Foundation raising in Orinda CA - a clear plan before anyone lifts your house

Most folks who call us about this have watched a crack grow or a door start to stick, or they want the house up out of the water's way, and they'd like to know what they're getting into before anybody starts lifting. The price turns on the size of the house, how much digging it takes outside, how much floor has to come out inside and what gets done after the lift, while the schedule mostly waits on the design review and the county and city approvals. Raising a house takes a permit and a contractor licensed for that part of the work, so we'll tell you up front which parts are ours, and your written estimate spells out what's included.

First thing, I want a design professional to look the house over before anybody talks about lifting, because that check decides whether raising suits your house at all. If it does, I'll walk you through what has to be dug outside and what floor has to come out inside, and I'll be plain about which parts our crew handles and who else the job needs, like the engineer and the contractor who does the lift itself. Our side is the concrete and dirt work around the lift, and once the house is up we pack the dirt back around the foundation in layers instead of shoving it in loose, because loose dirt settles and tips the water right back toward your house. That packed dirt is the part nobody sees on the last day and the first thing folks want to trim from a budget, and it's the part I'd keep every time, since a nice-looking patch on a soft base is like hanging a new gate on a rotten post.

Floor work inside usually starts with concrete cutting, since clean saw cuts leave a square opening that patches back tight instead of a ragged hole. Raising the house can also leave the driveway meeting it at the wrong height, so we can rebuild that stretch through our concrete driveway building work with a slope that carries water away from the garage.

Raising a house in Orinda needs a building permit. The Contra Costa County Building Department issues permits for the city, and Orinda's building permit rules require one before anyone alters, repairs, moves or improves any building. The county also wants every other agency with a say to review and approve the project before it processes the permit, so those approvals come first. When we're your contractor, we pull the permit and handle the paperwork and inspection calls for our part of the work, and we check with the right office on your job before we start rather than guess.

The digging brings its own rules. The city requires a separate grading permit once the earthwork gets past certain size or depth limits, so we check our trench and pit plans against them before anyone picks up a shovel. If your lot falls in one of the state's mapped hazard zones, which also mark liquefaction risk, a site study has to be finished before a building permit is approved. And when the work on your house is valued at $50,000 or more, the city requires a set share of the construction and demolition debris to go to an approved recycling facility, which matters with all that broken-out floor. We're based in Orinda and do the same digging and floor work for homeowners in Moraga and Lafayette, checking each city's rules the same way.