Happy National “Disclose Your Foundation Repair Costs” Day. Brian advised against “cost honesty” (because he’s my ultimate protector, which I appreciate), but I’m going to share some real numbers similar to asbestos and lead removal quotes (thanks for the feedback). My hope is that these numbers can provide educational information for others (despite my fears – I am very, very aware of how privileged we are to be able to undertake this expensive project). This particular project is all about learning and sharing for me, so it’s time to learn and share. Our original goal was to restore this house, to make it a proper home to live in (with nothing but all the bells and whistles), but that has changed…read on. So today I’ll share four of our foundational quotes, and tell you all about them (and why we’re dialing it back in a good way).
Foundation Quotes
In our inspection report (above) Tom said that its foundation needed substantial repair due to settling and some dry rot, but he told us repeatedly that the house was in really good shape in general. Apart from the slope, it also feels solid when you are in the house. Again, this is not our house in which we are living. It could be a place to create content for my team, have the kids play drums and ping pong with their friends, or of course, hopefully live there after college. We have no intention of removing any walls (just adding a small bathroom), nor adding a ton of cabinetry or a 500-pound cast iron tub. There is only one room that supports the room above, and that room is really in the best condition, so to speak. This house has existed for so long – surely we could fix it up and live with it OkBut not complete???? But I didn’t come to that realization until after the first quote…
First Quote – Company A (Hello sticker shock!)
The first quote from Company A came back at $114k, with unknown additional costs added upon discovery. This would essentially involve re-building the entire foundation, using different methods for different rooms depending on their individual needs (they were all built over time, so they all have different problems). This would require several weeks of excavation, re-engineering, digging of the crawl space – more than 2-4 months. By the way, I really liked this contractor. He was very knowledgeable, communicative, experienced and kind. Before he even sent the quote, Brian and I were 95% sure we were going to hire him. But then once we got the quote, we looked at each other and had no idea how to proceed. We expected it to be a lot, but it didn’t make sense to spend that much on this house what we don’t need (And the cost will definitely be much higher by the end), And yes, it may add some value to our property, but if we treat it like a proper renovation, it could cost more than $600k. And besides, foundation work isn’t even good design stuff! You can barely even shoot the repair process, and even if we did it was just dirt and wood. I would really rather spend money here and there on special design elements, but this first quote has made us completely rethink our approach to this project (thus, we’re DIYing some asbestos and lead abatement). We had three other quotes scheduled and I’m so glad we did…
Wait, but didn’t Grit and Polish pick up their entire house for 35k??
After finding the first quote, I re-read Kathy and Garrett’s post how they lifted their entire house (Which of course was much smaller and before adding the second floor). They lifted and poured a new foundation (and work) for $35k. For context, this was in 2021, an hour and a half from Seattle (meaning it wasn’t 10 years ago and it was near a larger city). This convinced me even more that we don’t need to spend over 100k… we just need to be creative and lower our expectations while still playing it safe. And it convinced me even more that publishing the costs would help others in similar situations make more informed decisions.
Our second foundation quote:
This was done by a huge nationwide company that I thought would be interested in PR or social media content, and potentially offer a discount, but after they did an evaluation and I told them it was going to be a very “public project”, they backed out. He said that what he actually did was not like that and he did not feel comfortable doing it. It seems like they were more about tying up large commercial buildings than renovating old farmhouses (and perhaps if they didn’t do a good job, could have a bad PR experience). Not everyone is interested in having a blast online 🙂
Our third foundation quote:
This team came twice and I really liked them. Ultimately, they said they could do the work for over six figures (same as Company A) or do about 1/3 the work for 1/3 the cost (just repair or replace). While they were telling us the actual numbers, I got a quote back from Company D (below) that shocked us…
Our fourth and final quote
Company D approached things differently. They can do a massive home lift/build a brand new foundation should it be in one’s budget, or they can simply repair and replace problem areas. He said they work with all budget people, and they have a very clean formula for the cost of things calculated in a program. Once quoted, they do not go above that cost (which is not typical for contractors). He made several visits and spent a lot of time under the house in our 8″ crawl space to make sure he had all the information to plan and give an accurate quote. He asked a lot of questions trying to understand what we really wanted for each room (and what concessions we were willing to make). Their first bid came back at $90k… Oops.
But I really liked them, and I remember they said they work with all budgets. So I reached out and was very clear. I asked, “What if we only wanted to spend $25k on foundation repairs? What if, after thinking about it, we actually wanted to do the bare minimum to make it safe and last for the next 100 years, but not necessarily the next 300 years. Yes, we wanted to level out some of the excessive settlement that caused one room in particular falling into the ground (the old prop room), but what if we didn’t even try to build it right or brand new? What’s the minimum they can do? could and minimum What could we spend making it legal And Safe,
He came back with a whole new plan based on his experienced assessment of our foundation, and narrowed the scope a ton. The new, lower scope of work came back to $29k.
Now you may be worried that this is going to be shoddy work, that the house is going to collapse, but I’m not worried, and neither is the contractor – they do this all day, every day. Basically, only one beam has dry rot (and will be replaced), the rest are fine, but other companies (and Tom’s advice) were based on completely replacing everything for preventative measures (non-pressure-treated wood can rot). This company will do some light excavation, use some steel adjustable posts to replace less strong piers and pillars, lift the corner of the prop room and place it on a beam, repair cracks in the poured foundation, and replace any dry rot. But if we didn’t mind the rooms not being perfectly level, a little crooked, not a 90 degree angle, but very safe, he could have done it at that price.
Hallelujah!!!!!
Y’all, I can’t stress this enough, so don’t panic and don’t be worried for us: this house is strong. We’re not moving the walls. It’s been around for 200 years, and everyone says it’s in great shape. Is it as strong as a newly built/constructed home? No. But that will never happen, no matter how much dough we throw into it. There is only one room that supports a room above it, and that room is in pretty good shape – its basic engineering is sound. The rooms that need more support are the extra rooms – the prop room, the canning room and the gardening shed, which do not support anything except the roof. I remember reading some comments from some of you warning me that when a house is so old and put together, messing with it too much can weaken it. You are throwing good money after bad. Extensive foundation repair will not guarantee 90-degree angles or a perfectly flat floor. When homes get this old, you either work with them to repair and improve them, invest hundreds of thousands of dollars or more to make them completely “brand new” (essentially what we did for our home), demolish them and start again, or give up. For this guest house, we’re going with the fourth quote, and we feel pretty good about it, while understanding that at $29k it’s still a ton of money.
Like all of life, it’s all about balance. Now we’re constantly reminding ourselves what we really want from this house – not a fancy restored cottage with a pebble ice machine, but a beautiful, lovely cottage full of vintage charm. We’re setting limits and parameters for budget and time, and then having fun within them (much like parenting). This home will be a fun flex space with minimalist amenities and lots of cute details through vintage and DIY. The more we plug it back in, the more excited I get about it.
*by beautiful photos Caitlin Green
