Concrete footings in Lafayette LA - a base sized for the soil under your home
Building a home or an addition and unsure what your ground can carry? We plan footings around your soil before anything is poured.
What do concrete footings do, and what sets their cost in Lafayette?
Concrete footings are the wide concrete base under a new home or addition in Lafayette, LA. They carry the weight of the foundation, the bearing columns and the floor slab down into the ground so the building holds steady.
If you're building a new home or adding a room, the footings are the first concrete that goes in and the last thing anyone sees, which is why I'd rather take my time on them. The price turns mostly on the kind of footing your lot needs, because simple spread footings, a wide pad of concrete under the load, cost the least and pile footings that reach down to firmer ground cost the most, and your soil makes that choice. The schedule depends on how much we already know about the ground and what the permit office says for your address, and your written estimate shows what's included for your lot.
What happens after you call us about footings?
Call and set a visit
When you call, we set a time for me to come out, see the spot and ask what you're building. I'll also look at where water runs on the lot, since that matters for anything built on clay.
Get a written estimate
You get a written estimate that lists what's included and what isn't, so you can see whether digging, forms, steel and site preparation are in the price. If your soil calls for more than a standard footing, the estimate says so before you decide.
We check permits and schedule
Before anything goes on the calendar, we check with the permit office for your address. When a permit is needed, we take care of the application and keep you informed.
Our crew pours, I check
On the work days our crew lead runs the job with our finishers. I come by to check the work and answer any questions you have.
How we build concrete footings, and the work that goes with them
Before anything is sized, I ask for any soil report or survey you have, because the ground decides how wide the footings need to be and how much steel goes in them, and we plan from there. Our crew then lays out the footings, digs the trenches, sets the forms and places the rebar, the steel bars that help the concrete hold together when the ground pushes on it, and then we pour and let the concrete cure, which is the wait while it hardens and gains strength before anything is built on top. Footings disappear once the walls go up, so they're often the first place people want to save money, and that's the one place I'd ask you not to, because a fine floor on a skimped footing moves with the ground under it.
Footings often come up alongside other work. If part of an existing house has already settled, foundation raising brings it back up before an addition ties into it, and when new work runs into an existing patio, walk or slab, concrete cutting gives us a clean, straight opening so the new footing can go in.
Ask for a footing estimate for your lot
We reply to every call and message within one business day to set a time for me to come out, and the on-site estimate is free with no obligation. We're based in Lafayette and work in the cities around it, so please ask if yours isn't listed. Thank you for reaching out.
Footing questions from Lafayette homeowners
How much do concrete footings cost in Lafayette, LA?
Across the US, concrete footings usually cost about $700 to $3,000 per footing with materials and installation, but that national figure leaves out site preparation, so it's worth asking whether a quote covers it. A complex project costs more per footing than a standard one, and your own figure comes from the written estimate after I've seen the lot.
Do I need a permit for concrete footings in Lafayette?
The city's Development & Planning office decides that, since it issues permits for all development in Lafayette and unincorporated Lafayette Parish, and its list names residential building and land disturbance rather than footings on their own, so we check with them for your address. For a new home, the city's floodplain rules also require the lowest floor, mechanical and electrical equipment included, to sit 1 foot above the base flood elevation, and they require no net loss of flood storage, which the city calls Zero Net Fill. Both can shape how high the foundation sits and how much fill goes on the lot.
Who is allowed to build footings for a house in Louisiana?
Under state rules, a residential project with any structural work has to be bid and built by a licensed Residential Building Contractor, and footings count as structural work, so they aren't home improvement work. We're fully licensed and insured, and it's fair to ask any contractor which licence they hold before you sign.
What causes footings to crack and settle on clay soil?
Clay swells when it gets wet and shrinks as it dries, and that movement can crack and settle footings that weren't made wider and given more reinforcement to handle it. Only about 11% of Lafayette Parish's soil area is the high shrink-swell kind, far less than the Louisiana average, but any one lot can sit on it, which is why the soil gets looked at before the footings are sized.
How do I know if my lot needs a soil test before footings?
If you aren't sure what your soil is, a code guide advises a geotechnical investigation, which is testing by a soil engineer, or at least a visual check of the soil type before the footings are designed. Soft clay, loose sand and fill often carry less weight than standard footing sizes assume, and where the ground bears less than the code tables expect, the guide says wider footings and engineering are required.
What does an inspector check before footings are poured?
In a typical inspection, a code guide says the inspector looks at the bottom of the trench for debris, loose soil, standing water and organic material, all of which has to come out before the pour. Soft, wet or disturbed soil fails until the contractor fixes the ground the footing will rest on, so that work belongs before the concrete arrives.
Other work that often goes with footings
Foundation raising
If floors slope, doors stick or cracks climb the walls of an older house, lifting the settled section back toward level is often the first job.
Concrete cutting
When an old slab, walk or driveway sits right where new concrete needs to go, a clean saw cut removes only that section and keeps the rest in place.
Start your footing estimate with your soil report
Call (337) 216-1997 or use the form with your property address, what you're building and any soil report or survey on hand, so I can come out ready to talk about your ground.