What underpinning costs
Underpinning is priced per pier: $1,250 – $2,400 for steel push piers and $1,400 – $3,100 for helical piers, installed. Concrete pressed pilings run $900 – $1,700 and are common in specific regional markets, particularly the South Central states.
Because the unit price is fairly stable across the country, your total is decided almost entirely by pier count. A settled corner takes four to six piers, so $5,000 – $14,000. One full side of an average home takes eight to twelve, so $10,000 – $30,000. Full perimeter underpinning passes twenty piers and reaches $25,000 – $60,000.
Pier count is also the number contractors disagree about most, which is why the same house can collect quotes that differ by $8,000 without anyone behaving badly. Piers go in 6 – 8 feet apart, and that four-inch judgment call, repeated across a sixty-foot footing, is worth several piers.
Underpinning cost by pier type
| Line item | Typical range | Unit | What drives it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steel push pier | $1,250 – $2,400 | per pier | Driven by the weight of the house; depth to refusal |
| Helical pier | $1,400 – $3,100 | per pier | Torque depth, soil, equipment access |
| Concrete pressed piling | $900 – $1,700 | per pier | Regional method, shallower reach |
| Structural engineer’s report | $450 – $600 | per visit | Sets pier count and spacing independently |
| Permit | $75 – $400 | per project | Municipality and structural review |
| Interior pier (through the slab) | $1,500 – $3,000 | per pier | Floor removal, dust control, restoration |
| Cosmetic restoration after lifting | $1,000 – $5,000 | per house | Drywall, trim, tile and paint |
| Concrete and landscaping restoration | $500 – $3,000 | per project | Driveway sections, walkways, plantings |
Source: Compiled from 2025–2026 residential foundation contractor pricing datasets and pier manufacturer installed-cost schedules. Per-pier rates include excavation, bracket, drive and backfill; restoration is listed separately because most bids exclude it. · Last reviewed July 30, 2026 · Reference data · How we compile these figures
Push piers versus helical piers is a soil and structure question rather than a budget one. Push piers are hydraulically driven using the weight of the house as the reaction force, so they suit heavy masonry and multi-story structures and can reach load-bearing soil at real depth. Helical piers are screwed in like a giant auger and carry load by installation torque, which makes them the choice for lighter structures, additions and new construction where there is no building weight to push against yet.
Depth is the variable behind the per-pier range. A pier driven to refusal at 12 feet costs less to install than one that goes 30 feet. Ask whether your quote is a flat per-pier price or a base plus a per-foot adder — both are honest, and knowing which one you signed keeps the final invoice free of surprises.
Cost by how much of the house moved
| Extent of movement | Typical total | Pier count | What is happening |
|---|---|---|---|
| Settled corner | $5,000 – 14,000 | 4 – 6 piers | Most common underpinning job |
| One full side of an average home | $10,000 – 30,000 | 8 – 12 piers | Drainage or clay cycling on one elevation |
| Two adjoining sides | $18,000 – 45,000 | 14 – 18 piers | Movement wrapping around a corner |
| Full perimeter underpinning | $25,000 – 60,000 | 20+ piers | Site-wide soil failure |
| Interior piers added to any of the above | $1,500 – 3,000 | per pier | Load-bearing interior wall has dropped too |
| Addition or new construction on poor soil | $8,000 – 25,000 | helical piers | No building weight yet, so helicals are specified |
Source: Scope bands built from pier counts at 6–8 ft spacing along the affected footing on typical single-family homes, priced at national average per-pier rates. Excludes cosmetic and landscaping restoration. · Last reviewed July 30, 2026 · Reference data · How we compile these figures
Regional labor moves every figure in that table. West Coast markets price about 22% above national and the Northeast about 18% above; the Midwest sits roughly 8% below and the Southeast about 5% below. Mountain states land near national.
The number that decides your bill
Everything in underpinning reduces to pier count, and pier count comes from three inputs: the length of footing that has moved, the spacing your soil calls for, and whether interior load-bearing walls dropped along with the perimeter.
A contractor selling piers has an understandable interest in the answer to all three. An independent structural engineer, hired by you for $450 – $600, does not. The engineer shoots floor elevations, examines the soil report or borings if any exist, and writes down where piers go and how far apart. That document is what converts three sales visits into three comparable bids, and on a job of this size it is the cheapest money you will spend. It also frequently comes back specifying fewer piers than a free inspection proposed.
Interior piers deserve a specific question. Reaching a load-bearing interior wall means cutting the floor, working inside the house and putting it back, which is why they run $1,500 – $3,000 each against $1,250 – $2,400 outside. Some proposals include them by default. Ask whether the interior elevations actually dropped before you pay for them.
When underpinning is the wrong purchase
Underpinning is permanent, effective and frequently unnecessary. Several situations call for a much smaller check, or none.
- Settlement that has stopped. Most measurable settling happens in a house’s first two to three years. If your movement finished a decade ago, piers correct a problem that is over. Mark crack ends with dates, photograph a level on the sloped floor, and re-check across a full wet-and-dry season. Two identical readings are worth tens of thousands of dollars.
- A sunken patio, walkway or garage slab. These sit on the ground rather than carrying the house. Lifting them costs $700 – $2,100 per section and no piers are involved.
- Drainage nobody has corrected yet. Downspout extensions and regrading run $100 – $600. On expansive clay, evening out perimeter moisture is real engineering, not procrastination.
- A plumbing leak under the slab. Fix the leak first. Piers installed over an active leak stabilize the house while the water keeps removing soil from the next section.
Piers transfer load to competent soil and most carry a transferable lifetime warranty. What they do not do is address the drainage or leak that removed the support in the first place — leave that unresolved and the unpiered sections of the foundation become the next project.
Comparing three underpinning quotes
Put the bids side by side on five lines: pier count and locations, pier type and rated capacity, whether the engineer’s report and permit are included, whether concrete and landscaping restoration is in scope, and the warranty terms including transferability. Then ask every contractor to re-price at the engineer’s pier count. Differences that looked like thousands of dollars of margin usually turn out to be different scopes.
Expect the work to take 3 – 7 days for a typical corner or side, with excavation around the exterior and a lift attempted after all piers are set. Most crews stabilize and lift partially rather than chasing perfectly level, because aggressive lifting damages finishes elsewhere. Plan separately for $1,000 – $5,000 of drywall, trim and paint once the house has settled into its new position.
Where to go next
- Foundation repair cost — every repair type in one itemized table.
- Slab foundation repair cost — when a slab needs piers instead of lifting.
- House leveling cost — leveling priced by foundation type and method.
- Pier and beam foundation repair cost — the crawl space alternative to underpinning.
- Cost calculator — pier counts and totals for your own inputs.