Searching for a Structural Engineer for Seismic Retrofit
Does anyone have a recommendation for a Structural Engineer that does seismic retrofits to houses? We live in a 6-unit condo in Berkeley. Two out of 3 of our buildings have 3 side-by-side garages underneath each building. The garages only take up 1/3 of the floor plan of the building. We recently got a quote from an engineer that estimated it would cost $30k and looking to see if that is reasonable or excessive.
Feb 26, 2019
Parent Replies
We recently used Rick Hoffman for a retrofit on our 1000 sq ft home and it was $12k, however we do not have any structures over a garage, which I understand increases the cost significantly. Based on what you describe, $30k seems in the right ballpark. We were happy with Rick and his crew, they were professional, prompt and handled all permitting and rebate paperwork for us.
It’s unclear from your note if the $30k is just for the engineering or if that includes the actual work. If it’s just for the engineer and your place isn’t on a complicated property like a steep hill with landslide risk and a terrible foundation, that price seems very high to me. Assuming each of the condos is similar in construction, the details the engineer has to develop should be reusuable for all the buildings. If the price includes the actual construction, the price seems reasonable. For seismic, we paid around $7500 for drawings, permits, and construction for our 1100 sq ft house a few years ago. We could use all standard details, so the engineer didn’t have to develop anything fancy specifically for our house. I suspect today that the same work would cost $10-12k. We used Bay Area Retrofit and were happy with them. https://www.bayarearetrofit.com/