The short answer
A foundation repair warranty is a promise about the piers, not about the house. If a pier the contractor installed settles, they come back and adjust it, usually at no charge for as long as the term runs. Everything else — a wall with no piers under it, a plumbing leak, new cracks in the drywall, the slope of the yard — sits outside it.
That distinction is the whole document, and it is why two “lifetime” warranties can be worth very different amounts.
“Lifetime” is a marketing word, not a legal one
No Texas rule defines a lifetime foundation warranty. Each contractor writes its own, so the term can mean the lifetime of the house, the lifetime of the original buyer’s ownership, or the lifetime of the company — which ends if the company does. Read which one you are being offered.
It also helps to know that the engineering guidance everyone quotes is advisory. The ASCE Texas Section says its residential foundation documents are guidelines, not standards. They describe good practice and they are what a dispute will be argued against, but they are not a code the warranty must satisfy.
The exclusion most homeowners miss
Underpinning is almost always partial. A plan puts piers where the house has dropped, which is usually one or two sides, and leaves the rest of the perimeter on the original soil. ASCE Texas says repair documents should state plainly that underpinning will not improve the performance of the foundation in non-underpinned areas.
So the useful question is not “how long is the warranty” but what area does it cover. Ask for the pier drawing and keep it. Two years later, when a door starts sticking, that drawing is what decides whether you have a warranty claim or a new repair.
| What the warranty usually covers | What it usually doesn’t |
|---|---|
| Settlement of the piers that were installed | Movement in areas that were never underpinned |
| Re-adjusting those piers, often at no charge | New drywall, brick or tile cracks from the original lift |
| The work area, if nobody else disturbs it | Damage from a plumbing leak, a tree, or poor drainage |
| Transfer to a buyer, if the document says so | A level floor, which no plan promises |
What it does not promise
A warranty is not a flatness guarantee. The ASCE Texas guidelines say it is unlikely that a lift will produce a level foundation, and that perfection is not attainable by remedial measures — repair recommendations are supposed to state their own limits and what to reasonably expect. A plan that promises perfectly level floors is making a claim its own industry’s guidance says it cannot keep.
Nor does it promise the house will stop moving. TREC’s inspector guide notes that some movement is normal here. Clay in Collin County swells and shrinks every year regardless of what is under the slab.
Transfer: ask before you sign
Transfer terms matter most at the moment you are least able to change them — when you are selling. They are set entirely by the contractor: some transfer free, some for a fee, some only within a window after closing, and some are void on sale. One DFW contractor charges a one-time warranty transfer fee.
A transferable warranty plus the engineer’s report is also what reassures a buyer. The same contractor’s position is that an engineer’s report provides security for future owner. Keep the whole file; it is worth more at resale than the warranty certificate alone.
The paperwork to collect at the end
- The warranty document itself, with its term, exclusions and transfer terms.
- The pier drawing — how many, what type, where, how deep.
- Plumbing test results, before and after the lift.
- Post-repair elevation readings. ASCE Texas says these should be measured after the repair, with a copy to the homeowner.
- An engineer’s letter, where one was retained for it: a letter of substantial completion. The engineer who sealed the remediation documents is the engineer of record, so any change to the plan should go back through them.
If the repair moves again
- Write to the contractor and request a warranty inspection. Put it in writing even if you call first, and attach the pier drawing.
- Establish where it moved. A warranted pier settling and a non-underpinned wall dropping are different problems with different answers.
- If the claim stalls, Texas Property Code §27.004 requires a homeowner to give written notice by certified mail 60 days before filing suit for a construction defect, and gives the contractor 35 days to inspect the property.
That 60-day notice is not a formality to skip. It is the step that opens the contractor’s chance to offer a repair, which is often how these end without a lawyer.
One alternative worth knowing
Not every moving house needs underpinning. The ASCE Texas guidelines note an owner may reasonably choose cosmetic repairs instead of underpinning, patching cracks and adjusting doors as they appear. For a house with mild movement and no structural concern, that can be the cheaper decision over a decade — and it comes with no warranty question at all, because there is nothing to warrant.