Olshan Foundation Repair

H

HatDaddy

1,000+ Posts
We have an older house bought in November of last year. It has been serviced twice by Olshan since it was built in 1975. We are getting some major ceiling cracks in our master bedroom, to the point the ceiling is beginning to sway between the bathroom and the closet. I checked up in the attic to see if I noticed any of the joists moving but nothing.
Anyway, Olshan is coming back out next week to inspect. Anyone have past dealings with them?
The initial repair work they did has a lifetime warranty on it.
 
I'd bet that their owner would tell them to do good for you, but he doesn't have free access to his phone from prison. It might take a while.

In case they have a new owner who is not a convicted felon, I apologize to that person(s).
 
My brother-in-law is an atty, and most of his time is spent defending Olshan. There is supposedly an atty in SA that has represented hundreds of Olshan customers. A simple google search ought to point you in the right direction.
 
Your BIL is named John and has a wife with a name that starts with "K". Lives next door to Ben whose house burned?

Hatdaddy, Don't get mixed up with Chip Tobey who is the guy that has shitloads of Olshan customers.
 
I don't have a problem with them YET.
I was just curious if anyone had dealt with them for past work they had done so that I could be prepared for them if they have shady tactics.
 
NIck,
You were right on the Pl lawyer's name. If Nick says stay away, then that's good advice.

Wrong on my BIL. They must keep a number of attys busy.
 
HD,

What typically happens is they will say they only warrant against "settling" within a certain number of feet from one of their piers. Since they didn't set a benchmark, it is VERY difficult to say if something settled or something heaved. To be fair to Olshan (sort of) there hasn't been a pier made that will resist heaving. The unfair part is that heaving represents 50% of the potential problem and if you only solve 50% of a cracking problem, you really haven't solved anything at all and that makes piering an economically indefensible proposition. On of the main sins commited by Olshan was to not do piers according to "engineering" when they don't drill deep enough and then they don't glue their silly whatever they call them. Chunks O'pier. Can't remember.

They may be more honest and workmanlike today, but for a fairly long period - a decade? - they were failing those subjects.

Olshan's techniques are generally scorned by engineers, but they HAVE been doing it for a long time and they are still in business so that says something.

I went fishing (3-days) with the guy who was defending Olshan and his stated goal was to milk the cases until there were no more insurance funds and then move on. Theirs was a self-liquidating policy and I know you know what that term means. The last time I looked and it has been several years Olshan looked to be swirling towards the drain. Old intel.
 
I bet they fired that attorney. Not Olshan, but the insurance company.

Tobey is a guy who can't see the trees for the forest (I know that's not the oft-used saying). He's a guy that doesn't understand that churn and burn only works for attorneys being paid hourly and cannot see that he is screwing his clients by churning a limited fund that is being funneled to defense costs the more he churns the files. He makes outlandish demands that don't scare isnurers from a Stowers standpoint.
 
Good info.
Did some research to familiarize myself with heaving. I can see that angle being played by them.
 
See if you can get a hold of the elevations shot after work was done the prior occasions FROM THE PREVIOUS OWNER. Just to make sure they don't fudge things. At the very least, get a copy from Olshan before they take new elevation readings.
 
Olshan's techniques are generally scorned by engineers....

What techniques are preferable? Specifically, what companies employ those preferred techniques?
 
A drilled, belled pier is about the only type of pier most engineers I have spoken with will sign off on. It has to be deep enough to provide enough friction to avoid being spit out like a watermelon seed. Olshan is like pouring sunflower seeds into a shallow hole. They drill a hole and then thread pieces of pier down a cable and supposedly (though frequently not) fusing the chunks of pier together. They are then supposed to "post-tension" the toy. They spent years doing neither the adhesing or the tensioning.

The point of piers is NOT to go down to "bedrock" although that may be a good and practical idea in Austin (Not SA, Houston or Dallas). The point of a pier is to provide enough girth and depth to resist the ability of slimy clay soils to spit out intrusions when they get moist and expand (I may have to send that in to penthouse). Olshan's unglued and untensioned "pier" is akin to a limp disjointed something or other.
 
There are also quite a few companies who sell systems where they shove a metal rod into the ground "until refusal". Ram Jack, PermaJack come to mind.

There have to be some engineers who could share better thoughts than a recovering attorney?
 
Any recommendations on reputable foundation / leveling companies in Austin from those in the know?

I see CenTex around town a lot. Capital? Level Best?
 
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