January 1st is almost upon us and every year in California we see new laws come into effect on the first of the year and this year is no different.
You can watch our video here if you prefer
Deck Expert Bill Leys Discusses SB 410 & How It Effects HOAs & Deck Inspection Firms Reports
Notably for HOAs and balcony inspection companies SB 410 will take effect on January 1st and impose 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.
The other home inspector missed this “little” issue
A recent inspection we performed for a prospective buyer of a condominium in San Luis Obispo demonstrates perfectly, why you as a buyer need to have your own inspections done at your own cost. This particular inspection found many issues that were glossed over as simply needing patching and painting rather than complete replacement of major components such as windows, doors, decks and subflooring under a shower.
The seller had a pre sale inspection done at their expense and provided that report to the prospective buyer. He had questions and doubts about the report and reached out to us after searching for a waterproofing and building consultant.
Our inspection found that many items the other inspector glossed over in his report as needing “patching and painting” or minor repairs were far from the real situation which was that all the doors and windows were past their useable lifespan and needed to be completely replaced. We found dry-rotted framing on decks, open and exposed framing on columns, dry-rot in the substrate below a shower floor which requires the substrate to be replaced due to fungus infestations.
I keep seeing some firms offering 20% off a competitors lower price to steal the deck inspection job away.
That should not inspire confidence in their capabilities as inspectors, in fact it should cause your board concern.
We allow ample time to perform the on-site balcony inspections, giving ourselves the ability to really stop and review EEEs that raise our suspicions that something “maybe ain’t right” as we say in these parts lol. This method has proven to us over and over that careful Inspections take time and by taking our time, we often find hidden problems that a cursory inspection would miss.
Your balcony inspection is not something you should take lightly; there’s a lot of liability and if something goes awry, selecting the wrong deck inspector company with a contract that heavily favors them with clauses that excludes them for their errors and omissions will cause your HOA to assume liability.
I’ve heard of one company that has a forty page contract; ours is nine for comparison. A forty page contract sounds like a nightmare that no average consumer can reasonably understand in my opinion. Without an attorney to review this kind of contract, you are probably signing something that is not beneficial to your Association. We recommend that all contracts be reviewed by an attorney prior to executing them, including ours.
Don’t rush to the conclusion that all balcony inspection companies are the same; they aren’t. Let us show you why we are setting the bar in performing #SB326 inspections in Southern California. Reach out for a free proposal and a conversation on how we approach this critical inspection with you.
Watch this quick video about using fire pits, turkey fryers and grills on combustible decks… To ruin the plot line, do not use turkey, fryers, fire pits or grills on any decks.
Please be safe this Thanksgiving holiday and don’t grill, use a fire pit or fry the turkey on your deck!
We’re pleased to announce that we were awarded the contract to perform a SB 326 inspection for a condominium complex on Pacific Street in Santa Monica. The three story building with decks stairs and walkways requiring inspection received several bids from competitors.
The Board after reviewing the bids and each firms credentials, selected our bid over the others, citing that our bid included a guarantee that our engineer will personally inspect the EEEs, that we don’t perform repairs and that our inspection team’s bonafides gave them the confidence in awarding the job to William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC.
These walkways and stairs are EEEs as defined in SB 326 and will be inspected by the best inspection team in the industry.
Of course it might also have helped that the Associations Board has an engineer serving as president and recognized that qualifications matter. Our engineer is an award winning structural engineer with years of experience doing structural inspections.
A client reached out to William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC to ask about what we know about Roof Maxx after getting a quote from them to treat the 15 roofs the condo association has. The reserve study says that they have to replace the roofs in about 5 years and at the current rate of savings and the amount of money in the reserves, they will not have enough money to pay for a roof replacement. Their thought was that they would have the roofs “roof maxxed” (our term) and extend the life of their roofs so that they can continue to put money into reserves instead of having to pass a special assessment to replace the roofs.
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Certainly this is a noble idea and one that is worth considering at the least. The client had met Roof Maxx at an HOA event and the sales person at the luncheon was certainly persuasive selling the supposed virtues of Roof Maxx to my client.
Termed controversial by one well known attorney in the HOA industry, Bill pulls no punches when it comes to seeing what’s going on and calling out the grifters that flooded the inspection market. We’ve made multiple complaints to state agencies, pissing off the bad apples, been sued to shut us up by POS pretend deck inspectors who use the bill to sucker HOAs into expensive repairs, we’re going to remain controversial and wear that label as a badge of pride.
Watch our video on our thoughts on CLACs plans to fix SB326. We’ve seen so many issues, from insurance companies denying associations insurance coverage if they have structural issues with their EEEs, to banks denying buyers mortgages on condos with EEE issues to the grifters plaguing the balcony inspection industry using the bill to literally steal from HOAs.
We’re pleased to announce that we were recently hired by a Redondo Beach HOA that desperately needs to replace a failing waterproofing system on their podium deck.
The HOA sought several proposals from building envelope consulting firms and after interviewing and researching, the Board of Directors selected us, citing their previous experience working with us on their SB326 inspections and our detailed proposal and experience as waterproofing consultants.
Failing Waterproofing on a Podium Deck in Redondo Beach Will be Renovated
We will be writing a scope of work to put it to bid with several highly experienced contractors, perform non invasive testing of the deck to determine if there are any issues of concern and when the work begins, we will do quality assurance inspections to ensure the work is being done correctly.
Our Expertise & Guarantee That Our Structural Engineer Performs the Inspection Stands Out Over Other Firms
We’re happy to announce that we were selected to perform balcony inspections at a mid rise HOA in Signal Hill by the Board of Directors. Our detailed proposal and years of experience gave the Board of Directors the confidence that we were the best choice out of the five firms bidding.
Cantilevered Balcony at A Signal Hill Condo Association
We are so happy to hear strong praise like this as it reinforces our belief that we are one of the best qualified firms in the balcony inspection industry. Our guarantee of no conflicts of interest, our guarantee that a structural engineer personally performs the inspection and that our 20+ years of prior experience in waterproofing as deck contractors is a deciding factor, along with competitive rates for Boards faced with enormous pressure to get in compliance with SB326’s requirements to inspect.
Let us show you why we are one of the best firms in the balcony inspection industry and let us earn your business with our professionalism and expertise. Get in touch today by calling 805-801-2380 and talk to Bill Leys with no obligation.
Even before William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC was formed, President Bill Leys has been assisting clients throughout California recover financial damages from contractors who caused construction defects that led to water intrusion and property damage. As an expert waterproofing consultant serving San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Kern and Los Angeles counties, we’ve helped clients recoup hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past few years.
Our expertise in building technology and waterproofing methods, investigative skills and ability to document and report on the problems, the causes and suggested repairs needed have allowed our clients to convince the Contractors State License Board, the contractors at fault and their Bond companies to act. We’ve seen great success with the CSLB investigating complaints, contractors agreeing to repair defective work and have bond and insurance carriers pay on claims made by our clients.
Some recent success stories include helping a client in San Bernardino recover 5k+ in damages caused by faulty deck waterproofing work by a contractor from Palm Springs. Our investigation found that the contractors “expert witness” actually had business ventures with his client, leading to the Judge concluding the contractors witness had implicit bias in favor of his client. In other words, his testimony was rejected by the Court. Our client got a court order that the contractor had to remove a lien on their home and could not collect $5,000 they claimed our client owed.
No blocking between the old and new plywood is a defect that will cause any waterproofing to eventually fail.
Another success story found us assisting a client in Avila Beach whose recent kitchen addition was apparently leaking. Our investigation found windows were leaking from faulty installation, deck flashing that leaked from faulty installation and as a result of our testing and report, the client was able to successfully initiate a claim against the contractors general liability insurance and recover funds to repair their damages. The client made a confidential settlement with the insurance company for well over 6 figures.
SB 326 Deck Inspection Specialists * Building Waterproofing Consultants * Construction Defect Investigations By Bill Leys The Deck Expert 