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Are Helical Piers Stronger than Concrete?

When comparing helical piers to traditional concrete for disaster recovery and foundation stabilization, the focus is often on speed, reliability, and immediate performance rather than a simple measure of “strength.”

While concrete is a standard material, helical piers offer several distinct advantages in critical situations:

  • Immediate Load Readiness: Unlike concrete piers, which can take days or weeks to cure and gain sufficient strength, helical piers are ready to bear full design loads the moment they are installed.
  • Corrosion Resistance: Our helical pier systems feature Class B1 hot-dip galvanized coatings (meeting ASTM A153 standards). This provides built-in protection against moisture and aggressive soil chemistry that often follows floods or storms—protections that standard concrete lacks.
  • Adaptability in Poor Soils: We use mechanical coupling to drive steel shafts deep into the earth until they reach stable, load-bearing strata. This modular approach is often up to 66% faster than traditional methods in poor soil conditions because it avoids the need for extensive excavation or ground improvement.
  • Certified Performance: Our systems are ICC-ES evaluated, ensuring the product and installation process meet strict quality and stability standards before we even arrive at your site.

Ultimately, whether engineered steel or conventional concrete is appropriate for your project depends on site-specific factors such as soil conditions and urgency. As The Experts in Steel Piers, we recommend an on-site evaluation to determine the best solution for your foundation.

All information is for general purposes and estimates are preliminary until confirmed in writing after an on-site inspection. Consult a licensed structural engineer for definitive design recommendations.


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