I come out and look at the house myself
I walk the floors, check the doors and the brick, and ask what you've been seeing and when it started. You get a written price for the work we talked about, not a number tossed out over the phone.
Foundation repair in Brownsville TX - a plan built on how your house moves
Sloping floors, sticking doors or a crack across the brick? We work out how your house is moving, then repair it the right way.
Does a sloping floor mean my house needs foundation repair?
Foundation repair in Brownsville usually means setting piers under the house and driving them past the dry, dense clay to stable soil, so your house rests on ground that holds still instead of clay that moves with the weather.
Most people call us after they notice a door that won't latch, a floor that runs downhill toward one wall or a crack climbing the brick from the corner of a window. Those signs tell you the house has moved, but they don't tell you which way it's going or whether it's still moving, and that's what decides the repair.
The price mostly turns on how much of the house is affected, how many piers it takes and which pier type we use, since the ones that reach deeper cost more. The schedule turns on whether the house needs watching for a while before anyone picks a repair, and on what the city asks for before work starts. At the estimate I'll give you a written price for the work we talked through.
What happens after you call us about your foundation?
I started this business in Brownsville in 2023 after years on an old-school mason's crews, and I still handle foundation calls myself, from the first look to the last day on site.
We check the city's rules before we dig
The city's Building Permits and Inspections Division handles permits and plan review for remodeling and new construction, so we check what it wants for your job, and when a permit's needed we pull it and call for the inspections. If your home sits in the O-11 Downtown Overlay District, the city also asks for a Historic Preservation Release before work goes ahead.
Licensed and fully insured, with our own crew on site
We're licensed and fully insured, and the people working under your house are our own crew. I run the job on site and walk the finished work with you before we call it done.
How we handle foundation repair
I don't trust one quick look at a sloping floor, so before I recommend a single pier we take the time to work out how your house is moving and where. If an engineer has already been out, bring the report and we'll build the plan around it. Once we agree on the plan, our crew digs out each pier spot, sets the piers, backfills the holes and cleans up so your yard looks like a yard again.
A house that's been moving usually leaves marks in the masonry, so we fix those once it's supported. Cracked mortar joints get tuckpointing, where we rake out the broken mortar and pack in fresh, and a chimney that cracked or pulled away while the house shifted gets chimney repair. There's no sense patching cracks before the house is supported, because they'll just open back up.
- A close look at floors, doors, walls and brick to see how the house is moving
- A repair plan built around your engineer's report when you have one
- A pier type picked for how deep it has to go to reach stable soil
- Pier spots dug, piers set, holes backfilled and the site cleaned up
- Cracked mortar and brick from the movement repaired once the house is supported
How a foundation job goes from first look to finished
Foundation work goes wrong when somebody guesses, so every step here is about knowing what's going on before we dig.
Tell us what you've been seeing
When a door started sticking or a crack showed up tells me a lot, because movement that comes and goes with the seasons reads differently from movement that keeps going one way. Photos with dates help if you've taken any.
Wait when the house says wait
If the signs don't add up yet, I'll tell you straight that it can wait and should be watched for a while. I'd rather do that than sell you piers you might not need.
Agree on the pier and the plan
We go over which pier type fits your house and what it costs, and you see where each pier goes before anything gets dug. Nothing changes after that without talking to you first.
Set the piers, then fix the cracks
Our crew sets the piers and backfills, then we repair the mortar and brick the movement broke. You end up with a house on firmer footing and masonry that's whole again.
Get a written price for your foundation repair
Send us your address and what you've been noticing, and we'll reply within one business day to set a time. I come out, look the house over and give you a free on-site estimate with no obligation. If you'd rather talk it through first, call (956) 505-5518.
(956) 505-5518Foundation repair questions we hear in Brownsville
How much does foundation repair cost in Texas?
A typical foundation repair in Texas usually costs about $3,500 to $8,000 for the whole job. That's a statewide range, not our price, and your house can land inside it or outside it depending on what I find. You'll get a written price for your own house after I've looked at it.
Which type of foundation pier is best for a house in Brownsville?
Steel and helical piers reach deeper than pressed concrete piers, which cost the least but can't always push through dry, dense Texas clay to stable soil. So you're weighing a lower price against the chance the cheaper pier stops short. I lean toward the pier that gets to stable soil, because a pier that stops in the clay means paying for the job twice.
Is one floor level survey enough to tell if my foundation needs repair?
Not always. Guidance Texas engineers use says a single floor level survey, a set of height readings across your floors, only shows the foundation's shape at one moment and may not be enough to draw a conclusion, so an evaluation may include repeat surveys over months or years. If your house needs that kind of watch period, I'll tell you instead of pushing a repair.
What should I ask a foundation engineer before paying for an inspection?
Ask which level of service the fee buys. Homeowners have complained to the Texas engineering board that a Level A inspection wasn't a thorough evaluation, and that level is described as a "report of first impressions." Knowing what you paid for tells you how much weight to put on the report.
Should I cut down the big tree next to my house before foundation repair?
Ask an engineer first. A big tree or shrub near the house may be drying out the soil under the foundation, and taking it out may make the ground swell back up as moisture returns, especially if the tree was there before the house. Cutting it down isn't the simple fix it looks like.
What Brownsville's clay does to a house
Much of Texas sits on clay that shrinks when it dries and swells when it gets wet, and one of the soils found around Brownsville is clayey near the top and in places has a water table that rises and falls with the seasons. Not every lot has that soil, but where it does, a slab gets pushed up and let down as the ground changes, which is why piers aim for stable soil below the clay. After a repair, Texas engineers' guidance says keeping soil moisture about even on all sides of the house may help and warns against overwatering, so ask your engineer whether parts of your yard need more water or less.
We're based in Brownsville and work across the Rio Grande Valley cities around it, including San Benito, Harlingen, Los Fresnos and Port Isabel, along with others nearby. The calls look a lot alike from one city to the next. We see brick homes with a stair-step crack by a window, doors that stick in the dry months and slabs that have dropped at one corner.
Call (956) 505-5518 about your foundation
If you have an engineer's report or a floor level survey, keep it handy when you call so I can read it before I come out.
If something about your floors or walls has been bothering you, give us a call and I'll come take a look.
Tell us about your project