A foundation inspection should tell you what is happening, whether it matters, and what to do next. Poway Structural inspects homes and outbuildings across Poway for owners, buyers, and people planning a remodel. We write down what we find in plain language. If the findings need an engineer or soils report, our team coordinates with licensed engineers as needed and explains why.
When an inspection makes sense
You’re buying. Especially a hillside house or a property with more than one structure. The inspection gives you a baseline before the contingency runs out.
You’re planning an addition, ADU, or pool. Better to know how the existing foundation is doing before new weight or new water goes next to it.
Something changed. A new crack, a door that started sticking, a wall that looks different. You want to know if it’s cosmetic, seasonal, or structural.
You’re selling. You’d rather hear it from us than from the buyer’s inspector.
The house was rebuilt after a fire. That’s its own set of questions, covered on the post-wildfire evaluation page.
Where this fits among the specialists
A general home inspector covers the whole house and flags items for specialists. We focus on the support system (footings, slab, posts) and whether any of it is moving. A structural engineer can go further with calculations and stamped designs. A geotechnical engineer studies the soil with borings and lab tests. We tell you which of those, if any, you need.
What we look at on the house
- Foundation type: slab, raised floor, stepped footings, or a mix
- Floor levels across every room, drawn into a simple map
- Cracks in slab, stem walls, stucco, and drywall: width, direction, offset
- Doors and windows that bind, and whether they match what the floor map shows
- Crawl space, if there is one: posts, piers, beams, moisture, bolting
- Additions: where new foundation meets old, which is a common crack line
Outside the walls
The yard gets the same attention as the house, and each item goes into the report as an observation, a photo, or a measurement.
- The pad. Where the house sits on it, how the edges look, and any sign that one end was built up. We ask for the grading plan or soils report if you have one, and we say plainly when only testing can answer the question.
- Retaining walls. A lean reading at a few points along each wall, crack notes, and whether the drain outlets at the base are open. Details on retaining wall repair.
- Slopes near the house. Bulges, ground cracks, and loose rock uphill. If any of that shows up, the hillside page explains what comes next.
- Water. Where the downspouts empty, whether sprinklers hit the foundation, and what sits uphill of the house.
- Other structures. A garage, shop, or guest house gets its own notes, since it has its own foundation.
Acreage raises a longer list of site questions, covered on large lots and outbuildings. We use that list on bigger properties rather than repeat it here.
What you get
A written summary with photos, a floor-level map, crack notes, observations about the lot, likely causes, and our recommendation. What we saw and what we think are kept apart, so you can share the report with a lender, a seller, or an engineer. Where we cannot tell the cause without testing, we say that.
Contingency deadlines
Contingency periods are short. Tell us your deadline up front and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet it. For acreage, expect the inspection to take longer than a tract home. We describe what we find as we find it. The report is not written to push a sale either way.
Straight answers
What should I have ready before the visit?
Any grading plan, soils report, or permit history you can find, plus the disclosure packet if you’re buying. Access to the crawl space, the garage, and the back of the lot helps too.
Can you tell if my pad is fill?
We can often find strong clues. The grading plan or a soils report confirms it.
Do you inspect retaining walls on their own?
Yes. A wall can be the whole job, with no house inspection attached.
Book an inspection
Tell us about the property, your timeline, and what prompted the call.
Sources
No local statistics are quoted on this page. The fire, fill, flood-area and saturation-trigger facts behind these checks are sourced on the linked large-lot, post-wildfire, hillside and retaining wall pages (City of Poway General Plan Public Safety Element, May 2026; City of Poway annex to the 2023 San Diego County hazard mitigation plan).