Texas Doesn't License Foundation Repair Contractors

The situation, stated plainly

• Texas has no state licensing requirement for foundation repair contractors. Legislative attempts to create one have not succeeded. There is no license number to look up.
• That does not make the trade disreputable - there are excellent, long-established foundation companies across Central Texas. It does mean the burden of verification sits with you.
• Licensed professional engineers are a different matter entirely. Engineers ARE licensed by the state, and that licence is verifiable. This is a large part of why an independent engineer's report carries the weight it does.
• Many cities require contractors to register with them to pull permits. That registration is checkable, and it is one of the few formal signals available.

What to verify instead

• City contractor registration - ask for it, then confirm it with the city rather than taking the answer on trust.
• General liability insurance, with the certificate sent to you directly by the insurer.
• Workers' compensation coverage. If someone is injured under your house without it, that is a problem you do not want.
• How many years they have actually operated in Williamson County, under this business name. Name changes are worth asking about directly.
• Whether the person diagnosing is the person selling. A commissioned salesperson diagnosing structural problems is a structural conflict of interest.
• Whether they will put the entire scope in writing before you pay anything.
• Reviews that describe the work in detail, and complaints about warranty claims specifically - that is where this trade fails people most often.

The free inspection, understood correctly

• A free inspection is a real service and often a genuinely skilled one. It is also a sales call, and the company only earns if you need work.
• That is not an accusation. It is simply the incentive structure, and you should price it into how you read the findings.
• The counterweight is cheap: a second free assessment from an unrelated company, or a paid engineer's report for anything large.
• If two independent companies describe the same problem and the same scope, you can be reasonably confident. If they don't, you have learned something important.

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