Your Foundation Guy Is Probably Lying to You — How Not to Get Ripped Off | Stephen Burton

Stephen Burton is the owner and educator of Foundation Rescue in St. Louis, with 35 years and $100M in foundation repairs behind him. In this episode he pulls back the curtain on an industry with no licensing test and no standards: why homes really fail (gutters and downspouts, not "your walls falling"), how to avoid getting ripped off, the $175 inspection he’ll do before you spend $30,000, the difference between clients and customers, and the faith and integrity that turned him from "part of the problem" into an advocate. Equal parts homeowner survival guide and a lesson in doing business the right way.What you’ll take away• The real cause of most foundation problems — and the two things every homeowner should do today.• How to tell a good foundation contractor from a predatory one (licensing, insurance, the 3-day rescission).• Why "fixing the crack" without fixing the cause guarantees a new crack.• Clients vs. customers — and why treating people as clients wins long-term.• Owning your mistakes: how he went from "the problem" to reforming the industry.Pull-quotes• "Your walls do not fall. That’s the scare tactic."• "Clients buy information. Customers buy products."• "If you don’t know who the idiot is at the poker table, it’s you."• "He was a slow learner, but he figured it out." (his tombstone)