Dearborn particulars
Dearborn's Residential Renovation sheet lists "Waterproofing of basement interior and exterior systems" as work that needs a Renovation permit, and contractors must hold a state residential builder or maintenance and alteration license and register with the City Clerk. The fee schedule is specific: a $100 processing fee, a construction permit of $100 plus $15 per $1,000, plan review at $1 per $1,000, and plumbing lines of $15 for sub-soil drains and $15 for sumps.
Dearborn's housing is old: 71.5 percent of 39,205 units predate 1960, 84.0 percent predate 1980 and 23.7 percent predate 1940, at a median value of $205,900. The 2021 flood hit east Dearborn hard; the city's one-pager, which we have only secondhand, says roughly two-thirds of homes there were affected, and FEMA put more than $8.1 million toward sewer upgrades. Permits run through BS&A online; the mailing address is 16901 Michigan Ave, Suite 7, or dial 311 (confirm). Wayne County is EPA radon Zone 3, but test anyway. Melvindale is 2.8 miles away and Allen Park 3.7.
Foundation repair in Dearborn: what to know
The Residential Renovation sheet also names new foundations for masonry veneer and sub-floor or joist replacement, and says a signed contract must accompany the application. Registration runs through the City Clerk at 313-943-2010. Foundation repair itself is not named, so ask. Permits go through an online system, with mail to 16901 Michigan Ave, Suite 7 (confirm).
Dearborn's homes are old: 84.0 percent were built before 1980, 71.5 percent before 1960 and 23.7 percent in 1939 or earlier, from 39,205 units. Construction permit fees start at $100 for the first $2,000, then $100 plus $15 per $1,000, with a $100 processing fee on every permit. Work without a trade permit draws a $100 investigative fee.
Permits for foundation repair in Dearborn
The base code requires a permit to repair or alter a structure, Michigan's exemption list does not name foundation work, and your city's building official makes the call.
Many cities run their own building department, so start by asking the City of Dearborn building department who issues foundation repair permits.
When a foundation problem is an emergency
- A wall is visibly moving or has shifted since you last looked.
- A floor is dropping or a doorframe has pulled apart in days.
- Water is coming through a wall near the electrical panel. Do not step into that water.
- A crack that has not changed in months and lets no water in.
What to do before you call a foundation company
Try this first: ask your contractor for the City Clerk registration confirmation along with the state license number.
- Photograph each crack with a coin beside it, and mark both ends with a pencil and the date.
- Check that downspouts end away from the wall; the University of Minnesota Extension lists grading and gutters ahead of any drainage system.
- Ask the first company who diagnosed the problem and whether it would also do the repair.
What foundation repair costs
The estimate below is the Michigan-wide one, adjusted for Michigan wages and not for Dearborn in particular. The same table is on the foundation repair page. How we estimate costs. Prices as of Oct 19, 2026.
| Item | Figure | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated range, not a quote | $2,300 to $8,375 per project | Built from 2 national published ranges, adjusted by the Michigan cement mason median wage ratio (1.05). No Michigan foundation company price is shown, because none of the companies we looked at published a price we could count. |
| Cement masons and concrete finishers, Michigan median | $59,860 a year | What workers are paid (BLS 2025 data via O*NET), not what you are charged. |
| Construction laborers, Michigan median | $49,590 a year | What workers are paid (BLS 2025 data via O*NET), not what you are charged. |
| Civil engineers, Michigan median | $92,100 a year | What civil engineers are paid, not what an engineer's report costs. No wage category covers foundation crews exactly. |
| Building permit, Ann Arbor | $15 application fee, then $100 plus $10 per $1,000 of project cost | Revised July 2025. Basement waterproofing is named. |
| Building permit, Grand Rapids | $79 for work valued at $1 to $1,000; $215 at $20,001 to $21,000 | FY2027 chart. No foundation line. |
| Building permit, Lansing | $175 for work valued at $4,001 to $10,000 | Schedule of July 1, 2026. |
How we estimate costs: the Estimated range row is a model, not a quote. It takes two published national ranges for this job (cost guides from third-party sites that we have not verified and do not cite) and multiplies them by Michigan's cement mason median wage ratio to the US (1.05, BLS 2025 data read through O*NET OnLine). No permit fee is added: the city permit rows below are shown as printed. The wage and permit rows are what workers are paid and what a city's own schedule charges, and neither is a price. Your soil, water and the repair method move a real quote well outside any range, so get an independent diagnosis first. We have not collected quotes, and we found no Michigan foundation company that publishes a price we could count. Full method.
Questions about foundation repair
How do they fix foundation problems?
The repair depends on the cause, and the cause has to be found first. Typical work is sealing or injecting a crack, bracing or rebuilding a wall, adding support under a footing, or fixing grading and drainage. We have no source that ranks these methods, so ask why the proposed one fits the cause.
How much does foundation repair cost in Michigan?
Our estimate for foundation repair in Michigan is $2,300 to $8,375 per project, built from national published ranges and adjusted for Michigan wages, because we have collected no Michigan quotes. A crack seal and a pier job sit at very different points in that range. Ask for an itemized price that names the method and the permit, and shows the license number.
Does foundation repair need a permit in Michigan?
Probably, but your city decides. The base code requires a permit to repair or alter a structure and Michigan's exemption list does not name foundation work, yet no state page we can cite says so in plain words. Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Livonia, Sterling Heights and Warren print waterproofing as a permit item, so call your building office before work starts.