I am a realtor in the San Francisco Bay Area. I often have a need for foundation inspections and estimates of repair for homes that I am helping clients buy or sell. There are quite a few other specialists that I need such as home inspectors, pest inspectors, roof inspectors, etc. With few exceptions I would rate them at two or three stars because they tend to cast rather serious doubts over the condition of things that are usually trivial. Their reports always include a cost proposal for fixing issues they identify, and the costs are usually exorbitant. I listed a house last year for $700,000. It was a custom home built in 1956 that was gorgeous with a killer view. Unfortunately, the garage was separating from the main part of the house. We had a buyer very quickly. However, the buyer had a foundation repair company give them a quote of $97,000 to fix the problem. The buyer wanted a reduction of the selling price for that amount. One of the senior agents I work with suggested I get a quote from Bay Area Underpinnings. One of their estimators (Steve) inspected the foundation, wrote a report, and the company set their written repair cost at $18,200. We cancelled the first contract and were back in escrow in a few days. My daughter wanted to sell her home originally built in 1943 - no rebar, low-grade concrete. It was obvious the foundation needed at least a partial replacement. We called Bay Area Underpinnings. They said they would have to replace about 40% of the foundation. The cost would be $14,000. Great! After performing a portion of the work they concluded the labor and materials would be less than anticipated. They would do the job for $12,000. How many companies do you know that would lower their cost when they knew we were perfectly happy with the original proposal? I have a buyer in contract to purchase a house built in 1989. In the home inspection report the inspector suggested there were foundation issues and frightened my clients. My clients were thinking tens of thousands of dollars of repairs. They wanted an expert foundation evaluation. I called Bay Area Underpinnings this morning. The boss said they could probably have an estimator at the house in the afternoon. My clients and I met Rick from BAU at the house and we showed him the home inspection report. He checked out the comments in the report and examined the locations where the inspector had made photos of possible problems. Every part of the foundation was in excellent shape. Rick made measurements in several locations of the house to calculate distortions in walls and floors which could indicate excessive settling or expansive soil. All calculations were well within tolerance. It's a fine house. He'll write a letter explaining his findings. My clients and I will sleep well tonight. "How much do we owe you for your valuable time, Rick?" "Nada! Have a nice day." I'll contact them next spring to see about a project on the guest house at my home. read more

It is extremely rare in our experience with home repair contractors to find a company demonstrating the desired combination of competency, expertise, professionalism, friendliness and customer focus. We were very fortunate to have discovered these characteristics in Bay Area Underpinning, which recently re-leveled our foundation and installed new floor joist supports to correct for settling problems. Normally, lifting one's home foundation would create a fair amount of anxiety. However, after being well informed and assured by the company's customer rep/geologist (John) and engineer (Cliff) during their site visits, we came away with such a high level of confidence in BAU, their capabilities and their recommended solutions that we decided we wanted them to do the work without interviewing other companies. They did not let us down. A member of their customer support team (Jim) conducted a face-to-face meeting to understand all of our issues and concerns, which resulted in all the teams being prepared with clear expectations. We found all crew members to be extremely punctual, polite, dedicated and focused. The team that installed our piers and conducted the lift (Esteban, Daniel, Juan Carlos and Danny) did a fantastic job, listened to our concerns and adapted the degree of lift to negate any adverse impact on the interior of the house. Floors were re-measured, cracks were closely monitored for closure, windows were checked for re-alignment and decisions were made by Esteban and the crew to optimally balance the amount of lift versus stress on our foundation and effect on our granite, walls and doors. Juan Carlos even went out of his way to secure plumbing pipe unrelated to the project, but in the path of the crew, to make sure it was undamaged through incidental contact. The team that installed our helical pier as part of the floor joist support system (Mike and Jake) also did a great job and after consulting more about our issues, unilaterally decided to install a much longer support beam and add additional support bolts at no additional cost. To our surprise, John also pre-arranged at no cost to us, to have their machining shop manufacture a custom bracket for another beam supporting the floor joists rather than settle for a commercially available one that did not exactly fit and made a special trip to deliver the part to make sure the project was not delayed. Our project manager Antonio took time to inspect the job and was ready to do anything needed to make us satisfied. This is a top-notch company, installing state-of-the-art equipment, using best practices to make sure the job is done the right way. They showed an uncommon level of care and concern unparalleled in our experience and the entire job was well coordinated and excellently executed across all phases. Our hats off to the BAU team! read more

This was the 2nd time I utilized Bay Area Underpinning and it was nice that they scheduled the same lead foreman, Tyler from my first job so I knew the job would go smooth and well. I wanted to provide special recognition to the installation crew. Tyler was always courteous and communicated well, especially since the job involved a lot of coordination in terms of access to crawl space and access to the garage. With a busy family schedule it was important that we knew when and where the crew was going to be. Just like the first job, Tyler always did what he said he would do but this 2nd job impressed me most where him and I were questioning some as-built information, the current BAU design as well as actual field conditions. His idea of bringing out BAU's engineer was a great idea where after the engineer visited the job, it was decided to eliminate a pier because it wasn't going to do much based on the actual conditions and discovery of a upgraded existing nearby pier, essentially the power of engineering proved out value. Tyler always has the crew working efficiently and safely, especially covering up holes and roping off areas at the end of the day which we appreciated since we have young children around. Luis was also very courteous and what resonated with me was that he always offered his help when I was self performing the dismantling of my garage shelves. Angelo has the nicest grout pack jobs, especially the grout pack in an upside down condition. On balance this crew would do very well where families need to be kept informed, houses need to be keep clean as well as families who potentially demand a lot but they don't really understand the process or challenges of construction (that's where I can see Tyler being a strong team member, especially with his even keel/courteous disposition). Thanks to the crew, our family now knows that the house is stabilized and shouldn't be moving anymore. read more

Thank you, Bay Area Underpinning, for doing such a fabulous job with underpinning and leveling our townhouse that had been sinking for over a decade! I have nothing but positive things to say about this company. From the very start, Estimator Daniel Stamos "held our hand" through the process of making the difficult decision to do this job with several trips out to our house to explain the process and gave us a competitive bid. Never felt pressured. He even had the owner of the company, Steve, consult with us. Jim Bush came out to mark the areas of push piers and helical piers, handled the permitting and final inspection process without a problem. He spent time to explain, more hand holding! The Bay Area Underpinning crew is obviously very well trained in their job and how to take care of their customers. They worked hard, were organized, were very respectful and polite, and took the time to address any questions or concerns. I met so many nice hardworking men! Lance was amazing, Alex, Ron, to name a few. Tony Ibarra and Devone did a fabulous job cleaning us. I know I'm forgetting some names. Fredy Mora, Francisco and Jose did a great job replacing concrete that had to be removed. John Mahoney was our project foreman, ran the job professionally, working alongside the men when needed. Thank you to all the guys! In this rough and tumble world where it seems it's sometimes difficult to hire honest, hardworking contractors, Bay Area Underpinning owner and crew deserves a huge pat on the back for a job well done and a well run company. Finally, after over a decade, our house is stable and level and I feel confident after seeing the amount of steel that was pushed down to bedrock that our house will no longer continue to sink. I would not hesitate to hire them again. It was quite an experience, but I never felt insecure about what was happening because I knew we hired the professionals. read more

I cannot say enough good things about this company and about the crew that worked on our home!! Kevin Gaeden was our project foreman, and Kendrick was his supervisor. The crew was prompt and dependable, very attentive to any questions we had, and absolutely respectful and courteous regarding our property and our privacy--and our pet. Our house is 53 years old, and situated on top of underground springs. Because of previous foundation work poorly completed by another company, and because of three additions added to the house over the years by us and previous owners, this was going to be a complicated undertaking. It impressed us greatly that the free estimate Bay Area Underpinning had given us was the only one that included details about how they would accomplish leveling the house, installing piers, and replacing part of our driveway and garage floor pad, with very accurate pricing information. We were living in the house while the work was done, and the entire process went seamlessly. The crew had to disassemble quite a bit of our redwood deck to access areas of the foundation, and they reassembled it to its original condition. Every day, the crew arrived early and ready to work, and would let us know all that was in the agenda for the day. We were never left uninformed during the entire time the crew was working on our house. We now have a level house with a solid foundation--for the first time in the 28 years we have lived here, and we are so happy that we were able to have it completed by Bay Area Underpinning. This is an honest, dependable company that is excellent at problem-solving, and its work crews are prompt, attentive, courteous, thorough to the tiniest detail, and absolutely a pleasure to work with. Our family gives them the highest recommendation! read more

Bay Area Underpinning (BAU) just finished releveling my house in Pleasanton, and I had an excellent experience. We have a single-story ranch style home near the sports park that needed re-leveling due to high clay content in the ground (dried up in drought and sank the foundation, but did not re-expand much despite the winter rains). Beginning to end, BAU was outstanding. The office manager, Hannah, is very friendly and organized during both scheduling and billing. Todd Egloff assessed our house and remained in contact throughout the process. He answered every question, and took all my structural questions and concerns into account. Ivan R.(foreman) and his crew, including Jose and Sergio were very professional. Ivan communicated very clearly at every single step along the way, both by phone/text and in person. The whole team was very sensitive to our home (covering the floors to avoid mud tracks, working around our dog in the yard, tying back plants to avoid damage, etc). The best compliment I can think of is that Ivan and his crew respected our home as if it were their own. Ivan worked very hard to make sure we were 100% satisfied with their work. Be aware that BAU is very much in-demand, so you may have to wait a little longer for both the original inspection visit and maybe a couple months before they can start the actual work. But we are glad we waited for BAU. They started on the exact date we originally discussed a few months prior, which is impressive since it meant that they stayed on schedule with previous jobs despite the downpour rains this winter. They finished our job a few days early. Our neighbors a few houses down had used and highly recommended BAU, and I would not hesitate to use them again. read more

I can't speak highly enough of this company. The experience was a pleasant surprise given my uncertainty regarding contractor reliability and what would be the most appropriate way to fix the foundation settling (there were several options to weigh). My home is high up in the Oakland Hills (Skyline/Grizzly Peak) and in the fall of 2017, I had 14 pressed-piers installed at a cost of ~$47,000 by Bay Area Underpinning. Built on a moderately steep hillside in 1956 (cut and fill), the home suffered a fire in 2000 and was rebuilt on the original foundation. I purchased the home in 2010 and each year saw settlement occurring on the uphill side of the home to the point that exterior and some interior doors were well out of square. The settlement accelerated significantly due to the severe drought of 2016; to the point that something needed to be done. As an engineer myself, I did my research and ultimately decided on BAU for the job. From the initial inspection by Todd, execution of the work by Kevin, Daniel and Colby, through to the geo/structural engineer, and area supervisor, John, every aspect and step in the process was handled in a professional and timely manner. Before and during the foundation leveling, there was a good deal of Q&A between me and Todd and John as well as with their engineer who visited my home for two meetings to discuss several unique issues associated with my home. The entire BAU crew were very polite, keen to listen to and in many cases implement my observations/suggestions and kept me informed of all progress and issues on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. Now, several months later, I see no evidence of subsequent settlement and feel this frustrating problem is behind me for good. read more

As first-time homeowners, we were hit with a major shock when we discovered our newly bought house has almost 4 inches of uneven foundation settlement. After thorough research and a number of consultations, we decided to go with Bay Area Underpinning, and we couldn't be happier with our choice. During the initial consultation, Jonathan, our project estimator, provided a thorough explanation of the work, answered all of our questions, and provided a number of options for the repair. He even invited us to visit one of their job sites so we would know what to expect. Our foreman Andrew and his crew did a fantastic job. They were professional, responsive, and highly skilled. They went above and beyond in resolving our foundation issue and working around other issues discovered during the work to level our floor as much as possible. Their attention to detail was outstanding, and they left our property clean and tidy every day. David and his concrete crew did an excellent job as well. They arrived on time, finished the job promptly and kept the work area clean. The concrete came out looking great. They took the time to grade the concrete between our foundation and the existing patio. Their customer service was outstanding. Andrew patiently answered all our questions and kept us informed throughout the project. The job started earlier than we expected and finished on time. The amount of leveling exceeded our expectation. We wholeheartedly recommend them for any foundation work. read more

We had cracking in our ceiling and walls, so we called Bay Area Underpinning to come out. From the first contact with this company, the experience was superb! Daniel came out and crawled all around our house, providing a thorough inspection. Before he left, he walked us through the recommended underpinning and an estimate of the cost. He even drove us to another job site that was less than a mile away so we could see the work in action. After we decided to move forward, Jim came out to measure and marked our site. What a nice and chatty guy! The team arrived bright and early on the morning of the project. Esteban and his coworker were wonderful to work with. Esteban was courteous, a strong communicator and kept us informed every step. He set our expectations of what would be done at the beginning of the day and would recap it at end of the day. If we walked out to check on him during the day, he would stop his work to explain what his crew was doing and why. They always arrived early at 7 or 7:30am, but didn't start the project until 8am as they didn't want to wake us. The job site was always cleaned up every day before they left. Overall, we had superb customer experience from start to finish. Excellent Staff...Thanks Daniel, Hannah, Jim, and Esteban! Highly recommend Bay Area Underpinning for your foundation concerns. read more

From our first meeting with Stephen to the final walk through of the project with Hector, our project with Groundworks was amazing. Stephen provided us with all the information we would need to put the project together and address our concerns with our foundation. Keeairra and Kimberley kept in contact with us in scheduling our project and we had to reschedule a couple of times and they always accommodated us and made the new dates work. And we can't say enough amazing things about our construction crew, Hector, Luis, and Fernando. They did such a great job and were so patient about explaining each stage of the project. I felt like I was out there all the time because it really is fascinating to watch and they were always willing to pause the work and explain to me what they were doing. In addition, Hector was always so good about letting us know where they were in the project and how much longer things would take. They kept the site so cleaned up at the end of each day. Honestly, I think the front yard looked nicer after they left than before they started - they put everything back in place. Not only do we now have the peace of mind that our foundation is not moving any further, the Groundworks staff was an absolute pleasure to work with from start to finish. I would 100% recommend Groundworks! read more

I called Bay Area Underpinning for an estimate to level the foundation in an area of my home where an exterior sliding glass door would not come close to closing--it closed at the top but left a big--say 3/8 inch-- gap at the bottom. The gap had recently been getting significantly worse during the the winter while we've been experiencing so much rain, and we had previously been obliged to level and lift a different part of the foundation where the floors were out of whack, so I figured our foundation was moving. John of Bay Area Underpinning came to the house, surveyed the situation, made some measurements with some tools he had with him, and then asked me if I had a screwdriver. He had concluded that the foundation wasn't that far out of level to account for the door being so off kilter--but that the door was off its track. He got the sliding glass door back on track and adjusted it so it now closes reasonably well--no gap. He then advised that while the foundation in the area isn't perfect, it isn't so out of whack that it would make sense to spend money leveling it. No charge. Door fixed (although we may need a new door because the exterior metal cladding is slowly separating from the wooden part of the door). Boy was I (and am I) impressed. Kudos to John. read more

We worked with several representatives (Dan, Will, Keeairra, Michelle, Carl and many more, sorry if I missed anyone), in the group from the signing of the contract to the final inspection and I thank them for their patience. Their communication with us prior to the project was phenomenal. They quoted us a date that was acceptable, however I asked them to notify me if they had earlier dates and they did just that. We were notified that their inspection group was going to be on the property prior to the start of the process to review the scope of the work. They told us in advance the process would not require us to leave home as a family member worked from home. ON the start date they met with the family member and reviewed the process they would undertake. They were quiet and respective, and it was stated they could feel the difference in the house as the project moved forward. They handled the process with the City Inspectors and bought all their own equipment. We live on a busy street, and it was more noise on the street than the work they were doing. I can't say what the future holds as this is early in the process, but I can speak for now. If the future is anything like this, great job to all involved. read more

A few years ago, I began investigating having our home leveled. One corner was lower by 5 1/2 inches. Now, after having it done, I am so glad we chose to proceed. All of the staff, Darren, Ron, Hannah and all of the unnamed crew were wonderful. They all were nice, professional, worked hard, did what they said they would do, kept us informed, showed up on time and cleaned up each day. In preparation of our correction, we removed 2 windows that we were worried would break. After the lift, the main room in question had VERY large cracks. We were So Happy to see the correction. Also, the downhill slopping floor was flat! We expected the cracking and were told to wait a week for the house to settle. More minor cracking did occur. Again, we are Happy for the cracking and the correction. Some places will be simply cosmetic, but the main room will need some new sheet rock. I was initially suspicious of the fee(thats just me). After seeing all that was done and all that was involved, I feel the cost was not out of line, at all. As a Homeowner, I think you have to see what is involved and what it takes to make the correction, to appreciate their hard work. Suffice it to say, I Do recommend BAU. read more

The services provided by Groundworks for the stabilization of our settling house have been outstanding. Stephen Kagin, the field inspector, assessed the situation and proposed a solution, explaining each aspect of the job. Kimberly John and Keeairra Broussard resolved scheduling issues efficiently and flexibly. I was particularly impressed with the project foreman, Tyler Morgan, and his field crew, Luis Bravo and Austin Huarte. They were very professional, knowledgable, hard working, and pleasant to interact with. It is obvious that Tyler and Luis have considerable practical experience, and Austin showed a high level of commitment and dedication to his job duties. They all significantly contributed to making suggestions once it became necessary to adapt the original plan based on observations in the field. They brought back Stephen and a senior member of the company to re-assess the needs and risks of the stabilization effort, resulting in a cost-effective alternative solution. It is this team's experience, professionalism, flexibility, and quality of work that not only gives me confidence that our house is safely stabilized, but also made the experience considerably less stressful than expected. read more

Our house (built in 1950) had some uneven flooring due to settling over time. The initial inspection suggested that we needed some jacks in the crawl space below, as well as some treatment of an exposed metal beam along the outer wall that was in danger of rust and deterioration. We were provided a few options for treating the issue, and were actually guided away doing something that would have added expense with limited additional benefit. When it came time to install the jacks, David and Chris actually arrived before the scheduled 8:00 AM appointment time to assess and confirm what we were going to do. In talking with David, we discovered that our understanding of the plan from the initial inspection differed somewhat from the actual recommendation. At that point, David took the time to check in with the estimator via phone to make sure we were on track. He explained the situation, and we went ahead with the work. Both David and Chris were very professional in dealing with us, putting down tarp to minimize the mess, and explaining what would happen. They pointed out the differences in wall cracks that had been closed up somewhat due to the work. I would use the company again. read more