Suspected damage to slab foundation in Naples FL

Okay Ladies & Gents,

My daughter has a contract on a home in Naples, that in the last year had a pool constructed in the back yard.
She asked me, a Virginia home inspector, to come down & inspect it for her. How could I refuse?
Well, in the left rear corner of the slab foundation covered by a tile floor, I found a diagonal crack in the tile running from 10 feet on the left wall from the rear corner to 10 feet from the corner on the back wall. Ordinarily, I would consider this a minor settlement crack as it is a hairline. However, the 3 light, one fixed two french, door wouldn’t latch correctly on the left side slave door, the center light. This door would not open completely because it hit the entry roof overhang at about 85 degrees open.
Furthermore, on the entry roof, several clay tiles had shifted away from the structure about 4". Each one of these issues alone would need attention, all 3 in the same area sets off my spider sense.
Quite a coincidence, eh?
Here’s my question to you south Florida inspectors out there, could it be that when the pool was excavated, the underlying soil could have shifted enough to cause these symptoms, and are there any foundation repair contractors that can fix this if indeed it is a cracked, settled foundation as a result of the pool construction? Or am I overthinking this?
Best Regards, Tim Gardner

Best to have a foundation contractor assess it. It may need underpinning or helical supports on the footings. It’s very possible the corner footing rotated due to the pool excavation, or it could be something else. Either way, it won’t be cheap.

Tim,

In general any excavation should not encroach on the 45° dotted line I drew in the picture with out some type of shoring. So if the pool was excavated 8’ deep the excavation should have started 8’ from the foundation. Once you past that 45° line you take a chance of having foundation settlement issues.

Some pics would help but sounds like you are going to need the services of both a geo-technical and structural engineer.