LEADERS IN QUALITY
CONSTRUCTION AND
INFRASTRUCTURE

From past earthquakes, multi-story buildings with weak and/or open front wall lines creating a “soft-story” (i.e. buildings with tuck-under parking) performed poorly and collapsed. The goal of the soft-story retrofit program, mandated by multiple jurisdictions such as City of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, etc., is to reduce structural deficiencies by the most economical and feasible method. Without proper strengthening, these vulnerable buildings may be subjected to structural failure during and/or after an earthquake.

Buildings that are most vulnerable have been identified with the following criteria:

• Consist of 2 or more stories wood frame construction

• Built under building code standards enacted before January 1, 1978

• Contains ground floor parking or other similar open floor space