After 26 years retrofitting homes across the Bay Area, including over 300 Earthquake Brace and Bolt Retrofits, we have performed every type of retrofit imaginable. We were even on the committee that wrote the technical requirements of the Earthquake Brace and Bolt Program.

Our CEO & Founder, Howard Cook

Howard got started in earthquake retrofitting after working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a Residential Earthquake Damage Inspector. He saw Bay Area residents first hand lose their greatest asset and their heart breaking attempts to put their lives back together. After the Northridge Earthquake in 1994 he resolved to spend the rest of his professional life protecting people from the consequences of earthquake damage. For him, retrofitting is a passion and gives his life meaning, it is not just a job. He volunteered to develop two retrofit code guidelines for the FEMA Brace and Bolt Program and was a retrofit expert on the Berkeley Disaster Commission.  He wrote this  177 page website  to give homeowners, contractors, and engineers the tools they need to protect our community.

The Go-To Retrofit Authority

A Well-Trained Crew

Cartoon figure with light above head meaning seismic retrofit contractors must understand engineering principles as part of the job

WE’VE TAUGHT RETROFITTING FOR OVER 15 YEARS.

An instructor standing in front of a table of students points to a wallboard

THE FOUNDER OF THE COMPANY TRAINS EVERY EMPLOYEE HIMSELF.

Our owner has unparalleled expertise in the residential retrofit field. However, the quality of the job is only as good as the people who do it. You may have the best design in the world. However, if the installers don’t understand the engineering principles behind it they will certainly miss something and do it wrong. Our video on the Earthquake Brace and Bolt Program is a case in point. A fatal flaw was identified by one of our employees because he understood the principles behind scientific retrofitting.

In light of this it is critical to hire highly trained people. This includes experienced designers (we have been designing retrofits for 26 years) as well as highly trained installers.

This work requires unique individuals. They must be intelligent enough to grasp the engineering principles the will be called upon to use each day. At the same time they must be willing to crawl under houses 40 days a week. Take a look under your own house and ask yourself how you would feel doing this work. You can see that we must treat our employees well!

Training is ongoing. On average we discuss retrofit situations we have encountered at least once a week. Each house is unique in some way. It seems like we find something new on each house.

Bay Area Retrofit Serves the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, including:

Alameda Contra Costa Marin San Mateo Santa Clara Sonoma
Alameda Alamo Belvedere Atherton Alviso Cotati
Albany Antioch Corte Madera Belmont Campbell El Verano
Berkeley Bay Point Fairfax Brisbane Cupertino Glen Ellen
Castro Valley Bethel Island Greenbrae Burlingame Los Altos Kenwood
Dublin Blackhawk Kentfield Colma Los Altos Hills Rohnert Park
Emeryville Brentwood Larkspur Daly City Milpitas Santa Rosa
Fremont Byron Mill Valley East Palo Alto Monte Sereno Sebastopol
Hayward Canyon Novato Foster City Mount Hamilton Sonoma
Livermore Clayton Petaluma Hillsborough Mountain View
Newark Concord Ross Menlo Park Palo Alto
Oakland Crockett San Anselmo Millbrae San Jose
Piedmont Danville San Geronimo Pacifica Santa Clara
Pleasanton Diablo San Rafael Redwood City Saratoga
San Leandro Discovery Bay Sausalito San Bruno Sunnyvale
San Lorenzo El Cerrito Tiburon San Carlos
San Francisco El Sobrante San Mateo South San Francisco
Union City Hercules Woodside
Kensington Walnut Creek