You’ve noticed a crack that wasn’t there last year, a door that started sticking, or a floor that feels off, and you’ve booked someone to come look. If you’ve never watched a foundation evaluation happen, it’s hard to know what to prepare, what the person will actually do, or what a useful result looks like.
This post walks through a typical on-site visit from start to finish. It’s written from the homeowner’s side: what you’ll see, what you can do to help, and what you should leave with. For the difference between a home inspection, a contractor’s evaluation, and an engineering evaluation, start with what a foundation inspection covers. Our foundation inspection page describes the service itself.
Before the visit
A little preparation makes the visit more useful.
Write down what changed and when. Dates matter more than adjectives. “The crack above the hallway door appeared after last winter” tells an evaluator more than “it’s getting worse.” If you’ve been tracking a crack, bring the photos. Our post on crack monitoring with telltales and photos shows a simple way to do that.
Gather the paper. Prior inspection reports, repair invoices, engineering letters, and permit history all help. The City’s Development Services records page says permits from 2003 to the present can be searched online, older building records after 1955 can be reviewed by appointment, and records for properties built before 1955 sit with the County Assessor. Our seller documentation checklist explains how to pull them.
Clear the way. Make sure the crawl space hatch can be opened, the side yards are passable, and the areas near problem walls aren’t buried behind stored items. If you aren’t sure what an evaluator needs to reach, our post on access and working conditions covers hatches, clearance, and obstructions.
If the evaluation is mainly about earthquake retrofit, our post on preparing for a seismic evaluation adds the seismic-specific items.
Step 1: The conversation
Expect the visit to start with questions, not a tape measure. Expect to be asked when you bought the house, what work has been done, when you first noticed each symptom, whether anything has changed with the seasons, and whether there have been leaks, plumbing repairs, or landscaping changes near the house.
This isn’t small talk. HUD’s Residential Rehabilitation Inspection Guide notes that structural problems “are often detected through a pattern of symptoms rather than any one symptom.” Your history is part of that pattern.
Step 2: The site and drainage
Expect time outside, looking at how water moves. HUD’s guide tells inspectors to “observe the drainage pattern of the entire property, as well as that of adjacent properties,” and says “the ground should slope away from all sides of the building. Downspouts, surface gutters, and drains should direct water away from the foundation.” It also notes that “plantings are often mounded in a way that traps water and edging around planting beds acts like a dam to trap water.”
The building code as adopted in San Diego sets a baseline for new work: “Lots shall be graded to drain surface water away from foundation walls,” with a fall of “not fewer than 6 inches (152 mm) within the first 10 feet” where the lot allows it, and where it doesn’t, “drains or swales shall be constructed to ensure drainage away from the structure” (CRC R401.3). An evaluator may compare what’s there against that idea, even on an older house built under different rules.
Expect attention to downspout outlets, low spots against the house, planters and hardscape that slope toward walls, and any retaining walls or slopes above or below the house. On a sloped lot, the hillside foundation repair page and our post on hillside drainage before structural repair explain why slope conditions get extra time.
Step 3: The outside of the foundation
Next comes the visible foundation: stem walls, the bottom edge of a slab, garage slab edges, steps and porches tied to the house. HUD suggests a systematic pass, beginning “either at the foundation and work up or begin at the roof and work down,” and looking for “patterns of damage or deterioration that should be further investigated during the interior inspection.”
Where soil or planting hides the foundation, HUD notes that inspecting it “may require some digging around the foundation.” Ask before the visit whether the evaluator expects to dig a small test hole, and where.
Expect cracks to be photographed, measured, and located on a sketch. Our post on horizontal vs vertical foundation cracks covers what crack direction can and can’t tell you.
Step 4: Inside the house
Indoors, the evaluator is looking for the interior side of the same pattern. HUD lists indications of differential settlement as “vertical distortion or cracking of masonry walls, warped interior and exterior openings, sloped floors, and sticking doors and windows.”
Expect someone to open and close doors and windows, look at drywall or plaster cracks around openings, and check floors. An evaluator may take relative floor-level readings across rooms and record them on a plan. Our post on uneven floors and measurement explains how those readings are taken and why a single reading isn’t a diagnosis.
You can help by pointing out every symptom you know about, including ones you think are cosmetic. Let the evaluator decide what matters.
Step 5: Under the house, or on the slab
If your house has a crawl space, expect the evaluator to go in. HUD calls the basement or crawl space “often the most revealing area in the building,” because it “usually provides a general picture of how the building works.” Under the floor, expect a look at piers, posts, beams, the perimeter wall, sill plates, and anchor bolts, plus moisture. HUD’s direction is to “probe all suspect areas thoroughly” and to “determine the source of any moisture that may be present.” The crawl space foundation repair process post describes what those parts do.
On a slab house there’s less to see. Flooring covers most of the slab, so the evaluation leans on slab edges, the garage floor, floor readings, and the pattern of cracks in the walls above. Our post on slab settlement vs soil movement covers slab-specific clues.
What a visual evaluation can’t tell you
The visit described here is visual and non-destructive, and that has limits. HUD’s guidance on assessing structural capacity says that, absent obvious overloading, significant deterioration, or added loads, “a thorough visual inspection of its structural components is all that is normally necessary.” It also says that “on some occasions, however, ceilings or other building elements may have to be opened for a selective inspection of critical structural members,” and that “if doubt remains about the building’s structural capacity after visual inspection, laboratory tests may be the next step,” done “under the guidance of a qualified structural engineer and conducted by a certified testing laboratory.”
There’s also a misdiagnosis risk built into the work. HUD warns that “many signs of masonry distress are incorrectly diagnosed as settlement-related when in fact they are due to moisture and thermal movements.” A careful evaluator will say which observations point to a cause and which ones don’t yet.
Soil is the other limit. Nobody can see fill or expansive clay from the yard with certainty. City Information Bulletin 141 requires a geotechnical report “prepared by a registered design professional” for new plans where a building sits on fill or expansive soil, and notes that “if the building inspector observes or suspects that fill materials or expansive soils are present in the building area, a geotechnical report prepared by a California registered design professional may be required.” If an evaluator suspects either, expect that to show up as a recommendation, not a conclusion.
Questions to ask during the visit
- What are you seeing that supports a cause, and what’s still unknown?
- Is anything here a safety concern right now?
- Which observations would you want to see again in a few months?
- Does anything here need an engineer, a geotechnical report, or both?
- Would any repair you’re considering need a permit?
- What couldn’t you see today, and why?
What you should get back
A useful result is written and separates three things: what was observed, what the evaluator thinks it means, and what they recommend next. It should say what wasn’t accessible. Our post on how inspections inform repair scope explains how those observations turn into a scope of work.
Expect one of a few paths:
- No repair now, watch these items. Ideally with a list of what to track.
- A repair proposal. A described scope you can compare against other bids. If repair involves permitted work, the City requires that “all construction that requires a permit must be inspected before it is covered or concealed” (IB-120); our San Diego permit basics post covers the permit side.
- A referral for engineering. California’s engineering board notes that cities and counties “usually require that a licensed engineer prepare seismic calculations for homes in seismically active areas and foundation design in areas where the soil may be a problem.” Our structural engineer page, our post on when to involve a structural engineer, and today’s companion post on PE/SE vs contractor roles in California explain who does what.
- A geotechnical recommendation. When soil conditions are the open question.
A contractor’s evaluation isn’t a home inspection, which California law defines as a “noninvasive, physical examination, performed for a fee in connection with a transfer” (BPC §7195), and it isn’t an engineering analysis. If you’re buying, our buyer’s foundation inspection guide covers how evaluations fit into a purchase.
Cost factors, not prices
We don’t publish prices. Things that shape the effort and cost of an evaluation and what follows: house size and number of levels; crawl space vs slab, and how hard the crawl space is to get into; whether floor-level readings are needed across the whole house; whether digging is needed to see the foundation; whether selective openings or lab testing are recommended; whether an engineer or geotechnical engineer gets involved; and whether a written report is needed for a lender, insurer, or sale.
Where we fit
We’re a foundation and structural repair company serving La Jolla citywide. Our on-site evaluation follows the order above and ends with a plain-language explanation of what we saw and a written scope where repair makes sense. We aren’t engineers, and our evaluation isn’t an engineering report or a home inspection. When a repair needs engineered design or soils input, we coordinate with licensed engineers as needed. Our structural inspection page covers whole-house concerns. This post is general education, not an assessment of any specific property.
Next step
If you’re seeing cracks, sticking doors, or sloping floors, request a Free Quote for an on-site evaluation anywhere in La Jolla, or call (650) 739-6537. Have your dates, photos, and any old reports ready.
Sources (accessed October 22, 2026)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Residential Rehabilitation Inspection Guide (February 2000), Chapters 1–4
- San Diego Residential Code 2025 (California Residential Code with City of San Diego amendments), Section R401.3
- City of San Diego Information Bulletin 141 (April 2026), Soil Bearing Capacity
- City of San Diego Information Bulletin 120, How to Obtain Project Inspections
- City of San Diego Development Services, Records
- California Business and Professions Code §7195
- California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists, A Guide for Consumers