Foundation raising in Santa Ana CA - your house lifted and set on solid new support
If your house needs to sit higher or its old foundation needs replacing, we lift it and build new support underneath.
Can my house be raised, and what does that involve?
Foundation raising in Santa Ana means separating your house from its foundation, lifting it on hydraulic jacks and holding it on temporary supports while a new or extended foundation is built underneath.
Most people call about this because the house needs to sit higher, or because the foundation under it is past saving and can't be replaced with the house sitting on it. Price and schedule turn on the same few things: what kind of foundation you have, how high the house has to go, whether the old foundation can be extended or has to come out, and what repairs turn up once we're underneath. The schedule also waits on the city's permit and reviews, and on the weather, so I'd rather walk you through all of it at the estimate, where I look at your foundation and write up a figure for your house.
How we handle a foundation raising job
The first thing I check is your foundation type, because it decides whether a lift makes sense at all. Homes built over a crawlspace, a basement or an open foundation suit this method best, and on a slab home, where the floor slab sits right on the soil, I want a design professional to look at the slab before anyone plans around it. If the house is a fit, you empty the crawlspace or basement and the utilities all get disconnected, but your furniture and everything else inside can stay put. On lift days our crew frees the house from the old foundation, jacks it up and sets it on cribbing, which is stacked timber that holds the weight while we work below. Depending on how sound the old foundation is and whether it can carry the added load, we either extend it or tear it out and rebuild it. That new foundation is the part nobody sees once the house is set down on it, and it's the last place I'd trim to save money, because everything above it depends on it.
A lift usually reaches past the house itself. If a walkway, porch slab or old footing is tied into the foundation, we use concrete cutting to free it along a clean line instead of breaking it out. And once the house sits higher, the old approach often won't line up anymore, so we can rebuild it through our concrete driveway building work.
Why Santa Ana owners call us for foundation raising
I write your estimate myself
I come out, look at the foundation and write the estimate, and our own crew does the work with a lead hand running the site while I check in along the way. You deal with the same people from the first visit to the last, so nothing gets lost in a handoff.
Building concrete since 2017
We've been in business since 2017, and before I ran crews I spent a few years writing up concrete jobs for homeowners. That's why I tell you what a lift will and won't do at the estimate, before you've committed to anything.
Licensed and insured on every lift
We're fully licensed and insured. On a lift that matters more than usual, because your house spends a stretch on temporary supports and you want everyone working under it covered.
We pull the Santa Ana permit
Santa Ana requires a separate permit from the Building Official before a building is moved, altered or repaired, and as the licensed contractor we can pull it for you. We plan the work around the city's reviews and inspections, so the crew isn't on your lot before the paperwork is.
On a lift, what matters most is finding out early whether your house suits one. Send us a message or call (657) 643-0084 with your address, your foundation type and any historic listing, and I'll set a time to come take a look.
Get a free on-site look at whether your house suits a lift
We reply to every call and message within one business day. I'll set a time to come out, look at your foundation and write up the estimate on site, free and with no obligation. After that, the decision is yours.
House lifts and foundation work
What people ask about foundation raising
How much does it cost to raise a house in Santa Ana?
Across the US, raising a house usually costs about $10,000 to $100,000 per job, from a lift alone up to a new foundation throughout. That's a national range from cost guides, not our price, and where your job lands depends mostly on your foundation type and the other things I covered above. I'll give you a figure for your own house at the estimate.
How long does it take to raise a house?
On average the whole process takes 4 to 8 weeks, and the lift itself takes 2 to 7 days once the prep work is done, according to national cost guides. Permits, foundation type, how high the house goes, repairs, weather and inspections all push that one way or the other, so your schedule gets clearer once I've seen the house.
Can a slab home be raised in Santa Ana?
Sometimes, but it's hard, and often it can't be done with the slab left whole. These slabs were often poured with little or no rebar, the steel that holds a slab together, so a registered design professional should look at yours before you choose this route. If a lift doesn't make sense for your house, I'll tell you that at the estimate.
What does Santa Ana require before a house lift can start?
Beyond the permit, your plans go to several city departments for review, and the Building Safety Division issues the construction permit once all of them approve. The city's building official can also ask for plans and calculations from a state-licensed engineer or architect, even where state law wouldn't require them, and submittals can include soil investigation reports. You can see how that review works on the city's plan check page.
Does a historic listing or flood zone change a house raising job in Santa Ana?
It can, for some homes. If your house is on the Santa Ana Register of Historic Properties or is a contributing property in a historic district, you'll need a Certificate of Appropriateness, and the work has to meet the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, which you can read about on Santa Ana's historic preservation page. Parts of the city are also marked as flood zones A and AE on FEMA's flood maps, so it helps to know where your address falls before we plan the job.
What kind of contractor do I need to raise my house in California?
The state licensing board has a classification for building moving contractors, who raise, lower, crib and underpin houses and move them, foundations included. That classification doesn't cover alterations or repairs to the parts of the house that stay, so ask at the estimate who handles each part of your job.
Other concrete work that comes with a lift
- Concrete cutting
If a porch slab, walkway or old footing is tied to the house, clean saw cuts let us separate it before a lift without cracking the concrete you're keeping.
- Concrete driveway building
Once your house sits higher, the old driveway may no longer meet your entry or garage cleanly, and a new pour can bring it back up to the right height.