The short answer
Get at least three written estimates where you can. Make each one tell you what the contractor found and where, not just a total. Get the work, the cost and a completion date in a written contract before anyone starts. Ask who applies for the permit and who pays for it. Pay nothing before the contract is signed.
The rest of this page is why each of those matters on a Charlotte crawl space.
The license line, and what it means for your job
North Carolina requires a state general contractor license once a project is valued at $40,000 or more, and the statute defines the job the same way: G.S. 87-1 calls a general contractor anyone who undertakes construction costing $40,000 or more.
Now read that against the cost page. A great many Charlotte repairs land below the line. That does not make a company without a state license a bad choice, and it does not make a licensed one right for your house. It means the license is not doing your vetting for you at this price. Ask whether the company holds one, ask for the number, and check it with the state board rather than taking a logo on a van for it.
The same figure turns up in a second place, which is where people get confused. Under G.S. 160D-1110(c), work costing $40,000 or less in a single-family home needs no building permit unless it falls into a list of exceptions. Structural repair, piers and footings included, is on Mecklenburg County’s list of work that does need one. So the price of your job does not tell you whether a permit is required. That is a question for the contractor, answered in writing.
What the written plan should contain
A quote is a price. A plan is what you can hold someone to.
| Ask for | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What was found, and where | Without it you are comparing prices for repairs that may not be the same repair. |
| The count, type and placement of supports, with measurements | Supports are priced one at a time, so the count is usually what separates two bids. |
| What is causing the movement, and whether the plan addresses it | A repair that leaves the cause alone can be undone by it. |
| What is excluded | Drainage, cleanup and cosmetic work upstairs are often outside the price rather than inside it. |
| Who applies for the permit, and who pays | The county bills permits to the general contractor or to a homeowner acting as their own. Building, electrical, heating and plumbing work take separate permits. |
| How extra damage is priced | Opening a floor can reveal more rotted wood than the first look showed. The contract should say what happens then. |
| The warranty terms | NC DOJ says to ask about guarantees and get the terms in writing. Read what they cover, for how long, and whether a buyer can use them. Warranties come from the contractor, not from us. |
| A completion date | It belongs in the written contract alongside the work and the costs. |
Three bids, not three prices
at least three estimates only help if they describe the same house. In foundation work they often don’t: one contractor finds a sill plate problem, another finds settled supports, and the totals are then answers to different questions. Line up what each one found before you line up the numbers. The cost page has the questions to put side by side.
If two contractors disagree about the cause rather than the price, that is the moment an independent engineer’s evaluation is worth paying for. Which visit answers which question is covered in contractor inspection or structural engineer.
Red flags
- A low advertised price, then alarming findings. NC DOJ warns about companies that come out at a low advertised rate and then point out expensive and alarming problems that supposedly need attention right away.
- Pressure to sign during the visit. You may be able to cancel a contract signed in your home for up to three days, but not signing is simpler than cancelling.
- Cash, or a large payment before anything is in writing.
- A diagnosis with no measurements. Elevations and crack widths are how a claim about movement gets checked later.
- A refusal to put the warranty terms in writing.
- Advice to skip the permit. It moves the county’s problem onto you, and onto whoever buys the house.
Keep the paperwork
When the work is finished, keep the plan, the invoices, the dated photos and any engineer’s report together. North Carolina’s residential disclosure statement notes that some issues, structural ones included, remain material facts after repair and must be disclosed by a broker. A buyer who asks about a repair is answered by a folder, not by a memory. Selling a house with foundation problems covers what gets disclosed.
Ready for someone to look at it? Call to schedule an inspection. Work is done by independent local contractors, and the contractor serving your area sets the price and the schedule.