Helical piers cost

A helical pier costs $2,000 to $4,000 installed, typically around $3,000 per pier. A job is priced pier by pier, so the number the engineer specifies, and the spacing that produces it, moves the total far more than the rate itself.

Helical piers usually cost a little more each than steel push piers, which run $1,500 to $3,500. They get chosen anyway for one main reason: they do not need the weight of the house to install them, so they work under porches, additions and light framed structures where a push pier has nothing to push against.

What it costs

The per-pier figure normally covers excavation at the footing, the pier shaft and helix plates to the estimated depth, the bracket, the lift or the lock-off, and backfill. It does not normally cover depth beyond the estimate, interior piers through a slab, restoring hardscape, or repairing cracks and drywall afterward.

How a helical pier works, and why torque matters

A helical pier is a steel shaft with one or more helix plates welded near the tip, shaped like a widely spaced screw thread. A hydraulic drive head on a mini excavator or a handheld rig turns it into the ground, and extension sections are added until it reaches soil firm enough to carry the load. A bracket then ties the top of the shaft to the footing.

The useful part is what the installer reads while it turns. The torque needed to keep advancing the shaft rises as the helix plates enter denser soil, and that torque correlates with how much load the pier can carry. The industry uses a published torque factor for each shaft size, roughly 7 to 10 per foot for the common residential shafts, multiplied by the final installation torque to estimate ultimate capacity. A safety factor, typically two, then gives the working load.

That turns each pier into a verified number. The engineer specifies a target torque, and the installer keeps going until the gauge reads it. A pier that reaches its target at 12 feet and one that needs 26 feet have both been proven to the same capacity, which is why helical depth cannot be promised in advance and why the per-foot extension rate matters on the quote.

Ask for an installation log: for every pier, its location, the final depth, the final torque reading and the shaft size. It costs the contractor nothing to keep, and it is the only record that each pier did what the drawing said it would.

Helical or push pier

The two are often presented as competing products. In practice the soil and the structure usually decide.

Push piers need weight above them. A push pier is driven by hydraulic rams that react against the house. A two-story masonry house supplies plenty of reaction. A one-story frame house, a porch roof or a sunroom often does not, and the pier stops when the structure starts to lift rather than when it reaches good bearing.

Push piers need something to reach. They are driven to bedrock or to refusal in very dense soil. Where that layer is far down or absent, helical piers carry the load through the soil instead.

Helical piers can go in before the load. New additions, decks, porches and foundations for a new garage can be built on helical piers from the start, because the pier does not depend on the building being there.

Helical piers resist pull as well as push. Their plates anchor in the soil, so they also hold against uplift, which matters for porch roofs, lightweight structures and retaining work.

Push piers are proof-loaded as they go in. Because each one is driven against the house, it is tested to a load beyond what it will carry in service. That is a genuine point in their favor on a heavy house.

On a heavy house over shallow bedrock, push piers are usually the cheaper and more direct answer. On almost everything lighter, or where good bearing is deep, helical is the default. The broader foundation pier guide covers stabilizing against lifting, which applies to both types.

How many piers, and how far apart

The count is the wall length that needs support divided by the spacing, plus any corners or point loads that need their own pier. Spacing is typically somewhere between four and eight feet on center, and it is set by two things.

The load along the wall. A one-story frame wall carries far less per foot than a two-story brick one, so its piers can sit farther apart.

The strength of the footing. The concrete footing has to span between piers like a beam. An old, thin or unreinforced footing cannot span far, so its piers move closer together, and the count goes up.

That is why two contractors can quote the same wall at five piers and nine. One may be right and one may be padding, or one may be ignoring a weak footing. An independent structural engineer at $400 to $1,500 settles it before anyone bids, and on a helical job the engineer also sets the target torque.

Small structures need surprisingly few. A covered front porch pulling away from the house is often held with two to four piers along its outer edge, plus the brackets that tie it back to the main foundation.

A worked example: a settling rear addition

A one-story frame addition on a shallow footing has dropped about an inch at its outer corner, opening a gap where it meets the original house. The engineer specifies seven helical piers at roughly six feet on center along the two outside walls, each to a target torque.

• Helical piers: 7 piers × $2,000 to $4,000 each = $14,000 to $28,000
• Engineer's report and specification: $400 to $1,500
• Total: $14,400 to $29,500

Where it lands depends on depth. If firm soil is close, most piers hit torque on the first extension and the job sits near the low end. If the addition was built over fill, every pier may need several extensions. That is the line to agree in writing before work starts.

Push piers would not be a real alternative here. A one-story frame addition is too light to drive them to good bearing, so a lower per-pier price on that quote would not reflect a job that could be done the same way.

Reading a helical pier quote

• How many piers, at what spacing, and is there a drawing?
• What shaft diameter and how many helix plates per pier?
• What target torque, and who set it?
• What depth is included, and what is the price per extra foot or extension?
• Will you provide an installation log with depth and torque for every pier?
• Is it stabilization only, or a lift, and how much recovery is expected?
• Who pulls the permit and who provides the final sign-off letter?

A quote with a pier count and no torque target is a quote where nobody has defined what done means. The foundation repair guide covers the wider warning signs on a repair contract.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a helical pier cost?

$2,000 to $4,000 each installed, typically about $3,000. Deep installations, interior piers through a slab and difficult access push it up. Most residential jobs need several, so the count matters more than the rate.

How deep do helical piers go?

As deep as it takes to reach the specified torque, which on most houses is somewhere between about 10 and 30 feet, and deeper in soft soil. The depth is not known until each one is installed. That is why a quote should state the depth included and the price beyond it.

Are helical piers better than push piers?

Neither is better in general. Helical piers suit light structures, new construction, deep or absent bedrock, and anything that needs uplift resistance. Push piers suit heavy houses over reachable bedrock and are proof-loaded against the structure as they go in.

How many helical piers does a house need?

It depends on the length of wall that has moved and the spacing the engineer sets, usually four to eight feet apart. A porch may need two to four. A settled corner of a house commonly takes several, and a whole side takes more.

Related guides

• Foundation pier cost — every pier type, and stabilizing against lifting
• Structural engineer cost — the report that sets count, spacing and torque
• Foundation repair cost — where piers sit among the other repairs
• Foundation inspection cost — confirming the movement before paying to stop it