The house
Start from a common job, then replace every figure with your takeoff. Picking a method never overwrites a rate you already typed.
Your crew rates
A $42/h tech loaded at 34% is $56.28. Quoting the raw wage on a published per-pier special is how an interior-access house that looked fine turns into a week-long loss after the first cramped bracket.
Hand the customer a proposal
The price above is for you. This is the page you print or save as a PDF and give to the homeowner — your details, their details, the scope, the deposit split, and a line for them to sign. Your business details are saved on this device so you only type them once; the customer’s details are never saved.
Everything on the printed page is text you typed or a number this calculator worked out. It contains no warranty, lien, or cancellation wording — those depend on your jurisdiction and your contract, and this tool is not the place to invent them.
Your bid
- Piers / extra shaft
- Access
- Crew hours
- Loaded labor
- Materials + fees
- Travel + equipment
- Overhead
- Total cost
- Profit at this price
- Price per pier
- Effective hourly rate
- Walk-away price
Where the hours go
Where the cost goes
Transparent arithmetic from your own inputs. Starting hours and material rates are common ballpark figures, not an industry standard, a settlement warranty, or an engineering specification — replace them with your own takeoff.
Common questions
Why can a competitor advertise a flat “price per pier”?
Usually because the quote is written around one specific job, and that job is a preset here: 8 exterior helical piers at 12 feet deep with easy access — the brochure job. It really does price low. What the per-pier number cannot see is interior access, depth past what is included, an engineering stamp, wall straps, and a plumbing reroute. Price your actual foundation beside the quote and the gap becomes a list of line items instead of an argument about who is honest.
Why does interior access cost more than exterior for the same pier count?
Because interior brackets mean working inside a finished or semi-finished basement — cramped clearance under joists, protecting floors and walls, and sometimes routing plumbing out of the way before a pier bracket can even go in. Exterior piers are set from open ground with equipment that cannot fit inside a house. Same pier, same depth, very different working conditions.
Why does depth past 10 feet add cost per pier instead of a flat per-pier rate?
Because each method’s per-pier price already includes a starting depth — 10 feet for both helical and push piers here — and every foot past that is additional drive time and additional pier segments, billed per foot rather than absorbed into the base price. A 16-foot pier in poor soil is not the same job as a 10-foot pier just because the brochure quoted “$X per pier.”
Is this the same as basement waterproofing or a concrete slab job?
No. This prices holding a settled or bowed foundation up and still — piers, extra shaft depth, interior access, engineering, and wall straps. It is distinct from basement waterproofing (a French drain, a sump pit, and a discharge line for water, not structure), new concrete pours, retaining walls (height and geogrid on a wall you are building), and crawl space encapsulation. A bowed wall with no settlement may only need straps or I-beams, priced here with zero piers.
Is my data uploaded anywhere?
No account and no network requests — the calculator runs entirely in your browser. A share link encodes only the inputs you choose into the address bar and is never sent to us; your bid is also saved in this browser’s local storage so it is still here next visit, and the optional usage counter records only which features were used and the day, never your pier count, wages, or prices.
What’s the difference between the bid price and the walk-away price?
The bid price already includes your target margin on top of labor, materials, and overhead. The walk-away price is the total cost underneath it — piers, extra depth, access, engineering, and wall straps — the point below which the job stops being profitable at all. Typing a price you are considering shows you the margin or the loss before you send it.