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.
When decks fail structural inspections, they need to be closed from use until repairs are made.
“Two boston College students were injured when a deck railing collapsed at an off-campus party in brighton, officials confirmed Monday.
City inspectors told bc that the railing collapse was “caused by a structural failure involving deteriorated wood,” Dunn added.
Witnesses said the two people who were injured were holding drinks and talking when they leaned against the railing, near the point where it connected to the stairway. “Without warning, a section of the railing, estimated to be approximately six to eight feet in length, suddenly broke away,” causing them to fall onto the paved driveway below, police said.
Police said the railing and portions of the deck “appeared to be in poor condition.”
“The nails securing the railing to the deck structure were noticeably short and heavily corroded,” the report said. “Additionally, the wood appeared to be deteriorated and rotten in several areas, although it had been covered with paint, which may have concealed the extent of the damage. one person was apparently seriously injured as they were taken to the hospital with an advanced life support ambulance.
Get your balconies stairs and walkways in compliance with SB326/SB 721 now before an accident happens and lawsuits are filed.
Call the Deck Inspection Specialists at William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC and get started with a free quote for your inspection. Call Bill Leys the Deck Expert at 805-801-2380 today.
Bill Leys performing quality assurance inspections at Stanford Hospital
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.
Since the balcony bills became law, many companies cropped up to perform balcony inspections. There were also many legacy companies that started doing deck inspections as well. The main difference between the two seems to be that the legacy consulting firms continued to provide just inspections and consulting, and the new firms were compromised of contractors who saw easy marks and offered “all in one” services in an effort to squeeze out any competition from bidding on their projects. This has led to serious issues where we’ve personally seen highly unethical companies preying on HOAs. We know of a number of HOAs that have been seriously financially damaged because of dubious unethical practices used by these firms.
Of course, there are also inspection firms like ourselves here at William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC who only seeks to assist you in meeting your legal obligations ethically and in strict compliance with the balcony bill. The problem lies in distinguishing companies like ourselves and unethical inspection firms owned by contractors that are preying on HOAs.
At William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC, we can help with you making that distinction. We do this by guaranteeing in writing that our inspectors are properly licensed engineers who possess the required expertise and have extensive experience to meet your inspection needs. You would be wise to stay away from so-called inspectors who have complaint disclosures against their contractors license. A good idea is to seek referrals or recommendations from others to help weed out these unethical morally corrupt unqualified inspectors.
HOAs can protect themselves from the unethical inspection companies in the California balcony inspection market by asking questions that are answered in writing such as:
1. Who is the architect or engineer of record that will be signing our report? Hint-This is important information to know and once you have this information you’ll want to look up the engineer or architects license to ensure they have no complaint disclosures against their license.
2. Will the architect or engineer of record or one of their direct employees who is also licensed as an engineer or architect be performing the inspection? Hint- if the answer is no, our recommendation is do not hire that firm. If the engineer or architect is not physically present, that means they are going to robo-sign your report.
3. Are you a licensed contractor or do you work for a licensed contractor that works on HOAs? Hint- if the answer is yes you need to decide if you want a contractor to do your inspection. If you decide to go ahead, you must ensure that they know your HOA will not entertain any bids for repairs from them and that you want the contract to commission a clause that they will not provide a bid for any repairs.
Other ways HOAs can protect themselves from unethical inspection companies is by refusing to allow companies to lower their price if they aren’t the most responsible bid; this is unethical, bids provided should be the companies best most competitive price. If a firm bids $10,000 and a competitor bids $9,500, and the firm that bid $10,000 now says we can beat that price by 20% it suggests they are unethical.
This ad by an inspection company is at the least unethical, suggests bad faith pricing and undermines competitive sealed bid integrity.
William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC is committed to being honest, transparent and competitive with our HOA clients. We hope the information provided above helps our clients understand the risks of hiring the wrong inspection company.
We were recently hired to do a follow-up inspection at a condo in the Los Angeles area. The client, an individual homeowner, had serious concerns about the report the association received from Dr Balcony. Their concerns began when the inspection was done, saying that a person showed up, said they weren’t licensed but that “someone” who was a licensed architect would review their photographs and information before signing the report.
We got a copy of the Dr Balcony report and reviewed it before we did our own inspection. (Please note our inspection was not an SB326 inspection.) Many of the photographs in the report were blurry and weren’t marked up to identify a defect that supposedly was in the photograph (we mark up all our photographs to show you exactly what defect we found) and the report was difficult to read. We completely agree with our client, I’ve read more than a few reports from other companies and Dr Balcony’s report is a tough read. Defect codes that are for their internal use confuse readers, information on an EEE are in different places and many photographs are of irrelevant subjects.
An example of that is Dr Balcony inspectors seem to obsess over code issues that SB 326 doesn’t require us to concern ourselves with. (We do check railing heights & railing stiles and note that they may not meet current code, same with stairs, but these aren’t noted as defects, rather we advise that the HOA may wish to address these in the futureand that your insurance company may require upgrading in order to renew a policy).
So after our report review, we inspected one set of decks and a set of stairs and attached landing serving their condo unit. We found damage and other issues that Dr Balcony failed to discover even though it was readily apparent to us.
Before are photos of a few of the issues we found that Dr Balcony failed to identify in their report.
Dr Balcony identified the dry-rot circled above but failed to identify a fungus infection. Dr Balcony failed to identify dry-rot in the joist, failed to identify that the post has improper hardware connecting the post to the joist & failed to identify that the post is improperly supported/connected to the joists. Dr Balcony failed to identify that the rusted railing is perforated and needs immediate repairs.Dr Balcony failed to identify that the waterproof coating is delaminating from the flashing and that there is dry-rot in the joist. They also failed to identify that the deck to wall flashing is missing (not shown in photo). Our comparison chart shows what Dr Balcony missed vs what we found.
The association took one of the cheapest bids they got, believing that it would be competent as they expected and deserve. Instead, they got an incompetent inspector and an architect who robo-signed the report that was written by Dr Balcony. Given that the total price to do the inspection was less than $2,000 to inspect 16 EEEs, we have to wonder what the architect was paid to scribble his signature and stamp the report? The professional signing your report becomes liable for errors in the report on our non legal opinion. Did you know? We guarantee in writing that our structural engineer is personally performing your SB 326 inspection!
All in all, we have to question the competence of the inspection the Association got. If we found all these missed issues on just a few EEEs, what else did Dr Balcony miss? Yes, in the event of an accident where a balcony collapsed that they said was ok, they would have liability, but that’s small consolation to anyone that might be killed or injured.
An inspector’s competence should be the Associations first concern. Ensuring that a structural engineer or architect is present and personally performing the inspection is paramount. At William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC we have extremely competent experienced inspectors doing the inspection. We have years of experience in waterproofing EEEs and our engineer is an award winning structural engineer. The lesson you should take from this is that the cheapest inspector is probably not the most competent inspector!
Give us a call or email us to get a cost on doing a second opinion inspection to verify that your SB 326 inspection was done competently. 805-801-2380 or LeysWaterproofingConsultants@gmail.com
Thorough competent reports by William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC are our hallmark!
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.
Major issues that will require tens of thousands of dollars in repairs are now known issues that will need to be disclosed by the seller if the client who hired us doesn’t complete the purchase. This example illustrates perfectly why inspections don’t cost money, they save you money.
If the prospective buyer does move ahead with the purchase they can negotiate concessions, a lower price or credits to account for the costs necessary to fix the problems we found.
Take a look at the photos below to see what we found, and then give us a call at 805-801-2380 to get a quote on your building envelope inspection on the home or building you are considering purchasing.
When you hire William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC, you are hiring an ethical, experienced company who puts our clients interests ahead of our own.
We love getting positive feedback, I mean who doesn’t?
We don’t ask our clients to review us or praise us, we think that’s kinda cheesy. However we love unsolicited emails like this one that came in today.
“Hello Bill, Thanks again for the work done with ABC HOA. I’ve received high praise from the Board that they really respect your findings and knowledge of the inspection process.” Kevin HOA Manager
See the difference between William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC vs our competition and get in touch with us for a free EEE evaluation and proposal.
Guaranteed no conflicts of interest, competitive costs, award winning structural engineer and an expert ex Waterproofing contractor. Can they say that?
Contest us via the contact box to the left to get started.
We are pleased to announce that we have been selected by an HOA in Santa Barbara to perform their SB 326 Balcony Inspections. The 29 + EEEs, including decks stairs and walkways will be inspected by our licensed structural engineer and Bill Leys, a qualified waterproofing consultant who has been inspecting decks since 2007.
This job marks the 6th contract we’ve signed with the management companies HOA clients. They know when their clients contract with William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC that they are getting a company that has great references, no conflicts of interest and a commitment to our industry and HOA clients to do what’s right.
Contact us today for your free EEE evaluation and proposal. I walk every job before we bid, we know your property and we know how to do your job efficiently. There’s a reason we are becoming the deck inspection company to rely on. Contact Bill Leys today and get started on working with a company that has your interests first.
There’s a lot of false information being spread by grifters in the balcony inspection industry.
First let me say that I have a lot of respect for my peers in the waterproofing consulting industry. Many of them are members of trade association groups, have designations as roof and waterproofing consultants and have the highest ethical standards. I salute them and place myself amongst them as a person who puts their client first, above all other interests.
Then there are the people in the balcony inspection industry who are spreading false information, sowing fear and generally lack any moral compass at all. They typically own a contracting business and are in the balcony inspection business to take advantage of unsuspecting managers and Boards of Directors of HOAs.
Case in point, the screen shot above from a deck inspectors website… Saying the inspection must be done by a licensed and certified inspector. There are no requirements set down in SB 326 that an inspector must be licensed or certified. What SB 326 says is the report must be signed by a licensed structural engineer or a licensed architect. There is no licensing entity, such as CSLB or The Board of Professional Engineers that issues licenses or administers tests for EEE inspections under SB326. This competing inspectors website is full of false information designed to frighten you.
Secondly, Associations are not required to file their balcony inspection report with the city or country building department. If, and only if the Structural Engineer or the Architect determines that an EEE is structurally unsound, and is a threat to life/ safety, then that person is responsible to notify the local building department, within 15 days after the inspection about the unsafe structure.
Third, we already caught this “deck inspector” having a balcony inspection report signed by a civil engineer and have reported that to the Board of Professional Engineers for investigation.
When you know the facts you’ll see why we and our fellow peers uphold the highest standards and are your best choice to perform your balcony inspections. Don’t get bamboozled, get educated, ask questions and above all always get 3 bids. Call us today for your free EEE evaluation of your HOA and rest easy knowing we are working in your best interests.
Go to the Board of Professional Engineers website and look up this license number. It doesn’t belong to the civil engineer who signed it. Now look up the name of this engineer and you’ll see that he is a civil engineer. https://search.dca.ca.gov/?BD=31. And just out of curiosity, isn’t it strange that this guy used the wrong license number?
I was going to write an article on SB 326 and discuss the bill and it’s intricacies, although not as a lawyer, because I’m not one and I can’t give legal advice-except to advise you to get legal advice…and so while I’m researching and of course reading other experts articles, opinions etc, I came across one article that stood out from the rest. It was written by David Swedelson.
David Swedelson of Swedleson & Gottlieb LLC is located in Los Angeles CA. David and the firm he is a partner in do a lot of HOA related law work and I’ve known him for nearly 18 years as member/vendors of CAI Channel Islands Chapter. David is passionate about the HOA industry and laws governing the industry. He wrote what I’d basically write-an unvarnished opinion that hits all the issues in the bill and addresses the problems a Board/Association could face if they don’t get their inspections done.
Lets look at some points David makes; On pages 2-3 of the article, David points out the fact that some balconies/walkways may be exempt from needing to be inspected. This is absolutely true; however, as David points out, just because a deck is over living space doesn’t mean it and the railing assembly shouldn’t be inspected. We agree, inspect even if it’s not “required” to be inspected. Decks over living spaces are roofs first, and therefore generally the HOA’s responsibility to maintain, repair and replace. Inspections form the basis for maintenance to ensure building components reach their maximum life expectancy. And inspections cost far less than defending lawsuits if something was to happen.
Under “Who Can Make The Required EEE Inspections” on page 3, David is again totally correct saying that inspections MUST BE MADE BY A LICENSED STRUCTURAL ENGINEER OR ARCHITECT and while a contractor may be involved in the inspection process opening up areas for inspection, a licensed contractor is NOT qualified to make these inspections. Further David cites an example that we see happening all the time, contractors telling associations that they will do the inspections and have their inspections signed off by a licensed architect or structural engineer. YES, YES and YES. I have heard of a civil engineer who has been caught signing an SB 326 report. So Associations need to be very careful with whom they have do their inspections with. We as professional SB 326 inspectors work with, and our reports are appended to the Structural Engineers stamped report. We guarantee in writing that we have no conflicts of interest.
On page 4 David addresses an important point under “What Happens If The Expert Finds Dry Rot Or Other Conditions Affecting The Structural Integrity Of The EEE?” Again, David is correct in saying that the inspector must send a copy of the report to the local code enforcement agency within 15 days of completion of the report. If there are structural defects that presents a hazardous condition, or even a hint of a hazardous condition, the structural engineer isn’t going to say well maybe it won’t collapse; no they are going to default to it’s hazardous and needs immediate attention. Why? Surfside. If you don’t know look it up.
David is correct on the dollar figures and as the deadline looms, experts will get booked up. What he doesn’t mention though is that this will be the time when grifters take full advantage of desperate Associations who are trying to meet the deadline for inspections.
On page 5 of David’s FAQ’s “What If A Board Fails To Comply With The New Balcony Inspection Law?”, David’s points are pointed. There could be a lack of coverage for the Board if an inspection didn’t get done, someone gets injured and sues.
David cites several relevant cases where that happened, and so the judicial deference rule will not protect Boards under all circumstances. Probably not something you as an Association want to be the example on…
All in all, the issues David brings up, the examples etc, all show how important it is for HOA’s to get started sooner rather than later-2025 is 2 years away; far but not that far. It’s going to get busier and busier for balcony inspection companies, and that’s not something that can be changed quickly. There’s only so many us professional and ethical balcony inspection companies and we can only do so many inspections. They take time and so do reports.
Call us today for a free EEE evaluation at your HOA, and take David Swedelson’s words with you as you seek to get your inspections done. We’re at 805-801-2380 or email us through the contact box on the left side of the screen.
After a boroscope camera saw some damage, full destructive testing reveals the horror show lying hidden away, a collapse waiting to happen; that could have happened without a deck inspection. Photo courtesy of American Restore, Inc.
As the owner of William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC, I’ve been a proponent of doing deck inspections for a very long time. Deck collapses have been happening long before the shocking Berkeley deck collapse that left 6 dead and 7 severely injured on the sidewalk below and they continue with alarming frequency today.
With SB-326 in place, it is important to find the right inspector for your HOA. There are a lot of new inspection companies that have popped up with dubious track records and many have conflicts of interests by also owning a waterproofing company that can just happen to give you a bid… and there are the established firms like William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC that have been doing deck inspections, forensics and construction defect investigations for years and have no conflicts of interest because we don’t bid for any repair work that we may discover.
In 2006 I presented a Powerpoint presentation on decks at the Association of Professional Reserve Advisors (APRA) annual symposium in Rancho Mirage. It was there that an HOA manager approached me about doing deck inspections for his client Associations. My first deck inspection was Montecito HOA in Walnut Creek, an Apartment to Condo conversion. That inspection found numerous defects and deficiencies on the balconies.
From there my inspection business took off and I have been inspecting decks and balconies on buildings all over California for 16 years now. We are recommended by HOA management firms, Reserve Study companies such as CACM Services in Long Beach, B&W Management in Arroyo Grande and Facilities Advisors International LLC.
Read our reviews from over the years I’ve been doing inspections here- Reviews & Recommendations and you’ll see the same consistent theme, how our expertise made a difference.
Put our expertise to work for your Association today, starting with a free SB-326 EEE evaluation of your property. We’ll calculate what EEE’s need to be inspected and give you a free proposal for the work. I think you’ll find our pricing competitive and our work exceptional. Email Bill Leys at LeysWaterproofingConsultants@gmail.com today to get started.
For an HOA’s reserve accounts there is no word that could be possibly any more dangerous than the word free. Board members hear that word and everything else becomes a dull roar.
“Well they said they were going to do a free inspection if we contracted for the work and we know we have work to do anyway so we may as well kill two birds with one stone.” Well not an actual quote but close enough to what I’ve been told a couple times. My response has been simply there is no such thing as free.
First question is are they inspecting with a structural engineer or an architect on stage 1? If not then the report is not valid if it’s robo stamped.
Second question Is aren’t you supposed to get three bids for the repairs? Why are you not following the CC&Rs that require three bids on any capital expenditures?
Last question is do you really think that you were getting the best price on the repair work? Reality is is they have found an easy mark and are ready to separate your HOA from its money.
Don’t fall for free. You get exactly what you pay for. The experts at William Leys Waterproofing Consultants LLC Do not give away their services for free but we also don’t contract for any work. We work in the association’s best interests and ensure that your money is spent well on repairs that are necessary. With our no conflict of interest guarantee you know that we are working for you and will advise you to the best of our ability with the knowledge that we have so that you can make the best decisions for your association.
Call us today at 805-801-2380 or go to the contact box to the left and send us a message.
SB 326 Deck Inspections & Building Envelope / Waterproofing Experts
SB 326 Deck Inspection Specialists * Building Waterproofing Consultants * Construction Defect Investigations By Bill Leys The Deck Expert 