We document. We disclose. You decide.
Introducing the Balcony Inspection Transparency Project
http://www.balconytransparency.org (coming soon)
William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC is a founding member—and we are inviting other California inspection companies to participate.
California homeowners associations, apartment owners, community managers, and building owners are being asked to make important decisions about balcony and exterior elevated element inspections. Those decisions can affect occupant safety, association finances, reserve planning, repair priorities, and long-term property maintenance.
Consumers deserve to know exactly who they are hiring.
That is why William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC is a founding member of the Balcony Inspection Transparency Project, or BITP.
BITP is being developed as a source-based consumer-information project focused on companies offering balcony, deck, and exterior elevated element inspection services in California. Its purpose is straightforward: make important information about inspection providers easier to find, understand, compare, and correct.
I don’t want to do this just on my own, so if you would like to volunteer as a participant to ensure a fair and even process across the board, feel free to let me know!
We document. We disclose. You decide.
We Are Seeking Cooperation Across the Industry
BITP should not be a directory in which one company gets to ask questions of everyone else while avoiding those same questions itself.
William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC intends to complete the same transparency questionnaire offered to every participating company. We will identify our company’s ownership, services, professional relationships, role in SB 326 projects, relevant licenses and qualifications, business affiliations, and whether we or another participant may have a financial interest in related services.
We are inviting balcony inspection companies, engineering firms, architectural firms, contractors, consultants, and other businesses offering exterior elevated element inspection services to participate voluntarily and without charge.
Participating companies will have an opportunity to:
Describe their company and inspection process in their own words;
Identify who performs field inspections;
Explain who prepares, reviews, signs, or seals the final report;
List applicable California professional and contractor licenses;
Explain certifications and professional designations they advertise;
Disclose relationships with credentialing organizations, training companies, associations, engineering firms, contractors, and repair providers;
Describe insurance and conflict-of-interest practices;
Provide supporting records and links; and
Correct, clarify, or update information appearing in their profile.
Download the Fillable BITP Company Questionnaire
Submit a Company Profile Online
What Consumers Should Be Able to Learn
A company profile should answer more than, “Does this business advertise balcony inspections?”
Consumers should be able to determine:
Who is actually performing the fieldwork?
Who exercises the professional judgment required by the applicable law?
Who is responsible for the final report?
What California licenses do those people hold?
Is an advertised certification governmental, private, association-issued, manufacturer-issued, or simply evidence of completing a training course?
Who created and controls the organization issuing that certification?
Does the inspection company—or a related business—perform repairs arising from its findings?
Are referral fees, commissions, reciprocal referrals, or other financial relationships involved?
Are important advertising claims supported by current, identifiable sources?
These questions do not assume that a particular business arrangement is improper. Inspection companies can be structured in many legitimate ways. Engineers, architects, contractors, consultants, technicians, and specialty firms can each have appropriate roles depending on the property, applicable statute, agreement, supervision, and scope of services.
The important point is that the consumer should not have to guess what those roles and relationships are.
Participation Is Not Certification or Endorsement
BITP will not call participating companies “BITP Certified.” Participation will not mean that BITP has approved, recommended, ranked, accredited, or guaranteed a company’s work.
A participating company will be identified as having supplied standardized information. Individual fields may be labeled:
Company supplied;
Company representation;
Corroborated by identified source;
Not independently reviewed;
Not disclosed; or
Disputed information.
Profiles may be published after private administrative review even when every factual field has not yet been independently corroborated. Unreviewed information will be labeled accordingly. That distinction allows companies to participate promptly without causing consumers to mistake company-supplied information for government verification or BITP endorsement.
What If a Company Does Not Participate?
Participation is voluntary. A company’s decision not to complete the questionnaire does not prove that the company has done anything wrong.
BITP may nevertheless create a Public-Information Profile using identified sources such as government licensing databases, Secretary of State records, company websites, archived webpages, published advertising, organizational records, and other material that can reasonably be authenticated.
Those profiles will be conspicuously labeled:
Public-Information Profile
This profile was compiled from the identified public sources. No completed, authorized company questionnaire has been incorporated as of the date shown.
Companies will be encouraged to respond, submit corrections, provide additional context, or complete the full questionnaire.
Why Hesitation Deserves Closer Attention
Balcony and exterior elevated element inspections can involve life-safety concerns and significant financial consequences. A credible provider should be prepared to answer reasonable questions about identity, qualifications, responsibility, and financial relationships.
If a company is hesitant or unwilling to identify who performs the inspection, who signs the report, what license the responsible professional holds, who issues an advertised certification, or whether affiliated businesses may profit from resulting work, a prospective client should pause and investigate further before signing a contract.
That hesitation is not proof of illegality, incompetence, dishonesty, or an improper conflict. There may be a reasonable explanation. But unanswered questions involving professional responsibility and financial interests are relevant warning signs. Consumers should request written clarification, verify public records, compare other providers, and decide whether they are comfortable proceeding.
Transparency does not require every company to use the same business model. It requires the company to describe its model accurately.
Why We Believe Transparency Improves the Industry
Clear disclosure rewards companies that are willing to identify the people performing the work, explain credentials accurately, disclose affiliations, and distinguish inspection services from repair opportunities.
It also helps consumers compare proposals on something more meaningful than price alone.
An HOA board should be able to compare:
The actual inspection scope;
The qualifications and role of each participant;
The applicable sampling approach;
The person responsible for professional findings;
The report and follow-up services included;
Potential additional charges;
Credential and association relationships; and
Any financial interest in subsequent testing, design, construction, or repair work.
When those facts are clear, responsible providers compete based on documented qualifications, defined scope, professional accountability, and the value they provide.
BITP Will Accept Corrections, Responses, and Consumer Evidence
The Project is also being designed to accept documented corrections, company responses, and private consumer-experience submissions.
Consumer submissions will not appear automatically as anonymous reviews or star ratings. BITP may privately verify the submitter, examine supporting documents, redact personal information, seek a company response, and distinguish between firsthand experience, company statements, public records, and BITP analysis.
The goal is not to create a complaint wall. The goal is to build a useful, fair, and correctable information resource.
Our Own Interest Will Be Disclosed
BITP is founded and published by William Leys and William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC. WLWC operates in the waterproofing consulting and balcony inspection-related industry. We therefore have a commercial and professional interest in the subject matter.
We will disclose that interest rather than describe BITP as an independent review website. When BITP discusses a person or company with whom the publisher has had a material business, regulatory, legal, or competitive relationship, that relationship should be specifically disclosed on the relevant page.
The credibility of the Project must come from consistent questions, identified sources, fair attribution, meaningful responses, visible corrections, and standards applied to WLWC as well as everyone else.
An Open Invitation to California Inspection Providers
If your company provides SB 326, SB 721, balcony, deck, waterproofing, or exterior elevated element inspection services in California, we invite you to become part of the Balcony Inspection Transparency Project.
Participation is free.
Tell consumers who you are. Identify the people responsible for your work. Explain your credentials. Disclose relevant affiliations. Provide sources that allow important information to be checked. If something in a profile is incomplete or wrong, help us correct it.
We are not asking other companies to disclose information that we are unwilling to disclose ourselves.
Download the Fillable Questionnaire (Coming soon)
Learn More About the Balcony Inspection Transparency Project
Publisher disclosure: The Balcony Inspection Transparency Project is founded and published by William Leys and William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC, which provides waterproofing consulting and balcony inspection-related services in California. Participation in BITP does not constitute certification, approval, ranking, recommendation, or endorsement.
William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC
805-801-2380
wleyswaterproofingconsultants.com
