Stucco repair costs in Springfield

Sinkholes are part of owning a house in Springfield. The city's guide to sinkholes in the Ozarks calls collapses very common here, and says the City of Springfield responds to more than 30 reported collapses in an average year. Most sinkholes are a slow nuisance, the guide says, but on rare occasions a large collapse damages property.

The city has rules for this. A Public Works permit is required to fill or grade, use motorized equipment, build a structure, or change drainage inside a depression sinkhole, though you don't need one to fill a small collapse on your own lot. If a collapse opens near your house, the guide says to rope it off, call Stormwater Engineering, and contact your homeowner's insurance and a qualified professional. It also lists look-alikes: a dip in the yard can come from clay that shrinks and swells, an old well or cistern, a buried stump, or a collapsed septic tank.

Plenty of houses here are old, too: roughly one Springfield home in eight predates 1940, according to Census figures.