Foundation repair methods, compared
Push piers, helical piers, pressed concrete pilings, pier-and-beam shimming. Here’s which one a Central Texas home actually needs — and what each costs — so a salesman’s favorite isn’t the only voice in the room.
Most Williamson County slab repairs come down to two choices: pressed concrete pilings or steel piers (push or helical). Pressed concrete is the most common and least expensive here; steel push piers reach deeper and carry more load; helical piers shine on lighter loads and poor soil; and pier-and-beam homes get shimmed or re-supported instead. The right method is the one your soil and load call for — established by an independent engineer — not the one a company installs by default.
The four methods you’ll be quoted
1. Pressed concrete pilings
Sections of pre-cast concrete cylinder are hydraulically pressed into the ground, one on top of another, using the weight of the house as the reaction force, until they hit resistance. It’s the workhorse of Central Texas slab repair: relatively fast, relatively cheap, and well-suited to typical residential loads. The limitation is that they’re driven to resistance, not to a verified bearing stratum, so on very deep clay they can occasionally come up shallower than ideal. Typical cost: roughly $300–$600 per pier installed.
2. Steel push piers
Steel pipe sections are hydraulically driven — again using the structure’s weight — but steel reaches deeper than concrete and can be pushed to refusal on a firm layer, then the load is transferred and locked off. You pay more, but you get depth and higher load capacity, which matters on heavy or two-story sections and over deep Blackland clay. Typical cost: roughly $700–$1,200+ per pier installed.
3. Helical piers
A steel shaft with helical plates is screwed into the ground like a giant screw, and torque readings give a real-time estimate of capacity. Because they’re turned rather than pushed, they don’t need the building’s weight to install — so they work well for lighter structures (porches, additions, pier-and-beam), new construction, and spots a pressed pile can’t reach. Typical cost: roughly $1,200–$2,500+ per pier, the priciest of the common options.
4. Pier-and-beam: shimming and re-support
Older Central Texas homes on a raised pier-and-beam foundation aren’t underpinned the same way. Instead a crew works in the crawl space to shim or replace the interior supports, sister rotted beams and joists, and sometimes add new pads or piers under a sagging span. It’s often less disruptive and less expensive than slab underpinning because there’s no concrete to break — but it takes a crew that actually knows raised foundations.
How to tell which you have — and need
If your floors are on a concrete slab poured on grade, you’re looking at pressed or steel piers. If there’s a crawl space and the floors have a little give, you’re pier-and-beam and want a crew that specializes in it. Which pier type is right depends on depth to stable soil and how much load that spot carries — exactly what an independent structural engineer measures. Get that report first and it becomes the scope every bidder quotes against, so you’re comparing identical jobs instead of sales pitches.
Side by side
| Method | Best for | Rough cost / unit |
|---|---|---|
| Pressed concrete pilings | Typical slab loads, most WilCo homes | $300–$600 / pier |
| Steel push piers | Heavy/two-story sections, deep clay | $700–$1,200+ / pier |
| Helical piers | Light loads, poor soil, additions, pier-and-beam | $1,200–$2,500+ / pier |
| Pier-and-beam shim/re-support | Raised foundations with crawl space | Priced by span, often less than slab underpinning |
Per-pier figures are Central Texas planning ranges, not a quote — a real number depends on pier count and depth. See the full cost breakdown and a worked example.
Questions that separate an honest quote from a sales pitch
- “Why this method for my house?” A good answer references your soil and load, not the product they always install.
- “How many piers, and to what depth?” The quote should spell both out — you can’t compare two bids on a lump sum.
- “What does the warranty cover, and does it transfer?” A lifetime warranty is only as good as the company still being here.
- “Is a plumbing test included?” Lifting a slab over an unknown leak just re-breaks it later.
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Related: How repair works & how to hire · Can I fix it myself? · What to expect during repair