- 19326 Ventura Blvd, Tarzana, CA 91356, United States
- 2001 Addison St Ste 300, Berkeley, CA 94704
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Call now for a FREE quote
Secure Your Building, Safeguard Your Investment.
Living in Southern California means living with the reality of earthquakes. For property owners, being proactive is a crucial step in protecting your building, your tenants, and your financial future. At Retrofit1, we provide specialized earthquake retrofitting to reinforce your Burbank property from the foundation up, ensuring it has the strength to withstand seismic forces and giving you invaluable peace of mind.
Many owners of multi-family properties in Burbank are required by law to complete a seismic retrofit. This program was created to protect lives and prevent catastrophic building failures. Owners with properties in both Burbank and Los Angeles may need to track different ordinance requirements, permit steps, and compliance timelines for each building. The requirements can be complex, but we are here to make them easier to manage.
A “soft-story” building is a structure with a weak or open ground level, such as apartments built over carports or large commercial windows. During an earthquake, these ground floors are highly vulnerable to collapse. Burbank’s Mandatory Soft-Story Ordinance requires strengthening them to modern safety standards.
The Path to Full Compliance:
We manage the entire city-mandated process in three clear phases:
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(844) 72-BUILD
(866) 985-6936
“From the first inspection to the final repair, they were super responsive and professional.” – Natassia Y.
Property owners with buildings in more than one Los Angeles County jurisdiction should not assume every retrofit follows the same path. Permit review, tenant notices, inspection requirements, and compliance timelines can change from city to city.
Every building is unique, and this is why we have a menu of solutions tailored to your specific property.
We transform a building’s weakest point into a source of strength. By installing new steel moment frames, shear walls, and other reinforcements, we ensure the ground floor can withstand the lateral forces of an earthquake and prevent collapse.
For single-family homes, this is one of the most important preventative measures. We anchor your home’s wooden frame to its concrete foundation and brace the short “cripple walls” to stop the house from sliding or toppling off its foundation during a quake.
Older concrete buildings built before modern code changes can be dangerously rigid and brittle. We engineer solutions to add ductility and strength to these structures, allowing them to flex rather than break during seismic activity.
Brick buildings are prone to having their walls peel away from the structure during an earthquake. Our URM retrofitting service involves anchoring walls to the floors and roof, creating a unified structure that is far more resilient.
For landlords, managing tenant relations during construction is critical. We develop and manage the THP, handling all required notices and accommodations to ensure the process is smooth and compliant with state and local laws.
Our in-house engineering team designs custom, cost-effective retrofitting plans tailored to your property. We then manage the entire permitting process with the city, ensuring your project is code-compliant and ready for construction without delay.
We start with a thorough inspection of your property to assess its foundation, frame, and unique structural characteristics.
Our engineers design a precise, tailored retrofitting plan. Once you approve it, we submit the plans to the city and secure all necessary permits.
Our skilled construction team carries out the retrofitting work with precision and care, respecting your property and tenants.
We coordinate and pass the final city inspection, delivering to you a fully compliant and seismically strengthened building. For owners managing properties in nearby jurisdictions like Pasadena, clear documentation and city-specific plan review can make a major difference in how smoothly the final approval process moves.
Common Questions
Cost varies widely based on the building's size, condition, and the type of retrofit needed. A simple Brace & Bolt for a single-family home might range from $3,000 to $7,000. A multi-unit soft-story retrofit is a more complex project and can range from $25,000 to over $130,000. We provide a detailed, transparent quote after our initial assessment.
A typical foundation bolting project can be completed in a few days. Soft-story retrofitting projects are more involved and usually take 2 to 6 weeks for construction, depending on the project's complexity. For tenant-occupied buildings in cities like West Hollywood, scheduling, access, and notice requirements should be planned before construction begins.
Yes. A retrofitted building is a safer, more secure asset. It is more attractive to potential buyers and lenders and can lead to a higher market value. It also demonstrates responsible ownership.
Key signs include if your building was constructed before 1980, has a soft-story configuration (e.g., parking on the ground floor), is built on a hillside, or has visible cracks in the foundation or masonry.
In most cases, yes. Insurance carriers recognize that retrofitting significantly reduces risk. Many offer substantial discounts on earthquake insurance premiums for properties that have been professionally retrofitted. We provide all necessary documentation for your insurer.
An earthquake is a force of nature you cannot control. But you can control how prepared your building is to withstand it. A seismic retrofit is one of the most important investments you can make, protecting not just your property, but the lives of those inside.
Take the single most effective step to secure your building’s future.