Free Foundation Inspections in Arizona

Foundations in Arizona and California are what the kids these days call #twinning.

Both are generally comprised of concrete, have footings between 18 to 24 inches deep, suffer under duress from rain (due to a regional lack of gutters/proper drainage), and both are susceptible to foundation settlement.    

In addition, the average cost of foundation repair remains about the same: $18,000 to $20,000.

The gran diferencia between foundations in AZ and CA is the cost of foundation inspections and the quality of these inspections.

Arizona foundation repair specialists charge you more for substandard inspections that don’t always provide you with floor elevation readings and/or CAD drawings.   

Remember in Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece The Dark Knight when the Joker gives pro bono fiscal advice – if you’re good at something, never do it for free?

Well, it’s a good thing we don’t take advice from maniacal clowns with a bat fetish.

We are very good at foundation inspections. Experts in fact. And, believe it or not, our foundation inspections are always FREE.   

And by always we mean forever, into eternity, until the cosmic cows come home. And, no, it’s not free upfront and covered by costs later. It is absolutely free. 

Okay, so the one caveat is…the only reason your foundation inspection would not be free is because it is on the market or in escrow, in which case, we charge a fee due to the increased time and resources put into the reporting. All other inspections are free. 

We do this because:

1. We are incredibly kind (our mothers raised us right)
2. We don’t believe you should pay for an inspection, especially if there is nothing wrong with your home’s foundation.  

Now, I know what you’re thinking: free doesn’t always mean better. Free is a signification of price, not quality.

We agree with you. That’s why this article will highlight the quality free. This article is going to cover:  

1. A generic Joe Schmo/Bobbie B. Free Foundation Inspection in Arizona
2. A Dalinghaus Foundation Inspection in Arizona

*Note – also check out our article How Long Does a Foundation Inspection Take and What Can Add Time for a more holistic view of the process.

A Generic Foundation Inspection in AZ

 Okay, so you live in Arizona with the cool cacti, the red rock, and damn roadrunners running all over the place. 

You noticed that you have some cracks in your drywall and or around your window frames and your bowed floor feels like a skate park.

You get online to find a foundation specialist in your area. On website whatever that represents company so-and-so, you see an offer for a FREE foundation inspection. 

This sounds pretty good – bills are tight, COVID is still a thing, and any extra money is a blessing.

So, you call the number. Leave an email. Put all of your information on their website and they get back to you.

They arrive on time, walk around your home, and tell you about a dark future where the earth swallows your house whole.

At this point, they are simply confirming what you already know:     

Yup, that there is a crack. Yup, that is a sticky door goshdarn hard to open. Yup, those floors do look like they slope.

Then the guy snaps his fingers (he’s obviously audited a couple improv classes at the local community college) and says something like –  

You know, it sure would be great if we had some tools to actually measure and see just how uneven your floors are.

Oh, wait a minute – I do have some special tools. Shucks, I’ll go get them and bring them back next week for a small fee of $500. What do ya say?  

Now you feel guilty because this guy already drove all the way out, stared real hard at some cracks, and discussed your signs and symptoms.

The problems are:

1. No measurements were taken
2. You were not given a CAD drawing
3. They want you to PAY for these simple things later (when other companies do all of the above for FREE)

A Dalinghaus Foundation Inspection 

A foundation inspection is excellent because not only is it free, but you receive an education on all things foundation.

Our foundation specialists send you articles that walk you through the terminology, price, and step-by-step process of foundation repair before you ever see our ugly mugs. Articles like:

What is Maximum Practical Recovery?

What are Helical Tiebacks (Definition, Components, and When to Use)

So, after you’ve soaked up all of our foundational knowledge on our website, you’re ready to talk-shop and understand the shorthand.

This empowers you. This empowers us. This allows us to collaborate on equal footing and come up with the best foundation repair plan for you.

Here are the steps to a FREE Dalinghaus Construction Inc. foundation inspection –

Step 1 – We schedule our foundation inspection 1-2 weeks out in advance.

This allows for a relatively quick turnaround so that you’re not left waiting and worrying about your foundation. In addition, this gives you time to study up on our blog to learn:

1. What is Foundation Settlement?
2. Signs and Symptoms of foundation settlement
3. Time Frame for our inspection
4. Potential repair tools (Push or Helical Piers, Helical Tiebacks, and Polyurethane Injection)
5. Our other services, such as Concrete R&R  

Step 2 – On the date of the inspection, we give you a brief phone call to provide our ETA and maybe try out a joke or two about running refrigerators.

Step 3 – We arrive smartly on time, say a socially distanced hello, ask about signs and symptoms that you’ve noticed, and begin our visual inspection.

Step 4 – We walk around the exterior of your home on the lookout for stair-step cracks, misaligned door frames, leaning chimneys, and other signs and symptoms of foundation settlement.

Step 5 – We walk around the interior of your home on the lookout for cracks, misaligned doors, and old Dierks Bently cassette tapes you might be willing to sell to us.

Step 6 – After a careful and extensive examination of the exterior and interior, we pull out our walker wheel to begin measuring for the scaled CAD drawing of your home (a soft copy of which is emailed to you directly following your inspection, elevation measurements included).  

*Note – as a homeowner, this CAD drawing and included elevation measurements are incredibly useful to hold onto. 

Even if you have no foundation settlement now, you can always pull out the old notes years down the line as a reference point.  

Step 7 – We measure all of the interior walls with a laser-tape measure to integrate these measurements into the final CAD drawing.

Step 8 – We take floor elevation measurements with a Ziplevel.

Fun Facts with Justin – The Ziplevel has a manometer as a component that measures changes in atmospheric pressure. It. Is. Not. A manometer. 

Technically, it is an altimeter because we use it to check altitude changes.

This provides a top-down view so we can create a topographic map of your home.

Step 9 – We look over all of the information, assess a proper course of action, and give you our repair recommendation.

We always work in collaboration with the homeowner to meet their own, unique needs.

Step 10 – We email your foundation repair proposal by the next day and usually send along some articles that specifically relate to your specific foundation repair plan.

So, by the end of this absolutely free inspection you received:

1. Measurements (floor elevations, walker wheel, and laser tape dimensions)
2. A to-scale CAD drawing (to keep as a later referential point if no foundation repair is currently required)
3. 2 or 3 foundation repair jokes to add to your dinner party repertoire pro bono

FREE vs FREE (Plus Next Steps)

So, yeah, there is “free” and then there is FREE, as in bald-eagle-drink-Deisel-snort-gun-powder-red-white-and-blue-FREE.

Our Arizona branch has some great guys who are ready to come out and check your foundation for free. Andrew Feigenbaum is our boots on the ground in Central Arizona. 

Andrew says, “When I step foot outside of my truck, I always try to just not look at the foundation of the house but also to look at the land around the house for signs of poor compaction, drainage and grading. What I call the CDG effect.”