Foundation Repair - Finding an Engineer

If you are having problems with your foundation, you get hit with a number of
dilemmas when it comes to fixing it.  How do you get it fixed?  Should
you use pressure grouting, helical piers, or resistance piers?  How
extensive should the repairs be?  Unless you've done work in foundation
repair, there is no way of knowing yourself.  So, what do you do?  You
can have contractors come out and give you estimates, but you will find their
solutions vary greatly, and again you don't know if the contractors are any
good.  Or, you can have an engineer come out and recommend a fix.
It's important when you choose to go with an engineer that you look at a few
very important criteria.  First and foremost, the engineer should be
licensed with a Professional Engineer license in your state.  Every state
has a program which licenses engineers, and they are all pretty much the same. 
Engineers must have a Bachelor of Science in a field of engineering from an
accredited institution.  They must past a very difficult 8 hour exam in
Fundamentals of Engineering, have four years of acceptable experience, and then
pass an 8 hour exam in Principles and Practices of Engineering.  Many
states require continuing education to maintain the license, and have strict
rules of practice.  If the person does not have this license, stop here and
talk to someone else.
The second criteria is make sure the engineer carries professional liability
insurance.  While you shouldn't be planning on suing the engineer, if there
is a mistake made in the design, and you have further failure you need to have
recourse.  The contractor will guarantee his pier installation, but if the
piers are laid out insufficiently, or an area is missed, the contractor isn't
liable for that.  If the engineer isn't carrying liability insurance, you
will have a difficult (if not impossible) time recovering the additional cost
from the engineer.  Even with liability insurance, recovering money from
the engineer's insurance company is not an easy task, but at least you have
something to fall back on.  Finally, carry liability insurance shows the
engineer is serious about his or her business and the work he or she performs.
Next, what type of engineer should you hire?  A geotechnical (soils)
engineer or structural engineer?  Foundation failure straddles the two
disciplines, so some engineers that consider themselves geotechnical engineers
will perform this type of work, and others that consider themselves structural
engineers will do it also.  This is a potential problem that you can run
into.  For example, you could hire a large geotechnical firm to come out
and examine your foundation.  You could get back a thick, nicely bound
report complete with drawings, photos, and figures.  It will tell you the
geology of your neighborhood, go into excruciating detail about how the
investigation was performed, give you soil test results, test boring logs, and
some very nice drawings of your building outline and where soil tests were
taken.  At the end, the report will say something like "a qualified
foundation contractor should perform the appropriate repair".  You will
have spent thousands of dollars for nothing.
If you hire a structural engineer up front, you may spend a lot of money for
a person to come out to the house, and do all sorts of analysis of the failure,
and again give you a very nice report detailing the problem.  Then at the
end of the report it will say something like "a qualified geotechnical engineer
should investigate the soil conditions, and a contractor engaged to perform the
repair based on that evaluation."  Again, you've spent thousands for
nothing.
To avoid this type of surprise, I recommend going with a small firm to
perform the work (less than 10 people).  Large engineering firms can be as
bureaucratic as government agencies, and many times in my experience even more
so.  With a small job like a foundation failure investigation they will get
so frightened of imagined liability that they won't give you a definitive
answer.  Also, if you engage a large firm, your smaller foundation repair
won't carry the same priority with them as say a civic center they are
designing.  You may find a recent graduate doing the work,  and not
having the right experience or guidance to do the proper evaluation and design.
With a small firm you can go with either a geotechnical or structural firm. 
Either type of firm usually can and will bring in more qualified people from
other firms if they find the investigation is more complex than expected. 
For example, if you hire a small structural engineering firm to do the
evaluation, and they find they need more than a some hand auger borings, they
generally won't hesitate to bring in a geotechnical firm to help.  What is
critical is make sure it is clear up front what they will do for you - get a
written agreement, and make sure it includes recommendations for repairs and a
list of qualified contractors.  Some firms may hesitate on giving you
either for "liability reasons" (a typical excuse for poor service).  If so,
move on to another.  Make sure the cost is in writing too - you don't want
a surprise bill for thousands you didn't expect to pay at the end.  Get it
in writing, because I've found myself billed for more than the contract, and
with a written contract I was able to get the bill reduced.
How do you find a qualified firm?  Call some foundation repair
contractors in your area and ask them if they have any engineers that they
recommend.  Get a list of several, and call them all.  Do they have a
website?  A website can allow you to examine the firm at your leisure and
see their qualifications.  I would eliminate any firm without a website. 
Then call the firm up, and find out what they provide.  You may find the
price varies wildly - find out if the price quoted includes the investigation
and design.  More than likely you'll be down to one firm by the time you've
gone through all that I've laid out here.  In the end, the time you and
money you spent hiring a qualified engineer will save you a lot more time and
possibly thousands of dollars in the actual repair.

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