Foundation Warranties Exposed

Your foundation warranty may very well be the single most important part of your foundation repair project yet it is usually the most overlooked.

Lifetime Transferable Warranty

What exactly does that mean? What is the lifetime? Can it expire if your forget to do something like, pay a fee when your transfer it to the buyer of your home.

What You Want In A Foundation Warranty

From my experience, the shorter the warranty the better. Come on, how much text does it take to say:

"I guarantee that your warranty is properly repaired."

"I guarantee that if it ever fails I will repair it at not additional charge."

"I guarantee that I will keep repairing it if something fails for as long as you or anyone else owns the home.

All you can add beyond that is Exclusions. Let me tell you I have seen warranties that are several pages long and by the time you get through all of the Exclusions you might just as well not have a warranty at all. If your foundation repair salesperson shows you one of these, tell him to, well you know...

Hidden Costs

Another area where you can get burned if you do not carefully read your warranty is in the area of hidden costs. I have seen all sorts of things like a fee to transfer the warranty to a new owner. This one usually comes with a stipulation that if the fee is not paid within 30 days of transfer the warranty becomes null and void.

Another common hidden cost is that although the repairs are guaranteed there is an "Adjustment Fee." What a deal, the company provides a warranty and gets paid to honor it. That is really great, for the foundation repair company, but you get the shaft!

The Missing Warranty

When the salesman comes to give you an estimate and you ask about his warranty, notice that he will probably not pull a copy out for your to look at. He will in all probability proudly proclaim "we provide a lifetime transferable warranty."

When he does, tell him that is wonderful, you want a copy to admire while he is doing your inspection. The odds are that he will tell you that "he is our of them at the moment."

Your salesperson knows that nothing will kill the sale quicker than a warranty full of exclusions and hidden costs. You can be sure you will not get a chance to examine it before the sales pitch is complete.

There are numerous other hazards in the typical foundation warranty that you must look out for. There are new ones cropping up every day. It can be very difficult to catch them all, be careful, your money is at risk.