While on a property in Orange county I made this short video on why we walk properties before we give an HOA a bid on their SB 326 inspection.
Tag Archives: Pasadena SB 326 deck inspection
You Gotta Read the Fine Print! HOA’s Need to be Careful of Companies Advertising “Free” or “20% Off” Type Offers on Balcony Inspections
William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC was recently contacted by a member of an HOA in Ventura County where that member had learned that his association’s Board of Directors were considering passing a special assessment in the range of 2 million dollars for repairs to balconies and stairs.
Information we got from the owner was that a large nationwide HOA reconstruction firm told the HOA that they had 13 emergency repairs and 300+ non emergency repairs to do and the budget was apx 2 million dollars for this work.
The resident also learned that this nationwide HOA reconstruction firm had waived the $41,000+/- Stage 1 inspection fee provided they were given the repair work. We believe that to be highly unethical and so does that owner. We provided a letter of opinion that the association could self finance the non emergency repairs over a period of several years, taking on a couple buildings at a time to make repairs.
We’re also seeing companies now advertising “free inspections” and “20% off” specials. With all of these offers, there is always fine print, and fine print never benefits the consumer. If you’re going to buy into these offers, make sure your legal counsel is protecting your interests by reviewing their contract before you sign.
One thing these companies have in common is that they are larger firms with a lot of overhead and with the slowdown of inspection requests coming in they need to churn business. Due to the other services that we offer, we are staying busy with work that they don’t offer such as construction monitoring and building envelope inspections.
At William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC, we provide upfront honest bids on SB326 inspections. We strictly follow SB 326 requirements by guaranteeing that an engineer is physically present at the inspection and inspecting the structural elements. We have competitive prices that are straightforward without fine print in our contract. We have a waterproofing expert who writes the waterproofing report which is then appended to the engineers sealed and signed report.
Our strict ethical standards demand that we only inspect and report for the benefit of our clients, not ourselves. We believe that inspectors should not be bidding on repairs.
Reach out today for a discussion on how we can assist you with your balcony inspection requirements. Call us at 805-801-2380
Download our free inspection certificate and ask every inspection company you are considering hiring to sign it. This will rapidly separate the legitimate inspection companies to the top when the contractors who also inspect don’t want to sign it.
In Somber Remembrance of The Tenth Anniversary of the Berkeley Balcony Tragedy
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.
Check Out Our YouTube Videos Here
We just wanted to send you to our articles and videos page to check out the videos from our YouTube channel!
http://sb326deckinspectors.com/articles-powerpoint-presentations-by-bill-leys/
Here are a couple of our most popular vids. Leave a comment and subscribe to our channel!
Protect Your HOA With Our SB326 Inspection Certification
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
Balcony Collapses After SB326 Balcony Inspection Bill Deadline Passes, SB721 Apartment Inspection Bill Was Extended
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
Someone or someone’s will be getting sued.
Using Humorous Memes To Get Our Message Out- Protect Your HOA from Unethical SB326 Inspectors Who Own Waterproofing/Contracting Companies
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.
Article Written by Adrian Chiang Esq Leaves Zero Doubt About Who Can Inspect EEEs Under SB 326
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.
You can read the article here at Swedelson Gottlieb’s blog.
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.
Bill Leys Discusses SB 326
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.
Follow Us! We’re Now On YouTube!
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 Inspection Specialists * Building Waterproofing Consultants * Construction Defect Investigations By Bill Leys The Deck Expert 