Carlsbad Concrete Group serves as Southern California's premier team in slab foundation repair, specializing in helical pier installation, perimeter footing underpinning, and slab section replacement. We offer drilled concrete piers and push piers.
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Our team provides pier layouts drawn from the structural engineer's report, delivering steady floors for homes and stable footings for both residential and commercial projects. Backed by 11 years in business and our 1-year workmanship warranty, we have completed over 1,460 projects, from one settled garage corner to a full perimeter of piers under an older ranch house.
From logging the torque on every helical pier to pouring the slab patch flush with the floor around it, our team handles every detail. Serving Carlsbad and neighboring Elfin Forest, Poway and Bonsall, we stay on the job through the final inspection and hand you the signed permit card.
Call us for a free estimate, and we will walk the house, map the cracks and tell you whether an engineer should see it next.
What you can hold us to
Maria, a foothill lot on Elfin Forest Road, Elfin Forest
A 1980s house with a sticking door and a stair-step crack where one corner of the slab had settled
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
Maria's house on a foothill lot on Elfin Forest Road was a 1980s house with a sticking door and a stair-step crack where one corner of the slab had settled toward the slope. Following the engineer's report, the crew installed 5 piers at one corner, using helical piers under the settled corner and raising the slab in small steps so the drywall would not tear. The repair was an estimated $13,500 to $19,000 and ran an estimated 2 to 4 days on site. For Maria, the payoff was simple: interior doors that latch on the first try and a corner that now bears on steel piers rather than settling fill.
The clearest signs of a settling slab foundation are doors and windows that stick, stair-step cracks in block or stucco, and floor cracks that keep widening. A crack under a sixteenth of an inch that stays the same width is usually shrinkage; a crack that grows, with one side higher than the other, usually means movement.
Ignoring it lets the corner keep dropping, which tears plumbing joints under the slab, cracks finishes and makes the eventual lift harder. A slab that settled from a plumbing leak or poor drainage will keep settling until the water is fixed, which is why we look at the drainage on every visit.
Our foundation repair process runs from inspection to engineer's design to permit, piers and final sign-off, and we never place a pier before the engineer has drawn the layout.
Most pier repairs take an estimated 1 to 4 days on site, typically after 1 to 3 weeks for the report and the permit.
Slab foundation repair in Carlsbad is estimated at roughly $4,500 to $20,000 per project, and the number of piers, the depth to firm soil and access around the house move the price most. Helical piers typically run an estimated $2,000 to $4,000 per pier installed, so the engineer's pier count decides most of the quote, as Maria's 5 piers at one corner showed.
Piers or underpinning under a settling slab foundation
Demolition, haul-off, compacted base, rebar and a broom or exposed finish for a 2-car drive
Integral color, a stamp pattern and release, sealed after cure, about 400 sq ft
Tear-out around the coping, new base and steel, a cool broom, salt or exposed finish
A poured cantilevered wall with footing, steel and drainage behind it, about 50 linear ft
Rough-sawn board forms leave the wood grain in the face, about 200 sq ft of wall
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
| Job | Est. investment | Est. time on site |
|---|---|---|
| Slab foundation repair | Est. $4,500 to $20,000 per project | Est. 1 to 4 days |
| Helical pier, per pier | Est. $2,000 to $4,000 per pier | Est. 1 to 2 days for a small group |
| ADU or addition slab foundation, new | Est. $3,600 to $14,000 per project | Est. 3 to 7 days |
| Engineered retaining wall below a sliding slope | Est. $8,000 to $24,000 per project | Est. 5 to 10 days |
Maria's five piers on Elfin Forest Road landed in the upper part of the repair range because the foothill soil was deep and the corner sat on a slope. A single settled garage corner in Carlsbad or Encinitas, with two or three piers, typically sits much lower.
Every foundation figure on this page is an estimate and is subject to change once the engineer's report is in. Your written quote sets the final price and the schedule, and it depends on the pier count, the soil depth and access around the house.
Helical piers are screwed in and work well on lighter slab homes, push piers are driven using the weight of the house, and drilled concrete piers are poured in place where the engineer wants a cast footing.
| Pier type | How it is installed | Best for | Lift ability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helical pier | Screwed to a measured torque | Single-story slab homes, foothill lots | Can lift and hold |
| Push pier | Hydraulically driven against the house weight | Heavier two-story homes | Can lift and hold |
| Drilled concrete pier | Hole drilled, rebar cage set, concrete poured | New footings and additions | Holds, does not lift |
On clay soils in Poway and Bonsall we see more helical work; on deep fill pads the push pier often wins.
Pier work ends in concrete, and the patched slab or rebuilt section is poured with rebar on chairs and a vapor barrier where the floor needs one. Outside, the trench at the footing is backfilled and any broken drive or walk is replaced, often as a driveway replacement where the pier excavation crossed it, or as stamped and decorative concrete on a patio that had to come out.
Homeowners trust us because we build what the engineer designs, pull the permit ourselves and stay until the inspector signs off. Our owner has walked foundation jobs on over 1,460 projects in 11 years, and every repair carries our 1-year written workmanship warranty from the day the concrete is placed.
We repair slab foundations within a 35-mile radius of the Carlsbad yard, including the foothill lots of Elfin Forest, the clay soils of Poway and the rural homes of Bonsall. Rancho Santa Fe, Encinitas, Solana Beach and the rest are listed on our service area page.
Water at the footing is fixed with concrete drainage solutions, sunken driveway panels that are not part of the house are lifted with slab leveling, and a new detached unit starts with an ADU or addition foundation.
Slab foundation repair is estimated at roughly $4,500 to $20,000, and your written quote sets the final price once the engineer sets the pier count.
Yes, a structural engineer confirms the cause and designs the pier layout, and the permit is issued against that design.
Most pier jobs take an estimated 1 to 4 days on site, and Maria's took an estimated 2 to 4 days once the report and permit were in hand.
Yes, pier work happens outside at the footing, so most families stay home throughout.
Not always; a hairline crack that never widens is usually shrinkage, while a growing crack with one side higher points to settlement.
Piers carry the slab down to firm soil, so the repaired corner stops moving as long as the drainage around the house is fixed too.
No more than 10% or $1,000, whichever is less, then progress payments as each stage is done.
Request a free estimate, and we will map the cracks, measure the floors and set out the next step in writing.
Start to finish
We measure the area, shoot the grades and check drainage before anything is quoted.
The quote names the tear-out, base, reinforcement, finish and control joint layout.
The subgrade is compacted and the forms and rebar are checked before the truck is booked.
The crew places, finishes and cuts the joints, then walks the cured work with you.
Where we work
Call us or send the form, and we will book a site walk and measure the job.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.
