Foundation Repair Warranties and Selling a Repaired Home in Texas

What a lifetime warranty usually covers

Foundation repair companies often advertise a lifetime or lifetime transferable warranty. The words sound broad. The documents are usually narrower, and each company writes its own, so the only terms that count are the ones in yours.

The common pattern is a promise to adjust the piers the company installed, at no labor charge, if the area they support settles again. That lines up with how engineers describe what underpinning can do. The Texas Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers says in its residential foundation guidelines that construction documents "should state that underpinning will not improve the performance of the foundation in non-underpinned areas." A warranty that covers only the piered area reflects the same limit.

Read the warranty for answers to these questions before you sign the repair contract, not after:

• What exactly is covered? Adjustment of installed piers only, or also new piers if more are needed in the same area?
• What's excluded? Look for plumbing, cosmetic damage (drywall, brick, trim), areas without piers, heave, and damage from drainage or watering problems.
• What are your obligations? Some warranties require you to maintain drainage, water the foundation, or fix plumbing leaks for coverage to stay in force.
• Is there a service charge per visit?
• How does a transfer work? Is there a deadline after closing, a fee, a form, or a requirement for recent plumbing tests? Get it in writing.
• Who backs it? The company alone, or a third-party insurer or bond?

When the company is sold or closes

A warranty is only as good as the business that honors it. In August 2025, KRGV reported on a Harlingen family whose foundation was repaired and leveled in 2023 with a lifetime warranty. When they found problems after flooding in 2025, the company had been sold, and the new owners declined the old warranty, saying "what the old owners had an agreement with you guys, that's as far as it went." The local BBB president suggested asking the new owners how to reach the previous owners.

Texas doesn't license foundation repair companies. Bills to create a state license failed in 2011 and 2013. There is no state fund or regulator standing behind a warranty. Practical steps:

• Ask how long the company has operated under its current name and ownership.
• Ask whether the warranty is backed by anything beyond the company itself.
• Keep your own complete copies. Don't rely on the company's records.
• If you hear the company has been sold, contact the new owner in writing and ask whether it will honor existing warranties.

Selling a house with a past repair

What the Texas disclosure form asks

Texas Property Code section 5.008 requires the seller of a single-dwelling home to give the buyer a written disclosure of the property's condition, with exceptions such as foreclosures, some transfers between family members, and new homes that have never been lived in. The Texas Real Estate Commission publishes the Seller's Disclosure Notice (TREC No. 55-1) for this.

On that form, sellers say whether they are aware of defects in the "Foundation/Slab(s)," floors, walls, doors and windows, and whether they are aware of conditions including "Previous Structural or Roof Repair," "Improper Drainage," and "Landfill, Settling, Soil Movement, Fault Lines," with space to explain. A past foundation repair is the kind of thing those questions are written to capture. This guide can't give legal advice, so ask your agent or a real estate attorney how to fill in the form for your situation.

The documents buyers usually ask for

1. The repair contract and invoice, showing pier count and locations.
2. The warranty, with the transfer terms.
3. The city permit and its final inspection. Every Collin County city checked requires a permit for foundation repair. See your city's page for details.
4. The engineer's sealed design submitted for the permit.
5. The engineer's final letter or report. McKinney's foundation repair requirements say the permit is closed by uploading a Final Engineer's Report. Frisco's submittal requirements say the "engineer must provide inspection report at time of completion," and Prosper's FAQ calls for "a second original sealed letter from the engineer" at inspection.
6. Floor elevation readings from after the repair. The ASCE Texas guidelines say elevations should be measured after the work and that the engineer should "furnish a copy to the client."
7. Plumbing test results, if tests were done before or after the repair. See slab leaks and foundation movement.

If you're missing the permit or final letter, the city's permit portal is a good place to start, and the engineer who sealed the design may be able to issue a copy.

Buying a house with a past repair

The buyer's home inspector will note visible symptoms, but Texas limits what that inspection covers. The engineering board's advisory opinion 43 says a TREC-licensed inspector reports visible conditions and is not required to determine their cause or recommend repairs, and that analyzing causes and recommending repairs is the practice of engineering.

So for a house with a past repair, or with signs of movement, many buyers hire their own engineer during the option period. The Foundation Performance Association's homebuyers' guide says a structural inspection of an existing home usually includes both an elevation survey and a distress survey. Choose an engineer who has no tie to the company that did the repair, and ask the engineer to review the seller's paperwork. See engineer report vs free inspection.

Before closing, confirm with the repair company in writing whether the warranty will transfer to you and what you need to do.

If an engineer recommends further work on a house you own, this guide can pass your request to a local foundation repair company for a bid. See how it works, including how referrals are paid for.