Bruce, Martin, and Jerry were a fantastic team to work with on our home seismic retrofitting project! They showed up on-time and were prompt to answer and address our questions. We are very happy with the results and appreciate the help we received along the way. We consider A-FFIX to be top of our list for seismic retrofits here in the PNW! read more

Bruce has a lot of experience, and he did an excellent job of inspecting the crawl space and explaining the scope of the job and the rationale for his recommendations. Martin did the crawl space work (post and beam connections). He answered all of my questions and provided online photos upon completion. The cost was very reasonable. I enjoyed working with the company! read more

A-FFIX Earthquake Retrofit Contractor - General Contractors Near Me

Beginning July 8, 2024, the team of A-FFIX composed of Martin and Jerry were seismically retrofitting my home in Shoreline, WA. They were punctual, considerate, respectful and experienced professionals who kept me updated on the progress as the following 3 days went by. Occasionally, Bruce the owner/supervisor dropped by to bring supplies and/or inquired if I had any questions or concerns. Though A-FFIX is a small business, they operate efficiently as a team and lived up to their high praises from their references. For the amount of quality work performed, I believe it was money well spent. read more

Working with A-FFIX has been a positive experience at every step. All communication was clear, prompt, and detailed. The team is small and experienced. We worked directly with the owners, who were on-site daily, performing and overseeing the work. Due to the age of our home, our earthquake retrofit was more complex than usual, involving replacing large sections of our existing foundation, structural framing updates, and rotted wood repair. All of this was done without cutting corners, and they were respectful of our home and property. They kept their workspaces neat and out of our way, continually cleaned up after themselves, took measures to protect our living areas, were careful not to let our dog out, and were generally very considerate. Overall, it was great working with A-FFIX and we would definitely recommend them. read more

A-FFIX did a phenomenal job retrofitting my split-level home. Having obtained estimates from several other companies, I decided to go with A-FFIX because--among other reasons--they were one of the few companies willing to travel to the south end of King County. Now that I've seen for myself their skill, punctuality, and overall excellent level of service, I am so glad I made the choice that I did. Bruce and his team were very communicative and transparent throughout the entire process. Before the job began, Bruce gave me a detailed explanation of what the retrofitting process would entail, helping me feel reassured that my house was in good hands. The team also made great effort to minimize any disruption to my family's daily life inside the house and ensure that there was zero cosmetic change to my interior. Just one example: I have some stencil work in my family room, but the A-FFIX team moved that portion of their work outside to avoid affecting the stencils. The technicians who worked on my house, Martin and Jerry, were clearly very skilled at what they did and friendly/courteous to boot. They left the work area inside my house clean, vacuuming at the end of every day. Any siding that had to be removed was protected with plastic covers, and they reinstalled it beautifully once the job was done. The A-FFIX team was also extremely punctual. They'd arrive every morning at 7AM sharp, and Bruce always responded to my email inquiries in a timely manner. I highly recommend A-FFIX to anyone who might be considering a seismic retrofit on their home. read more

If your home was built prior to 1980 you might want to consider having your older home earthquake retrofitted. We live in an earthquake prone area so we wanted to help protect our biggest investment, our home. Nothing but praise for this family run business. First of all, they know what they are doing and have been in business for many years. They took care of getting plans and permits, scheduling inspections etc. They kept us informed during the process and always showed up when promised. Bruce, Martin and Jerry were all very professional, pleasant, friendly, hardworking and knowledgeable. We were amazed at the process and the amount of reinforcement we now have. We are now firmly attached to our foundation and we feel so much more secure having witnessed this process of retrofitting. It is nice to have all the plans and many pictures of the process, too. We feel it was money well spent! read more

Affix has retrofitted two houses for me in Seattle over the last several years. Best contractor I've ever had the pleasure of hiring. They are professional in every aspect of what they do, have deep expertise in earthquake retrofitting homes/structures and are prompt in their communications. I've hired many contractors over the last 25 and my experiences with the A-FFIX team have been the best of the best. Highly recommend you hire them to help make your house safer for you and your family. read more

While I didn't end up working with A-FFIX, I just had to write a review to compliment them. I interviewed three companies for a retrofit of my 1962 home with a finished daylight basement. I felt confident in all three proposals, prices, and people, so it was very difficult to choose. While I went with another company in the end, I was genuinely torn and would absolutely hire Bruce and his team. Bruce showed up on time and masked for his estimate and took a wealth of measurements, pictures, and notes about our home (in a cold, steady rain, if I recall). He gave me a clear overview of the approach he would take and explained the rationale, pointing out details about the house as he went. Because the project would require structural engineering, he sent his notes to his engineer to get her input before providing me a bid. While this delayed the estimate slightly, I didn't mind at all because I appreciated having very specific figures to work with. Since I had three good bids in hand, I came back with a long list of questions for Bruce, and this is where he really shone. He hopped on the phone with me right away and spent more than a half hour cheerfully talking through the details of his plan. He patiently responded to all my questions and was full of goodwill and understanding when I asked challenging ones. He spoke highly and respectfully of his competitors and their work, sharing that I'd be in good hands no matter who I went with. When he didn't have exact answers on hand for some of the questions I asked about drywall and plywood materials, he was honest in saying so and expressed an easygoing willingness to hunt down more info for me. Bruce didn't seem threatened by the fact that I was comparing offers, never tried to push or upsell me on anything, and closed our conversation with a sincere wish for my family's health and happiness, "no matter how this turns out." When I got off the phone, I not only felt clear about the details of the work, but felt regarded and cared for as a human being. A few more details that might be helpful: A-FFIX was perhaps a little less proactive than others in communicating during the bid process, but immediately responded every time I reached out by phone or email. I was impressed by Bruce's structural engineer, who exclusively does retrofit work and made a suggestion that no one else did, which was to secure our decks to the house in the event that we needed to use them for egress (or, I suppose, in case we happened to be eating lunch on the second-story deck when an earthquake occurred). I really appreciated that extra safety consideration. Bruce's estimate was incredibly transparent, listing exact costs for materials, labor, overhead, and profit. It happened to be the lowest of the three bids I received, but only by about $40 - basically identical to its closest neighbor. A final detail that appealed to me is that he provided three options for how to do the work - from the interior, from the exterior, or a hybrid - with no difference in cost, and with equal amounts of confidence in restoring the finishes cleanly at the end of the job. All in all, I was truly sorry that I didn't get to work with Bruce and his team on this retrofit. I'd recommend A-FFIX without hesitation! read more

Martin and Jerry did a great job on our earthquake retrofit. A-FFIX created an engineering plan, connected the house to the foundation, and put in shear walls by way of removing exterior clapboards, which was quite a lot of work. All work was permitted and inspected, which was all handled by A-FFIX. Afterwards we received photos of all the improvements while they were being completed. Everything was in great shape when the job was completed and we just had to paint the sheetrock and clapboards that had been worked on. Of the quotes we received, they beat all of their competitors on price, although one outfit did have a shorter wait (we were scheduled about a month out). The bottleneck for getting work complete however was permitting, our city was a little slow to get the inspectors out. Change orders were minimal. AF-FIX also subcontracted out the installation of automatic gas shutoff vales for $430, those shutoffs are good to have if you don't already. We feel better now having our house much more structurally secure. Thank you A-FFIX! read more

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Bruce and his crew were so easy to work with throughout the entire process. They were knowledgeable and took the time to walk me through not just what needed to be done for seismic retrofit of my house, but why, which I really appreciated. That high level of knowledge and experience with seismic retrofits gave me a lot of peace of mind to know that they would do a great job. I reached out to multiple companies for a quote and A-FFIX came back with the best price and stuck to it - all around great experience having A-FFIX do our retrofit. read more

High quality work, punctual, and transparent about everything they were doing. Very meticulous in their approach to each aspect of the job. Highly recommend! read more

It was a pleasure to work with Bruce, Martin, and their team for my seismic retrofit. Recommend them highly; one of the best contractors I've ever hired for my home. Signing them up do a retrofit of my mothers home next. read more

We had a sizable retrofit project. We were extremely happy with the work done, and the way they did it. Very professional from start to finish, and great people to work with. We needed our split level house bolted to the foundation, and also we have high ceilings downstairs and a two-car garage, so they determined that additional shear support was needed in several of the walls. We feared that we might need to make structural changes in the garage that would reduce its ability to hold two cars, but Bruce gave it a lot of thought and in consultation with their engineering team came up with a way to reinforce the garage walls and replace one downstairs window with a better shear wall, reducing the cost as well. We talked with a couple other companies, but liked the plan Bruce came up with, and the price was reasonable relative to other estimates. The project team of Martin and Jerry was great. They showed up promptly at 7am every day and got it all done in a couple weeks as promised. And they did fine work, with attention to detail and a great looking result, including redoing the interior walls where the window was removed, and removing and replacing a lot of exterior siding. We were very impressed and definitely recommend A-FFIX. read more

Martin and Bruce were friendly and true professionals. They outlined what the scope of the work would be, gave an accurate time frame, and good cost. They started every day at 7:30 am promptly and cleaned up completely each evening. They explained everything as the work progressed and exceeded our expectations. Thank you. read more

A-FFIX completed an earthquake retrofit on our 100 year old home and we couldn't be happier. It was an all around great experience and I highly recommend them. We collected bids from 3 companies for the project and chose A-FFIX for several reasons. 1) They've been doing EQ retrofits for almost 20 years 2) They were extremely thorough and knowledgeable during the bid process (brought up many items that the other companies didn't mention or think about) 3) The structure of their work teams is ideal - small, experienced crew (low employee turnover) with a very knowledgeable team lead. Additionally the owner of the company stops by often to monitor and oversee the work. 4) Competitive price When the work started I could tell right away we were in good hands. Everyone showed up on time and were very professional and hard working. The owner and team lead were up to speed on the house and the work to be completed during our walk-through. Any questions or additional items I brought up were handled. They were right on time throughout the process with great communication. Clean up afterward was thorough. A+ read more

We contacted A-FFIX and another company to evaluate a seismic retrofit for our 1927 Magnolia home. We selected A-FFIX due to Bruce's professionalism and cost-effectiveness. A-FFIX just completed the retrofit and we couldn't be happier with the results. It was clear that A-FFIX uses craftsmanship and attention to detail in their work. That, coupled with their knowledge of the construction of older homes, made for an excellent job. The work was completed in slightly more than a week (as promised) and even with the significant work done, once completed it was hard to even tell we had it done. I fully recommend A-FFIX to any other homeowners considering the wise investment in a seismic upgrade. read more

We had our house retrofitted by the Bruce team 6 yrs ago. When we were shopping for a company to do the job, I called a contractor with a high review rating, but he was retired at that time and gave me a high recommendation to A-FFIX. I contacted another company as well. So I compared their recommendations, professionalism, and my gut instinct between the two and went with A-FFIX. With retrofit work, you don't know the quality of the work until after things happened which would be too late to fix. So you really have to go with reputation and your intuition when picking a company to retrofit your house. I feel very confident in the work of the Bruce team and would highly recommend them. read more

We recently worked with A-FFIX to do a seismic retrofit on our 1937 Mt Baker home. I heard of A-FFIX on Nextdoor where there are several positive reviews, and we interviewed several seismic retrofit companies. A-FFIX stood out because of their expertise, attention to detail, and integrity. Their quote was not our least expensive one , but I trusted Bruce and his team to do quality work. I appreciated that they've been doing this type of work in Seattle for decades. They made the process very easy for us, from installing the gas shut-off valve to re-finishing the drywall in our finished basement (which looks good as new!). We're happy with the work and can now rest easy in our retrofitted home! read more

A-FFIX just completed a seismic retrofit project for my 1949 1-story brick rambler with crawl space this week. Bruce took the extra step of consulting with a structural engineer before providing a description of the scope of work and cost estimate for my project, because of some non-standard structural issues with my house. The crew of Martin and Larry showed up for work promptly at 7am every morning, and were very respectful of my "no shoes in the house" request, tolerant of my small dog who wanted to play with them, and were very polite and pleasant to work with. They worked hard each day and kept me informed about their progress. The crew at A-FFIX did a great job! Out of the 3 contractors that I had interviewed, I'm really glad that I entrusted my project to A-FFIX! read more

A-FFIX performed an earthquake retrofit of our home built in the 1950s. The crew did great work and got through the project quickly. They went beyond my expectations by removing wall paneling and putting it back cleanly such that we can't see it was ever removed. And where they unexpectedly needed to remove some exterior siding shingles to install some hardware, they did a great job replacing them. They treated the house well and kept things very clean. It took a while to get the work started - about 9 months from their first visit to when the crew started the work. Almost all of this time was due to the long city permitting process, so I don't fault A-FFIX for this. However, I do think communication could have been better during this waiting period - a few times I had to ask for an update and wait a long time for a response. That said, all communication with their team was pleasant, friendly, and professional. read more

This is a long overdue review. We have used A-ffix to retrofit two houses (2006 and 2017). Our most recent retrofit included additional cement work to stabilize and improve a crawl space. The crew (and the cement sub) was punctual, respectful and supremely competent. They showed up everyday. The site was always organized and always clean. I am afraid to do any other renovations to our home because Bruce and his team have set the bar so high. You will not be disappointed. read more

They do Geotechnical / earthquake preparation services. I have family who have used them on two houses in the last 10 years, one a simple capitol hill donut foundation craftsman bungalow, and another a 1960's mid-century modern with a finished daylight basement / stepped-up pony walls. Both were very happy with A-Ffix. I haven't used them, but need to find someone, and hoping to kick off the yelp reviews to try to flush some customers out of the woodwork! read more

We were pleased with the work A-FFIX did to seismically reinforce our house. The crew was friendly, tidy and did quality work in our very tight crawlspace. read more

Such amazing service, timely, prompt, attention to detail, cleaned up, and great workers. I would highly recommend this company to anybody looking to retrofit their home. Even told me about some issues in my crawlspace that needed attention and took care of two of them for me. Wow!!! read more

I attempted to have A-FFIX work with me to retrofit my home for earthquake. The process was extremely protracted due to poor communication, missed and re-scheduled appointments on their part, and ultimately never done. I asked for face to face conversation with Bruce, the owner, to clarify expectations and never heard back. I would,despite other testimonials to the contrary, not consider this a professional and responsive company based on terrible customer service ethic. read more

We had A-FFIX do an external retrofit of our house to keep it from sliding off the foundation in the event of an earthquake. I wasn't sure if it was worth doing, but my brother who studies civic response to natural disasters convinced me that it's a good idea -- would be a shame to lose the whole house over a small amount of shaking. A-FFIX provided us with a fair quote that was quite in keeping with the final work done. The crew were timely, professional, and friendly and they kept the worksite extremely clean and orderly. They did a fine job replacing some rotted timbers and saving the shingles they pulled off the house for reuse. They left with me feeling really good about their work and more secure in my home. I would certainly recommend to anyone considering having this done, and I would recommend anyone who doesn't have their foundation attached to their house to strongly consider it. read more

I am happy to recommend the A-FFIX team! After reading the alarming article in the July 15, 2015 New Yorker magazine about the Earthquake risk in Seattle, we decided to do an audit of our home. We did a Google search and chose the Seattle company that had great reviews (A-FFIX). Of course, they were swamped because of the article, but we were able to make an appointment for the audit. Not surprisingly, we found our 1956 house, which is situated on a hill with a steep rockery, did not have the house bolted to the foundation. This one item is the most highly recommended to ensure your home (and visiting grandchildren!) are safe. We were given a preliminary proposal and estimate, to be followed by detail engineering if we decided to proceed. We learned that the work would involve opening up walls, taking out one floor to ceiling window in our basement rec room and a variety of other upsets to our very nicely finished home. I was concerned whether it could be put back together in the same beautiful way. To make a long story short, they did the detailed engineering, gave us a proposal and a budget and a start date. The city was jammed in approving permits, so we were delayed, but they used their good relationships with the city to break that log jam. The job started a little late because of the city delay, but they finished on time as they had promised, making up the time, and they came in under budget by a noticeable amount (finding areas where we could save once they opened up walls and saw the detail). The engineering detail, the professionalism, the oversight and management of this project were all superb. The subcontractors they brought in for the finishing work were excellent and did a great job. We are back together looking as good or better than before, and I have great peace of mind. It was an investment, but I feel it was well worth it. And, we receive detailed documentation of the work, which should pay off in resale if we ever do decide to sell the home. Jim Collins was our project manager and he was a delight to work with, as were all the members of the team. Owner Bruce Schoonmaker came over several times to check on the work and our satisfaction. The way they prepared the area with plastic sheeting ensured that we had no dust or disruption in other areas of the house. I just can't say enough about what a pleasure it was to work with this team. read more

A-ffix was a pleasure to work with from start to finish. All of their employees were knowledgeable, friendly, and kept us informed about what they were doing to make our somewhat unusual mid-century ranch with daylight basement safer. They bolted the house to the foundation and reinforced the pony (partial) walls in our basement before restoring the siding. We feel much better about the stability of our home and can now qualify for earthquake insurance. They identified areas of concern (all the pony walls), as well as areas that were already secure and did not need any work. The team (led by Mark) was friendly, respectful, and cleaned up the site every day, including securing plastic over all exposed areas of the house. They did their best to avoid disturbing a napping toddler as the job can be a bit noisy, and Mark even showed up for an inspection in the snow. Very professional and hardworking team. We'd highly recommend them to anyone looking for a retrofit. read more