Abstract: Residual soil on granite is one of symmict soils, with its specific characteristics which results in a particular foundation loading capacity. From a large amount of field and indoor experimental data, the feasibility of other measuring methods for assessing foundation loading capacity was determined, and a revised scheme of determining shallow foundation loading capacity by SPT method is suggested by the author in the paper. The relationship between water content in soil, shallow foundation loading capacity and the affecting factors is discussed.