Foundation inspection: who to call

Three kinds of people will look at your foundation, and they are not interchangeable. Picking the wrong one is how homeowners end up paying for a repair nobody independent ever recommended.

The home inspector

Under the InterNACHI Standards of Practice, the inspector shall inspect the foundation; the basement; the crawl space; and structural components, and shall describe the type of foundation and the location of the crawl space access. InterNACHI Standards of Practice, section 3.3

The limits are written into the same document. A home inspection is not technically exhaustive, the inspector is not required to provide any engineering or architectural service, and not required to report on the adequacy of any structural system or component. InterNACHI SOP, limitations

So a general inspection is a screen. It tells you something deserves attention. It cannot tell you the cause, the rate of movement, or the right repair, and a good inspector will say so in the report.

The structural or geotechnical engineer

This is the person who can tell you what is happening and what to do about it. They carry a license and liability, they do not sell the repair, and their report is the document a lender, an insurer or a buyer's agent will actually accept. You pay a flat fee for an opinion, which is the point.

There is a practical reason to get one first in this area: structural work is permitted work, and Cobb County runs a residential permitting process with its own checklists and submittal requirements. Cobb County Residential Permitting Ask your permit office directly whether a design professional's stamp is required for the repair you are considering. If it is, buying the engineer's time before you choose a contractor costs you nothing extra and changes the whole negotiation.

The repair contractor

A good one is genuinely experienced at reading a house, and free inspections are a normal part of the trade. Just be clear about what you are getting: an estimate from the party who profits from the answer. That is not an accusation, it is a structural conflict of interest, and the cure is a second written quote plus an engineer's report.

What a thorough foundation inspection covers

Exterior: grade slope away from the wall, downspout discharge, visible cracking mapped and measured.
Foundation wall: crack width, direction, displacement in or out, and any rotation.
Interior: floor level readings taken across the whole footprint, not spot-checked.
Crawl space or basement: piers, girders, joists, moisture staining, standing water.
Doors and windows: which ones bind, and whether the pattern matches the exterior cracking.
History: age of the house, prior repairs, whether the lot is cut or fill.

What to bring to the appointment

Dated photographs of the cracks, your width measurements over time, the date you first noticed it, and any record of plumbing leaks or drainage work. An inspector with a timeline gives you a much better answer than one looking at a wall for the first time.