What this site covers, what happens when you ask for a quote, who does the work, and how the site is paid for.
What this site is
Stone Foot Foundation covers foundation work in Des Moines: what a job involves, what it costs, and what to ask before you hire anyone. Then it puts you in touch with a local contractor for a quote.
This site does not do the work. The contractor is an independent business. They quote the job and they do the work themselves.
What happens when you ask for a quote
- You fill in the form with your name, your contact details, the address of the property and what the house is doing.
- Your details go to one local foundation contractor who works in your area.
- They contact you to ask questions and quote. You decide whether to hire them.
Your details are only sent when you check the consent box on the form. You can ask us to delete what we hold at any time, and we will also ask the contractor to delete their copy. Once a request has reached them, that copy is theirs and we cannot reach into their records ourselves.
How the site is paid for
Sending a request costs you nothing.
The contractor pays Stone Foot Foundation a fee for the requests we pass on. That is how the site pays for itself.
Who is responsible for the work
The contractor you hire quotes the price, does the work, and is responsible for it.
We do not inspect, approve or stand behind any contractor’s work, and we are not a party to whatever you agree with them. Three things are worth doing before you agree to anything.
- Get a written quote, and check what it excludes as well as what it includes. Build-back, meaning the drywall and flooring that goes back after the work, is one of the most common exclusions and one of the most expensive surprises.
- Check they are registered. Iowa law requires construction contractors to register with the state if they earn at least $2,000 a year from construction work, and you can look a contractor up on the state’s public search. Registration is a form and a fee. There is no trade test, no experience requirement and no proof of liability insurance in it, so it tells you a contractor is on the state’s books rather than that they are any good.
- Ask for references on work like yours. A company that has lifted a hundred slabs has not necessarily straightened a bowing wall. This is the check that registration does not do for you.
A free inspection offered by a repair company is a sales visit. An assessment by a structural engineer is a paid, independent opinion. Both are useful, and they are not the same thing.
Questions
Anything about this site, or about your own details, goes through the contact page. The privacy policy sets out what we collect, who it goes to and how to have it deleted.
This site is operated by Happy Life Marketing.