Funderingsonderzoek before buying a Dutch house: cost and steps

The crack above the front door is "settlement, it has always been there". In parts of the Netherlands that sentence describes a foundation slowly failing under a house built on wooden piles or on no piles at all.

A funderingsonderzoek is a structural investigation of a house's foundation. The Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli), the government's advisory council, estimates that around 425,000 buildings already have subsidence damage or will get it by 2035, and the knowledge centre KCAF prices a full investigation at roughly 7,000 to 9,000 euros per building, after a QuickScan of 350 to 650 euros.

How big is the foundation problem?

The Rli's advice Goed gefundeerd, delivered to the ministers of the interior and of infrastructure on 29 February 2024, puts the scale in three numbers. Around 425,000 buildings, about 6 percent of the national stock, have subsidence damage now or will get it between now and 2035. The total damage could run to 54 billion euros. A national approach would need government investment of more than 12 billion euros over 2024 to 2035. The council names lowered groundwater levels, bacterial decay of wooden piles, drought, works near a building, ageing and construction faults as the causes.

The council also proposed what the state should pay: a subsidy of 90 percent of the cost of a foundation investigation, 70 percent of a repair plan, and 30 percent of the repair itself up to 40,000 euros, all until 2035. The government's response on 3 December 2024, published on Rijksoverheid.nl, set up a national approach with 56 million euros over four years, a national information point, and support for owners through investigation, advice and practical guidance, while pointing to the Fonds Duurzaam Funderingsherstel as the loan channel.

What does a funderingsonderzoek involve, and what does it cost?

KCAF, the Kennis Centrum Aanpak Funderingsproblematiek, describes two levels. A QuickScan combines archive research, a visual inspection, mortar joint levelling measurements and plumb measurements, can be done within days, and costs on average 350 to 650 euros. A full funderingsonderzoek has the foundation examined structurally, any decayed wood analysed in a laboratory, and the remaining service life and any enforcement period determined, at around 7,000 to 9,000 euros per building. In an earlier analysis, updated in February 2024, KCAF quoted 4,000 to 5,000 euros for an investigation alone, falling to about 1,500 euros when a whole block is investigated together, and put repair at 54,000 to 100,000 euros per dwelling on average.

What foundation work costs in the Netherlands, lower end of KCAF's ranges

Step	From (€)
QuickScan		+350€
Full funderingsonderzoek		+7,000€
Foundation repair		+54,000€

The cost ladder explains the order. The QuickScan tells you whether the full investigation is worth commissioning; the full investigation tells you whether the repair figure belongs in your offer.

Does the bouwkundig rapport cover the foundation?

Not in the way a buyer hopes. A standard structural survey inspects what is visible, and the foundation is not, which is why KCAF's investigation involves exposing and sampling the piles. The survey report that a mortgage guarantee can require is described in our guide to the bouwkundig rapport; it records cracks and settlement signs, and those signs are the trigger for a foundation investigation rather than a substitute for one.

The other Amsterdam specific document, the ground lease, is a separate check, covered in our guide to erfpacht.

What help exists once you own the house?

KCAF reported on 3 July 2025 that the Fonds Duurzaam Funderingsherstel became available nationwide to all private homeowners from 1 July 2025. The fund offers a mortgage loan with a thirty year term, no monthly payments in the first three years because the fund covers interest and principal, and a rate fixed for the whole term; the maximum is calculated as the square metres of ground floor or basement multiplied by 2,100 euros excluding VAT, with a minimum loan of 2,500 euros. The government's December 2024 announcement describes the fund's principle as paying according to capacity, betalen naar draagkracht.

None of that money reaches a buyer before the deed. The subsidies the Rli proposed are recommendations, the 56 million euros is a four year national budget, and the fund lends to owners. The only lever a buyer holds is the investigation before the offer.

Order the QuickScan before you bid on a pre 1970 house in a subsidence area, and price the full investigation into the offer when the scan says so. AiMYNDi reads the bouwkundig rapport and the sale documents and flags the settlement signs that KCAF lists as triggers.