Does a foundation repair contractor need a license?

In California (CSLB, usually B General Building or C-8 Concrete), Virginia (DPOR, over $1,000) and North Carolina (NCLBGC, at $40,000 and up), yes. Texas, Illinois, Missouri and Ohio have no state license for it, and Colorado leaves it to cities such as Denver and Colorado Springs. In Texas, where our largest foundation file is, the permit record is the main public check.

How much does foundation repair cost?

The usual filed value of a foundation permit was $7,000 in Denton, $12,083 in Cary, $13,136 in Greensboro, $17,848 in San Francisco and $35,000 in Marin County. Filed values are what the contractor told the city, not the contract price.

Is there a grant for foundation work in California?

For one kind. Earthquake Brace + Bolt pays up to $3,000 toward a seismic retrofit of a wood-framed, pre-1980 house on a raised foundation, and income-eligible owners may get more. Registration opens for a limited time each year, and most owners hire a contractor from the program's directory.

Why do so few firms do most foundation permits?

Foundation repair is a specialist trade. The five busiest firms held 94.0% of Greensboro foundation permits and 85.6% in Colorado Springs. That makes the record of each big firm easy to read, and makes a newcomer with no permits stand out.

Should a foundation repair have a permit?

Usually. All 15 cities in this guide issue foundation or structural-repair permits as a routine permit type. A contractor who says you do not need one should be able to name the exemption; confirm it with your permit office.

Hiring a foundation repair contractor: red flags and questions

Who licenses foundation repair in the states we cover

We hold foundation or structural-repair permits for 15 cities in 8 states.

State	What to ask for	Look it up
California	CSLB B General Building or C-8 Concrete	CSLB Check a License
Colorado	No state license. Denver: a contractor license with a supervisor certificate; Colorado Springs: a PPRBD license	PPRBD search; Denver Contractor Licensing, (720) 865-2770
Illinois	No state license (Illinois Attorney General); ask the village	Your village's building department
Missouri	No state license; St. Louis requires a city contractor business license	St. Louis business license search
North Carolina	NCLBGC general contractor license for jobs of $40,000 or more	NCLBGC search
Ohio	No state license; Cincinnati registers contractors	Cincinnati search
Texas	None: TDLR does not license foundation or general contractors	City permit record only
Virginia	DPOR Class C over $1,000 and under $30,000, Class B or A above	DPOR License Lookup

California seismic retrofits. Earthquake Brace + Bolt offers "up to $3,000" toward bracing and bolting a "wood-framed, pre-1980" house "with a raised foundation", and income-eligible owners (household income of $94,480 or less) may get a supplemental grant covering up to the full cost while funds last (California Residential Mitigation Program, read 21 October 2026). Registration opens for a limited time each year; most owners hire from the program's directory of FEMA-trained contractors.

Eight questions to ask a foundation repair contractor

Ask	A good answer	How to check it
1. What is your license or registration number?	A number in the business name, in a class that covers the work	The board in the table above
2. Who pulls the permit?	"We do, in our name"	The city portal
3. Is an engineer designing the repair?	A named engineer and a stamped letter or plan	The documents attached to the permit
4. How many foundation permits have you pulled here in three years?	A number	The firm's page here; search by name
5. How many passed final?	Near or above your city's share (table below)	Finished share on the firm page
6. What does the warranty cover, and does it transfer to a buyer?	Written terms naming what is covered	The contract
7. What happens if the piers hit refusal at a different depth than quoted?	A price per foot or per pier, in writing	The contract
8. Who measures before and after?	Elevation readings you get a copy of	Ask for both sets

What the foundation permit record shows

City	Permits	Firms	Usual filed value	Middle half of firms' usual job	Usual days to final	Reached final	Five busiest firms' share
Sugar Land, TX	1,801	86	no value filed	—	45	46.2%	64.8%
Colorado Springs, CO	1,176	53	$13,875	$8,674–$27,000	98	not recorded	85.6%
Denver, CO (foundation and structural)	951	130	$12,220	$9,870–$26,100	93	63.2%	66.8%
San Francisco, CA (with seismic)	781	401	$17,848	$10,000–$36,000	191	82.8%	24.5%
Greensboro, NC	682	28	$13,136	$11,809–$13,966	85	80.9%	94.0%
Cary, NC	621	69	$12,083	$8,250–$13,123	66	74.7%	63.0%
Cincinnati, OH (structural)	597	336	$10,000	$5,000–$20,014	353	52.4%	20.1%
Denton, TX	517	54	$7,000	$6,250–$8,500	59	96.6%	66.7%
San Diego, CA (with seismic)	344	59	$10,000	$9,000–$33,561	105	86.0%	61.3%
St. Louis, MO (with waterproofing)	304	55	$11,279	$10,125–$16,200	296	60.1%	63.5%
Marin County, CA (with retaining walls)	248	107	$35,000	$19,750–$75,000	431	68.0%	31.0%
Arlington, VA (with waterproofing)	202	33	$10,600	$5,215–$13,900	106	71.3%	74.3%

Wilmington, Wheaton and Palo Alto have smaller files and are on their compare pages. Each city labels this work differently (crawl space, waterproofing, seismic, retaining walls), so compare a firm only with its own city.

Five red flags the permit record can show

1. No permit, or one in your name. The FTC lists a contractor asking you to get the permits among its scam signs. Foundation work is structural; a repair with no permit is a question every buyer's inspector will ask later.

2. A finished share far below its city's. In Sugar Land, among the 18 foundation firms with 10 or more permits, the 10th-percentile firm finished only 12.4% and 10 were under 70%. In Denton, next door in the same state, the city-wide share was 96.6%. Low shares across a whole city usually mean how finals are booked; a low share for one firm in a high-share city means that firm.

3. Permits that stay open for a year. The usual Denton foundation permit reached a final in 59 days; in St. Louis it took 296 and in Marin County 431. Ask a firm well beyond its city's usual why its jobs stay open.

4. A newcomer quoting far below the busy firms. In Greensboro the middle half of foundation firms usually file between $11,809 and $13,966. A firm far under that range with no permits in the city needs to explain what its price leaves out.

5. A firm that went quiet. 3 San Francisco foundation firms with 5 or more permits filed none in the last 12 months of the window, and 15 match a CSLB license that is no longer active. A lifetime warranty is only as good as the firm still being there.

See every Greensboro foundation contractor by finished share →

What a clean record does not prove

A final inspection means the city saw the piers, footings or bolts it checks. It does not mean the repair addressed the cause, such as drainage or soil moisture, or that the house will not move again. Warranties, engineers' letters and insurance do not appear on our pages; the city portal sometimes holds the engineer's letter as an attachment. Our copy updates about monthly; the portal is the live record. If the job stalls, see contractor didn't finish the job.

How we know this

Counts, usual filed values and days to final come from each city's foundation or structural-repair permits over its three-year window (October 2023 to September 2026). "Reached final" is the share of permits a year or more old that the city closed with a final. The 10th-percentile and under-70% figures use firms with 10 or more permits; the middle-half range uses firms with 3 or more. License status is matched by name to the California CSLB and Virginia DPOR files only. State rules and the grant are quoted from the pages under Sources, read 20 and 21 October 2026.

Numbers come from City of Greensboro building and trade permits; City of Sugar Land building permits on homes (the city's EnerGov permit exports); Pikes Peak Regional Building Department permits inside Colorado Springs city limits; City and County of Denver residential construction and demolition permits; Town of Cary building permit applications (issued permits only); San Francisco DBI building permits on one- and two-family homes, with the contractor from the city's permit contacts file; City of Denton Building Safety permits on homes (the city's yearly permit reports); City of St. Louis building permits, data through October 17, 2026. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can.

Questions

Does a foundation repair contractor need a license?
In California (CSLB, usually B General Building or C-8 Concrete), Virginia (DPOR, over $1,000) and North Carolina (NCLBGC, at $40,000 and up), yes. Texas, Illinois, Missouri and Ohio have no state license for it, and Colorado leaves it to cities such as Denver and Colorado Springs. In Texas, where our largest foundation file is, the permit record is the main public check.
How much does foundation repair cost?
The usual filed value of a foundation permit was $7,000 in Denton, $12,083 in Cary, $13,136 in Greensboro, $17,848 in San Francisco and $35,000 in Marin County. Filed values are what the contractor told the city, not the contract price.
Is there a grant for foundation work in California?
For one kind. Earthquake Brace + Bolt pays up to $3,000 toward a seismic retrofit of a wood-framed, pre-1980 house on a raised foundation, and income-eligible owners may get more. Registration opens for a limited time each year, and most owners hire a contractor from the program's directory.
Why do so few firms do most foundation permits?
Foundation repair is a specialist trade. The five busiest firms held 94.0% of Greensboro foundation permits and 85.6% in Colorado Springs. That makes the record of each big firm easy to read, and makes a newcomer with no permits stand out.
Should a foundation repair have a permit?
Usually. All 15 cities in this guide issue foundation or structural-repair permits as a routine permit type. A contractor who says you do not need one should be able to name the exemption; confirm it with your permit office.