Most homeowners who search for foundation repair in Baton Rouge are not sure yet whether they have a foundation problem at all. They have a crack that keeps getting longer, a door that started sticking last summer, or a floor that feels like it runs downhill toward the kitchen. This page explains what a real evaluation looks like, how the work is scoped for the two kinds of houses common here, and what a quote you can trust should show you before you sign anything.
Two kinds of houses, two repair paths
The first question in any foundation conversation is not “how bad is it?” — it is “what is the house sitting on?” Most Baton Rouge-area housing is slab-on-grade. Pre-1960s housing stock is often pier-and-beam. The two are built differently, they fail differently, and they are repaired differently, so a quote for one tells you very little about the other.
Movement is corrected from below the slab — typically piers driven or set under the perimeter or interior and the slab lifted back toward level.
The house sits on piers above a crawlspace, so leveling is usually done from underneath — resetting or adding piers, shimming, and replacing rotted sills or beams.
Some houses have both: a raised original house with a slab addition on the back, or a slab house with a raised porch. Where the two meet is a common place for cracks and uneven floors, and it is worth telling the specialist about it up front. If you are not sure which type you have, the pier-and-beam repair page and the slab foundation repair page describe what each one looks like from the outside.
Watch it, or call now?
Not every crack is a foundation problem, and not every foundation problem is an emergency. As a rough guide, these are usually worth watching and noting the date you first saw them:
- Hairline cracks in drywall at the corners of doors and windows that are not growing.
- Thin, even shrinkage cracks in a garage or porch slab.
- A single door that sticks in humid months and frees up in dry ones.
These are usually worth an evaluation sooner rather than later:
- Cracks that are getting wider, or that are wider at one end than the other.
- Stair-step cracks in brick, or brick pulling away from window and door frames.
- Floors you can feel sloping, or that bounce when you walk across them.
- Several doors or windows that stopped closing at about the same time.
- Gaps opening between walls and the ceiling, floor, or trim.
- Standing water under a raised house, or water pooling against a slab after rain.
A simple habit helps whichever list you are on: mark the ends of a crack with a pencil and the date, and take a photo with a coin or ruler next to it. If the crack passes your marks over a few months, that is movement, and it is the most useful thing you can show the person who evaluates the house.
What a foundation evaluation should include
An evaluation is where the scope gets decided, so it is worth knowing what a thorough one looks like. Whoever comes out should be able to tell you, in plain words, what they measured and what they think is causing it. At a minimum, expect:
- Construction type confirmed — slab-on-grade, pier-and-beam, or a mix — and, for a raised house, a look in the crawlspace.
- Elevation readings taken across the floor, so the amount of movement is measured rather than eyeballed.
- Crack mapping inside and out — where the cracks are, which way they run, and how wide they are.
- A look at water: gutters, downspouts, grading, low spots, and anything that keeps the soil next to the house wet or lets it dry out hard.
- A stated likely cause, because the cause decides whether the fix is structural, drainage, or both.
From evaluation to an itemized quote
The quote should follow directly from the evaluation, and it should separate the work into lines you can read and compare. When everything is rolled into one lump sum, you cannot tell whether drainage was considered, how many piers are planned, or what is cosmetic. Ask for these four lines, each priced on its own:
- 1Evaluation findingsWhat was measured and found — elevation readings, crack locations, construction type, likely cause.
- 2Drainage / moisture correctionGutters, grading, downspouts, or crawlspace moisture work that addresses why the soil is moving.
- 3Structural repairPiers, shims, or sill and beam replacement — with counts, locations, and depths stated.
- 4Finish / cosmeticDrywall, brick, trim, and door adjustments after the house moves — priced on its own line.
With the work broken out this way, two bids become comparable. If one specialist plans more piers than another, you can ask why. If one bid has no drainage line at all, you can ask whether water was looked at. Our page on drainage and moisture correction explains why that line matters so much in this part of Louisiana, and foundation piering covers what a pier plan should state.
What foundation repair costs, in published ranges
Louisiana foundation companies publish wide ranges, and they are wide for a reason. Slab repair is published at roughly $3,500 to $12,000, piering at roughly $4,000 to $15,000, house leveling at roughly $3,000 to $15,000, and drainage correction at roughly $1,500 to $6,000. Statewide, published figures run from $2,000 to $75,000 or more for the largest jobs. None of these is a quote, and none of them is a price we set — we do not price or perform work. The Baton Rouge foundation repair cost guide lays the ranges out in a table and explains what pushes a job toward either end.
How your request is handled
When you call or send the form, you are not added to a list that gets sold to several companies. Your request is routed to one licensed local foundation specialist, who contacts you to arrange the evaluation. The evaluation, the quote, the contract, the schedule, and any warranty are between you and that specialist. Our part is making the connection and explaining, on pages like this one, what good work and a good quote look like so you can judge what you are offered.
Before you sign, ask the specialist:
- Which construction type is my house, and what do you think caused the movement?
- How many piers, where, and to what depth — and how did you decide?
- Is drainage part of this plan? If not, why not?
- What does the finish line cover, and what is left for me to handle?
- What will be re-measured after the work, and will I get those readings?
Have a question that is not answered here? The foundation repair FAQ covers more of them, or call (225) 535-8057 and describe what you are seeing.
Foundation repair questions
How much does foundation repair cost in Baton Rouge?
Published ranges from Louisiana foundation companies put slab repair at roughly $3,500 to $12,000 and piering at roughly $4,000 to $15,000, with statewide jobs running from $2,000 to $75,000 or more. Those are published ranges, not quotes. The real number depends on construction type, how many piers the house needs, and whether drainage has to be corrected first.
Do I need an evaluation before I can get a price?
Yes. A responsible price for foundation work cannot be given over the phone, because the scope depends on measurements taken at the house: floor elevations, crack locations, the construction type, and what is happening with water around the foundation. A quote written without those findings is a guess.
Is my house slab-on-grade or pier-and-beam?
If you can see a crawlspace, vents or a skirt around the base of the house, or steps up to the front door from a raised floor, it is likely pier-and-beam. If the floor sits directly on a concrete pad at ground level, it is slab-on-grade. Some houses have both, usually where an addition was built later. The specialist should confirm it during the evaluation.
Should drainage be fixed before or after foundation repair?
It should be addressed as part of the same plan. If water keeps saturating and drying the soil under the house, the movement that caused the problem can continue after the structural repair. A good quote lists drainage and moisture correction as its own line so you can see it was considered.
How does Baton Rouge House Leveling work?
You call or send the form with what you are seeing. Your request is routed to one licensed local foundation specialist, who contacts you to set up an evaluation. We do not perform the evaluation or the repair, and we do not set prices; your quote and contract are with the specialist.