I don't know if I did it right ... so buyer beware". I represented many clients on the purchase of a flip house ...never saw a flip with as-is clause...and yes .. I would advise my buyer to move on ...

Marcin G. · Answer

why would you sell "as-is" ? if you know about the problem then putting as-is in the contract will not protect you (check local laws). I would fully disclose what was done with the foundation (as the seller did) and would not put another REO "as-is" stigma on the property. potential buyer will start asking his realtor ..what is "as-is" ? ...the realtor start explaining "ohhh well there might be some problems with the house so what you see is what you buy ..."

the buyer " omg omg ..lets run lets run" ..

Will Barnard · Answer

@David Robertson Sounds like you learned a valuable lesson that could expand to other negative factors found in homes. Your initial concern of the foundation and how to sell it with disclosures was the least of your problems and worries. The biggest issue was that you purchased a home with a large negative to it - the lack of a back yard. Expand this to all other negatives like main streets, near railroad tracks, near commercial units, under airport flight paths, no garages (this may not be the case in all areas), no yards, poor layouts that can not be laid out differently, too many steps leading to the fr t door ( I just learned this harsh lesson a year and a half ago), etc. . . . .

As far as the foundation issue, that was actually a good thing. Likely allowed you to acquire at a steep discount, repair the problem at a cost less than a retail homeowner would pay and added value through yr repairs. The final product with the proper disclosures of what was fixed and how covers your rear.

Bill Gulley · Answer

Sorry, I don't see anywhere that I said don't disclose it, known defects need to be disclosed. What I said was sell with the cost of repair taken into consideration and sell "as is" and BTW, selling "as is, where is" does have liability protections in state law, it doesn't relieve you of disclosing known defects.

Experience overcomes your marketing concerns, have a reputable company provide a bid, show the bid, make allowances, it can be repaired prior to closing after you have a contract with an approved buyer.

I have no idea how many deals I've put together with repairs required prior to closing, hundreds I'm sure. It's common. See how many deals need repairs doing FHA deals, you'll become familiar with the process. :)

Bill Kennedy · Answer

I'd be interested in the name of the foundation repair company as well. I'm looking to put a property under contract but the foundation problems are the sticking point. Otherwise the property has great potential.

Lori Burgard · Answer

In the KC area as well,  that is half the cost per pier we've been quoted.  Do you mind sharing the company name or emailing it privately. Thanks in advance.

Matthew Watkins · Answer

Thanks for the response David. One of the properties I just put under contract recently has some foundation issues. The current home owners have an estimate from a reputable company with a transferrable warranty being offered. My in-laws have been in this business for quite some time but wont touch a house with foundation issues. They think it will present problems selling so i'm just curious what others in the business have experienced. Good to hear that if the repairs are done properly it shouldn't be a problem selling. Fortunately this one does have a decent backyard. Thanks again.

David Robertson · Answer

Hey Matt,

This deal ended up being a headache, but not because of the foundation, but because of the steepness of the backyard.

We ended up getting an engineers recommendation for piering and installed the piers according to his drawings.

We found a foundation contractor to do the work based upon the engineers recommendation for roughly $600 a pier, which is pretty dang cheap.  His company offered a Lifetime Warranty which I think eased some concerns for the homebuyers....

Ultimately, we ended up listing the property for more than we originally anticipated, but then the property sat for about 3 months.  After a few price drops and over 100 showings we finally got an offer.  I would say 99% of the feedback was 'great house, no backyard for the dogs or kids'....We never received any concerns about the foundation whatsoever...

All of the foundation issues and repairs were fully disclosed in the Sellers Disclosure.  The end buyer only wanted the Lifetime Warranty information and the engineering report...

In summary, as long as the foundation repairs are done properly and done by a reputable foundation repair company that can offer a Warranty, then I don't see it being a big issue.  I'm sure a few buyers were scared off, but not many...

PS...Don't buy houses with bad backyards!

Cuong Le · Answer

@David Robertson what you did is the right approach. If you got several contractors that came pretty close, then you wouldn't need a structural engineer but when they are so far apart and you want to do it right, you want to make sure you don't spend too much on foundation if you don't need to.

We did this for one of our rental homes and was able to reduce the numbers of piers on the house so that saved us some money. Having the warranty and the engineer's report will help you flip the house. Keep us updated on how the flip went.

Foundation issues, have gotten quoted 5-16 piers, what should I do?

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