From shimming a sagging beam to underpinning a settled corner with steel piers, leveling is the biggest-ticket foundation job. We connect Huntsville-area homeowners with independent local foundation repair, crawl space and waterproofing companies for free, no-obligation quotes.
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Two different jobs get called "house leveling." The first is shimming and re-supporting a crawl space floor system: framing has sagged between piers or a pier has dropped, and the fix is jack posts, new footings, shims and sometimes a new beam. The foundation itself is sound. Nationally this runs about $1,000 to $3,500 (HomeGuide 2026; estimates, not quotes); see our crawl space repair page.
The second is underpinning: the footing has settled because the soil under it moved, and the house has to be transferred onto something that does not. That means steel piers driven or screwed below the active soil to rock or load-bearing strata, then a controlled lift. Underpinning typically costs $10,000 to $20,000, and a whole-house lift and level $20,000 to $23,000. Slab, crawl space and basement homes are all built here and all three can be underpinned; slab homes may also get slab piers or slabjacking for an interior floor that has dropped.
Hollow steel tube sections are hydraulically driven, one after another, through a bracket fixed under the footing until they reach bedrock or a stratum that will not take any more load. The house's weight is the reaction force, so push piers suit heavier brick and two-story structures, and each pier is load-tested as it goes in: the installer records the driving pressure, which converts to load. Typical installed cost $1,000 to $3,000 each, about $2,000.
A steel shaft with one or more helix plates is turned into the ground with a hydraulic drive head like a large screw. Capacity is read from installation torque, so helicals suit lighter structures, porches and additions, and extensions add depth where rock is far down. Typical installed cost $2,000 to $4,000 each, about $3,000. Our post on push piers versus helical piers goes further.
Ask whether the pier system has an ICC-ES evaluation report and what the design load per pier is.
Pier price is mostly pier depth, and depth here varies. NRCS soil descriptions give the numbers: Barfield, the county's largest soil series by acreage, is a shallow clay with limestone at about 18 inches, while Decatur and Dewey soils run more than 60 inches to bedrock and Colbert from 40 to more than 72 inches. The bedrock is the Tuscumbia Limestone, a cherty limestone 20 to 150 feet thick from Huntsville westward, and it is karst. The Geological Survey of Alabama lists a drop in the water table from drought and heavy weight at the ground surface among sinkhole triggers, and a 2006 study of Redstone Arsenal reported 1,886 mapped sinkholes and solution cavities in about 70 percent of bedrock boreholes.
A pier can therefore hit rock at a few feet on one corner and keep going on the next, which is why the load test matters. Push piers are driven until they reach a pressure that proves bearing against the structure's weight; helical piers are turned to a specified torque that correlates to capacity. The written quote should state the assumed depth, the price per additional foot, and what happens if a pier does not reach a satisfactory test load.
Above the rock, about 17.5 percent of Madison County acreage is in soils with a high or very high shrink-swell rating per NRCS SSURGO (Limestone County: about 1.3 percent), and September, at 3.49 inches, is the driest month against December's 5.87. Read more in Madison County soils and sinkholes.
Floor elevations are shot with a level or manometer and mapped, so the low points and lift target are on paper first.
Pits are dug at each pier location to expose the footing so the bracket seats under it.
Each pier is driven or turned and its pressure or torque recorded; ask for a copy of the log.
Hydraulic rams raise the footing toward the target. Full recovery is not always possible or wise; the quote should say whether lift or stabilization is intended.
Ask for the warranty in writing: term, what voids it, whether it transfers to a buyer and any transfer fee.
Alabama requires a Home Builders Licensure Board (HBLB) residential home builder license for any repair to a home when the cost exceeds $10,000 (Ala. Code §34-14A-2(16)); the HBLB says work that affects structural integrity needs the unlimited license, not the limited one; licensees must show their license number in advertising and contracts (§34-14A-7). Piering and leveling are structural. Ask for the company's HBLB license number and check it on the HBLB lookup before signing. The HBLB Homeowners' Recovery Fund (up to $30,000 per transaction) applies only when the builder was licensed.
In the City of Huntsville a permit is required when labor and materials exceed $250 or any structural work is involved (Inspection Department FAQ); the contractor pulls it and must hold a City of Huntsville business license. Ask whether the City will want an engineer's letter.
An engineer's report or engineered repair design comes only from an Alabama-licensed professional engineer (PE); a contractor's free evaluation is a sales estimate, not an engineering opinion. If a PE letter is part of the job, ask that it cover the pier type and spacing, the design load per pier, the depth or test-load criterion, the lift target or stabilization decision, and a post-installation review of the pier log. See foundation inspections and engineer's reports. Then request free quotes or call {PHONE_LINK}; we usually reply the same day.
Neither is better in the abstract. Push piers are driven using the weight of the house and suit heavier structures with rock or firm strata within reach. Helical piers are screwed in and reach a torque target, so they work under lighter loads, porches and additions, and where the house is too light to drive a push pier. Ask each company why it proposes one over the other for your footing.
Pier spacing is set by the footing's condition, the load on it and how far the settled section runs, so counts range from two or three under a corner to a full perimeter. Nationally, 3 piers run about $6,000 to $12,000 and 15 piers about $30,000 to $60,000 (HomeGuide 2026; estimates, not quotes). Ask for a drawing with every pier location and what happens if more are needed.
It varies lot to lot. NRCS soil descriptions show shallow Barfield soils reaching limestone at about 18 inches, while Decatur and Dewey soils run deeper than 60 inches before bedrock. The underlying Tuscumbia Limestone is cavity-prone: a 2006 study on Redstone Arsenal found solution cavities in about 70 percent of bedrock boreholes. Quotes should state the depth assumption and the per-foot charge beyond it.
Typical national ranges from This Old House (2026), Bob Vila (2024), HomeGuide (2026) and Angi (2026): house leveling $1,000 to $3,500 with shims, $10,000 to $20,000 when underpinning is needed, and $20,000 to $23,000 for a whole-house lift and level; steel push piers $1,000 to $3,000 each, helical piers $2,000 to $4,000 each. These are estimates, not quotes.
Yes. Alabama requires a Home Builders Licensure Board (HBLB) residential home builder license for any repair to a home when the cost exceeds $10,000 (Ala. Code §34-14A-2(16)); the HBLB says work that affects structural integrity needs the unlimited license. In the City of Huntsville a permit is required when labor and materials exceed $250 or any structural work is involved; the contractor pulls it. Ask whether the City will want an engineer's letter.
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