Push Piers in Lee's Summit, MO

A sinking basement corner, sticking doors, or a widening stair-step crack usually means the soil under a footing has given way. Push piers in Lee’s Summit fix that for good: we drive steel concentric piers down to load-bearing rock and use your home’s own weight to prove each one holds.

Olson has done this work since 1986, and the person who quotes your job has installed piers himself for more than two decades.

Why Homes Here Settle

Most Lee’s Summit houses aren’t old enough to be falling apart. The median home was built around 1995, and about half went up between 1970 and 1999. When these foundations sink, the cause is usually what’s underneath them, not the concrete itself.

Clay that swells and shrinks. Much of the city sits on silty clay soils such as Sampsel, Greenton, and Arisburg. They’re rich in smectite clay, which swells when it’s wet and pulls back hard when it dries. May and June each average over 5 inches of rain, and late summers can turn dry fast.
Drought years leave gaps. The 2022 and 2023 droughts dried Jackson County soil deep enough that local foundation companies fielded a wave of calls about shifting foundations. When clay shrinks away from a footing, the house settles into the space.
Footings sit in the active zone. Local footings go about 36 inches deep to clear frost. That’s still inside the clay that moves with the seasons.
Rolling ground and walkouts. The town sits on a high ridge, and lots fall away toward Lakewood, Raintree Lake, Longview Lake, and the creeks. On a walkout, the back wall often carries more house over softer, wetter soil, so it’s common for only that side to settle.
Graded lots in newer subdivisions. Neighborhoods like Hook Farms and Highland Meadows were built on cut and fill. The city requires a soils report when a house sits on fill, but fill that wasn’t fully compacted can still settle in the first years.

The good news: the shale and limestone under Lee’s Summit is often fairly shallow. Soil borings filed with the city have hit rock around 10 to 15 feet down at several sites, and as shallow as 3 to 7 feet at one. That’s solid ground for a pier to stand on.

How Push Pier Foundation Repair Works

A push pier is a steel pipe driven straight down beneath your footing with a hydraulic ram. We use concentric piers, which sit directly under the footing so the load runs straight down the pipe instead of hanging off to one side.

Here’s what goes into each one:

Coated, high-carbon tubular steel in 5-foot sections, joined with 12-inch inserts.
Driven to refusal. We keep adding sections until the pier stops on rock or dense, load-bearing strata. However far down that layer sits on your lot, the pipe goes all the way to it.
Load-tested one by one. Your house’s own weight is what pushes against the ram, so every pier is tested as it goes in. You aren’t relying on a guess.
Engineer-certified piers, built by the manufacturer to last for the life of the home.
Spaced to the wall. Piers usually land 5 to 7 feet apart on poured walls and 4 to 5 feet apart on block.

One honest note on steel: in more than 25 years of piering, our crew can’t recall a steel pier pipe rusting out.

Push Piers vs Helical Piers

Both are piers for foundation repair, but they fit different jobs. Push piers need the weight of a house above them to drive down, which makes them a strong match for full-basement and walkout homes. Helical piers screw into the ground with a torque motor, so we save them for lighter spots like front porches, slabs, detached additions, or areas with no footing.

Stabilize First, Then Lift What the House Allows

The first job of foundation push piers is to stop the settling, and they do. Once every pier is set, we lift the house in sequence with hydraulics and lock it in place. Many cracks close up, and doors start working again. But a house that settled slowly over years has framing and drywall that settled with it, so we lift carefully and tell you up front what’s realistic.

It’s also why we don’t patch cracks first. Filling a crack before the foundation is stable doesn’t solve anything; once it’s stable, wall crack repair is worth doing.

How Many Piers Does Your Home Need?

This is the question that worries people most, and for good reason. Two companies can look at the same house and bid five piers or fifteen. Here’s how we land on a number:

Find what’s actually moving. We take elevation readings across the floor and walls to see which section dropped and how far.
Pier where the load is failing. On a lot of Lee’s Summit homes, that’s one corner or the back wall of a walkout, not the whole perimeter.
Space them to the wall type. A settling 30-foot poured wall with piers about 6 feet apart needs roughly five or six, not a ring around the house.
Sometimes, fix one side and watch. If only one area is moving, repairing that side and seeing how it performs can make more sense than piering everything on day one. We’ll tell you when that’s the smart call and when it isn’t.

If you already have a structural engineer’s report, have it handy at the inspection. We’ll walk through it with you.

Push Piers Cost: What to Expect

We publish our prices because you shouldn’t have to sit through a long sales pitch to find out what a pier costs. These are our current Kansas City metro ranges:

Repair	Typical price
Steel push piers	$1,600 to $1,800 per pier
Steel wall beams, if a wall is also bowing	$500 to $700 per beam
Deadman anchors or tiebacks	$1,100 to $1,300 per anchor
Epoxy crack injection, after the house is stable	$40 to $50 per foot
Sump pump with battery backup, for basement water	$2,400 to $2,600

Most foundation repair jobs around Kansas City land between $4,000 and $15,000. Full-perimeter pier jobs can pass $25,000, which is why we only pier what’s moving. Even then, piering typically costs less than 10% of replacing a foundation.

What moves your quote:

Number of piers. The biggest factor, and the reason an honest count matters.
Access. Decks, patios, finished basements, and tight side yards add digging and labor time.
Inside or outside. Exterior piers usually cost more because of the excavation.
How far it’s gone. Catching settlement early almost always costs less.

See our full foundation repair cost guide, or ask about financing.

Permits and Paperwork in Lee's Summit

Lee’s Summit requires building permits for most repair work, and the city does look at foundation jobs. In 2023, it stopped work on a local foundation wall repair because the engineer letter didn’t detail the fix and concrete went in before inspection.

What that means for you:

Expect a permit and an engineer letter for structural pier work. We’ll tell you exactly what applies to your job during the inspection.
Permits run through Development Services at 220 SE Green Street (816-969-1200).
Digging in the public right-of-way, such as near a sidewalk or street, needs a separate Public Works permit.
Keep the paper trail. When you sell, buyers and their inspectors usually ask for the permit, the engineer’s letter and the warranty. Our push pier warranty is lifetime and transfers to the next owner.

The Person Quoting Your Job Has Done the Digging

John Murphy has 26 years in foundation repair: 21 installing and 5 in sales. When he looks at your basement, he’s picturing the dig, the footing and the bracket, because he’s done that work himself.

That experience saves homeowners real money. On one job, the plan seemed to require moving a water heater out of the way. John knew from years of installs that the pier could go in without moving it, which spared the family the cost and hassle of relocating it.

Why that matters, and what else you get:

Straight recommendations. We diagnose what’s actually moving, explain your options, and recommend the work your house needs. Nothing extra to pad the bid.
A company that’s still here. Olson has been fixing foundations since 1986. A lifetime pier warranty is only worth something if the company behind it is still answering the phone years from now.
Experienced installers. Pier work happens inches from your footing and your utilities. Crews who’ve done it for years work faster and cleaner, with fewer surprises.
A clean, respectful crew. Customers often mention it in reviews: on time, careful with the yard and house, and tidy when they leave.
Proof you can check. BBB A+ rating and a 4.7-star average on Google.

What Our Warranty Covers

Every warranty is specific to the repair, and you get it in writing before work starts:

Push piers and other qualifying pier systems: lifetime, transferable to the next owner
Wall anchors, steel I-beams, and drain tile: 15 years
Sump pumps and waterproofing membrane: 5 years
Adjustable posts: 3 years

Coverage varies by service. Read the full details in our article on what our foundation warranty covers.

Your Push Pier Installation in 4 Steps

Contact Us Now

Call (913) 592-3300 or request a free in-home inspection. No charge, no deposit.

Get an Assessment

We check your grading and drainage, then take elevation readings in the basement to find what’s settling. You get a plain-English diagnosis and a written quote showing how many piers, where they go, and the price.

Complete Work

We handle the Lee’s Summit permit, drive each pier to refusal and load-test it, then lift the house and lock it in place. Most pier jobs take one to three days, and we clean up before we leave.

Get Peace of Mind

You get the warranty walkthrough before the first pier goes in, including the lifetime, transferable warranty on your piers. We’ll also flag any drainage fixes that help protect the repair.

Push Piers in Lee's Summit: Common Questions

How much do push piers cost in Lee's Summit?

Our steel push piers run $1,600 to $1,800 per pier. Most foundation repair jobs around Kansas City total $4,000 to $15,000, depending mostly on how many piers your home needs and how easy the area is to reach.

How many push piers does a house need?

It depends on how much of the foundation is moving and what the walls are made of. Piers usually go 5 to 7 feet apart on poured walls and 4 to 5 feet apart on block, and many homes only need one side or one corner supported.

How deep do push piers go?

They’re driven until they reach refusal on rock or dense, load-bearing strata. Soil borings around Lee’s Summit often hit rock about 10 to 15 feet down, but every lot is different, so we drive each pier until the load test proves it.

Are push piers or helical piers better for my home?

For most full-basement and walkout homes, push piers are the better fit because the house’s weight drives and tests each pier. Helical piers work better under porches, slabs, detached additions, and other light areas.

Will push piers lift my house back to level?

Piers stop the settling, and we lift as much as the structure safely allows. Homes that settled slowly over many years may not return to perfectly level, and we’ll tell you what to expect before we start.

Do I need a permit for foundation piers in Lee's Summit?

In most cases, yes. The city requires permits for most structural repair work and expects an engineer’s letter that details the fix, and we’ll go over what your job needs during the inspection.

Does homeowners insurance cover push piers?

Most policies don’t cover settling caused by soil movement. It’s still worth checking yours, and our guide on insurance and foundation repair explains what’s usually included.

Is the warranty transferable if I sell?

Yes. Qualifying pier systems, including our push piers, carry a lifetime warranty that transfers to the next owner, which helps when a buyer’s inspector asks about past foundation work.

Can better drainage fix settling without piers?

Good gutters, downspout extensions, and grading help keep clay from shrinking and swelling, but they can’t lift a footing that has already dropped. Once settling has started, piers fix the cause, and drainage helps protect the repair.

How long does push pier installation take?

Most pier jobs run one to three days once the permit is in hand. The exact timeline depends on the number of piers and how easy the area is to reach, and we’ll give you a schedule with your quote.

More Help for Your Lee's Summit Home

Settling rarely shows up alone. If you’re also dealing with water or bowing walls, these pages go deeper:

Nearby, we also serve Raytown, Independence, Blue Springs, and Belton.

In Grandview, see our pages on foundation repair, push piers, basement waterproofing and bowing wall repair.

Get a Straight Answer on Your Foundation

If something in your house has started to shift, an inspection costs you nothing and tells you what’s really going on. You’ll talk with someone who has done the installs, see exactly where each pier would go, and get a price you can hold us to. Call (913) 592-3300 to schedule a free inspection and find out whether your home needs push piers in Lee’s Summit.