Foundation Repair Cost Per Pier: By Type, What's Included & How Many

Foundation repair cost per pier in 2026 runs roughly $1,500–$3,500 per pier installed for steel push piers and helical piers in Texas — with concrete pressed pilings the cheapest deep-foundation option at about $1,000 per pier. But the per-pier figure on a quote is only the starting point: the real bill is that number multiplied by an engineer-determined pier count, plus fixed costs that don't scale (the engineer's report, the permit) and variable ones that can blindside you (depth surcharges). A typical Texas project of 8–14 piers totals $15,000–$30,000 all-in. This page is about the per-pier number specifically — what it covers, how many you'll need, and the one clause that decides whether your final bill matches the quote. For the full cost picture, see the foundation repair cost guide.

What a Pier Costs by Type

Per-pier pricing spans a wide band because the pier types are genuinely different products — they differ most in how (and whether) their capacity is verified during installation, and you pay for that verification. The figures below are 2026 Texas planning numbers, not quotes.

Two things drive the spread. First, verification: a helical pier reports its own load capacity on a torque gauge as it goes in, while a pressed piling is pressed to refusal with no way to confirm it cleared the active zone — which is why the cheapest pier carries the most risk in expansive clay. Second, structure and depth: heavier two-story or masonry-clad homes and deeper drives push push-pier and helical pricing toward the top of the range. The per-pier ranges here match our individual method guides exactly — for a side-by-side on how the pier types compare, the foundation piers overview carries the full table.

What's Included in a Per-Pier Price

A per-pier number is only meaningful once you know what it covers. A fair installed per-pier price generally includes:

• Excavating to expose the footing — a roughly 3-foot-square hole at each marked location.
• The bracket and pier sections (for steel and helical) or the pre-cast cylinders (for pressed), seated against the footing.
• Driving or screwing the pier to refusal on competent strata, with the per-pier capacity log — drive pressure, torque, or depth — recorded.
• Transferring the load (stabilizing or lifting), then backfilling and basic site restoration.

What a per-pier price almost never includes — and what you should expect as separate line items:

• Engineer's report and sealed letter — $500–$1,500, independent of the contractor by design.
• Permit (City of San Antonio / Bexar County) — $200–$900, higher with more piers.
• Hydrostatic plumbing test — $250–$500 each, pre and post, strongly recommended on slab homes before any lift.
• Interior pier via tunneling — +$1,500–$3,000 per location, when leaving the slab intact is preferred.
• Depth past the contracted figure — $20–$40 per foot, the surcharge covered below.

The single most useful question to ask a contractor: which of these are inside the per-pier number, and which are added on top? Two quotes with the same per-pier price can carry wildly different totals once these are accounted for.

How Many Piers Will I Need?

The honest answer is that an engineer decides, not a tape measure on the driveway. As a planning rule of thumb drawn from the ASCE Texas Section guidelines, piers are spaced roughly every 6 feet along the affected perimeter, so the count follows the length of the section that's actually moving — not the total footprint of the house. That's why most residential projects land in the 8–14 pier range and total $15,000–$30,000.

The number that matters more than the spacing is which part of the foundation is failing. An elevation (zip-level or manometer) survey maps differential settlement and defines the affected area — and a slab home is generally considered out of tolerance only beyond about 1 to 1.5 inches of differential. A 1,500-square-foot home might need around 8 piers; a 3,000-square-foot home, 15–20; severe cases, more. A contractor proposing piers around the entire perimeter when the survey shows one settling corner is selling perimeter, not engineering. The engineer's report is what tells you the real count — and it's the document that turns a per-pier price into a defensible project total.

The Depth Surcharge

This is the line item that turns a clean quote into a bill surprise. Depth to stable soil is the biggest unknown in foundation repair. A contractor quotes a per-pier price against an estimated depth, but the pier has to be driven to refusal — wherever that actually is. In Texas clay, piers can refuse far deeper than estimated; North Texas pages cite piers driven to 30 feet where 15 was expected.

When that happens, the contract bills a depth surcharge — commonly $20–$40 per foot, per pier. On a single pier that's modest. Across a 12-pier job where every pier runs 10 feet deep, it's thousands of dollars that never appeared on the headline. This is why the per-foot surcharge clause matters more than the per-pier price itself.

The defenses are straightforward, and your leverage is highest before you sign:

• Negotiate a capped surcharge or a "no-depth-clause" price so a deeper-than-estimated drive doesn't open-endedly inflate the bill.
• Let the engineer's report — and a geotechnical boring log where warranted — set the target depth, so the estimate is anchored to data rather than optimism.
• Get the surcharge terms in writing alongside the per-pier price; a quote that omits the depth clause is hiding its most volatile number.

Per-Pier Price vs Project Total

The per-pier price is the structural core of the bill, but it is not the bill. Here's how the headline number becomes the total you actually pay:

Worked through: a typical job of 8–14 piers at $1,500–$3,500 each is the bulk of a $15,000–$30,000 total. Partial underpinning of a single wall or corner can run $5,000–$20,000; full-perimeter underpinning of a severely settled home can reach far higher. For national context, This Old House puts the 2026 average foundation repair project near $5,179, and HomeAdvisor's 2025 range is $2,225–$8,133 — but those figures bundle cheap crack sealing with mid-five-figure underpinning, so a multi-pier structural job sits at the upper end. The per-pier number is where the estimate starts; the engineer-determined count, the fixed costs, and the depth clause are what finish it. For every other cost lever — methods other than piers, financing, ancillary work — see the full foundation repair cost guide.

FAQ Note

The FAQ below covers what San Antonio homeowners ask most after a first per-pier quote — the cost by type, why helicals cost more than pressed pilings, what's included, how many piers you'll need, the depth surcharge, and whether a given price is fair. For the full cost picture beyond piers, see the foundation repair cost guide; to anchor your pier count and scope before comparing quotes, start with an engineer's report.

Get Matched With a Vetted San Antonio Foundation Specialist

If a contractor quoted you a price per pier and you want a PE-led second opinion before committing — or your independent engineer has spec'd a pier count and you need fair, scope-matched bids — we'll match you with a vetted San Antonio foundation specialist who can install to the engineer's design. The match is free, the quote is no-obligation, and we don't take a fee from you. We screen for sealed-engineer design, per-pier capacity documentation, a capped or "no-depth-clause" surcharge, and a clean Bexar County permit record. If a per-pier price doesn't fit the engineering, we'll tell you. That's the only way an editorial matching service should work.