My papa always says, "You get what you pay for." ;-)

Virgil Carter Fine Art - we did talk to our personal friend about his high price. He stands by it and cited a few different reasons. He's actually a pool guy, but owns his own concrete company and will have his workers do our foundation. So he's no foundation expert, but he does know concrete. He says he's done some foundations before. He only does commercial pools and his projects are usually multi-million dollar projects. I also classify him in the 'only the best will do' category....speaking from what we've seen on his personal house projects and the type of projects his company does. Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes there needs to be tradeoffs.

One Devoted Dame - I know! That's why I'm leary, but his references were all good!

Ugh, I hate these type of decisions. And the building process has only just begun.

No advice for you really. Just wanted to ask where in North Texas are you building? I'm in same area, well it is a rather large area so maybe not close at all. I'm close to Allen though.

Lindsy - I'm in Dallas...east Dallas. Close to White Rock Lake. So yes, very close to Allen!

References are a funny thing. Has anybody ever talked to a reference and been given a bad review?

Yes, of course the references will all be glowing... You only ask the folks who really like you to be your references, assuming you're ethical and don't ask your buddies or family to act like satisfied customers.

(Sorry, GenX is known for our skepticism, and I'm no exception, lol.)

Here's the thing... If anything happens, I would totally regret going cheap on a not-supposed-to-be-cheap foundation. I'm all about the bones, though... I'd live with plywood countertops if I had to, to have a good foundation. Too many of the folks around here are on slabs and are told to "water" their foundations to try to keep the clay saturated, so it won't mess up their foundations. Insanity.

I know you aren't doing a slab -- thank goodness -- but the point is, invest in the foundation. I totally know the temptation of a "good deal," but some things just aren't worth it, you know?

Could you hire the structural engineer who designed the foundation to act as a consultant during the building of the foundation? Have him come out on a random schedule and inspect the work being done? It would give you peace of mind that it is being done to his specifications, and the contractor would know there was a set of knowledgeable eyes on his work at any given moment to give him pause about cutting any corners.

I've heard so many bad stories from those home sites giving glowing reviews that turned out to be garbage. Also I know for a fact that one of the home sites pays to be on the home site, even though they claim they don't accept payment from vendors. How do I know? My son worked for one for a month where his job was to get vendors to sign up.

Have you googled all these guys to see if they have bad reviews?

I agree with ODD. Skimp in other ways, and not in the foundation of your house or the important structures of the house.

If you feel the need to cut back and save some dollars, do it on interior finishes and fixtures. Those can be easily replaced over time out of cash flow. You are going to be paying for your foundation and the house that sits on it for 30 years! Make sure that investment is a sound one. Really!

Yes, of course the references will all be glowing... You only ask the folks who really like you to be your references, assuming you're ethical and don't ask your buddies or family to act like satisfied customers.

I used to give out the names of those we had disagreements with. I think it's the best thing you can do against the biased websites that purport to tell you who's good.

I'd ask you're personal friend why his is so high.

And I'd also agree; perhaps you could hire some kind of monitor/expert to oversea the foundation part.

Being your own GC, I'd also invest in the company that makes TUMS.

Internet recommendations vs. personal recommendations. You're kidding, right?? I've got to admit I mostly got my trades from watching high-end infill and tracts going up.

The couple of times I violated my rule and let price be my guide, ugh. Got a blocklayer who didn't know about leveling and a poured guy who had battered forms from the Ice Age, didn't vibrate (no that's not palsy)...getting sick thinking about that one...

Mr. Ichabod, I would just die if someone gave me a referral to someone they had a rocky time with! That would speak volumes to me about the person's character. Insta-Trust. Right there.

And it gives me instant cred to explain the difference between expectations and contract, and about bring your own materials versus letting me supply them, and on and on. It's the best sales lead-in I ever had.

Thanks everyone! Basically you have validated my fears on going with the cheapest option. The foundation would be inspected at every stage so I'm confident the work ultimately would be done 'right' but I concerned about the workmanship to get to that point. How much time might we waste if something has to be redone? The mid-range quotes were what we had budgeted within a couple thousand dollars, so not going to kill us. It was nice to think about what we could do with those extra thousands however! :)

I agree with you all on not skimping on the foundation. That goes along with us picking a pier and beam vs the cheaper slab foundation. Most new builds in this area are slabs and I hate it.

I think we've decided to go with the mid-range guy who was highly recommended to us by a builder friend. He does a ton of high-end homes (+$1-2M) so I feel good about what his quality would be. Ours is far from high-end but it's nice to think the foundation might be. :)

Just my $0.02. So I get bids on foundation 70k, 80k, 33k, 36k, 60k.

Now you wold say that 80k is a best. B.S.

The 33k foundation bid came from mass foundation company that owns excavation equipment and forms, have discount concrete agreement from IMI. Build 70% of all foundations in the area and offer 10 year warranty, in business for the last 40 years, insured bonded and pleasure to do business with.

=

>I certainly love the lowest guys price. But I'm nervous.

I would make sure the company is solid. Check their work. IF they only build couple of house foundations per year... I would not be going with them. Otherwise if company on solid footing, builds countless - you can see their work. I would be less concerned.

>My papa always says, "You get what you pay for." ;-)

Your papa was wrong. If a company has to bring excavation equipment, rent it, pay form rental, hire individuals, get sprayer for waterproofing, purchase insurance, purchase full price concrete - it will be one overpriced foundation.

Brian - I agree that in many cases, especially in this industry, price is not indicative of quality. In this particular case I believe the OP is acting as GC. That right there can be a big turnoff for many contractors (and understandably so), who will double their bid as a result because they don't really want to take the job at a competitive rate. However, given that he has no personal referrals to the low bidder, and that his choice is near to the expected budget, I think he is making the correct choice to spurn both the very high and very low bids.

Brian Thompson - The lowest guy definitely only builds a few foundations per year and mainly slabs at that. From what I can gather, he does a lot of driveway, sidewalks and patios. I've asked him for his experience with pier and beam work and am waiting on his response. It would definitely make me feel better if he is super experienced with this.

freeoscar - I've always wondered if contractors are turned off by homeowner GC's. I suspect that one of the high bids was related to that. He told me upfront that he's super busy and his schedule is tight. So he probably has no time to deal with us. For most of the other work on the house, we're using previously used contractors. We've done significant renovations to 5 other houses so we've used most trades before. This is our first brand new build so new foundation work is something new to us.

I don't think good foundation people have time for sidewalks and patios, as evidenced by the other contractor who flat out warned you they were busy.

You definitely should go with the one your builder friend pointed you at...they're in the middle, and do foundations all day every day. I suspect your builder friend knows exactly what he's talking about.

North Texas has unique foundation issues due to unstable soil. So you have that going for you. My experience in Keller was with a slab foundation. I had pier and beam in a number of homes in New Orleans and that soil is always moving.

If you live in another part of the country, for a slab they set up the foundation forms with large metal cables interlacing across the foundation, pour the specialized concrete mixture, then tighten the cables under pressure with specialized machines. Done wrong, it can be very dangerous work. The tensioned cables are supposed to stabilize the concrete slab.

Now the poster has decided to do a pier and beam foundation which is not as common in the area. I suggest using the process of elimination. Don't hire your friend. Let him put in the pool. Foundations aren't his area of expertise. Don't hire the expensive guy who really didn't have time for you. Take a second look at the cheap guy, something is missing from the bid, he doesn't normally do this kind of work or he isn't really understanding what you need. Now you are down to two people. Ask them for a reference that is at least five years old. They can be hard to find as people do move. But, you need to know if their work holds up over time. Pick the one that can provide a long term reference.

One piece of advice I'd throw out there is to go with the company that specializes in foundations.

There is one company here that owns the market with foundations. However their flat work is less than desirable. Then the guys that excel at flat work aren't the best at foundations.

Hello neighbor! (I also live close to WRL).

These quotes are for the same exact foundation? If so, and it has been engineered correctly, then the concerns about Texas soil should have been taken care of by the design.

I have built my house (just NE of WRL) a few years ago and also received extreme quote swings. I never went with the cheapest or most expensive. You can get an idea how realistic prices are by calculating concrete cost and pier drilling cost. Those are fairly constant for all companies because it's typically outsourced. The main difference is labor. All concrete crews that I worked with (my house is made of concrete, not wood, so I worked with concrete crews a lot) were very professional (on time, good quality) but the extreme low ball offers came from people that imo had a shady vibe.

The super expensive ones were fishing for a sucker.

@gthigpen

From what I can gather, he does a lot of driveway, sidewalks and patios.

I would never retain patio company to do my foundation. Any active construction sites near by? Drive by, take phone number(s) listed on the van or trucks and talk to the company. My advice to you would be file DBA ( Doing Business As) call some fancy name CMC Construction [declare your own construction company]. Get direct the drawing. Call foundation company and ask about submitting the project. Specify the footer width, depth, foundation wall width, height, excavation depth. Ask for discount for quick pay. Ask warranty, walk the site, you will need temp gravel driveway.