If your house has to sit higher for the flood rules or has settled on shifting soil, we raise it and set it on steady support.
Foundation raising in Malibu lifts your house together with its foundation and sets it on steady support underneath, so it can clear a required flood height or come up off ground that has settled.
If you're reading this, you're probably either working through a rebuild that calls for the house to sit higher, or living with floors and doors that tell you the ground under it has moved. Either way, the price turns on the size and weight of the house, how far it goes up, how hard it is to get equipment in and what the new support underneath needs, such as new concrete footings. The schedule turns mostly on the engineer's assessment and the City's reviews rather than on our crew, and the written estimate gives you the figure for your own house.
I come out to look at the job and take the measurements myself, so the person pricing the work has seen your foundation and your access. Our crew does the work with me on site, and we work alongside your engineer, architect or soil consultant when there is one.
What sits under the concrete matters more to me than what shows on top, because that's where most trouble starts. We write down exactly what goes under and into the concrete, the base, the steel and the depth, so you know what you're paying for.
We're fully licensed and insured. A lift often brings more than one trade to your house, so I'll tell you plainly which part of the work is ours and which part sits with someone else before you sign anything.
I started this business in Malibu in 2023, after years running a sign shop where a job was only right if every measurement was right. Lift heights and footing depths get the same care. Call (424) 388-5404 and I'll come take a look.
We reply within one business day, by phone or by message. The estimate is free, done at your property and comes with no obligation, and I'll measure, look at access and any existing concrete, then send a written scope with a price you can compare line by line. It helps to have your address, whether you're in a flood zone and any past geology or foundation reports ready.
Development anywhere in Malibu falls under the City's Local Coastal Program unless it's exempt, and the City's Planning staff decide whether a project is exempt and approve it before it moves on to Building Safety. That's decided project by project, so before we price your lift I look into what the City asks for at your address and tell you what I found. Where approvals are needed, we plan the start around them and handle the concrete side of the paperwork or work alongside your architect or engineer. For questions about your own lot, the City has the final word.
A few other reviews can shape the lift here. The City found that the flood levels on FEMA's revised maps should be lower, and FEMA has preliminarily approved that and will issue new maps, so the height in your plans should be checked against the map that applies to your lot before we build to it. The City Geologist reviews geology reports and plans, and staff visit sites to point out geologic hazards. On beachfront lots, the City's coastal engineering staff review reports on how far waves wash up, looking at wave impact, neighboring properties, the beach and flooding from the sea. Either review can change how deep the new support goes and what it rests on, so we wait for it. We're based in Malibu and take jobs in many of the cities around it, including Topanga and Calabasas, where hillside lots and tight access come up often.
A design professional assesses the house first, and that assessment comes before any method or budget is set. FEMA's national guidance includes a checklist they may use to judge the building's condition and whether it's a good candidate for elevation. FEMA also has a checklist that helps homeowners sort out their own preferences among retrofitting options, which you can go through before that meeting.
In Malibu's mapped FEMA flood zones, all development, remodels and repairs have to meet FEMA rules and the City's floodplain ordinance, and the City's Public Works Department reviews them. Some projects may be required to raise the house above the base flood elevation, the flood level set for that spot, and to complete a FEMA Elevation Certificate. That's why the lift height gets settled early, before we plan any support under it.
The state licensing board defines a building moving and demolition contractor as one who raises, lowers and underpins structures, including their foundations. Alterations, additions, repairs or rehabilitation of the parts of the house that stay fall outside that class, so a lift with a remodel on top can involve more than one licence. Ask each contractor which part they're licensed for and check it with the state licensing board.
Ground that moves under the house is the usual cause, and underpinning is a common part of repairing foundations damaged by expansive soil, the kind that swells when wet and shrinks as it dries. Engineering researchers say micropiles, narrow piles drilled down to firmer ground, have distinct advantages over other techniques for many of those repairs, though that research isn't specific to Malibu. Which method fits your house is the engineer's call, and we build to what they specify.
The full scope takes shape at the plan stage, well before any lifting starts, because plans for City review account for the structural parts a project needs, such as excavation, underpinning and changes for FEMA flood elevation rules. Malibu's geotechnical guidelines also call for a plan note that all foundation excavations are observed and approved by the project's geotechnical consultants before reinforcing steel goes in. We hold the rebar until that sign-off and plan the pour around their visit.
There's no fair number until the house has been assessed and the plans set the height and the support, because those two decide most of what the concrete work involves. A taller lift, deeper support, poor access for equipment or slabs that have to come out first all add to it, while a simple footprint and open access keep it down. Once the plans are set, I can price our part line by line so you can compare it with other bids.
