Either residential or commercial building the property owner must ensure the safety of the place. The soft-story, non-ductile concrete buildings and buildings with more than two wood frame stories are considered to be vulnerable to strong seismic force. To reduce the potential damage, injuries and life risk the soft story retrofit program have been made mandatory in some of the earthquake-prone cities like Los Angeles. The property owners now have to check whether their building is in accordance to the city laws and if not then they have to retrofit their building as per the rules and specification otherwise they might have to face serious legal consequence such as fine, administrative enforcement, prosecution, etc. 

Choose wisely

As the demand for soft story retrofitting is increasing by leap and bound; consequently, the numbers of retrofit company is also at constant rise. Retrofitting is an expensive undertaking, and the cost of the construction varies as per the structure of the building and method used. Some of the reliable retrofit companies offer free initial consultation so that their clients can get a rough idea about the final expense. Different companies use different material like structural steel connectors and I-beams, glue-lam beams and steel connection hardware, etc.  Hence if you have received the legal notice or want to find out the condition and retrofit needs of your building then choose a reliable, experienced and professional retrofit company and get best value for your money.

Things to consider

Retrofit is a time-consuming process which starts with analyzing the building by structural engineer and ends with final construction work. Regardless of the size, type and complexity of the project reputable retrofit companies make sure that their team works with integration to provide cost-effective and feasible solution to each client. The competent team strives to complete the work with perfection within the estimated timeframe so that their clients can reoccupy the space and get back to their normal life soon. 

Avoid substandard company

Before hiring any retrofit company to ensure that the company is insured, licensed and bonded. Go through the website of the company and get relevant information regarding company’s ethic, qualification of team, services offered, technology used, etc. Reading blog and testimonials could be immensely beneficial.