Editorial Standards

Authorship and the Grant Steele byline

Grant Steele is a disclosed editorial pen name used for Austin Foundation Repair’s written content. It is not a real individual, and we say so plainly rather than inventing a biography, a headshot or a field career.

The byline covers foundation repair education: slab and pier-and-beam work, evaluations, methods, costs and Central Texas soils. Content published under it never claims firsthand fieldwork. Where an article describes what happens on site, it reflects our documented process, not a personal anecdote attributed to a fictional author.

Real technical reviewers with relevant qualifications are credited separately where consequential structural explanations are involved.

Review before publication

Content that could influence a structural decision receives appropriately qualified review before it goes live. That covers repair methods, what evaluations can and cannot determine, movement mechanics, and anything describing how a system carries load.

We never equate a contractor evaluation with an engineering opinion. Texas engineering guidance distinguishes the two, and so do we, in every piece where the distinction matters.

Sourcing and claims

Facts, estimates and interpretations are labelled as such. If a figure is an illustrative range rather than a measured value, the text says so.
Price ranges are published with a scope and a date, or not at all. A bare “starting at” number with no scope attached is marketing, not information.
Original project data is described with its limits. If we cite our own work, we give the sample size and explain what is included. A handful of projects is not an Austin-wide average and we do not present it as one.
Geology and soil references stay accurate. We treat soil series, formations, aquifers and fault zones as different kinds of entity. We do not present I-35 as an exact geological boundary; the Balcones Fault Zone contains multiple faults, and mapped geology beats a highway-based assumption.
Soil maps are background, not site investigation. Mapped soil data is useful context, and some engineering applications require on-site investigation. We say which is which.

What we will not publish

Diagnoses made from photographs or descriptions alone.
Universal crack-width rules used to declare a home safe or in need of repair.
Invented projects, customers, measurements, timelines or outcomes.
Superlative claims such as “Austin’s best”, “permanent solution” or “lowest price”.
Generated illustrations presented as documented records of completed work.

Images

Illustrative imagery on this site is labelled where it could otherwise be mistaken for documented work. Photographs of real projects, teams, inspections and before-and-after comparisons are authentic and permissioned. We do not create fictitious employees, certification marks, licence numbers or branded vehicles in generated images.

Updates and corrections

Pages are updated when services, evidence, prices, warranties or sources change, and substantive updates carry a visible date. Evergreen guides are written so they can be refreshed without a rewrite.

If you find an error, tell us at info@austinfoundationrepair.net. We correct factual mistakes promptly and, where the correction is material, note what changed rather than quietly editing the page.

Independence

We are a repair company, so our content has a commercial interest behind it. We manage that by keeping educational pages educational: guides answer the question first and mention our services at the end, not throughout. Where the honest answer is “you may not need repair” or “get an independent engineering opinion”, that is what the page says.