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home inspections

William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC is Now A Home Hardening Certified Provider via The Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council’s “Design for Fire Resilience” Training Course

Bill Leys, President of William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC recently completed the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council’s “Design for Fire Resilience” Structure Hardening Course for Architects and Building Designers at the Council’s headquarters on State Street in Santa Barbara. The day long course, led by nationally recognized wildfire expert Dave Shew taught participants about techniques and best practices to harden homes in the WUI.
As recognized home hardening building designers, we can now help SLO and Santa Barbara County homeowners with strategies to reduce their homes exposure to wildfire and survive.


We are now offering home hardening assessments for home owners to help you increase your homes ability to survive fires via a variety of preventative methods, including your landscaping, installing ember resistant vents, ensuring that your roof is ember resistant as well as any decks, windows, siding and doors.


Reach out today to learn more about our latest service we offer to help our community survive and resist wildfire!

Call Bill Leys today at 805-801-2380!

Reach out today for a home evaluation! 805-801-2380

Download the Santa Barbara Fire Safe Council/Cal Fire’s free GUIDE FOR HOME HARDENING here at this link below. We bring this guide to you as a public service to increase community safety. No infringement of any copy rights owned by any  entity is intended.

Guide For Home Hardening Download

Deck Inspections

MAY IS DECK SAFETY MONTH! RESIDENTIAL DECK INSPECTIONS ARE ONLY $200 FOR SLO COUNTY RESIDENTS!

Many decks in SLO County are 20 years old or older, and may have serious defects and deterioration from years of use and lack of maintenance.

Deck Expert Bill Leys is offering his deck inspection services for the low price of only $200 through May 31st to SLO County homeowners who want to ensure their deck is safe, a savings of $150 off the regular price of $350.

Don’t risk a deck collapse accident which is entirely preventable by inspecting the deck, the framing, posts and the connection to the wall with our 30+ point visual inspection!

Call today 805-801-2380 and take advantage of this great offer.

Deck Expert Bill Leys thoroughly inspects your deck to ensure it is safe to use for that graduation party, a wedding or the Saturday BBQ.
SB 326 Balcony Inspections

HOAs Are Required to Have Final Inspection Reports Issued After Repairs are Done Under SB-410


Attention HOAs, SB 410 took effect on January 1st and imposes certain requirements on HOAs and on balcony inspection companies.

For HOA Boards of Directors, you are affected in several ways; the first being that SB326 reports are now considered to be HOA records, which means an owner can request and review them at any time. Secondly, reports cannot be withheld or redacted and third sellers of a common interest development property now must provide buyers with the most recent SB326 inspection report.

In regards to inspection companies, their reports must include as of January 1st, the date of the inspection, the total number of units in the community. How many exterior elevated elements there are? And I think it would be a good idea to break down how many of each type there are IE stairs versus balcones versus walkways. How many units have exterior elevated elements? How many exterior elevated elements were inspected and whether any safety concerns were identified.

Our engineering partner is already in compliance with these requirements and so we are ready to forge ahead and set the bar with our superior inspections and inspection reports.

Lastly But probably the most important part of sb410 is the requirement for HOAs to have an engineer issue a final report after repairs are made to life safety issues. This final report is needed to be able to enable buyers of property obtain mortgages and sellers of properties to be able to sell without undue delay. Personally, I expect that we will see legal claims brought against HOAs that fail to obtain final inspection reports and unnecessarily delay there homeowners to be able to close a sale.

As always, this is not legal advice. Please obtain the advice of your HOA attorney related to SB 410 sb326 and any other bills that may affect common interest developments related to balcony inspections.

Continue reading HOAs Are Required to Have Final Inspection Reports Issued After Repairs are Done Under SB-410 →
SB 326 Balcony Inspections

SB 326 Inspection Specialists William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC Discovers Hidden Dangerous Railing Defects at a Redondo Beach Condo

As deck inspection experts who concentrate on SB 326 inspections for condos, we see a lot of defects in our line of work.

This week was no different, at an inspection we performed with our engineering partners at Critical  Structures Inc we found numerous railings that were structurally compromised. The wood railings on 16 decks were assembled using nails to fasten the stiles to the railing frame.

We don’t like nails for structural railings meant to prevent falls from the deck. In the past, nails were the method most often used, whereas today structural screws are required. At this property we check the railings by pushing on them and with a light kick at the bottom. To our horror, we discovered numerous railing stiles were not able to withstand a light kick without pushing out with the nails.

Watch our 30 second video to understand

Hidden railing dangers found by Deck Expert Bill Leys!

Our biggest fear is that a child leaning against the railing stiles might fall if the nails fastening the stiles pull out of the wood rail bottom piece. With these decks over the concrete driveway and being 14′ high on the lower deck and 24′ tall on the upper deck, any fall from that height would probably have fatal consequences.

This discovery highlights why HOAs need to hire the best qualified inspection company instead of the least expensive company. Yeah the cheap company, if they missed these defective railings and an accident happened, would get sued. Small comfort for the victim if they were seriously injured or killed.

At William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC, we are very thorough in our inspections, ensuring with our checklist that we check every critical life safety items. Call us today for a free conversation on how we can help you with getting the most thorough inspection at a competitive cost. Call Bill Leys at 805-801-2380.

leak investigation

San Luis Obispo Contractor Selects William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC To Investigate Leaks at Santa Maria Medical Offices

We Will Be Investigating the Source of Water Intrusion on This Medical Center in Santa Maria

William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC is pleased to announce that we’ve been selected to investigate the source of water intrusion into a medical building in Santa Maria CA by a well respected local contractor.

The building has been subject to water intrusion over the last several years and is now ready to undergo repairs and upgrades to the facility. As a local consulting firm, William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC offers competitive pricing, building envelope expertise and 20 years of experience in the construction industry.

Continue reading San Luis Obispo Contractor Selects William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC To Investigate Leaks at Santa Maria Medical Offices →
Deck Inspections, SB 326 Balcony Inspections, SB 721 Inspections

Railing Failure in Boston Sends Two People to The Hospital

This is another reason why EEE inspections are necessary!

At William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC, we take balcony inspections very seriously as life safety is paramount! Don’t wait until an accident happens, even though no one died in this accident, we’ll bet good money that one or both victims of this railing failure will bring a lawsuit against the building owner. A good inspector likely would have flagged the railing as being unsafe.

Here at William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC we have found many structural deficiencies over the years on EEEs we have inspected. We have had to post notices informing residents that the balconies were off limits until repairs were made.

Our warning notice to not use the deck until it is fixed
When decks fail structural inspections, they need to be closed from use until repairs are made.
Continue reading Railing Failure in Boston Sends Two People to The Hospital →
leak investigation

Century City Condominium Retains William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC to Investigate Leaks

We’re pleased to announce that a landmark high rise in Century City (Los Angeles) has retained us to investigate leaks at several units that remodeled their decks into living space with storefront type windows enclosing the deck. The leaks occur during rain events accompanied by high winds.

Previous investigations identified what were thought to be several flaws in the window installation, however the repairs failed to remedy the problems as the leaks returned in the next storm.

Our experience and success in leak investigations helped convince the Board of Directors to retain us to investigate and recommend steps the Association can take make repairs after identifying the cause(s).

If your HOA is experiencing leaks from rain events and you need assistance to identify the cause reach out today for a free conversation about how we can help you! Call Bill Leys, the Deck Expert at 805-801-2380.

We aren’t quite superman as we can’t fly to the top of tall buildings, but our thermal imaging camera can “see” through walls and our moisture meter can detect moisture that ordinary mortals cannot!
leak investigation, Quality Assurance Observations, Roof Inspections and Consulting

Pesky Leak to Be Investigated By William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC’s Leak Investigation Sleuths

Where’s the leak? That’s why we were hired, to find a pesky leak that has evaded detection of its source for several years.

William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC has been retained to provide leak investigation services by a large builder of medical buildings in California. The pesky leak has caused several offices in the building to be vacated during the rainy season due to concerns over potential mold hazards, never a good thing for patients visiting the building.

We will be using a spray rack to water test the facade of the building in San Luis Obispo county this week. The facade features store front windows and a stone finish on the 4 year old building. Leaks can often hide in such situations and the building’s owners and its construction team that built the building hired us to assist in the leak investigation due to our history of expertise in leak investigations and building enclosure experience.

If your building is experiencing leaks, reach out to us to have a discussion on how we may be able to assist in determining the source and make recommendations for repairs. Our leak investigation experts are ready to assist! Call today 805-801-2380

While we were inspecting the roof, we found the roof drain sump pit clogged up with debris. We also found that the TPO roof has reverse laps that buck water flowing towards the drain.
Quality Assurance Observations

“Structural Issues” Cause Bay Area Condo Building to Be Evacuated Until Temporary Shoring is Installed

UPDATE AS OF 3/19/26

We spoke with reporter Kevin Nguyen at the SF Standard regarding this property after he reached out to us asking about this property. We were the source that alerted Kevin to the fact that the picture below by  Anna Nevskaya showed failed post tension cables poking out from the building.

Turns out that post tension cables that support the podium deck slab have failed. I saw a review on Google by an owner at the property and knew instantly this building is F’d.

I’ll now predict that the slab can’t be fixed and the building will have to be demolished. What engineer in their right mind would believe that the other cables that aren’t broken are ok and just recommend repairs to the failed cables? No one in their right mind would in my opinion.

Post tension cables have broken in numerous places in one area as seen in this photo taken by Anna Nevskaya (and republished here for public knowledge.) The cause is unknown but is likely related to either damage caused by a massive fire that occurred during the construction, water damage or both.
Continue reading “Structural Issues” Cause Bay Area Condo Building to Be Evacuated Until Temporary Shoring is Installed →
SB 326 Balcony Inspections

A Client Asks Us “There Are So Many Deck Inspection Companies, Aren’t They All The Same?”

The answer in short is no, all inspection companies are not the same. Here is an explanation on why inspection companies are not at all equal in experience, ethics and in following the balcony bill requirements.

The SB 326 balcony inspection bill failed to ban inspectors from owning construction companies and failed to ban inspectors who own waterproofing and construction companies from bidding on jobs they inspected, so unscrupulous individuals are popping up to take advantage of unsuspecting and unknowledgeable consumers. 

Without a doubt, during your Google search you are bound to come across  deck inspection companies advertising on the world wide web which are run by individuals who opened a deck inspection company to take unfair advantage of HOAs despite their contractors licenses having complaint disclosures listed on their license for such offenses such as failing to complete work for the price quoted in their contract, taking a deposit in excess of $1,000, hiring unlicensed sub contractors and departing from trade standards.

We personally know of one deck inspector/deck inspection company who is under active investigation by the Board of Engineers for practicing engineering without an engineering license. That investigation was opened in July 2025 and remains active today.

Continue reading A Client Asks Us “There Are So Many Deck Inspection Companies, Aren’t They All The Same?” →