Foundation Repair in McKinney, TX — Stratum's Home Office
Headquartered Here Since 2006
McKinney Is Home Base
Our headquarters is at 1402 Custer Road, about a mile south of Virginia Parkway. Most of our crew lives somewhere between Eldorado and Prosper. We’ve been here since 2006. We’ve watched McKinney go from a small Collin County town to one of the fastest-growing cities in Texas, and we’ve been fixing foundations the whole time.
If you’re seeing cracks in your drywall, doors that stick, uneven floors, or gaps forming around your windows, your foundation may be settling. It happens a lot in McKinney — the clay soil here is some of the most reactive in North Texas. But not every crack means you need piers. A lot of what homeowners call us about turns out to be normal settling that just needs monitoring.
That’s what the free inspection is for. We come out, take elevation measurements across your entire slab, check your drainage and soil conditions, and give you a written report. If you don’t need repair, we’ll say so. We’ve done over 20,000 inspections across DFW and turned down plenty of jobs that didn’t need us. When repair is needed, we use one of our three pier systems and handle most jobs in a single day.
McKinney sits on the Blackland Prairie, a wide band of heavy expansive clay that runs through Collin County. This soil is behind most foundation issues in the area. It swells when it absorbs water and shrinks when it dries out. Your slab sits on top of that cycle year after year, and eventually something gives.
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Collin County Clay
The expansive clay under McKinney swells when wet and contracts when dry. Your foundation rides that cycle every year. Over time, that back-and-forth breaks things. It’s the number one reason we get calls from McKinney homeowners.
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Summer Drought
North Texas summers are long and dry. When McKinney goes weeks without rain, the clay pulls away from your slab. You’ll sometimes see a visible gap at the perimeter. That loss of support is where settlement starts — usually on the south and west sides first, where sun exposure is strongest.
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New Construction on Fill
McKinney has grown fast. Subdivisions built in the 2000s and 2010s went up on graded lots with imported fill. If that fill wasn’t compacted properly — and it often wasn’t — it settles over time and takes the foundation with it. We see this regularly in developments north of US 380 and west of 75.
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Mature Trees
Older neighborhoods like Eldorado, Stonebridge Ranch, and streets along Custer have big live oaks and pecans with 20-plus years of root spread. Those roots pull moisture from the soil around your foundation, especially in summer. One side of the house dries faster than the other, and that side settles more.
The 2011 and 2022 droughts were especially hard on McKinney foundations. We saw a spike in calls both years from homes that had never shown problems before. The soil just dried past the point of no return. Proper drainage helps — if water pools against your slab or your gutters dump at the foundation line, that’s making things worse. We check drainage during every free inspection.
Signs Your McKinney Home May Need Foundation Repair
Some of these show up slowly. Others appear overnight after a dry spell. If you’re seeing more than one, it’s worth getting an inspection.
→Diagonal cracks in drywall, usually near door and window corners
→Doors that stick or won’t latch, especially interior doors that used to close fine
→Stair-step cracks in exterior brick, following the mortar joints
→Uneven or sloping floors you can feel when walking across a room
→Gaps between window frames and walls, or gaps where the wall meets the ceiling
→A sudden spike in your water bill, which can point to a slab leak caused by foundation movement
Not all of these mean you need piers. Hairline cracks in new construction are often just the slab curing. That’s why we take elevation readings across the whole slab before recommending anything. If it’s cosmetic, we’ll tell you.
Stratum's Foundation Repair Systems for McKinney Homes
Recent McKinney Project
Stonebridge Ranch, Built 2004
The homeowner called about doors sticking on the south side of the house. Our inspection found 1.5 inches of settlement along the back wall, with the worst drop near a large red oak about 15 feet from the foundation. Soil moisture on that side was significantly lower than the north side.
We installed 14 ST3 piers along the south and west perimeter, lifted the slab back within half an inch of level, and finished before 4 PM. Total cost came in under $6,000. The homeowner’s doors closed the same night.
We don’t use a one-size-fits-all pier. Stratum has three systems. Which one your home needs depends on the soil, the weight of the structure, and how far things have moved.
Most Affordable
ST1 System
Concrete Pressed Piers
Starts with 1 ft of steel, then all concrete. 11,980 PSI cylinders — nearly 2x stronger than the industry standard. The right call for standard Blackland clay when budget matters.
Starts with 3 ft of steel, then concrete. Punches through shallow hard spots. ~50% deeper than the ST1. The system we install most in McKinney and across Collin County.
Starts with 10 ft of double-walled steel. ~100% deeper than the ST1. Only for severe settling, heavy homes, or unusually deep clay. Most McKinney homes don’t need it.
Most McKinney jobs finish in a single day. Our crew digs at each pier location along the foundation, presses the pier to refusal, lifts the slab back toward its original elevation, and locks everything off with a steel bracket. Every hole is backfilled and compacted before we leave. You don’t need to move out.
We work all over McKinney and the surrounding area. These are some of the neighborhoods and communities where we’ve done the most work.
Stonebridge Ranch Eldorado Craig Ranch Adriatica Tucker Hill Trinity Falls Erwin Park Area Westridge McKinney Historic District Hardin Blvd Corridor Prosper Fairview Melissa New Hope Lowry Crossing
Foundation Repair FAQs — McKinney
Most foundation repairs in McKinney cost between $2,500 and $15,000. The price depends on how many piers your home needs and how much settling has happened. Our average job in the area comes in around $4,285. We offer 0% financing for up to 24 months.
McKinney sits on Blackland Prairie clay, which swells when wet and shrinks when dry. That cycle stresses foundations over time. Summer droughts, rapid construction on poorly compacted fill, and mature tree roots pulling moisture from the soil all make it worse. The 2011 and 2022 droughts were especially hard on homes here.
Sticking doors, diagonal cracks in drywall near door and window corners, stair-step cracks in exterior brick, uneven floors, gaps between window frames and walls, and sudden spikes in your water bill — which can point to a slab leak caused by foundation movement.
Yes. Our headquarters is in McKinney at 1402 Custer Rd. Every inspection is free, no obligation. We take elevation measurements across your whole slab, check drainage and soil conditions, and give you a written report. If you don’t need repair, we’ll say so.
Most McKinney jobs finish in one day. The crew digs at each pier location, presses the piers to refusal, lifts the slab, and locks everything off with a steel bracket. Every hole is backfilled before we leave. You don’t need to move out.
Three systems: the ST1 (concrete pressed piers, most affordable), the ST3 (steel and concrete hybrid, most popular in McKinney), and the ST10 (deep steel piers for severe cases). We pick the right one based on your soil, your home’s weight, and how far things have moved.