Pfister Pier and Beam Leveling

Deke and his wife Michelle were super helpful. They helped us understand the problems and steered us away from much more expensive solutions other foundation companies were suggesting; instead, we created a plan to manage the water drainage and performed basic maintenance on the piers. I'm always impressed when a company helps you to spend less money. The piers the fixed up were first class, and their work comes with a two year warranty. If you've got a pier and beam house in Houston, I would definitely recommend Pfister...great local knowledge and expertise that will save you time and money.

This was amazing. If you are looking, STOP looking because Pfister is incredible. He saved us money and he saved us time. He’s in high demand, though, so book him now if he has availability. Deke is the third generation Pfister to lead this company and he knows everything about this pier and beam foundation stuff. He couldn’t be nicer. He would always get back to us within 12 hours. He kept us in mind for about 2 months as we requested an earlier timeframe if he could manage and he was able to move our project up by 2 weeks(!) because of shifting the schedule. He also recommended some local businesses to help us with other areas. ****Also...he finished early! Even after we altered the project scope!**** ****Also...he found a way to save us money!!! He was able to shave $200 off his quote price because they ended up figuring out a workaround on a joist that used about $200 less wood!**** I can’t say enough good things, which is why I stopped what I was doing to write this review on the same day he finished working!

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Mr. Pfister advised that there was likely not a foundation problem but rather a drainage problem that was causing excessive swelling of the ground which was leading to the movement I am seeing in the house. His recommendation was to put gutter in the areas where drainage and drying are a challenge and then call him back in the summer for a reevaluation. He did not charge an inspection fee since he had done work on the house several years ago for a previous owner. His only request was that I use him if we get to the point that leveling is needed and there is a very high probability that I will do that. He is very professional and honest.

I was told by me realtor that was the best contractor for leveling pier and beam houses in the Heights. I was excited to work with them, and having just bought the house I was presented with an estimate from the sellers that they had already received from this company. I decided to go with them given the exceptional recommendation from my realtor. Unfortunately, they were so buy that they told me their soonest availability was in March (I contacted them in November). I decided to go ahead and wait for them and to put my name on their waiting list. Unfortunately, I never received any type of confirmation that I was indeed put on their list. That left a bad taste in my mouth. In the end, I choose All Texas Foundation to perform the work. They were a bit more expensive, but they included more work on my foundation than what was in the proposal from Pfister.

Mr. Pfister was courteous, responsive, thorough, and, more importantly, honest. After making an offer on an old home, my inspector claimed there was not enough crawl space beneath the house to assess the state of my foundation (piers & beams). Assuming this meant that excavation was in order, I contacted a soil removal company that, on the contrary, recommended adding soil, not removing it, to the tune of ~$1500 due to "sagging" down the middle of the house. I balked and instead contacted Pfister Foundation, whom my real estate agent considered the "best in the biz." This proved to be no exaggeration. Mr. Pfister cheerfully crawled into the mudpit beneath my very unlevel, soon-to-be purchased home and provided an extremely thorough assessment of: the state of each pier/beam, the relative height of each 6-square-feet of the house's 1330 sq ft floor surface, whether or not the shabbily constructed annex floor could be corrected via foundation modification (it could not), and the approximate cost of repairing certain piers/beams ($1750). His assessments cost $150, which can be applied to the full cost of the repair should I have decided to proceed. Alas, he contended these repairs were not urgent, so I have put this on hold. His honesty was very refreshing. I almost feel guilty for not giving him more business! Cannot recommend highly enough.

Pfister answered my call and came out the next day to look at my foundation. He gave me an honest assessment of my foundation and offered a good price. I decided to go with Pfister's bid and he was out there with his crew the next week.

I had heard of them from multiple sources that owned houses in the Heights and wanted them to help me level my tiny house in East End. I had heard so many horror stories about cracked walls and found that this was not the case. They were extremely punctual and finished the entire job in one day. Answered all of my questions and plan on using their services again in the future.

Cracks had begun to appear along the seams of the sheetrock in my house. Cue a call to Pfister Pier and Beam. I had heard their name from a neighbor and was warned Pfister was busy. So no surprise when it took about a week to return my phone call. Pfister's admin explained their schedule (currently booked into the summer) and let me know they could come out to do an assessment later the next week for 125$ (which would be applied towards and future work). Fearing that my house was headed for a sinkhole, I agreed and then waited. John Pfister showed up slightly early, was friendly and explained in detail how an assessment works. He walked around with me while I showed him the areas of concern. Then he took about 20 mins to take measurements inside the house. We sat down and discussed the measurements (thankfully nothing drastic). John was honest and let me know there was nothing too out of whack with the foundation, but there was one small spot that could possibly be adjusted. After taking a look under the house he let me know that adjustment in the direction needed would necessitate extra work that just didn't need to be done (one spot was higher and had no shims that could be removed, the only option then would have been to raise the whole house around this high point). John emailed me his measurements and drawings for my records and let me know they would happily provide those to me or to any prospective buyer should I ever decide to sell the house. If something does change more drastically with my house I will definitely be calling Pfister to do the work.

When I called to have someone come out and look at the house, they never returned my call. We left messages but they never got back to us.

He was very friendly and gave an honest opinion of the work involved in purchasing my home. His price was about average for the work involved but I chose not to use him because he would not tunnel under the house as some other contractors would (there was limited access less than 12" under the house). He estimated $2500 to level about 4 rooms that were very unlevel. His estimate to replace beams was a bit overboard because he would rather err on the side of too high. John only does interior floor leveling.