Quick answer. We tracked 7+ active US foundation repair and waterproofing private equity platforms in 2024-2026 across foundation-only, waterproofing-only, combined, crawl space, and concrete leveling segments. Three top-line findings stand out. First, many widely-cited sponsor attributions are wrong. Groundworks is KKR North America XIII Fund lead since February 1, 2023, with Cortec Group as minority since January 2020 (not Cinven, not Charlesbank as commonly reported), with founder PE from Succession Capital Partners. U.S. Waterproofing is Rotunda Capital Fund III since November 10, 2022 (not Wind Point Partners). HCI Equity Partners rebranded to Oridian Capital Partners between November 20, 2025 and the June 1, 2026 AnchorPoint Foundations launch. Second, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton (September to October 2024) reset demand curves in Florida and the Southeast: $4.775 billion in Florida insurance claims by November 2024 and $44.4 billion in direct damage in western North Carolina. Third, foundation work is overwhelmingly cash-pay because homeowner insurance excludes gradual ground movement, drought, flooding, and earthquakes; Florida 2025 insurance reform tightened the claim-pay window from 90 to 60 days and rate-hike requests dropped from 21% to 0.2%. Last verified: June 17, 2026.
This tracker maps the active US private equity buyer universe in residential and light-commercial foundation repair, basement and crawl space waterproofing, concrete lifting (polyurethane and mudjacking), structural underpinning (helical piers, push piers, slab piers), and adjacent sinkhole remediation. Heavy commercial deep foundations and marine pile driving sit in our separate marine cluster tracker.
Every named sponsor attribution is verified to a primary source: SEC filings where available, sponsor press releases on the investor or portfolio page, portfolio-company press releases, or trade press reporting that quotes the deal principals. Where a public source conflicts with a widely repeated trade rumor, we mark the rumor as not verified and cite the primary record. Where no primary source exists, we mark the cell as GAP rather than estimate.
Confidence labels follow CT Acquisitions house conventions. HIGH means at least one sponsor press release plus a corroborating second source (SEC, deal database, or trade press). MEDIUM means a single primary source with no corroborating record. LOW means trade chatter only, with no usable primary source. GAP means the question was asked and no public answer is available at the cutoff date.
The cutoff for all verification work in this edition is June 17, 2026. CT Acquisitions refreshes this tracker quarterly because deal flow in the segment is running at one platform formation roughly every six months and tuck-in cadence at one to three deals per quarter for the larger platforms.
US foundation repair and water management services revenue estimates vary by analyst depending on whether basement waterproofing, crawl space encapsulation, and concrete lifting are bundled inside the count. The Business Research Company puts the narrowly defined foundation repair services market at $3.17 billion in 2024 and $3.35 billion in 2025, a 5.6% CAGR. Future Market Insights, using a broader bundle that covers the United States and Canada, puts the combined market at $11.8 billion in 2025. DataIntelo lands between the two at $9.8 billion in 2025, growing to $12.3 billion by 2034.
For the purpose of sizing the addressable PE roll-up opportunity, the $9.8 billion to $11.8 billion bundled number is the operative figure, because every active US PE platform sells foundation repair, waterproofing, crawl space, and concrete lifting as one service stack. Platforms that bundle reach higher revenue per truck-roll and recover acquisition customer cost on the first job through cross-sell. Confidence on sizing: MEDIUM for the narrow number (single analyst), MEDIUM for the bundled number (two analysts agree within 20%).
The American Society of Civil Engineers and adjacent industry sources flag expansive-soil damage as a structural cost driver across the South Central United States. Per data summarized by G.L. Hunt, roughly one in four US homes experiences damage from expansive soils, with total annual costs above $15 billion, more than all other natural disasters combined. That figure is a steady-state baseline that does not include hurricane-year spikes. Confidence: MEDIUM, single industry source.
Sibling home-services tracker: restoration and foundation repair share the post-Hurricane Helene/Milton 2024 demand cycle reset. See the 2026 Restoration PE Roll-Up Tracker.
Sibling home-services tracker: garage doors and foundation repair are sister home-services sectors. See the 2026 Garage Door PE Roll-Up Tracker.
Aging US housing stock is the single most durable demand tailwind for foundation services. NAHB’s Eye on Housing analysis of the 2024 American Community Survey reports that the median age of owner-occupied homes in the United States climbed to 42 years in 2024, up from 31 years in 2005. A follow-up 2025 NAHB post finds that 47% of owner-occupied homes were built before 1980, with 34% built before 1970. NAHB further reports that homes built before 1940 are nearly 30 times more likely to be in inadequate condition and cost nearly 10 times more in routine maintenance than homes built after 2022.
For a foundation services platform, that translates to a growing, non-discretionary repair pool. Older homes carry more shallow rubble or unreinforced concrete footings, more cast-iron drain lines that leak and saturate soils, and more cellar or crawl space exposure than modern slab-on-grade construction. New build pace has not kept up with retirements, so the share of the stock at risk for settlement, heave, or moisture intrusion is rising year over year. Confidence on housing stock age: HIGH, NAHB plus census primary data.
There is no clean Bureau of Labor Statistics or Census count for foundation-only contractors. The closest proxy is NAICS 238100, Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors. BLS OEWS data for May 2023 NAICS 238100 captures employment, wages, and occupation mix, but the code also includes framing, masonry, and exterior work. National Foundation Repair Association (NFRA) member counts are not published. Tracxn-aggregated profile data identifies dozens of named regional platforms with revenue between $8 million and $100 million each, indicating the operator base is highly fragmented.
NFRA is the recognized US trade body, founded in its current national form in 2015 and tracing its roots to Dallas in the 1990s. NFRA runs voluntary education and best-practices programs but does not certify installers nationally. The fragmentation that follows from no national certification regime and no published roster is itself a roll-up condition: PE platforms can buy regional brands without competing for scarce listings. Confidence on contractor count: GAP. No public count.
Hurricane Helene (September 26 to 27, 2024) and Hurricane Milton (October 9 to 10, 2024) reshaped the residential repair demand curve in the Southeast for at least 24 months. Florida insurance regulators report that combined Helene and Milton insurance claims in Florida hit $4.775 billion by November 2024, with 283,298 Milton claims and 133,099 Helene claims filed. In western North Carolina, where Helene caused catastrophic inland flooding, the NC Office of State Budget and Management estimates total state damage above $59.6 billion, including $44.4 billion of direct damage, with nearly 175,000 homes and businesses impacted. FEMA Individual Assistance to Florida survivors reached $1.7 billion in grants, with more than $602 million specifically tied to home repairs for 66,413 families.
For the foundation segment, the practical effect is twofold. First, the inland flooding signature of Helene drove soil saturation and slope movement across western NC that produced a 24-to-36 month repair backlog squarely inside the Groundworks Tar Heel Basement Systems and Summit Park StableDry service maps. Second, Citizens Property Insurance closed 44% of Helene claims without payment per trade reporting on regulatory filings, pushing more homeowners toward cash-pay or denied-claim litigation paths. That second-order effect benefits foundation operators with cash flow runway and hurts operators dependent on insurance assignment-of-benefits dynamics. Confidence on Helene and Milton impact: HIGH on dollar totals (state and FEMA primary sources), MEDIUM on the 24-to-36 month backlog duration (industry estimate).
In Texas, the longer-running climate driver is the expansive-clay shrink-swell cycle. G.L. Hunt and Perma Pier both report that Texas clay soil can change volume from 30% to 75% depending on moisture, with cyclical droughts followed by heavy rainfall (notably the 2011, 2022, and 2023 to 2024 drought years across the South Central US) driving repeat foundation movement. Confidence: MEDIUM, industry source.
Foundation work is overwhelmingly cash-pay. Industry guidance from Progressive, Nationwide, and SmartFinancial all state that homeowners insurance generally excludes foundation repair caused by gradual sources such as ground shifting, drought, flooding, or earthquakes. Coverage typically applies only when damage is traceable to a covered peril event such as a fallen tree, tornado, or burst pipe. Hippo Insurance’s 2024 Homeowner Preparedness Report, summarized by AOL Finance, found that 46% of homeowners spent more than $5,000 out of pocket on home repairs in 2024, a 28% jump over 2023. Typical foundation jobs run $2,200 to $8,100, with major structural lifts at $20,000 to $23,000.
That cash-pay structural exposure is the single biggest valuation lever in the segment. Cash-pay jobs, the dominant mix per the Progressive and Nationwide policy language above, carry a shorter cash-to-job conversion (no insurance adjuster wait), higher gross margin (no 20% to 30% insurance squeeze), cleaner accounts receivable, and lower bad-debt provisions. That is the inverse of roofing (heavy insurance pay, especially storm-driven) and of water restoration (split between adjusters and homeowners). A foundation platform with 90% or higher cash pay therefore trades at a 100 to 200 basis point EBITDA-multiple premium relative to a roofing platform of equivalent EBITDA size, in our estimate, because the revenue stream is cleaner and faster.
The same cash-pay structure caps the recurring-revenue overlay that drives HVAC and pest control multiples. There is no maintenance contract layer for a structural pier or a basement membrane: the job is single-touch, then warranty. Confidence on cash-pay dominance: HIGH, three carrier policy language sources. Confidence on the 100 to 200 basis point premium: MEDIUM, CT estimate based on adjacent-vertical comp work.
Cap table verified through SEC filings, sponsor press releases, and portfolio-company announcements as of June 17, 2026.
| Platform | Current sponsor | Entry date | Segment mix | Geographic reach | 2024 to 2026 key deals | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Groundworks | KKR North America XIII Fund (lead, February 2023) plus Cortec Group Fund VII (minority since January 2020) plus Succession Capital Partners (founder PE) | February 1, 2023 (KKR) | Combined: foundation, waterproofing, crawl space, concrete lifting, plumbing, gutters | 35+ US states plus Canada (Calgary), 84+ offices | URETEK South (January 2024); Doug Lacey’s Basement Systems Calgary (May 2024, first Canada); Matvey Seattle (June 27, 2024); EagleLIFT Rancho Cucamonga (June 24, 2024); Leveled Concrete Houston (September 3, 2025); WTX Foundation Repair Amarillo (February 18, 2026, first New Mexico) | HIGH |
| U.S. Waterproofing (USW) | Rotunda Capital Partners Fund III | November 10, 2022 | Combined: waterproofing, foundation repair, crawl space encapsulation | Originated Chicago and Midwest, expanded to Southeast (GA, NC, SC) | Crawl Space Brothers (2023, first add-on); Engineered Solutions of Georgia (2023); Carolina Foundation Solutions (2023); Foundation Solutions 360 Fraser MI (2023 to 2024) | HIGH |
| United Structural Systems (USS) | Summit Park LLC plus Schroders Capital | February 9, 2023 | Foundation repair, crawl space, waterproofing, plus Titan Products (manufactured piers) | KY, TN, WV, AL, southeast US | Ox Foundation Solutions AL (May 31, 2023, first add-on); Basement and Crawlspace Solutions Chattanooga (BACS); Tennessee organic expansion | HIGH |
| StableDry Services | Summit Park LLC (sister platform to USS) | Built out 2024 to 2025 | Foundation, crawl space, basement waterproofing, sinkhole remediation, seawall repair | Southeastern United States | Foundation Services of Central Florida (FSCF) Ocala (June 2025); United Structural Systems Ltd Lexington and Charleston (June 2025) | HIGH |
| Solid Ground Solutions | CenterOak Equity Fund II (CenterOak Partners LLC, Dallas) | January 9, 2025 | Foundation repair, waterproofing, crawl space encapsulation | Central United States, headquartered Columbus, OH | Platform launched as multi-brand roll-up; Seth Tomasch named CEO; tuck-ins underway as of June 2026 | HIGH |
| AnchorPoint Foundations | Oridian Capital Partners (formerly HCI Equity Partners) | June 1, 2026 (platform launch); SPV closed November 20, 2025 | Foundation, crawl space, waterproofing, concrete lifting | Multi-state, regional brand model | Initial brands at launch: Foundation Repair Services (NC), B.A.M. Basements and Masons (IA), Cornerstone Foundation Repair (NC), Champion Waterproofing (PA), Edens Structural Solutions (OK) | HIGH |
| Olshan Foundation Solutions | Family-owned (DeShazer family, Houston) | Founded 1933 | Foundation repair, waterproofing, leveling, plumbing | TX, AR, OK, MS, AL, TN, GA, LA (multi-state) | No 2024 to 2026 sponsor transaction verified; remains independent | HIGH (independent) |
| Ram Jack Systems Distribution | Family-owned franchise model (Ada, OK) | Founded 1968 | Helical pier and push pier products, licensed installer network | National franchise system | No PE sponsor confirmed as of June 2026; unusual zero-royalty, zero-marketing-fee franchise model | HIGH (independent) |
| PierTech Systems | Independent (privately held, Chesterfield, MO) | n/a | Helical pier manufacturer; distributor to installers | National distribution | No sponsor disclosed | MEDIUM |
| Everdry Waterproofing | Franchise (Everdry Marketing and Management Inc., Macedonia, OH) | n/a | Basement waterproofing, exterior excavation | National franchise; independent franchisee operators | No PE sponsor disclosed | HIGH (independent) |
| G.L. Hunt Foundation Repair | Family-owned (Hunt family, Fort Worth, TX) | Founded 1987 | Foundation repair, drainage, concrete lifting, crawl space, gutters | TX (DFW, Austin, San Antonio, Houston metros) | No PE sponsor verified | HIGH (independent) |
Multiple cross-platform range, foundation repair plus waterproofing combined platforms, June 2026: 8x to 11x trailing EBITDA at the platform level for $5M-plus EBITDA combined-segment operators with bundled service mix; 5x to 7x at the add-on level for $1M to $3M EBITDA regional tuck-ins; 3.5x to 5x at the small-tuck-in level where seller is single-state and single-segment. Confidence on the range: MEDIUM. The range is back-solved from one disclosed deal (Bay Area Underpinning July 2023 at $44.53 million) plus adjacent vertical comp work; no published Mertz Taggart or FOCUS report dedicated to foundation repair exists at the cutoff date.
Groundworks is the dominant US private equity platform in the segment by every measure that matters: state count, office count, brand count, employee count, and disclosed acquisition cadence. The current cap table has three private equity layers in priority order. KKR North America XIII Fund became lead sponsor on February 1, 2023, with Cortec Group Fund VII (the previous lead from January 2020) stepping into a minority and board seat position. Succession Capital Partners, the founder-aligned PE firm that backed JES Foundation Repair (one of the original Groundworks predecessor brands), retains a position per Succession Capital’s own portfolio page. The KKR investment was structured to provide acquisition capital for the next leg of platform expansion, and the 2024 to 2026 deal cadence below validates the use of proceeds.
Groundworks operates a federated regional brand model. Local brand equity (Tar Heel Basement Systems in NC, JES in VA, AFS in TN, Foundation Recovery Systems in MO, Engineered Solutions of Georgia, Innovative Basement Authority in MN) is preserved for marketing and Google Local Service Ads relevance, while back office (finance, HR, payroll, procurement, marketing operations, fleet, IT, and supply through Earth Contact Products) is centralized. That federated structure is the operating template AnchorPoint, Solid Ground Solutions, and StableDry are now replicating.
The 2024 to 2026 deal sequence under KKR is the densest in the segment. Per Tracxn’s deal log, Groundworks completed eight acquisitions in 2024 alone, plus at least one verifiable deal each in 2025 and early 2026. The geographic and segment fingerprint of the deals shows a clear strategy: open new states (California with Bay Area Underpinning July 2023, then EagleLIFT June 2024; Washington with Matvey June 2024; New Mexico with WTX Foundation Repair February 2026), enter Canada (Doug Lacey’s Basement Systems May 2024), enter commercial polyurethane (URETEK South January 2024), and add density in already-anchored metros (Leveled Concrete in Houston September 2025).
The platform is vertically integrated on steel supply through Earth Contact Products and through the Independence Materials Group acquisition. That captures pier manufacturing margin inside the platform and reduces supplier concentration risk for the operating brands. Few other US foundation platforms have built equivalent vertical integration; AnchorPoint, Solid Ground Solutions, USS, StableDry, and U.S. Waterproofing all source piers from outside vendors (PierTech, IDEAL Foundation Systems, Ram Jack distribution, or others). Confidence on Groundworks cap table and platform shape: HIGH across all primary sources.
U.S. Waterproofing (USW), headquartered outside Chicago, is the dominant waterproofing-first platform in the Midwest. Rotunda Capital Partners Fund III invested on November 10, 2022, ending two decades of independent operation. Rotunda Capital is a Bethesda-based lower-middle-market PE firm with a stated focus on family-owned and founder-led businesses, which fits the USW deal profile.
The 2023 to 2025 deal cadence has been deliberately measured. USW’s news index lists four documented add-ons: Crawl Space Brothers in 2023 (first Southeast move, anchored the crawl space encapsulation line), Engineered Solutions of Georgia (Atlanta footprint and combined service mix), Carolina Foundation Solutions in Charlotte, and Foundation Solutions 360 in Fraser MI (combined add-on plus Midwest geographic infill). Pace in 2024 and 2025 has been roughly one tuck-in per year, signaling Rotunda is targeting integration depth and per-brand EBITDA improvement over volume.
The strategic question for USW under Rotunda is whether the platform extends from waterproofing-first into a full bundled offering (Groundworks-comparable) or stays as a waterproofing specialist with adjacent crawl space and foundation lines layered in selectively. The Charlotte and Georgia add-ons suggest the former: the platform is deliberately extending the foundation pier line and the crawl space encapsulation line through tuck-ins that already carry both. Confidence: HIGH on cap table, MEDIUM on strategic trajectory.
Summit Park LLC, a Charlotte-based lower-middle-market PE firm, is the only sponsor with two parallel platforms in the segment. Summit Park plus Schroders Capital completed a majority recapitalization of United Structural Systems on February 9, 2023. USS, headquartered in Mt. Washington KY, brought a multi-state operating footprint (KY, TN, WV, AL) plus an internal pier manufacturer (Titan Products), making it one of the few platforms with internal steel supply alongside Groundworks.
USS’s first major add-on under Summit Park was Ox Foundation Solutions in Alabama, completed May 31, 2023, followed by Basement and Crawlspace Solutions (BACS) in Chattanooga. The pace of USS-direct add-ons since 2024 has slowed, in part because Summit Park’s attention pivoted to building a parallel Southeast platform.
That parallel platform is StableDry Services, built out 2024 to 2025 as a sister to USS. StableDry’s June 2025 reach announcement folded in Foundation Services of Central Florida in Ocala and United Structural Systems Ltd in Lexington and Charleston (note: USS Ltd is a separate Lexington and Charleston brand from USS the Kentucky platform). FSCF brings sinkhole remediation, chemical grouting, and seawall repair, expanding StableDry’s service mix beyond standard foundation work. The Florida sinkhole line is a particularly strategic add-on given the Hurricane Helene and Milton 2024 reset of Florida demand.
The two-platform strategy makes operating sense for Summit Park because USS’s geographic strength is the upper South (KY, TN, WV, AL) and StableDry’s is the lower South and Florida (FL, GA, SC, NC). Maintaining separate brands and operating teams avoids cannibalization, while shared portfolio governance at the Summit Park level captures cross-platform best practice. Schroders Capital remains a co-investor in USS; the StableDry cap structure has not been separately disclosed. Confidence: HIGH.
CenterOak Partners, a Dallas-based middle-market PE firm, formed Solid Ground Solutions on January 9, 2025 out of Columbus, OH, deploying CenterOak Equity Fund II capital. CenterOak’s portfolio thesis runs through industrial and consumer services; Solid Ground Solutions is the firm’s first foundation repair entry.
The CEO seat went to Seth Tomasch, who brings two decades of sponsor-backed services experience. The investment thesis stated in CenterOak’s press release is explicit and worth reading closely: deferred maintenance plus cash-pay structural exposure plus regional brand goodwill. That framing reads as a textbook lower-middle-market PE playbook in the segment, and it aligns with what CT M&A advisory work confirms is the structural demand pool.
Announced add-ons under Solid Ground Solutions are not yet public as of the June 17, 2026 cutoff. The platform launched eighteen months ago, so the first wave of add-ons is approximately on schedule for a lower-middle-market PE platform: announce, hire CEO, set up centralized operating support, then announce the first three to five tuck-ins between months 12 and 24. CT will refresh add-on activity in the next quarterly edition. Confidence on platform existence and CEO: HIGH; confidence on add-on activity and revenue: GAP.
AnchorPoint Foundations is the freshest platform in the US foundation segment. Two events define the formation. First, HCI Equity Partners closed an oversubscribed special purpose vehicle on November 20, 2025 explicitly targeting residential foundation repair and basement waterproofing. The use of an SPV rather than a fund-pool deployment is meaningful: it allowed HCI to raise dedicated foundation capital from existing LPs while keeping pace with the platform formation timetable.
Second, on June 1, 2026 Oridian Capital Partners launched AnchorPoint Foundations with five initial brands across four states. The brand lineup at launch was Foundation Repair Services (NC), B.A.M. Basements and Masons (IA), Cornerstone Foundation Repair (NC), Champion Waterproofing (PA), and Edens Structural Solutions (OK). Two North Carolina brands at launch is unusual and suggests the platform plans Carolinas density as a near-term priority.
The HCI to Oridian rebrand happened between SPV close and platform launch. The rebrand was not separately publicized, but it is verifiable by comparing the November 2025 SPV press release (hciequity.com domain) to the June 2026 platform launch (oridiancapital.com domain). The two press releases share principal personnel, fund vehicle, and investment thesis language, which is the corroborating evidence that the firm is one continuous entity under a new brand. Confidence: HIGH on platform formation and brand lineup, HIGH on the rebrand fact pattern.
Beyond the seven verified PE platforms, CT tracks a watch list of operators whose ownership structure or strategic posture suggests a possible 2026 to 2027 transaction. These are not platforms today, but they are realistic targets or potential platform formations.
The watch list is not exhaustive. CT’s M&A advisory book sees five to ten new founder-led seller approaches per quarter in the segment, of which the majority are confidential and not publicly identifiable. The segment is at a structural moment where (a) founder-led operators built during the 1990s and 2000s are reaching retirement age, (b) the platform formation cadence creates well-resourced buyers, and (c) cash-pay margin discipline makes the asset class attractive to LPs. That combination drives the deal flow shown in the timeline section.
Several names that circulate in trade chatter and broker lists could not be verified as private equity platforms at the cutoff date. CT marks these GAP rather than estimate the cap table, because a wrong sponsor attribution survives in syndicated content for years.
The narrow segment of foundation-only contractors (push pier, helical pier, slab pier underpinning, no waterproofing or crawl space line) is the most fragmented and the least PE-saturated. The biggest national in this lane is Olshan Foundation Solutions, family-owned since 1933 across TX, AR, OK, MS, AL, TN, GA, and LA. The 2024 to 2026 PE activity that touches the foundation-only segment runs through Groundworks tuck-ins (URETEK South, Matvey, WTX Foundation Repair) and Summit Park’s USS plus StableDry build-out, both of which acquire foundation-only sellers and then add waterproofing inside the platform.
For a seller in this segment, the deal-prep question is whether to bundle a waterproofing line organically before going to market (raising the multiple), or to sell as a foundation-only operator and accept lower bands. CT’s M&A advisory experience puts the multiple at 5x to 7x EBITDA for foundation-only sellers at $1M to $3M EBITDA and 7x to 9x EBITDA for foundation-only platforms at $5M-plus EBITDA, with a 100 to 200 basis point premium if the seller has built out a small waterproofing or crawl space line ahead of the process. Confidence: MEDIUM.
Waterproofing-only operators (basement waterproofing, foundation sealant, exterior excavation, sump pump systems, but no structural pier line) are the second-largest segment, anchored by U.S. Waterproofing (Rotunda Capital, November 2022) and Helitech in the Midwest. Everdry, a franchise system, sits in this segment too with independent franchisee operators rather than corporate roll-up. The waterproofing-only operator base is concentrated in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, where basement-bearing housing stock dominates and gradual ground saturation rather than expansive clay drives the demand pool.
The waterproofing-only segment multiple sits a touch below combined platforms because the service stack is one-touch and the cross-sell to foundation repair requires a separate truck-roll and crew. CT puts the band at 4x to 6x EBITDA for waterproofing-only at $1M to $3M EBITDA add-on size and 6x to 8x EBITDA for waterproofing-only platforms at $5M-plus EBITDA. Confidence: MEDIUM.
Combined platforms are the dominant PE structure in 2024 to 2026. Groundworks, USS, StableDry, Solid Ground Solutions, U.S. Waterproofing, and AnchorPoint Foundations all sell the same four-service stack: foundation repair, basement and crawl space waterproofing, crawl space encapsulation, and concrete lifting. Bundling raises revenue per truck-roll, recoups customer acquisition cost on the first job, and gives the platform a second selling event when the homeowner returns for the adjacent service.
The bundled segment multiple is the highest of the four. CT puts the band at 8x to 11x EBITDA for $5M-plus EBITDA bundled platforms, 6x to 8x for $3M to $5M EBITDA mid-market sellers, and 5x to 7x for $1M to $3M EBITDA bundled add-ons. The premium versus single-segment operators is roughly 100 to 200 basis points at any given EBITDA tier. Confidence: MEDIUM.
Crawl space encapsulation (vapor barrier installation, dehumidifier installation, drainage matting, sub-floor moisture sensors) emerged as a discrete service line in the late 2010s under the Crawl Space Brothers and Crawlspace Medic brand model. The lane converged into combined platforms during 2023 to 2025. U.S. Waterproofing acquired Crawl Space Brothers in 2023, USS folded BACS (Basement and Crawlspace Solutions Chattanooga) into the platform after its February 2023 recap, and Groundworks runs crawl space under multiple regional brand names inside the platform.
Crawl space encapsulation is the highest-gross-margin sub-segment in the bundle because the materials cost (heavy-mil vapor barrier, dehumidifier, drainage matting) is low relative to ticket and the install is mostly labor. CT estimates standalone crawl space encapsulation operators command 5x to 7x EBITDA at $1M to $3M EBITDA add-on size, slightly above waterproofing-only, but most operators sell bundled into a combined platform rather than as standalone. Confidence: MEDIUM.
Concrete lifting is the most distinct sub-segment, with its own equipment, training, and addressable repair pool (driveways, patios, garage floors, commercial industrial pavement) that overlaps only partially with structural foundation work. The two technologies are polyurethane deep injection, where a polymer foam expands underground to lift the slab, and mudjacking, the older grout-injection method. Polyurethane is gaining share because cure time is faster and weight load is lower.
Groundworks entered commercial polyurethane in January 2024 with URETEK South, then added Leveled Concrete in Houston in September 2025. EagleLIFT in Rancho Cucamonga was the Southern California polyurethane entry. AnchorPoint includes Edens Structural Solutions in OK, which carries a polyurethane line.
Concrete lifting multiples sit slightly below foundation repair because the work is more commoditized and the operator base is more fragmented. CT estimates 4x to 6x EBITDA for $1M to $3M EBITDA standalone concrete lifting operators and 6x to 8x EBITDA for $5M-plus EBITDA polyurethane-focused platforms. Confidence: MEDIUM.
There is no published independent market-share number for the steel pier and polyurethane mix. Per Dalinghaus Construction’s industry guidance, push piers cost $1,600 to $2,600 per pier installed in the Southeast and work best where soil supports hydraulic resistance loads, while helical piers cost more because of installation torque equipment but excel in softer clay and sand soils. Polyurethane deep injection (Uretek-branded technology and licensees) is used for non-structural settlement where utilities or obstructions prevent steel piers.
PierTech Systems is the leading US helical pier manufacturer, based in Chesterfield, Missouri, and is independent of any PE platform. Groundworks vertically integrated its steel supply by acquiring Independence Materials Group, the manufacturer behind many of its steel components. Earth Contact Products (an internal Groundworks supplier) carries a comparable role.
Industry knowledge suggests the rough mix is push piers dominant in Southeast and Texas residential, helical piers leading in the Northeast and West Coast residential plus light commercial, polyurethane leading in non-structural concrete lifting and commercial industrial pavement. No analyst report quantifies the split as of June 2026. Confidence on the technology share split: GAP.
The condensed timeline of PE platform formations and major sponsor transitions in the segment, 2022 to 2026.
The multiple framework below is calibrated against CT Acquisitions’ own 2026 Home Services M&A Multiples Report and against the one disclosed segment comp (Bay Area Underpinning, $44.53 million in July 2023). The home services general band is 4.5x to 7.5x EBITDA, with most transactions clustering at 5.5x to 6.5x. Strategic and PE buyers pay 6.5x to 7.5x for businesses with recurring revenue, strong unit economics, and intact management.
The Bay Area Underpinning deal back-solves to an EV-to-EBITDA multiple in the 7x to 9x band, working from publicly reported revenue ranges. That is a premium to the home services average, reflecting both California pricing and the strategic value of first-in-state entry. For read-across calibration, Kroll’s 2024 to 2025 residential HVAC report documents double-digit multiples (mid-teens EV/EBITDA) for high-quality HVAC platforms with strong recurring revenue. Foundation repair lacks the maintenance contract layer that HVAC enjoys, so platform multiples top out lower.
CT’s working multiple grid for the segment, June 2026:
The recurring-revenue gap matters here. Where HVAC and pest control command premiums of 200 to 400 basis points for 60% to 80% recurring revenue per the CT Multiples Report, foundation repair has zero recurring revenue by construction. That caps platform multiples structurally against HVAC.
The Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton 2024 reset is the headline climate event of the period, but the structural climate driver for the segment is the South Central shrink-swell clay cycle. Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi sit on expansive Vertisol and Mollisol soils whose volume can swing 30% to 75% between wet and dry seasons per G.L. Hunt’s published guidance. That swing translates to repeat foundation movement on the same property over a 10-to-20 year cycle, which is precisely the demand pool a roll-up platform wants.
The 2022 to 2024 drought in the South Central US (continued through summer 2024 in parts of Texas) was the most severe cyclical event since 2011 to 2012. The expansive-clay implication is that the dry-shrink phase of the cycle compressed foundations downward, and the subsequent rainfall phase will drive heave back up. The lag between drought peak and foundation distress claims is typically 12 to 24 months, so the 2024 to 2026 service window is the peak settlement and heave window for that cycle. Confidence: MEDIUM, industry knowledge.
The implication for PE platforms is that Texas and the South Central US carry a structurally higher steady-state foundation demand pool than the Midwest or Northeast, even controlling for housing stock age. That is one reason every active platform has Texas density on the deal map: Groundworks (URETEK South, WTX, Leveled Concrete plus Houston density), Solid Ground Solutions (Columbus OH, central US trajectory), AnchorPoint (Edens Structural Solutions in OK), and Olshan (the multi-decade Texas family operator). Florida adds the Hurricane Helene and Milton overlay, which is the second-largest current demand pool.
Looking forward, NOAA seasonal outlook for 2026 to 2027 suggests continued precipitation volatility across the South Central US. While CT does not forecast weather, the structural takeaway for the segment is that demand volatility is increasing and that platforms with cash-flow runway are better positioned to ride storm-and-drought cycles than thin-margin operators dependent on assignment-of-benefits claim work.
Every major US foundation operator carries a lifetime warranty on installed piers, most commonly transferable to a future homeowner subject to terms. That warranty is the dominant marketing claim in the residential segment and is the primary trust signal a homeowner uses to choose a contractor. From a private equity buyer perspective, the warranty creates a tail liability that requires careful reserve accounting at deal close.
Three structural warranty issues recur in CT diligence work. First, warranty transferability terms vary widely: some platforms transfer at no charge on resale, others charge a transfer fee, and still others void the warranty if the structure is altered (added story, sunroom addition). The fee structure matters for sale prep because a strict transferability regime can become a complaint vector at point of home sale. Second, warranty claim rate experience is rarely well-tracked: most operators do not run a clean warranty database, so a buyer’s reserve at close is based on industry-norm assumptions rather than seller-specific claim history. Third, the legal entity that holds the warranty may not survive a roll-up; sellers should clarify whether the warranty is honored by the platform brand or by the legacy entity, because asset purchases often unwind original warranty obligations unless the buyer explicitly assumes them.
For a seller preparing for sale, a clean warranty registry (job address, install date, pier type and count, warranty terms, transfer history) is one of the highest-impact diligence assets to prepare. A buyer will often shave 50 to 100 basis points off multiple if the warranty registry is incomplete, because the reserve at close has to expand to cover unknown tail. Confidence on warranty diligence themes: HIGH, drawn from CT advisory experience across the home services category.
The single biggest marketing channel for residential foundation services in 2024 to 2026 is Google Local Service Ads (LSAs). LSAs sit above traditional Google Search Ads on mobile and capture the “near me” intent. Foundation repair, basement waterproofing, and crawl space encapsulation all run LSA at high cost per lead (typically $80 to $200 per lead in major metros), but conversion to job is strong because the homeowner intent is high.
The structural risk inside the LSA channel is Google policy concentration. Foundation operators that hit a Google Guarantee suspension (typically driven by a single bad review pattern, a permit complaint, or an insurance verification failure) can see lead flow drop overnight by 60% to 80%, and recovery can take six to twelve weeks. A platform that runs LSA across thirty-plus regional brands carries thirty-plus separate Google Guarantee exposures, and platform-level marketing operations have to actively manage suspension risk at the brand level. Groundworks’s federated brand model amplifies that operating challenge.
The implication for sellers is that LSA-dependent revenue concentration should be flagged in the confidential information memorandum (CIM). A buyer will diligence the trailing 12-month lead source mix and will probe LSA suspension history and Google Guarantee score over the trailing 24 months. A seller with 60% or more revenue from LSAs is treated as marketing-concentration-risk and may see multiple shave of 50 to 150 basis points. Confidence: MEDIUM, drawn from CT advisory experience in adjacent home services categories.
Florida’s 2024 to 2025 reform package is the single largest payor change in the segment.
For foundation contractors, the practical effect is unchanged: foundation work itself rarely qualifies for HO coverage, so reform tightens roofing and water-damage payouts more than foundation lines. However, the lawsuit-reduction language has cooled the cottage industry of attorneys who chased adjuster denials, including some foundation-adjacent flood and water-damage claims that previously dragged AR.
The most material 2024 to 2026 code update is Florida’s continued tightening of post-Hurricane-Andrew structural standards, plus North Carolina’s post-Helene push to revisit floodplain construction in western counties. No federal-level foundation code change in the period. The 2024 IBC and IRC updates carried minor revisions to expansive-soil sections (R403 of IRC) but no overhaul. Confidence: MEDIUM.
FEMA Individual Assistance has paid $1.7 billion in 2024-storm grants and $602 million specifically for home repair to 66,413 Florida families. Foundation contractors do not generally hold FEMA prime contracts (those go to disaster-relief generalists and modular-housing prime vendors), but recovery dollars flow through individual homeowners to local foundation operators in the affected counties.
Most foundation repair installer crews are nonunion in TX, FL, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, and union in IL, MN, WA, and parts of CA. The structural takeaway for a PE buyer: northern-market acquisitions carry a 20% to 40% labor cost premium versus southern equivalents, which is a real factor in any cross-region platform model.
The Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association (OPCMIA) is the dominant union for cement and concrete trades, though foundation repair installer crews are mostly nonunion outside northern markets. Manufacturer training is the dominant credentialing path: Ram Jack, Earth Contact Products (Groundworks’ supplier subsidiary), and PierTech all run installer certification programs.
The Home Builders Institute Fall 2024 Construction Labor Market Report documents the broader construction trade shortage, projected at 400,000+ open positions through 2026, which is a structural cost pressure on every foundation platform. NFRA runs voluntary education and best-practices programs but does not certify installers nationally. No federal Registered Apprenticeship program specific to foundation repair exists as of June 2026. Most platforms run internal academies (Groundworks University, USS training programs, USW academy). Crew turnover at the laborer level remains the single biggest operational cost for every PE-backed platform.
BBB complaint files for the largest named operators show recurring complaint themes that buyers diligence in every transaction: permit-free work (Olshan Dallas), water re-intrusion after waterproofing (Helitech), unauthorized scope changes (Brown Foundation Repair), and collateral property damage during pier installation (Perma Pier). Volume is meaningful relative to roofing or HVAC because foundation jobs are high-ticket, infrequent, and emotionally fraught for the homeowner. A seller preparing for sale should run a 36-month BBB and Google review audit before going to market and prepare a defensible written response to the top recurring themes.
The May 2024 acquisition of Doug Lacey’s Basement Systems in Calgary marked Groundworks’s first expansion into Canada. The deal is small in absolute size but strategically important because it establishes a template that other US platforms may follow.
Canada’s residential foundation repair market is structurally different from the US in three ways. First, the regulatory backdrop is province-by-province (Alberta, BC, Ontario, Quebec each have their own contractor licensing regime). Second, the housing stock skews toward concrete foundations rather than slab-on-grade, which shifts the service mix toward basement waterproofing and crack injection rather than push pier and helical pier work. Third, the insurance backdrop is more favorable to foundation claims in some provinces than US homeowners insurance, which alters the cash-pay versus insurance-pay mix.
For a US-based PE platform considering Canada, the Groundworks template suggests starting with an Alberta or Ontario brand acquisition rather than a build-from-scratch operation. CT does not track Canadian PE sponsors in this segment in detail (Canadian sponsors are out of scope for this US-focused tracker), but the platform formation cadence in Canada lags the US by roughly five years, suggesting a 2027 to 2028 wave of Canadian platform formations is plausible. Confidence: LOW on Canadian deal forecasts, HIGH on the Groundworks Calgary deal itself.
Residential foundation repair has an unusual customer economics profile relative to other home services categories. Three characteristics stand out.
First, ticket size is high but infrequent. The typical foundation job runs $2,200 to $8,100, with major structural lifts at $20,000 to $23,000. Compare that to HVAC where the typical install is $8,000 to $15,000 but with a 12-to-15 year replacement cycle, or to plumbing where service tickets run $400 to $2,500 with a much higher visit frequency. For foundation work, a homeowner typically pays once across the entire ownership period of the property, except in the South Central expansive-clay zone where repeat work on the same property over a 10-to-20 year cycle is common.
Second, the customer acquisition cost (CAC) recovery window is short on a per-job basis. Foundation operators pay $80 to $200 per lead through LSA and similar channels, with a 25% to 40% close rate, so blended CAC per closed job is in the $200 to $800 range. Against a $5,000 average ticket and 40% gross margin, CAC payback is on the very first job. That is more attractive than HVAC where CAC is recovered across multi-year maintenance contracts.
Third, lifetime value is structurally capped because foundation work does not generate a recurring revenue tail. Even with cross-sell into waterproofing, crawl space, and concrete lifting, the LTV horizon is the homeowner’s tenure in the property, not a multi-year service contract relationship. That ceiling on LTV is the structural reason foundation platforms trade at lower multiples than HVAC and pest control platforms of equivalent EBITDA.
The implication for PE platform strategy is that lead source mix, conversion rate per lead, and cross-sell rate are the three operating levers that move EBITDA most. Groundworks’s federated brand structure exists to maximize the first two; the bundled service stack exists to maximize the third. AnchorPoint and Solid Ground Solutions are deliberately copying the same operating playbook. Confidence on the framework: MEDIUM, drawn from CT advisory work in the segment.
Different sponsors and platforms buy different sellers. The matrix below maps seller profile to most-likely acquirer based on 2024 to 2026 deal pattern.
Based on CT M&A advisory work and observed 2024 to 2026 diligence patterns, a buyer will run the following themes on every foundation or waterproofing seller process:
The biggest determinant of final clearing multiple in a foundation seller process is the work done in the 12 months before market launch. CT’s M&A advisory book sees a consistent 100 to 250 basis point multiple difference between sellers who prep well and sellers who go to market reactively. The pre-process playbook below summarizes the high-impact items.
Months 12 to 9 before launch. Build a clean three-year financial dataset (P&L, balance sheet, monthly cash flow) reconciled to bank statements. Identify and document add-backs (owner compensation above market, personal travel, related-party rent, one-time legal). Pull a 36-month permit history per crew and reconcile to revenue per job. Build a warranty registry that captures install date, pier count, pier type, and warranty terms per job. Audit BBB and Google Reviews for the trailing 36 months and document a response template for each recurring complaint theme.
Months 9 to 6 before launch. Reconstruct payroll classification (1099 versus W-2) for the trailing 24 months and remediate any misclassification before going to market. Document the marketing channel mix (LSA, paid search, organic, home shows, referrals) and the cost per closed job per channel. Run a customer concentration audit: identify any builder or general contractor that drives more than 10% of revenue. Begin negotiations to extend any equipment leases that expire within 18 months of expected close.
Months 6 to 3 before launch. If foundation-only, build a small waterproofing or crawl space encapsulation line organically. Six months of bundled revenue is enough to demonstrate the cross-sell opportunity in the CIM. Replace any owner-dependent operational roles (sales manager, operations manager, controller) with non-family-member talent so the buyer sees a transferable operating team. Document the trailing 12 months of unit economics: revenue per truck-roll, average ticket, gross margin per service line.
Months 3 to 0 before launch. Engage M&A advisory. Build the CIM with verified financials, operating KPIs, BBB and review audit, warranty registry, and pre-built diligence index. Pre-clear common diligence themes (permit compliance, worker classification, environmental and safety record). Identify and shortlist most-likely buyers based on geography, segment fit, and platform stage; this tracker is one input to that exercise.
Sellers who execute the above playbook typically clear at the upper end of the relevant multiple band. Sellers who launch reactively (in response to an unsolicited approach or after a personal life event) typically clear at the lower end and accept more aggressive earn-out structures, working capital adjustments, and indemnity baskets. Confidence on the playbook: HIGH, drawn from CT advisory deal experience.
The current PE platforms in the segment are at very different points in their hold cycles, which has implications for the next 24 months of deal flow. The condensed exit-path read for each platform:
The next 24 months of segment deal flow will likely be dominated by tuck-in M&A at the new platforms (Solid Ground Solutions, AnchorPoint, USS, StableDry) and by the first secondary exit decision at U.S. Waterproofing or Groundworks. CT will track all of this in subsequent quarterly editions of the tracker.
The following items in the source brief and in trade chatter could not be verified at the cutoff date. CT flags these explicitly rather than fill the gap with estimate, because a wrong attribution survives in syndicated content for years and corrupts the next analyst that picks the wrong source.
The segment is not uniformly distributed across the United States. Demand pools, licensing regimes, climate drivers, and platform footprints all vary by state. The condensed read for the top-priority states:
Largest expansive-clay demand pool in the country. No statewide foundation contractor license per Granite Foundation Repair. Most fragmented operator base. Active PE platform footprint: Groundworks (URETEK South Haltom City, WTX Foundation Repair Amarillo, Leveled Concrete Houston). Legacy independent: Olshan Foundation Solutions (Spring TX, multi-state). The Dallas, Houston, and Austin metros each support multiple sub-platform operators of $5M to $20M revenue scale. The trailing 24-month deal cadence in Texas is roughly two add-on transactions per quarter, the highest rate of any state. Multiple band for Texas operators is the segment average (5x to 7x EBITDA for $1M to $3M EBITDA add-on size, 7x to 9x for foundation-only platform scale).
Hurricane Helene plus Milton 2024 reset Florida demand. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) Construction Industry Licensing Board (CILB) licenses general contractors with four years of relevant experience plus three state exams per Procore’s all-states guide. The sinkhole sub-segment (chemical grouting, helical pier underpinning) is concentrated in central Florida and is a strategic line for any platform entering the state. StableDry’s Foundation Services of Central Florida add-on (June 2025) is the most recent FL platform-level move. Multiple band for Florida operators is at or slightly above segment average given the storm-driven demand surge.
Hurricane Helene inland flooding damage of $44.4 billion concentrated in the western counties. NC Licensing Board for General Contractors licenses contractors above $30,000 project value. AnchorPoint Foundations (Oridian) launched June 2026 with two NC brands at the platform (Foundation Repair Services NC and Cornerstone Foundation Repair). Groundworks operates Tar Heel Basement Systems as one of its largest regional brands. Multiple band for NC operators is currently elevated given the post-Helene repair backlog.
Most stringent licensing regime in the country. CSLB issues C-8 Concrete and C-61/D-06 specialty classifications for foundation work. The high regulatory barrier reduces the fragmentation that defines other states and concentrates revenue at a smaller number of well-credentialed operators. Groundworks entered with Bay Area Underpinning in July 2023 at $44.53 million, then added EagleLIFT in Rancho Cucamonga in June 2024. The Bay Area and Los Angeles markets are the priority metros for any new entrant. Multiple band for CA operators runs 100 to 200 basis points above segment average given regulatory moat plus pricing power.
Basement-bearing housing stock dominates. Waterproofing rather than foundation underpinning is the lead service line. U.S. Waterproofing (Rotunda) is the platform anchor, with Helitech as the independent number two operator. Solid Ground Solutions (CenterOak) is headquartered in Columbus, OH and is positioned to roll up Midwest operators. Multiple band for Midwest waterproofing-first operators is the segment baseline (4x to 6x EBITDA for $1M to $3M EBITDA add-on size).
USS (Summit Park plus Schroders) is the platform anchor with Mt. Washington KY operating headquarters and Titan Products manufacturing. The May 2023 Ox Foundation Solutions deal in Alabama set the geographic edge. AnchorPoint and Solid Ground Solutions may both extend into this region over the next 12 to 18 months. Multiple band is the segment baseline.
Mid-Atlantic basement-bearing housing stock with older urban building infrastructure. AnchorPoint Foundations entered PA with Champion Waterproofing at the June 2026 launch. No other PE platform has a Mid-Atlantic anchor as of the cutoff. NY and NJ operators are fragmented and largely independent. Multiple band is currently the segment baseline, with upside if AnchorPoint executes geographic infill.
Expansive-clay and tornado-corridor demand drivers. AnchorPoint entered OK with Edens Structural Solutions at June 2026 launch. Olshan’s multi-state footprint covers OK, AR, and LA. Foundation Recovery Systems (a Groundworks brand) operates in Missouri. Multiple band is the segment baseline, with potential for upside as the AnchorPoint platform builds out.
Foundation repair carries higher physical-hazard exposure than most home services categories. Excavation, hydraulic pier installation, confined space work in crawl spaces, and chemical handling (polyurethane resins, sealants) all create OSHA exposure that a buyer will diligence carefully.
Two specific OSHA standards are recurring diligence themes. First, excavation and trenching (29 CFR 1926 Subpart P) covers any pier installation that requires opening soil greater than five feet deep, which is most push pier and helical pier work. A seller’s OSHA 300 log for the trailing 36 months is a standard request from any institutional buyer. Second, confined space (29 CFR 1910.146) covers crawl space encapsulation work where ventilation is inadequate, which is common in older Southeast and Mid-Atlantic housing stock.
Workers compensation experience modification factor (EMR or e-mod) is the single best summary indicator of a seller’s safety record. A seller with EMR below 1.0 is at or below industry average and reads well to a buyer; a seller with EMR above 1.2 will face multiple shave of 50 to 150 basis points and a longer reserve at close. CT’s M&A advisory work confirms EMR is a top-three diligence item alongside customer concentration and permit compliance.
On the workforce demographic side, foundation repair installer crews are predominantly Hispanic in the South Central and Southeast US, with implications for both workforce sourcing and management practices. Bilingual operations (Spanish-English) at the supervisor level are the norm at every major platform. The 400,000-plus open positions documented in the HBI Fall 2024 Construction Labor Market Report are a structural cost pressure on every operator, and platforms with internal academies (Groundworks University, USS training programs, USW academy) carry a structural advantage in installer pipeline development.
The supply chain for foundation repair runs through three primary inputs: steel (push piers, helical piers, brackets), polyurethane resin (deep injection and concrete lifting), and waterproofing membranes and vapor barriers. The 2021 to 2023 post-pandemic supply chain disruption drove steel and polyurethane prices to multi-decade highs; the 2024 to 2025 normalization has brought input cost roughly back to 2019 levels in real terms, with significant variation by sub-input.
The strategic implication for PE platforms is that vertically integrated steel supply (Groundworks via Earth Contact Products and Independence Materials Group; USS via Titan Products) captures the manufacturing margin that other platforms pay to outside vendors. PierTech Systems, the independent helical pier manufacturer in Chesterfield MO, is the dominant supplier to non-integrated platforms and to the franchise installer network (Ram Jack, IDEAL Foundation Systems, and others).
The acquisition of PierTech or a comparable independent steel manufacturer would be a notable strategic move for AnchorPoint Foundations, Solid Ground Solutions, or U.S. Waterproofing if those platforms wanted to capture vertical-integration economics. CT does not forecast specific deals, but the strategic logic is clear and the precedent (Groundworks via Earth Contact Products and Independence Materials Group) is on the public record. Confidence on supply chain framework: MEDIUM, drawn from industry research and CT advisory experience.
The PE-backed platforms in the segment are systematically modernizing back office and field-service technology to capture the operating efficiency gains that drive multiple expansion. Three technology layers matter most.
First, the dispatch and field service management layer (ServiceTitan, FieldEdge, Housecall Pro, or comparable) replaces paper or spreadsheet scheduling and captures the operating data that supports KPI reporting. Every PE-backed platform in the segment has standardized on a single field service management system at the platform level. Sellers preparing for sale should consider whether a pre-process migration to a buyer-favored system would smooth post-close integration.
Second, the ERP and accounting layer (NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Acumatica) replaces QuickBooks at scale. Every platform above $50M revenue has moved off QuickBooks. Sellers should not be expected to migrate ERP pre-process, but a clean QuickBooks data export with mapped chart of accounts simplifies post-close integration.
Third, the AI-assisted lead handling and call center layer is the most recent technology adoption wave (2024 to 2026). Platforms are deploying conversational AI for inbound call qualification, lead scoring, and appointment booking. The economic case is that AI handles roughly 60% of inbound call volume at one-third the labor cost of a human agent, freeing human staff for high-value sales conversations. Early adopters in the segment (Groundworks, USS, USW) are running pilots; mid-tier operators have not yet moved at scale. The AI adoption gap may be a multiple-expansion opportunity for sellers who can demonstrate early adoption ahead of a sale process. Confidence: MEDIUM, drawn from CT advisory work and industry observation.
Foundation repair sits inside the home services category alongside HVAC, roofing, pest control, plumbing, electrical, and landscaping. Comparing the segment’s structural characteristics to the adjacent verticals helps calibrate where multiples come from and where they should be expected to land.
Foundation versus HVAC. HVAC carries a recurring revenue tail (maintenance contracts, filter subscriptions, indoor air quality add-ons) that drives 60% to 80% of revenue at the most mature operators. Foundation has none of that. The result is foundation platforms trade 200 to 400 basis points below HVAC platforms of equivalent EBITDA. HVAC also benefits from a faster replacement cycle (12 to 15 years) versus foundation’s once-per-ownership profile. On the cash-pay side, foundation wins: HVAC has insurance-pay exposure on replacement claims after storm damage; foundation work is almost entirely cash-pay because gradual settlement is not a covered peril. Net read: HVAC trades higher, foundation trades cleaner.
Foundation versus roofing. Roofing is heavily insurance-pay (especially storm-driven hail and wind markets). The insurance assignment-of-benefits dynamic, while reduced after Florida’s 2024 to 2025 reform, still creates AR drag and adjuster wait that foundation does not have. Roofing also carries higher complaint and litigation exposure than foundation per BBB data, particularly in storm-active states. Foundation’s clean cash-pay structure is the structural reason CT estimates foundation platforms trade at a 100 to 200 basis point EBITDA-multiple premium to roofing platforms of equivalent EBITDA, even though roofing’s gross revenue dollar volume per region is larger.
Foundation versus pest control. Pest control is the highest-multiple home services category because of recurring revenue (60% to 80% of revenue on annual or quarterly subscription contracts), low CAC payback (often within the first year of subscription), and strong customer retention. Pest control multiples for $5M-plus EBITDA platforms run 12x to 16x EBITDA versus foundation’s 8x to 11x. The recurring revenue gap is the entire delta.
Foundation versus plumbing. Plumbing is a higher-frequency, lower-ticket service business with stronger emergency-call revenue spike potential than foundation. Plumbing has some insurance-pay exposure (water damage claims after burst pipe events), but the typical plumbing job is cash-pay. Plumbing platforms trade roughly at parity with foundation platforms on EBITDA multiple, with the structural difference being that plumbing carries a stronger residential-commercial mix and foundation is overwhelmingly residential.
The implication for foundation segment investors is that the cash-pay clean revenue structure is a real asset, but the absence of recurring revenue is a real multiple cap. Until or unless a foundation platform builds a recurring-revenue overlay (subscription warranty extension, annual basement health inspection, etc.), the segment will not trade at HVAC or pest control multiples. The PE platforms in the segment are aware of this dynamic and may pilot subscription overlays in the 2026 to 2028 window. Confidence on the cross-segment comp framework: MEDIUM, drawn from CT M&A advisory experience and the CT Multiples Report.
There is no pure-play publicly traded US foundation repair company. The closest public comparables are diversified home services consolidators and building products manufacturers. The read-across to private foundation platform valuations is therefore indirect, but useful for sanity-checking the 8x to 11x platform multiple band.
Public home services consolidators (none of which are pure-play foundation) trade in the 8x to 15x trailing EBITDA range, depending on growth rate, recurring revenue mix, and capital allocation discipline. Public building products manufacturers (which include pier manufacturers as a small sub-segment) trade at lower multiples in the 6x to 10x range because of higher capital intensity and lower margin structure. The midpoint between the two implies a 7x to 12x range for a hypothetical public foundation platform, which brackets the 8x to 11x private platform multiple band CT estimates above. The bracketing is the cross-check that the private multiple is in the right neighborhood.
Notable: the absence of a pure-play public foundation operator is itself a strategic input. A platform that grows to $200M-plus revenue and $30M-plus EBITDA with a clean cash-pay revenue mix and a federated multi-brand structure would be a viable IPO candidate in a favorable home services public market window. Groundworks is the only platform in the segment currently at or near that scale. The KKR plus Cortec exit path could include an IPO in 2027 to 2029 if public market conditions warrant. Confidence: LOW on IPO forecast, MEDIUM on the public comp framework.
CT Acquisitions maintains a sibling tracker series across home services and healthcare verticals. Cross-reference content:
KKR North America XIII Fund is the lead sponsor (since February 1, 2023). Cortec Group Fund VII is a minority and board investor (since January 2020). Succession Capital Partners is the founder PE position. Cinven and Charlesbank are sometimes named in trade chatter, but neither appears on the verified cap table per any primary source as of June 17, 2026.
Rotunda Capital Partners Fund III (entry date November 10, 2022). Wind Point Partners is named in trade chatter and is not the verified sponsor at the cutoff date.
AnchorPoint Foundations is the foundation repair and waterproofing platform launched June 1, 2026 by Oridian Capital Partners (formerly HCI Equity Partners). The platform launched with five initial brands: Foundation Repair Services (NC), B.A.M. Basements and Masons (IA), Cornerstone Foundation Repair (NC), Champion Waterproofing (PA), and Edens Structural Solutions (OK). The HCI-to-Oridian rebrand happened between the November 20, 2025 SPV close and the platform launch.
For a $1M to $3M EBITDA bundled add-on (foundation plus waterproofing plus crawl space): 5x to 7x EBITDA. For a $5M-plus EBITDA multi-state bundled platform: 8x to 11x EBITDA. For waterproofing-only add-ons: 4x to 6x EBITDA. For polyurethane concrete lifting: 4x to 6x EBITDA at add-on size and 6x to 8x at platform scale. Multiples are 100 to 200 basis points higher for bundled service stacks versus single-segment operators, and roughly 200 to 400 basis points lower than residential HVAC because there is no recurring contract revenue layer.
Per Progressive, Nationwide, and SmartFinancial policy language, homeowners insurance generally excludes foundation damage caused by gradual sources: ground shifting, drought, flooding, or earthquakes. Coverage typically applies only when the damage is traceable to a covered peril event (fallen tree, tornado, burst pipe). The result is that 90%-plus of foundation jobs are cash-pay, which is the single biggest structural valuation lever in the segment.
Texas has no statewide foundation contractor license, and Texas House Bill 613 (which would have required one) failed. Foundation work is subject only to municipal permit and inspection. The result is the most fragmented operator base of any state, which is precisely why Groundworks (URETEK South, WTX, Leveled Concrete) and Olshan (the family-owned legacy leader) both dominate Texas through different routes: PE-backed roll-up for Groundworks and multi-decade brand for Olshan.
Estimates vary widely with bundle definition. The narrowly defined foundation repair services market is roughly $3.17 billion in 2024 and $3.35 billion in 2025. The broader bundle (foundation plus waterproofing plus crawl space plus concrete lifting) for the US and Canada is roughly $11.8 billion in 2025. DataIntelo lands between the two at $9.8 billion in 2025. For the PE roll-up opportunity, the $9.8 billion to $11.8 billion bundled number is the operative figure because every active platform sells the four-service stack as one offer.
Hurricane Helene (September 26 to 27, 2024) and Hurricane Milton (October 9 to 10, 2024) together drove $4.775 billion in Florida insurance claims by November 2024 and $44.4 billion in direct damage in North Carolina. The inland flooding signature of Helene drove a 24-to-36 month repair backlog inside Groundworks Tar Heel Basement Systems and Summit Park StableDry footprints. FEMA paid $1.7 billion in Florida assistance grants and $602 million specifically for home repair, partial offset for uninsured structural work.
No. As of June 17, 2026 each of these is either family-owned (Olshan, Ram Jack, G.L. Hunt), franchise-organized (Everdry, Ram Jack), or independent privately held (PierTech). They appear in broker lists and market scans because of brand recognition, but none has a verified PE sponsor.
As of June 17, 2026, no add-ons have been publicly announced for Solid Ground Solutions since the January 9, 2025 platform formation. Seth Tomasch is named CEO. CT marks add-on activity as GAP at this cutoff, and we will refresh in the next quarterly edition.
For a $2M EBITDA bundled operator (foundation plus waterproofing plus crawl space plus concrete lifting), 5x to 7x EBITDA is the typical add-on range. For a $2M EBITDA foundation-only operator, the range is the same 5x to 7x but on the lower end. The seller can typically add 100 to 200 basis points by building out a small bundled waterproofing or crawl space line organically ahead of going to market, by hitting 90%-plus cash-pay mix, by clearing BBB and Google review themes, and by reconciling permit pulls to the trailing 36 months of revenue.
Based on 2024 to 2026 deal cadence, the most-likely Southeast acquirers in order of activity are: Groundworks (KKR plus Cortec, broadest sweep), Summit Park’s StableDry Services (Florida plus Carolinas), AnchorPoint Foundations (Oridian, multi-state new platform), United Structural Systems (Summit Park, KY plus TN plus WV plus AL focus), and U.S. Waterproofing (Rotunda, Midwest expanding to Southeast). Solid Ground Solutions (CenterOak) is most likely for Midwest sellers and may extend into the Southeast over the next 12 months.
CT Acquisitions is an M&A advisory firm focused on home services, healthcare services, and other consolidating verticals in the lower middle market. Our research desk maintains a sibling tracker series across home health, behavioral health, ABA therapy, veterinary, dermatology, dental DSO, physical therapy, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, and now foundation repair and waterproofing. Every tracker is built on primary-source verification rather than syndicated trade chatter, and every numeric or dated claim carries an inline source URL. We refresh each tracker quarterly. To engage CT for a buy-side, sell-side, or strategic advisory mandate in this segment, contact our advisory desk at the address listed on our firm page.
Last updated: June 17, 2026. CT Acquisitions refreshes this tracker quarterly. Next scheduled refresh: September 17, 2026.