If you are the owner of a beautiful building site in a geologically challenging location, you should consider the use of micropiles before you build.
Micropiles are used when there are strata of solid rock interlaying softer material. In such cases, we drill a hole through all the layers using high-pressure hydraulics and pneumatics. Once drilled, we insert a reinforcing member, sort of like rebar, into the hole and then inject cement grout from the bottom up. The grout penetrates the softer soils, bonds to the harder ones and creates a friction "grip" that is simple to calculate and spectacularly effective.
Micropiles on even the most difficult sites in Santa Fe will seldom exceed 20 feet in depth and can bear massive loads. As an example, a 4 7/8-inch diameter hole drilled to 15 feet with one high-tensile strength reinforcing rod grouted into the center can support up to 56,000 pounds. Yes, that's most of a house -- but you will need more than one because of the limits (the span strength) of the footings above.