How to Read a Foundation Repair Warranty

Questions that reveal what you actually have

• Is it lifetime or a fixed term - and lifetime of what, the house or your ownership of it?
• Is it transferable to a future buyer? This matters enormously at resale, and some transfers carry a fee or a time limit.
• What exactly does it cover - the piers only, or the performance of the repaired area? Those are very different promises.
• What voids it? Common exclusions include new plumbing leaks, drainage changes, added structures, and further movement in areas that were not part of the original scope.
• Does it cover cosmetic damage caused by future adjustment, or only the structural work itself?
• Is there a service call charge for a warranty visit?
• Who honors it if the company is sold, closes, or merges? Ask directly, and note that this trade has seen a lot of acquisition activity.
• Is it backed by a third party or solely by the company's own promise?

Warning signs in warranty language

• You are not allowed to read the full document until after you sign.
• The warranty is described verbally in strong terms but the written version is much narrower.
• Coverage is voided by anything that could reasonably happen to a normal house.
• Adjustments are covered but any associated cosmetic repair is entirely excluded.
• The transfer process is deliberately vague, or transfer is at the company's discretion.

What a warranty cannot do

• It cannot make an under-scoped repair work. A warranty on too few piers is a promise to come back, not a promise the house will be right.
• It rarely covers movement in areas outside the original repair scope - which is why scope matters more than warranty length.
• It does not usually cover damage from a subsequent plumbing leak, which is a genuinely common cause of repeat movement.
• A long warranty from a company unlikely to be around to honor it is worth what you would expect.

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