A chilling tragedy at Library Gardens in Berkeley occurred ten years ago today, June 16th, 2015 when a deck collapsed with thirteen people on it, killing seven people and leaving six people permanently injured. This is why we inspect.
Take a moment to remember the victims of Berkeley who lost their lives that terrible night on June 16th 2015 – Ashley Donohoe, Olivia Burke, Eoghan Culligan, Niccolai “Nick” Schuster, Lorcán Miller, Eimear Walsh and Aoife Beary and the survivors, who remain permanently injured, Clodagh Cogley, Seán Fahey, Conor Flynn, Jack Halpin, Niall Murray and Hannah Waters.
This should never have happened, yet it did. Poor construction practices and in my opinion outright negligence caused this accident..
In somber remembrance of the victims of the Berkeley balcony tragedy, we want to remind everyone that this is accident is why we inspect. This can never happen again, this is why SB326 and SB721 are now in effect. As professional inspectors, we take our duty to save lives and property very seriously.
Please get your decks inspected, the life you save could be your own.
If you have been following our blog for any time now you know that we have been railing against the practice that is roiling the inspection industry where unethical inspection companies are using Engineers or Architects to robo sign reports that they have written after they have done the inspection. Sb326 clearly requires a licensed architect or engineer to perform the inspection however some companies are trying to deliberately circumvent that requirement and are using contracted labor to do the inspection instead of an architect or engineer.
We made up this form that you should ask your inspection company to fill out and certify/attest that their inspections follow the letter of the law and that a architect or engineer shall be performing the inspection.
The SB326 inspection certification form will give your HOA some legal protection (inquire with your attorney as to what limits there might be) from liability if a company tries to slip one by you. An example is a report that we saw from empire works where the report was clearly written by empire works and there was a letter attached to the report by the architect saying that empire works perform the inspection and that that architect concurred with their findings. Our discussions with attorneys has determined that the report does not meet the requirements of 326.
Download it here for free! The first doc is in word form. For the PDF version click the second that says Inspection Certificate PDF
Fiduciary duty is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as a “duty obligating a fiduciary as an agent or trustee to act with loyalty and honesty in a manner consistent with the best interest of the beneficiary of the fiduciary relationship as a principal or trust beneficiary.”
CAI’ magazine “Common Ground” has a very good article in their March April issue on fiduciary duty. Quoting from the article Bob diamond senior council at Reed Smith in McLean Virginia says”the essence of fiduciary duty is to act in the best interests of those who you serve. A director must put aside personal considerations when making decisions on behalf of the owners.”
Rotting wood on a deck.
When it comes to sb326 and fiduciary duty the duty of the board is to carry out the inspections as required by law regardless of cost or that they don’t have money in the associations accounts to pay for it. A lack of knowledge or understanding about sb326 will not be a legal defense or at least won’t be a strong defense to not carrying out an inspection of the common area Exterior Elevated Elements.
A director for a homeowners association must act within the scope of their given authority, acting good faith use ordinary care Act in the best interest of the association and act reasonably when making business decisions.
The reason sb326 exists is because of the tragic collapse of a balcony in Berkeley that resulted in the deaths of seven people and leaving six with lifelong injuries. Warning signs were evident and the property management company failed to investigate the reported deck problem thoroughly. That is one of the reasons that a multi-million dollar settlement was made before the case went to trial.
Unsafe railing
William Leys Waterproofing Consultants can help Boards meet their fiduciary duties with our thorough and comprehensive inspections of your decks, stairs and walkways. By hiring an experienced waterproofing inspector like Bill Leys, who guarantees that a structural or civil engineer will be performing the structural inspection, helps protect the Association from financial liability. Our inspection team has 20+ years of experience in structural and waterproofing experience.
By hiring an experienced firm with the required credentials, your association will be secure in the knowledge that your EEEs are safe for residents, guests and service personnel to use. We’ve seen competitors of advertising that they are “the cheapest inspection company”. From our perspective, that isn’t comforting at all, especially when you find out that the cheapest company is hiring “handymen” as contract labor to perform the inspection.
Hidden danger exposed after destructive testing.
Reach out today for a quote on your SB 326 inspection needs. We give you a fast free quote that exceeds the requirements of SB326 by inspecting 100% of the EEEs, utilizing moisture meters, thermal imaging cameras and as needed, borescope cameras.
Don’t leave your Association legally exposed to lawsuits by ignoring your fiduciary duties. Call Bill Leys directly at 805-801-2380 to start your inspection. William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC has been setting the bar in performing SB326 inspections since 2022.
Balcony collapses in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles CA. Fortunately only minor injuries.
I have questions. Was this a condo or an apartment? Was an SB326 or SB721 inspection done and what were the findings? Who did the inspection if it was inspected? If it wasn’t inspected, why not? SB326 required inspections to be done by January 1, 2025 and SB721 was extended a year until January 1, 2026. Did a landlord/property manager delay the inspection if it was an apartment? Did a board of directors delay an inspection despite the deadline?
All these questions need to be asked by ABC7 Los Angeles who reported this incident. ABC 7 please reach out to me and I will meet you on site today, Sunday Feb 16th to review the accident scene from the street. 805-801-2380 Bill Leys
We recently completed an SB 326 inspection for a client in Los Angeles where we discovered several concerning issues with their decks. The client had no idea that these problems existed, and appreciated that we recognized the severity of the issues, which resulted in our having to immediately close several balconies from being used. Even though the news wasn’t exactly what they wanted to hear, after reading our report they sent us an email saying in part;
“The HOA appreciates the detailed feedback you and Eric provided as a result of your inspection on September 19th.” Joe B Los Angeles CA
Our reporting strictly adheres to the requirements set by SB 326, in which an engineer or architect must perform the inspection themselves. We write a supplemental report related to the waterproofing, which is appended to our structural engineers report who is reporting on the structural components of the EEE’s.
One thing clients seem to like in particular is markups on the inspection photo’s we include in our report. It makes it easy for them to “see” the issues we see.
Time is running out for the inspection deadline date, but don’t worry, we can make your inspection happen before Jan 1 if you act now and call us at 805-801-2380 to get started with a free estimate on your inspection.
Is humor the best way to market our SB326 inspection services? Viral memes seem to resonate with people these days so it’s worth a shot.
If you need a SB326 inspection you need to vet your inspector thoroughly. Are they independent and free of conflicts of interest? Any inspection company that owns a waterproofing or contracting company is not free of conflicts of interest.
We’ve seen multiple clients coming to us with SB326 reports in hand that were written by contractors, signed off on by an engineer who didn’t actually inspect the EEEs and the report is written to favor the contractor who now uses that report to extort HOAs reserve funds.
At William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC we guarantee in writing that we have no conflicts of interest. We don’t own a waterproofing or contracting company, we hire a structural engineer who writes the report and we write a supplemental waterproofing report that is appended to the engineers report.
Call today, time is running out for getting your inspection done before the deadline. 805-801-2380 ask for Bill.
This past week I got my quarterly issue of Channels Of Communication from the Channel Islands Cheaper of CAI. I was very excited to see that Adrian Chang of Swedelson Gottlieb had written an article on SB 326.
The article references who can inspect association balconies and other EEEs under SB326. Attorney Chiang lays it out with this answer to his own question,
“Who inspects the EEEs and what to expect?“
“A licensed architect or civil or structural engineer* must perform the work.
LICENSED GENERAL CONTRACTORS are not authorized by this new law to perform the EEEs inspections to comply with Civil Code § 5551.”
This statement confirms our opinion that a contractor cannot perform the inspection. A contractor, in our opinion ( not a legal opinion) may accompany an engineer or architect and perform a waterproofing inspection and write a supplemental waterproofing condition report that is attached to the engineers report.
At William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC we work with an award winning structural engineering firm that performs the structural inspection and we write a supplemental waterproofing report on the waterproofing elements. Our report is appended to the engineers report which is sealed and signed by the engineer of record.
If your report is not done by an engineer or architect, in it likely does not meet SB326 requirements and you may be the victim of fraud. Inquire with your attorney.
The substrate is checked with an awl in what we call a pick test. Soft wood is easily found with this method.
Watch this video where Bill Leys discusses some if the problems SB326 has and how Associations can protect themselves from the loopholes in the bill.
One of the first things to do when qualifying your balcony inspector is to ask if they own or are employed by any contractor, Waterproofing or general contractor… And if they answer yes… Well Bill has some advice for you and you’ll just have to watch to see what to do.
Yes it’s true, we have a YouTube channel that we will be bringing educational content too.
Our first video discusses who can inspect EEEs under SB326, what warning signs to watch for when considering inspectors and why William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC is a great choice for your inspections.
Be sure to subscribe to our channel and comments are always welcome!
SB 326 Deck Inspections & Building Envelope & Waterproofing Experts
SB 326 Deck Inspections * Waterproofing Consultants * Construction Defect Investigations By Bill Leys The Deck Expert 