You are aware that there are different methods of foundation repair and are researching drilled bell-bottom piers. How much do they cost on average? What price ranges can you expect for smaller, medium, or larger jobs? These are *worthwhile* questions that homeowners need answers to. People just want to know how much things cost.
At Anchor Foundation Repair, we have been pricing and repairing slab foundations in the Brazos Valley for 35+ years and can tell you how much drilled piers cost because it’s the method of foundation repair that we use. We can certainly share some average pricing with you and aren’t afraid to do so.
This article offers some quick no-nonsense pricing ranges for drilled pier foundation repairs in three general project sizes. We will also review the contributing factors that impact pricing and drive the cost up or down. Let’s *drill* down to the specifics now!
How Much Does It Cost to Install Drilled Bell-Bottom Piers?
We are cutting right to the chase here to give you the cost info you want most. The biggest determining factor for foundation repair pricing is the number of support piers you need to repair your home. The more linear feet of your home that are affected by foundation problems, the more supports you need.
The cost of any foundation repair is determined by the relative size and scope of the project.
A minimal drilled pier project that only touches on a small part of your home would likely fall between $7,000 and $9,000. A more average-sized foundation repair project that needs partial work around the perimeter of the home would run you about $13,000 to $18,000. An extensive bell-bottom pier foundation repair job that needs both perimeter and interior piers will be upwards of $50,000 or more.
Here’s a lovely graphic that puts it in visual terms for you:
*Disclaimer Alert* These prices are estimations for educational purposes only and may change depending on the extent of repairs and underlying issues. This pricing also applies to our area of Central Texas but may or may not be estimable in other regions or states.
What Affects Pricing Estimates for Drilled Pier Foundation Repair?
Determining costs for foundation repair is challenging. Prices can go up or down depending on several factors. To estimate the price of drilled pier foundation repair, you’ve got to account for anything that drives the cost up or down since every home’s repair needs are different.
Here’s a quick rundown of the factors a foundation repair estimator will consider when working up a cost to repair your home:
- Materials and Labor
- Other Business Costs
- Home Location
- Accessibility to Support Locations
- Costs Unique to the Contractor
We’ll do some very quick explanations of these cost factors next. But if you want to long-version, check out this more detailed article about the major cost factors in drilled pier foundation repair.
Materials and Labor
Everyone generally understands that labor and material costs always influence your price. The more *stuff* you need for a repair project, the more it will cost. The same goes for labor: the more time things take the higher the labor costs. So the larger or longer any foundation repair project is the more it will cost.
Material and labor costs are the easiest for people to understand. Most homeowners don’t think about items 2 through 4 as much. So let’s break those down more.
Other Business Costs
There are costs associated with repair work that a homeowner might forget about because some of them are not happening *right in front of you* on your property. Drive time hours, obtaining and paying for permits, fuel costs, off-site legwork, clean up, logistical planning, etc. all go into the costs of any foundation repair project.
So it’s not just the time that is spent on your property. Time is needed to coordinate, prepare, and finish your project which adds to your overall costs even when you can’t see them happening.
Home Location
How close your home is to town is a larger factor than you might think. The whole job can take longer and cost more when people and supplies need to reach your home.
If you live far away from a contractor’s headquarters, drive time cuts into the amount of work that can be accomplished each day. Supplies like mixed concrete and topsoil delivery sometimes need to be sourced from different vendors at different price points.
Even how your home is situated on your property can contribute to time factors. A long driveway, a larger home, a bunch of gates, or anything that adds time to simply move around and *get stuff* will be factored into pricing.
Accessibility to Support Locations
With drilled pier foundation repair, support piers are placed under your home. Depending on how easy/hard or quickly/slowly those locations can be accessed changes the pricing for your project.
There is a standard price point for an installed pier with no access limitations. There’s just dirt that needs to be moved and nothing else in the way.
There is a higher price point for an installed pier with exterior access limitations. The most common *access limitation* is a concrete surface like a sidewalk, patio, or porch next to your home that is in the way.
A foundation repair contractor has to cut a hole in the concrete to do the work (we call these “breakouts”). Time is needed to remove and then repair that concrete after the foundation work is complete. Other exterior access limitations are large trees, air conditioning units, pools, decks, and other hardscaping.
The highest price point for an installed pier is one that needs to go under the interior of your home rather than along the perimeter. Interior pier foundation work is more complicated and extensive, and therefore more expensive.
Costs Unique to the Contractor
Every contractor has their own way of pricing projects. Some things are included for one contractor, and extra for another contractor. Some contractors will have a line item for clean-up, dirt haul away, or provide extra services that have additional costs.
Most bell-bottom pier installers will also mud pump to fill the void under your home after the foundation has been raised. Some contractors will perform hydrostatic pressure tests to ensure that you don’t have any plumbing leaks under your home.
These services might be optional or required and may or may not show up as a separate item on your drilled pier foundation repair estimate but their costs are accounted for somehow.
Average Costs for Drilled Pier vs. Pressed Pile Foundation Repair
Now that you understand a bit more about typical costs and pricing factors for drilled piers, you probably want to know about other readily available alternatives. That would be concrete pressed pilings here in our area.
For 35+ years, Anchor Foundation Repair has been pricing and repairing foundation problems for homeowners in Bryan, College Station, and surrounding communities like Caldwell, Brenham, and Somerville. We exclusively use drilled bell-bottom piers for our foundation repair projects, but another method is available here too.
*Spoiler Alert* Drilled piers are more expensive than pressed pilings and there are good reasons why. If you want to understand ALL the differences between drilled piers and pressed piles, here’s your next article: Bell-Bottom vs. Pressed Pile Foundation Repair Methods: What’s the Difference?
OR if you just want a quick price comparison article on the two methods, check out this one instead: Average Price Range for Foundation Repair in the Brazos Valley.