Foundation Repair of CA

Foundation Repair of CA did a wonderful job fixing our sinking foundation using 6 push piers. Jonny kept me posted during the entire process regarding test piers, engineering, pulling permits, and final completion of the work. The crew of Nate, Dan, and Anthony did a great job getting the work done and cleaning up afterwards. Everyone who came over during the process of getting this repair done was professional and respectful. They all made sure I understood what was going on and answered all the questions I and my husband had. I wish we hadn’t needed to do this work, but I am glad we were able to get it solved so easily with a very professional company.

We had a very positive experience with SFA/​Foundation Repair of CA. Our initial contact with Dennis Gohnert was great. He met us as scheduled and was able to assess our home needs (hillside location with foundation settling) immediately. He then created diagrams to survey the property and areas needing repair. He leveraged his extensive construction experience to educate me on our home design and it’s associated strengths and weaknesses (water erosion/​damage to pier pilings). He also helped me repair a leaking pipe spotted under home during his inspection — at no charge! Dennis then scheduled a meeting for a detailed survey and developed a preliminary design for a solution. Furthermore he arranged for a subsequent evaluation with a structural engineer. Once the engineering assessment was complete Dennis reviewed the plan with us in detail (it was very extensive, probably envisioning an ideal outcome with minimal risk and not factoring in cost) — he made recommendations to streamline our plan to meet our specific goals and budget, elucidating the risks, benefits and consequences of the plan. Scheduling the work was a challenge. Foundation Repair of CA is in demand and we wanted to be present. The execution of the project went pretty well. One pier was not able to be placed at its ideal location and it some of the 19 piers had to be placed in visible locations (we were warned of these potential problems). Some of the piers required our floor to be modified (lifted some hardwood floor planks and cut through garage concrete floor). Foundation Repair of CA did repair the concrete and the subfloor as they noted in their disclosures. The project ran about 5% over budget and 2 days late (we had delayed decisions on plan modifications). The crew headed by Jorge did a great job. They were prompt, responsive and very hardworking. Some of our doors wouldn’t initially close after the lifting. Jorge and his crew took the time to make sure critical doors functioned before they left. We were able to raise our house about half the height we planned which was fine since stability was our primary goal (50 yr warranty). We halted further lifting due to cracking of drywall and some door frames (Dennis and SFA clearly noted these common risks I should note and we were not surprised). We felt more would jeopardize multiple windows and significantly increase costs. Anna at the main office was great managing communication — we are both busy professionals with kids. She helped organize, schedule, and offer finance options. Dennis maintained contact throughout the project, frequently checking on progress and taking the time to explain things in laymans terms (helical supports and hydraulic lifting etc.). We are enjoying our more level and stable home (protecting a significant asset) and looking forward to the final inspection soon. We have had other experiences with contractors and this was definitely superior. Usually if it’s completed with less than 20% cost or time overrun we are satisfied. We would strongly recommend Dennis Gohnert, SFA/​Foundation Repair of CA.

We own several homes and commercial properties, this was by far the worst experience with contractors I’ve ever had. No show, no call for their scheduled start, when they did show up they proceeded to DESTROY our back patio — no apologies, no repairs, just a huge mess of broken up cement and an inquiry about if we «had a Plan B».
We fired them, hired someone else to fix the decimated slab and had a few other companies in to look at the other job FRCA was supposed to do. Guess what? Across the board the consensus was that the other 20k of work they insisted we desperately needed was absolutely NOT NECESSARY. Fast forward a few years to now and our house is fine; like the other companies said, no foundation work needed!
There are a lot of companies you can do business with — I suggest you do your due diligence and spend your dollars elsewhere.
Oh and the cherry on top? A few months later I came home to a voicemail from someone looking for a reference for these folks. Hah! They’re lucky we didn’t sue.

So far, I am very happy with the work done. Tom and Jesse showed up when they said they would (that’s a big plus), knew what they were doing, and I felt confident in their expertise and their work. I thought the price was very reasonable. I hope I never need another foundation repair but if I do, I would use them again and I have recommended this company to others.

Nate, Anthony and Anthony from Foundation Repair of CA did an excellent job at our house in Santa Clara. It’s a small house built in 1955, perfectly level, except for the addition which was added in the 70s. The addition had sunk more than an inch. The plan was for 3 push piers and 3 super jacks to level and improve the stability. The guys called ahead of their arrival and went to work on the first day. They had to dig out 3 large holes at the foundation, about 2 ft in diameter each and maybe 4 ft deep. They also poured concrete for the super jacks. By the end of day 1 they had found bedrock (39 ft below!) and had the piers installed. Day 2 they performed the lift, and capped off/​bolted down the piers. We watched the house level off. My husband and I are really happy! They do a nice written progress report each day and are in verbal communication about progress as needed. Super nice, neat, and professional.

I would really love to give these guys a five star rating but unfortunately after the job was done and they got their money they started treating me like their redheaded stepchild.
I had them lift up my sinking house, they did an excellent job from beginning to the end but unfortunately for me the house needed to be lifted another inch. I tried and tried to get them to come back. I called so many times, they made promises that they were going to come. I finally realized they really didn’t want to come back and fix it. Maybe it’s because it’s going to cost them money to send a crew here to adjust it or maybe they are too busy. Only they know why. Because of their empty promises that they were coming back I had to keep on rescheduling the construction crew that was going to fix all the windows, doors and cracks that happened due to the lifting.
But the joke’s on them. I need to encapsulate my crawl space and two of my neighbors need to have their homes lifted. AND all of my surrounding neighbors have some sort of settlement.
So they may have saved money on sending a three man crew to readjust my home but lost thousands of dollars in work and actual referrals. As the saying goes pennywise dollar stupid.
Because of them not returning to correct the sag in the home I had to go ahead and have my construction crew fix all the damage that was done because of the lift. NOW when people visit my house they all comment on how the house is visibly slanting to the right.
To potential future customers: Please make sure they finish the job to your liking before paying them because having them come back is a nightmare. I could only imagine what it would be like if you had to claim a warranty repair. Also if you need to speak with me about my experience I have all the text messages and phone calls to prove it. Just contact me and I would gladly share my experience with you.
To Foundation Repair of CA:. I HIRED YOU GUYS TO LEVEL MY HOME. THEN WHY IS IT MY HOME IS NOT LEVELED? I actually really have neighbors that need to have their house lifted. On one of them her kitchen is so bad that there are horizontal cracks going across the whole kitchen walls. And my other neighbor is renovating his house and is going to lift it before he starts. Whoever is doing your scheduling is messing up all your wonderful hard working employees and making you lose referrals. Or should I assume that you make so much money and customers that we don’t matter. But please note that all the homes in my neighborhood are in black adobe soil and summer is around the corner.

I responded to the heavy advertising this company has in my area. I was not able to make an appointment for a few weeks. When Dennis showed up, he brought another guy who he was showing the ropes. That was a particular sore point, since I had specifically made a request to the receptionist that they send only one person, for efficiency. Dennis bragged about how they were such a big foundation repair agency, like that was supposed to impress me. They paraded around the house, taking measurements for problems I was not concerned about, explaining that there were none of the typical problems they fix, while never addressing the problem I was concerned about. Then the battery on his laptop ran out of power, so he was not able to send me a report after briefly showing me his assessment. Basically, he wanted to replace the existing jacks with better ones. But the problem was with a sagging beam that was beyond the last jack, which that would not have fixed. He said he would send the report in email but never did. After they were done, they stood next to their truck, chatting for about an hour. I finally called the receptionist to reel them in. She joked that they should take their loitering elsewhere. What a waste of time and energy.

5 stars for Anthony A and B. My garage slab tilted down about 3 inches in one corner. The Anthony’s injected expanding foam in several places in the tilted portion of the slab. I was skeptical but the foam injection actually worked as advertised. I could see the slab rise as the foam was injected. 90% of the tilt was removed. I couldn’t ask for more. The work was performed in about 2 hours, no mess, very professional. I parked our car on the slab an hour after the work was done. Cost was much less than alternative — concrete removal, base compaction and re-​pour and instead of a week it took about 2 hours.
I was not so impressed by the response of the office. They either need more people or better management. I had a difficult time getting a response to my request to schedule an appointment. Then, as luck would have it, the injecting machine broke the day before my appointment. On the morning of my appointment, 2 hours after the scheduled start time, I had to call to find out what the hold up was. My appointment was delayed 2 days while parts arrived. No one initiated a call to tell me.
Good product, good field personnel, lousy office management.

Peter, Nathan, & Anthony did a great job with the first phase of the project. Now we’ll see if the next crew who will finish the job can do as well or better.

We originally found out about the work this company does at a local home show. We had a driveway that had cracked and was sinking on one end and a walkway that had sunk and pulled away from the exterior foundation, both that we had thought would need to be completely replaced, along with an exterior concrete slab that had a crack and also was sinking. However, in discussing our issues with the home show rep, we understood these things could be fixed with the products they had available without the need to replace all the concrete.
Their sales rep, Jay Palma, made an appointment to come out and take a look at our issues. In doing so, he also found that our concrete porch was sinking and needed lifting as well. He quoted and we agreed to a price to do all the work using their PolyLevel system.

Unfortunately, the original crew that came to do the job did not complete the job properly. The driveway sunk down again, now making the original crack larger; the caulking around the walkway was a sloppy mess that looked like no care was done when applying it, and the repaired walkway had developed what was now a tripping hazard. The crew leader appeared to be in a big rush even though we were the only job for that day. We wondered what the heck had we just paid for and was this company not what they presented themselves to be. This was definitely not what we had been told by Jay Palma would be done on this job.
We called Jay and explained our dilemma. He called the office for us and they called us to set up another appointment to come out and see what needed to be done. This time the crew leader was a very personable young man by the name of Anthony Annotti. We did NOT even have to tell him what was wrong as he saw all the wrongs on his own and pointed them out! He apologized for the poor previous workmanship but guaranteed us he would correct it to our satisfaction. He repaired everything with the exception of filling in the cracks because he needed a special tool and material that would need to be ordered. He said he would be back when in the area for another job. Of course, we had lot of rain but after 7 weeks went by and no contact; we became concerned once again.
We contacted the office but no one knew anything about it. If I had one major concern with this company it is the communication with the office staff & doing what they promise to do. They definitely need some improvement there. They finally traced it to Anthony and he and another worker, also with the name of Anthony, came back and completed the job. We had fallen through the cracks… so to speak. Anthony & Anthony, however, were excellent workers who definitely took pride in their work, kept us in the know of what they were doing, & ultimately made the job right. Things happen; but when they make it right, that’s what counts in the end. Thanks you Anthony & Anthony!!!

After a 3 months duration of a project that involved both slab piers, poly level and foundation push piers, I have to tell you that I have had a very interesting experience with Foundation Repair of CA. Being in the project management field myself for over 20 years, I understand and I expect to face issues throughout the execution of any given project. And that was no different with this construction project. Although I was prepared to face issues (and deal with them), Foundation Repair back-​office folks apparently lack some basic fundamentals of effective communication. Yes, I had to push the office crew a couple times to make things happen. However, once they got the message, they were extremely accountable and responsible to provide me with an outstanding customer service. Field Crew: AJ, Jose and Remy are beyond awesome. AJ answered (clearly, extensively and concisely) every single question I had (even the most stupid ones). AJ’s experience on lifting foundation makes everything looking «so easy». Impressive is not enough to describe his job. Jose is a hard worker with a great sense of humor. Remy is quiet but geez. this guy middle name is «efficiency». The lifting they have performed in the foundation of my house is not a laughing matter… wow. these guys are awesome. Poly-​crew (Anthony and Jason) were no different. Yes, there were issues. Yes, I got frustrated. Yes, I got stressed. And yes. Foundation Repair took care of everything at the end; Concrete repair: 5 starts is not enough to Jorge’s crew. I call them the «Concrete Doctors». They did an amazing job in the slab area as well as around the foundation. Last but not least. Jay Palma, the sales rep. Jay (The Italian guy) is unbelievable. Want to learn how to take care of Customers? Talk to Jay. No matter what the circumstances might be, Jay was always there to take care of me (even when he was on vacation eating great food and drinking fine wine in Italy). He was on top of my issues by addressing them properly and providing me with the peace of mind I needed to make sure everything would be ok at the end.
The end result of Foundation Repair work is fantastic. I highly recommend this company (specifically the crew I’ve worked with) for any foundation repair job. Mark should be very proud of this people and his Company.

Jorge, Daniel and crew did a fast and very efficient job lifting my house’s foundation. Showed up on time with clear communication and daily reports.

I was not satisfied with the work this business did at my property several years ago. They made a mistake on the estimate, and then tried to shortchange the amount of materials for the project to cover the difference. The experience left me feeling I could not trust their word and had to be vigilant every step of the way. I was unsatisfied with the work done by this company and would not recommend them to others for foundation repair.

Oakland Hills home:
I needed basement drains and a sump pump installed.
From the very beginning of my communications, to the end of the project, Foundation Repair of Ca was very professional and reliable. The rep that consulted me in the beginning (Brett) was wonderful. He filled me in on what I needed done and guaranteed the projected work. Then the BEST guys came out to do the work (Tom Bone and Jesse). They were so good! Professional in every way! They came back for adjustments to the system as needed. They were very knowledgable, so easy to work with and very efficient with time and work done. I would absolutely recommend this company due to my experience with Brett, T-​Bone and Jesse !!!
Thank you!!!

Job well done. Chris, Roger and the rest of his crew are great. Thank you and definitely will call and recommend.

Overall very satisfied with this company. We are under escrow and from the home inspection we found out a front corner of the home was sinking. Solution was 3 push piers.
First call out, I explained the urgency of the matter and the staff was on it. The main hold up was the city of Sacramento. Shirley was my main contact in the office and really pushed to maintain our time line, as did Greg. We also did a lot of the leg wk to help the time line by taking in documents for the permit process. Foundation of CA helped us by having their staff drive 2 hrs to drop off docs for us to submit.
Phase 1
Work was completed by Daniel and 2 other guys and they were fast, clean and did the work needed. 2 inspections from the city and no issues, especially since we also had a special inspection needed. Andy the engineer was also on site and explained the process to the city which made things go smoothly.
Phase 2
Tom was the foreman and did the back fill and finishing work. City came out again to do a pier inspection. Tom and his guy sat outside for 3 hrs waiting for the city to arrive. I offered to call when the city came, but he wanted to stick around and make sure all was good and answer any questions the inspector may have.
Overall I say this company did a stand up job, both customer service wise and workmanship wise. Both crews cleaned up after themselves and made sure we were satisfied with the job. They also had no issues of me asking questions as they were doing the job. If you need work done quickly call them and it will be done right.

Let me start with the great part of this company… the guys that actually come out to do the work. David, Ben, Eligio, and Andrew were fantastic. If I was just rating these guys, I would give 5-​STARS hands down. They worked super hard, finished on time (despite the scope of work expanding during the job), and were super communicative! We have had several contractors do work for us, and these guys were easily the best. There was never a question about what they were doing, when they were going to arrive and leave, and what they were hoping to accomplish. They were fantastic!
There were a handful of unforeseen circumstances encountered (foundation was worse than expected and additional piers needed to be added, the gas line was closer to the house than expected, plumbing issues, etc). They worked extra hard to work around the issues they found, and still met the deadline they set forth. Honestly, I was super impressed with these guys. They constantly gave us the feeling that they were going to take care of us, and our house. Now that the work is done, our doors don’t stick, our windows aren’t jammed, I’m super happy!
I want to contrast that with the review I EXPECTED to write before the work started. The office staff is terrible (1-​star)! They were terrible communicators, and I nearly bailed before work started. That would have been a mistake since what matters most was the quality of work, and the people doing the actual work.
Tl;dr: Office staff sucks, but David, Ben, Eligio, and Andrew WAY more than made up for that!!!

This review is for Dennis Gohnert, foundation inspector from Foundation Repair of CA. I am very impressed by his work and the way he conducted the work.
1. He was exactly on time.
2. He has tons of experiences on what he does.
3. He actually spent a lot of time explaining to me the inspection result and I learned a great deal.
4. He has been very responsive when I contacted him after the inspection, which is actually rare in this business.
Overall, the experience I had is very positive.
I won’t hesitate in recommending him to anyone who needs a foundation inspection.

Foundation stabilization: five stars for crew 1 (Dan Bowman, Antonio 1 and 2), and crew 2 (Tom Bone and Jesse), EXCELLENT work. Dan was meticulous, exacting, thorough. He installed 14 push piers and 5 helical tie-​backs, every one of them completely pushed and correctly bracketed, without cutting corners when confronted with obstacles, Also 5 stars for coordination by Eileen Carlen in the main office. And 5 as well for the initial analysis and bid from Mat Phelps (owner): thorough, honest, clear — and exactly on target, it turned out later, in his estimates for soil resistance and pier-​depths. Tom & Jesse did final clean-​up & expert repair carpentry, put everything back the way it was before the job.
I needed stabilization of a large, heavy house on a hillside in Berkeley; the downhill half of the house had settled several inches while the uphill side was relatively level. After 30+ years of cosmetic filling & patching, all I wanted was stabilization of the downhill side, no lifting.
Before selecting FRC, I interviewed many (I hate to tell you how many) contractors and engineers over a 4-​year period. Some of the best. With client lists that are impressive and prestigious. And prices that are sky-​high. For methods that are obsolete. Worse still: their arrogance and condescension. You have to get on a waiting list for the privilege of being insulted by some of these guys who tell you that you (ignorant homeowner) know nothing and that all the engineers and experts you’ve spoken to also know nothing…
Guess what. FRC did EXACTLY what I wanted, they did an EXCELLENT job, in a short time, at a fair price. And their work is guaranteed. And their guarantee is backed by a national company.
The other guys I talked to said they couldn’t guarantee anything.
I got bids ranging from insane to outrageous to ridiculous. One highly-​rated engineer recommended excavating and moving the whole house 30′ to the west and putting it down on a new 24″ mat foundation. This without having SEEN my existing foundation, which is already between 24 inches and at the heaviest spot, 48″! And perfectly intact, no cracks, nothing wrong with it. So why excavate and REMOVE 24−48″ of perfectly good foundation that’s slipping instead of shoring it up? Answer: if you excavate and raise your house onto massive scaffolding and then remove ton after ton of old concrete foundation, you then get to pour ton after ton of new concrete… and that’s big bucks. But guess what. Your newly-​poured tons will do exactly what the old ones did. Sink. Maybe a little slower. One guy told me «maybe 50% slower.» That’s nice, but why have sinking at all if you don’t have to?
Not every foundation can be easily shored up and permanently stabilized (at a fraction of the cost, and a fraction of the time). And there are lots of ways to shore & stabilize. A different pier-​contractor proposed doing all helicals (no push-​piers) embedded in a continuous 18″ reinforced concrete grade-​beam and attached to the foundation with epoxy dowels. FRC said «Why would you want to do that? On a HILLSIDE? Why add all that extra concrete and tie everything all together on the downhill slope — it’s just going to to pull your house down faster.»
I’m glad I took the time to get the right engineering for my situation. (Also: every pier that’s pushed is monitored on-​site for depth and resistance by an independent, 3^rd-​party engineering company, whose field-​log affidavit (22 pages of numbers in my case) and final report are the main things the building inspectors want to see at inspection).
From some of the other reviews here, I see that not everybody is happy with FRC. You want a good contractor? Be a good client. Do your homework, know what you want, and why. Then decide for yourself. Anyone can write a review — any impatient & uninformed person can vent on Unilocal.But how many cranky & clueless people can run a business? How many can fix a foundation? If you can work as hard as these guys do, and can work as well, then maybe you’ll be taken seriously if you have issues. Give honest, hard-​working people your trust and respect, and you’ll get honest, hard work in return. But if you radiate skepticism and mistrust? Think about it.

I had a total of three foundation companies come to give me an idea of what I may or may not be dealing with, foundation-​wise. This company was the only one who said I needed repairs. They were also the only ones to sit down with me at my kitchen table and show me videos about all the horrible things that could happen if I don’t repair my foundation. They do a whole sales pitch thing, which is very odd to me. Thankfully, the other two companies were honest and told me that what we are dealing with is due to the drought (tile cracking, wall cracks, etc).