We extensively researched how best to retrofit our Victorian house in San Jose. While other earthquake retrofit companies provided generalized quotes, only Bay Area Retrofit gave us a plan tailored specifically for our house. Howard Cook, the owner, did a comprehensive evaluation of the vulnerabilities that were extant and clearly explained the whys and wherefores of the proposed work. His knowledge is exhaustive. Furthermore, Bay Area Retrofit definitely take pride in their work, and the carpentry and fittings were neatly finished. As with many older homes, unexpected issues arose during the course of the work. A supporting beam hidden behind ducting had been improperly cut decades ago. Chase, the site manager noticed and installed a connecting, stabilizing bracket as a matter of course. In addition, he thoughtfully installed screws rather than nails so that a shear wall panel could be removed for ready access to plumbing. This on-site, adaptive problem-solving was invaluable. For anyone undertaking an earthquake retrofit, we cannot recommend Bay Area Retrofit highly enough. Start by visiting their website, www.bayarearetrofit.com to gain a fundamental understanding of the principles and processes. Howard has generously provided informative articles and videos. Then, give these folks a call to get this critical job done right. read more

The words that come to mind in my experience with Howard Cook and his team at BayAreaRetrofit are: honesty, integrity, professional, knowledgeable, personable. Their website provides detailed accessible information about how they determine what type of retrofit your house needs, what goes into the retrofit and why. You can then really communicate with them about what they will be doing to your home. No gimmicks. No mystery. Howard outlined a plan which we reviewed. He answered and appreciated all of my questions. The team showed up and executed the plan. Howard reviewed their work and returned with the team to make some adjustments. Everything was very clear. Photos were provided. I wish every contractor I have ever worked with had this type of ethic. I highly recommend BayAreaRetrofit. read more

I did extensive research and received a half dozen quotes for the soft story and bolt+brace earthquake retrofit of my 1890 victorian in San Francisco. Howard is clearly incredibly knowledgeable, and the team helped me understand what my home really needed vs. what was gross overkill/a money grab. They were far from the most inexpensive, but also far from the most expensive. The teams were knowledgeable, professional, and on time. The project was pretty extensive and took several months, but I'm thrilled with the results and hope I never need to experience the quality of their craftsmanship! read more

Quick and friendly service. Thoughtful explanation of estimate. Came in much lower than other highly rated contractors (the other ones claiming our current bracing and bolting was not up to standard when it had been reviewed by home inspectors and a structural engineer who felt it was appropriate except for securing the bracing to the structure). They seem to know their stuff and aren't too big to estimate jobs appropriately. read more

The most knowledgeable retrofitting company in the Bay Area. Howard has been a pleasure to work with.

I am in the midst of a DIY earthquake retrofit using Standard Plan A. I have found Howard's videos and detailed written descriptions to be an excellent and reliable guide through the process of planning and executing the project, including necessary structural addendums/corrections to the published recommendations from the state. Howard responded quickly to my inquiries through email. Really appreciate the help. Thank you! read more

I'm a tenant of a building that hired Bay Area Retrofit, and am frankly surprised at the positive reviews here. The estimate Bay Area Retrofit provided was supposed to last two weeks. To make a (disastrously) long story short, it took 3-4 times as long. During their work, they hit a pipe that ended up backing up our washer. A sewage pipe leaked and water flooded into our storage unit, meaning that we had to move all our items from the unit into our apartment for about 3 weeks until the pipe was fixed and the units were cleaned. This error on their part was a huge inconvenience. Our laundry room was out of commission, storage unit was flooded and our parking was blocked off because they left their equipment and supplies in our parking lot, even though they weren't working. I'm glad some have had good experiences with Bay Area Retrofit, but our experience was the opposite. read more

We chose Bay Area Retrofit because we watched the videos and got the impression that they did a better job than other companies. We knew that we would have to wait longer and were patient. It also cost more, but we wanted a job well done. It took 4.5 months from the estimate to get the work done. (see timetable below) The most surprising thing was when my husband went under the house to see what was done. He found garbage left behind: 31 plastic bags, 3 boxes, 1 broken hose, and 1 uninstalled bolt. Thirty-two bolts were supposed to be installed, but they put in only 31 and left the uninstalled bolt under the house. I would expect that if there is a change in the plan, it would be updated and we would know about it instead of just leaving the unattached bolt under the house. Time Table for Work 4/12 Initial Estimate at Property 5/2 Proposal for Work Sent 5/8 Customer signed papers. 5/24 Contra Costa Permit Application 6/2 Permit Approved by County Waiting to be scheduled for 58 workdays 8/28 Work is done. 9/12 received the permit in the mail. No pictures or other information about the work. read more

I had a fantastic experience with Bay Area Retrofit. Howard came out to my house and recommended far less work than other contractors, explaining in every case why it was valuable, and why it mattered. I had already watched the videos on his website which were very informative and were the gold standard I could find on the theory behind retrofits. My house was a bit unique in that one of the walls was not accessible on the inside, and really needed strengthening work. Howard's colleague recommended that they could go in through the outside. While I was originally a bit worried about the visual impact, it was the only way to retrofit the back wall. Julian on the Bay Area Retrofit team came over to do the work, and took great care to do things right. The end result was 100% in line with my expectations, and looks great. Thank you Bay Area Retrofit! read more

As far as I can tell, Howard Cook and his company are by far the most knowledgeable and expert retrofit people in the Bay Area. You can pay them a fair fee to come out and give you an expert plan. And then, if you want, you can hire them to do the work. My experience was exceptional. Howard and I traded emails, and I sent him a number of photos. He analyzed the situation, and then wrote: "I thought about your house some more and given you are in the middle of a row of houses that support your home on each side, plus the fact that your house has stucco on the outside I don't think you need anything. I hate to talk myself out of a job but I think I would be wasting your money." To back that up, Howard provided a video showing that houses with study stories and wood siding are much more likely to collapse than those with stucco. Wow! That's the mark of a great business. Giving you their honest opinion, even if it's that you don't need their service. I plan to recommend Howard and his company to everyone I know in the Bay Area. read more

Bay Area Retrofit is very much in demand. Took ~12 weeks to get on calendar and get permits in Contra Costa County. They have lots of good resources about their work on youtube. I never interacted with Howard, the owner. Jeff did a visit and I provided copies of the building plans as well. They provided a detailed proposal that took into account details of a prior renovation, etc. It was not a totally off the shelf plan. Jason was the field technician and completed the work in two days with an assistant for one of those two days. He took pictures throughout the crawlspace and cleaned up afterwards. The building inspector was complementary of the work. Note that the work was very loud as they are drilling into your foundation, etc. read more

I contacted Bay Area Retrofit through the website, asking to schedule a consultation so I could do the rest of the work myself. Howard reached out quickly, and pointed me to the "Standard Plan A" part of their website for my small home in SL. When I first glanced at it I was a bit overwhelmed and instead wanted a consultation, but Howard encouraged me to just read it and watch the videos. Overall reading and calculations took me an hr and half, and the project took me three days. It was fortuitous that someone as knowledgable as Howard has made the information available on his website, YouTube channel, and book. Furthermore, he was perfectly happy to answer a few questions and point me in the right direction in using these resources, without any monetary gain for himself. It saved me a lot of money and was a gratifying experience. read more

As a contractor working in the Bay Area I engage with many construction and related service businesses. How many times am I (and are you) treated well by their front office staff? I can say that everytime I have contacted Karina, the office manager at Bay Area Retofit, she has been responsive, personable and effective. Every time. Given our Covid times and asscociated lack of personable and reasonable communication I feel it is important to mention Karina. There is someone out there that, inspite of all, will do her best. And do it a way that makes you realize that we are all in this together and that we can support each other along the way. read more

Excellence. Bay Area Retrofit went above and beyond my expectations. It's been a couple months since my retrofit has been completed. I've had time to reflect. From Jason, who coordinated and oversaw the project and that I was placed on the schedule. Karina for answering my many questions and making sure that everything was taken care of on time. Rod and Tim, the amazing crew that came and respectfully and with great expertise completed my retrofit project on time. My retrofit was done through the Earthquake Brace And Bolts program and Bay Area Retrofit made the process easy. The EBB is not an easy program to navigate. Communication and prompt responses are key for success in using the program. Bay Area Retrofit was flawless in this area. From making sure I met all the deadlines, to getting all the permits and uploading all the documents, I could not have done this without them. I got two other bids and they were both higher than Bay Area retrofit. Their pricing was very competitive and fair. I highly recommend Bay Area retrofit. read more

The owner is very helpful and responsive answering my questions. Even though I wasn't a customer, his willingness to share his experience was a great experience to me. read more

While searching for some specific info on earthquake retrofits, I came across Howard's excellent website and had some questions. Even though I wasn't a customer, Howard was very helpful in answering my many questions via phone and email. I was very impressed by his extensive knowledge and willingness to share his expertise. He also pointed me to additional relevant articles on his website, which is an extremely comprehensive and detailed repository of earthquake retrofit related info that was very useful to me as a homeowner. Kudos to Howard for providing such a great resource! And if any friends or family need earthquake retrofits, I'll definitely refer them to Howard. read more

Howard's company is the gold standard for retrofitting residential buildings in the Bay Area, and may be the only option if you have a very old house with a brick foundation. I recommend the company with no reservations. See my full story below. I purchased a 130-year old Victorian triplex in Oakland last year and given the many news stories I've seen in the past few years about the Hayward fault being overdue for a major quake, one of the first things I looked into was how to make it earthquake safe. Like many houses from this era, the house had an original brick foundation capped with concrete in some places. Because it is a large building, I was told by several retrofit companies that Standard Plan A would not work and I would need to hire a structural engineer to make a retrofit plan for it. These companies made no mention of brick foundations, which is surprising given the amount of old buildings in the bay area, most of which have not had full foundation replacements. Long story short, the structural engineer ended up telling me my brick foundation could not be retrofit and would need to be fully replaced. I got quotes for doing a full foundation replacement, and the cost was eye popping and made no sense financially given the house otherwise was not suffering any problems due to the foundation. I came across Howard's website while trying to figure out if there were any other options, and was heartened by his scientifically sound videos about retrofitting brick foundations. He inspected my house and made a custom plan to augment my foundation within the footprint of the basement and bolt the house to the new concrete footings. The cost for doing this was 1/4 the cost of a full foundation replacement and he took the time and energy to walk me through the reasoning and the math for why this would be sufficient to keep my house on its foundation during a major earthquake, which is what you need to prevent catastrophic damage. It took a bit of time to get the work scheduled (they're busy, for good reason!), but once his team got started they were the best contractor team I've ever worked with. I hardly noticed the work was going on while they were there, and they made sure to do things like keep my front garage door closed while they were working down below. The resulting work looks great and they ended up overbuilding compared to the plan, giving an even larger margin of safety. While of course only the results of a large earthquake will fully tell, it's a big weight off my chest knowing that the house is as prepped as it could be. It's clear that Howard is passionate about earthquake safety and takes pride in the work he does. It's a tough job crawling under buildings and digging in the dirt. He is a highly experienced expert at what he does and you won't regret hiring him. read more

These guys wanted $400+ just to provide a proposal. No thanks. I found another seismic retrofit specialist that provides the proposal for free. read more

We had a retrofit contractor quote us 17k to retrofit our home, which was significantly more than we had budgeted. We wanted to get a second opinion so I contacted Bay Area Retrofit based on the positive reviews that our neighbors had given them on Nextdoor. I sent Bay Area Retrofit our inspection report with photos and a description of our crawlspace and foundation. Howard got back to me a few days later to say that based on his review of the inspection report, our home did not need a retrofit at all because we already had plywood shear walls in our crawlspace. I am so happy I contacted Howard. Our house needs a lot of work, so we can't afford to pay people to do work for us that doesn't need to be done. read more

I wanted to second the words that Christine S. wrote in her review of Bay Area Retrofit on 8/29/22. Howard, the owner of the company is an expert in the area of retrofitting residential buildings. The men who came to my house had a great attitude about descending into my basement to do very challenging work. They were prompt every day, finished the job on time and left the area cleaner than they found it. I have only good things to say about Howard, Karina (in the office),Nick Gray, Jason and the entire crew. I recommend Bay Area Retrofit very highly. read more

Wow .We just had our home in Pacifica retrofitted by two fine gentlemen from bay area retrofit . Thupten and Julian . This has been on our to do list since 1993 . Ringers .Knocked it out in no time flat . Impeccable work . Tough working conditions . Knew all the tricks and had all the equipment .Seamless . Did it exactly as plan showed . Barely 24 hours after they finished there was a 4.0 earthquake in the east bay .Felt a good jolt here in ptown .Couldn't help but breathe a little easier ... I gotta say this is a pretty amazing company.They put it all out there for the public to digest on how to do a retrofit . Great public service if you ask me . read more

I emailed Bay Area Retrofit on a Friday afternoon seeking advice on options for retrofitting our townhouse. Howard quickly responded and advised against work. I thought he must be mistaken -- our place was built in the 60s and seemed to me like it would be vulnerable -- so I watched some of the videos on the company's website to try to double-check that Howard had enough information to tell us *not* to do work. I came back with specific questions and photos of my place, which he patiently reviewed. He then confirmed his initial thoughts and pointed to recent research by reputable earthquake scientists and policy organizations to help frame the picture. And this was all via emails on a Friday! Many thanks to Howard for my lightened mental load. And if you're considering retrofit work, through this outfit or others, I highly recommend you watch the videos on the Bay Area Retrofit website to understand things better. read more

First of all, let me say that the actual work performed by Bay Area Retrofit was top-notch. I couldn't be any happier with Brianna and her crew. They were professional, courteous, extremely hardworking, and walked me through everything they did in detail. There were some communications issues with Bay Area Retrofit along the way. They were initially great when it came to setting up an inspection of our property, and they got us their estimate and work plan right when they said they would. The plan was thorough and easy to understand, and they broke everything down very clearly. Unfortunately, when it came time to actually get the work done, somehow we slipped off their radar. Our estimated day to start the project came and went with no word from them (to be fair, they didn't hear from us, either--it seems we both just forgot about it. In our defense, we had a baby during that time, so our brains were mush). I had to get in touch with them a few months later to ask what was up. Even then, once we were back on their schedule, the communication I received from them routinely felt like they were telling me how it was going to be, rather than asking if their proposed schedule worked for us. For instance, we found out the work was going to begin when we got an email just saying that workers would be showing up on a particular day. There was just an assumption that this would fit into our lives. Later, it turned out that the company failed to inform Brianna that we had gotten a permit for the work. So she had no way of knowing that she needed to schedule an inspection. Once she set that up, again, I got an email from the company stating that inspectors would be coming the next day, with no explanation for why they were coming so long after the work had been completed. Again, this seems to be a central office problem, not an issue with anything Brianna did. In fact, the two city inspectors said she did a "beautiful job" and signed off on her work without any hesitation, which just made me feel even more confident about the job she did. So, if I could review Brianna and her crew separately from the rest of the company, I'd give them 5 stars for sure. Unfortunately, I had to knock off a star because of all the communication issues with the main office along the way. But ultimately when you do a project like this, what really matters is the quality of the work. You want the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your family will be as safe as possible in an earthquake. And Bay Area Retrofit definitely succeeded on that count. read more

I'm exempting Howard from this review, as he picked up the phone every time I called, answered all of my questions patiently, and helped me follow up with my project leader--Jeff Bailey--who only left his cell phone number on the final bill. I'm not complaining about the months and months of waiting, I knew that going in. What I was totally surprised by was how difficult it was to reach Jeff. It felt like that he had so many projects going and was stretched so thin, he barely cared about ours. Here are some details of our experience: 1. First visit by Jeff - courteous, professional. We were looking forward to the plans and working with BAR. 2. Plans came in two weeks later than promised. We needed more clarification on an area in the drawing (would have had to move an entire room of furniture if we had followed it). Emailed him, waited 5 days, called the office and got Howard to track him down. He gave us a vague answer and refused to come by again to give us assurance. Seriously? We were paying $15K and he couldn't be bothered with a 10 min visit? 3. Jeff said to email the week before our job start week to get a start date. It wavered so much and he basically left it to the crew to call me. On the Friday of the week before, I was told it would be Tues/Wed/Thu of the following week. Hey, I have to work as well! I don't tell my own clients I'll see you Tue or Wed or Thu. So I said let's do Friday. Again, Howard was the one who tracked down the crew. 4. I emailed and asked Jeff to at least show up the first day of the job. He said yes. He didn't show up the first day, no email, no call, no text. Jason (head of crew) was confounded and said "Jeff never shows up the first day." He called and left a message, said Jeff would come on Monday. Jason answered all of our questions instead. On Monday, we had to go to the doctor, and by that point I had given up on talking to Jeff. 5. There was a wall which we thought needed to be taken down. Both my father and I heard Jeff say it when he was at our house. The estimate we got included takedown of various walls. When Jason showed up and said he could do the work from the back, I asked for a credit. Jeff later said he hadn't included the wall. He said the drawing reflected doing the work from behind. 1. If we were experts at looking at retrofit plans, we wouldn't have unnecessarily moved a ton of furniture. 2. If he had taken more time to explain things to us, or at least made a trip to assuage our uncertainty, I wouldn't be writing this review. 6. First day the crew showed up (Friday), they said it would take until the following Friday. Then it was Wed, then Thursday, then Friday, finally Monday. I know that in construction, unexpected things happen. However, we were told our project was pretty straightforward, and with all of these years of experience, I would expect a slightly better estimate. Jason was always courteous and looked like he knew what he was doing. Besides the time uncertainty, no complaints. 7. At the end of the project, I emailed Jeff and pointed out all of my concerns and issues with him. I asked to see receipts before I paid, because his lack of communication and clarification made us very uncomfortable. He apologized for the bad experience we had, then proceeded to defend himself from every single thing I noted, making it look as if my complaints had little to no justification. 8. Again, Howard stepped in to talk to me and assuage the situation. I really wish Howard would've been our project leader. I've done several construction projects over the years, and this was definitely the worst. I guess when you've got projects lined up three months out, one family's difficulties mean nothing. Fast forward a month--we just had a 3.5 yesterday, and our house shook. My mother was sitting in bed, in the room on top of the room BAR reinforced, and felt like it was no different than before we did the work. I want to feel like we didn't go through this for nothing. But that nagging voice in your mind that says damn, I should've gone with someone else? That'll be with me for a while. read more

This review is about a couple years ago, but some people in my neighborhood found the remarks useful. I had a funny interaction with Howard. He was by far the fastest to respond to my queries and tolerant of my inquisitiveness but he seemed to miss my main points. His staff was easier to categorize ... standoffish. Howard Cook aggressively markets himself as an expert in a way that is essentially an unverifiable closed loop. His accolades emanate from his own web page and from media and reviews that have accepted his materials. To my eyes at the time I did my reading, his material implies that he is an engineer or at least doesn't clarify that he is not. He would certainly have plausible deniability on that point, and maybe he has clarified by now, but it seems pertinent. Howard is clearly passionate about retrofitting, but it is not that easy to find evidence within the industry that he is an prominent figure. This is important because some of his materials allege that he is doing things in a way that is better or more evolved than many of the aging standards and practices. This is possible, but the existing standards have gotten a very thorough "shakedown" over a large sample size. read more

I've worked with so many companies and contractors since we purchased our house and I have to say, the crew from Bay Area Retrofit was something else! Brianna and Julian were AMAZING!!! Polite, professional, arrived on time, communicated what they were doing, and friendly. Specially Brianna, she was very professional and warm. We also called Howard before we even decided to use their services to ask about the fault and the location of our house and he was extremely helpful! Because of him, we decided to hire them. Yes, they are extremely busy but it is totally worth the wait. read more

Howard is awesome! I've been looking to see what type of work I needed to do for a voluntary seismic retrofit of my house, since I'm already planning on replacing my siding. I had tons of question, and my home siding construction isn't standard (e.g. doesn't have sheathing, with 2x4 blocks between studs every 2 feet, and vertical planks for exterior siding). Howard answered all my questions, and was super helpful in understanding where the strength of the house comes from, and what I should and don't have to do. His experience and advice, along with the detailed explanations you see on his website, was invaluable in giving me piece of mind! He gives you real advice, and is looking out for your best interest (home stability and minimize cost), and doesn't oversell you on anything. He's someone I would recommend to any family or friends! read more

I called Bay Area Retrofit and spoke to Howard. He spent over 20 minutes educating me on retrofits and how not to get scammed by shady contractors. He directed me to his YouTube channel where I learned a lot about earthquake retrofitting. Never did he try to rush me into making any appointments and no sale pitches. I'm lagging on my end but I just felt the need to post this because or how honest and helpful Howard was read more

I was contemplating buying a house but got some concerning information about its structure and proximity to the Hayward Fault. Before I made an offer, I sent Howard an email asking for his thoughts. I have never worked with Howard, so I was not sure if he'd respond. I was so pleasantly surprised when he replied just a few hours later with his advice, steering me away from the purchase. Thank YOU Howard for your integrity and your willingness to help someone out with your insights and expertise. If I ever need structural help, you'll be the first one I'll call! read more

My wife and I hired Bay Area Retrofit to retrofit our 100+ year old Craftsman home in San Francisco. After discovering the huge wealth of resources and information on their site, we contacted Howard to do a walkthrough of our house and propose a plan. Howard was very helpful in explaining all the retrofit steps as we did the walkthrough, and soon after, wrote us a detailed proposal for our retrofit. Additionally, Howard guided our other contractor, who was replacing an old garage door with new framing, to ensure that the framing and foundation they added would work with our retrofit plans. There was a bit of a wait (they are popular!), but earlier this month, we met with our crew. Sam and Luis were wonderful to work with, highly professional, and very efficient. They take great pride in their work and left us confident that our house would be structurally safe when the next earthquake comes. Sam was very knowledgable and also patient, as we asked a LOT of questions throughout the process :-) Sam and his crew finished everything up in about 2-3 weeks, left everything spotless, and left us with photo documentation of all the work they did for our records. We are so happy we chose Bay Area Retrofit to retrofit our home, and highly highly recommend them; they are the best in the Bay Area! read more

I wanted to thank Howard for his expertise and kindness. He was able to identify the issue immediately and didn't want to charge for the consultation. He was so knowledgeable that I know I was in good hands. An honest owner and company! (Mary Mackie/ San Jose) read more

Hire this firm. That's what I'm telling my future self. I was blown away by Howard's personal response to a cold-call email asking for advice on how to remedy some incorrectly nailed shear walls that a different GC put in. He actually wrote back the same hour, on a Friday no less. And with solid, practical advice. Who does that? Apparently, the same guy (and crew) that curates an amazing repository of FREE educational videos, PDFs, and advice for the public: www.bayarearetrofit.com. Yup. Go there. Do yourself a huge favor before spending tens of thousands of dollars, and spend 10 minutes a day with the materials on his site. Do it for a week, and you'll probably know more than your general contractor. (Unless that's Howard) Don't settle for some minor tweak on whatever's in a Standard Plan. I didn't know this, but There Is No Code for seismic retrofitting. Think about what you really need -- or hire someone who cares enough to do that -- and execute on that. I genuinely believe Howard really cares about seeing the Bay Area fixed up with adequate protection and not just a slew of cosmetic retrofits. read more

Our home is on a hillside in the East Bay and we have had earthquake insurance for the past few years since moving here. The insurance premiums have continued to rise along with the deductible, so we decided to discontinue the insurance and instead research further seismic retrofitting. Our home was built circa 1986 so it's bolted down and has plywood sheathing on the cripple walls. However, we were concerned that it wasn't up to latest seismic standards so we did some research and found the Bay Area Retrofit website with extensive information and videos. After reading through several articles and watching the videos we contacted Howard Cook the co-founder at BAR. We expressed our concerns with Howard along with brief details of the the home construction. Howard quickly responded and directed us to their "Shaken Awake" webpage, https://bayarearetrofit.com/shaken-awake/, where you can enter your home address to estimate the quake intensity and shaking near your home if an earthquake with specified magnitude occurred on a selected fault line (Hayward, San Andreas, Concord-Green Valley, etc.). We shared the intensity/shaking result for our home with Howard and sent him photos of our home for further clarification. He indicated that the hillside our home was on wasn't as big of a risk as we thought, and given the home's construction, we had little to worry about. He also thought further seismic bracing might be overkill. We greatly appreciate Howard's straightforward recommendations and integrity. Instead of suggesting that we hire him for an expensive consultation and/or that he would be glad to do a retrofit, he quickly determined, at no charge, that neither a consultation or retrofit was necessary. There are few companies that provide this level of professionalism and honesty, especially in the seismic retrofit industry. We will gladly recommend Bay Area Retrofit to family or friends interested in seismic retrofitting. Thanks again Howard! read more

The online videos are great for diy's and gave me all the info I needed. They were also responsive when I sent in an email with a specific question. The website is a great info source for taking on a retrofit project read more

It's been a little over 2 years since our retrofit. Our anecdotal perception is the house performance has been solid, meaning after a relatively big shake or jolt, we don't know about it until after we about it on the news. The engineering theories and techniques uses by BAR appear to be sound. I'm giving BAR an enthusiastic 5 star upgrade. Again, would not hesitate to recommend Bay Area Retrofit. BAR continues to have offices in the East Bay, Albany and the West Bay peninsula. read more

Painless retrofit. Came in on price, zero disturbance of our life, passed local inspection on first visit, helped file EBB rebate, and we rolled over in bed after our first 3.0 retrofit earthquake knowing we had increased protection for the cost of two years of insurance (with a hefty deductable). Came highly recommended by respected local building inspector along with two other companies who only do commercial work now. read more

These guys were one of the best experiences with contractors I've had. Walked me through their plans without dumbing down to a layperson not in the field, fielded my questions, were on-time, professional, and even "gentleman". They had so many good reviews when I talked to neighbors, and I concur with all the positive feedback, including the obvious quality of work. They cleaned up after they left each day and were "on time, and on budget" and I've since referred them to probably a couple dozen neighbors. One of those businesses where you realize you found a good thing and just want to share it with others. I feel secure knowing my house on a 20 ft cliff will stand in an earthquake to the point it can do, from a solid retrofit. Thrilled! read more

I didn't use Bay Area Retrofit. I wrote a polite email detailing foundation work that I would like to have performed and asking if they would be able to provide a price estimate. Instead Howard wrote back with a four word, personally insulting email. This is probably the most unprofessional interaction I've ever had with a company and is a major red flag in my opinion. read more

While researching our retrofit, I came across Bayarearetrofit.com and thoroughly read Howard Cook's informative website about all things seismic retrofit. Do yourself a favor and do that! Nowhere else can that concise, in-depth information be found. Two pages in, I was wishing I could have this company do our work. I assumed they would be too expensive, but not so-- they were comparable to the 3 other bids I got from EBB listed contractors. Instead of a cookie-cutter bid for plan set A, which may not be the best fit for your particular house, Howard gives you a detailed, very specific proposal. His was the only bid that found and remedied the poor connection between our addition, and the original house. No others even mentioned it. His Field Supervisor Jason is true to his word on scheduling and getting the work done (expect a wait--they are in demand). The process was painless, taking a bit under 3 days for our average size 1 story bungalow. The workers were thoughtful, arriving masked, always closing up and cleaning up at day's end. When finished, Jason promptly provided the promised photo documentation of the work done. We started with EBB program and were offered the grant, but our house was a few inches out of compliance with plan set A standards. I am very happy that turned out to be the case. We opted out of the EBB program and went with Bayarearetrofit. I am certain we got a much better job for it. The grant would only have brought the cost down to the BAR, bid level and required a lot of bureaucratic hoop-jumping. It's a good thing you are doing, bayarearetrofit. Thank you read more

I'm writing this review because I called Howard for an estimate and he went above and beyond in providing me lots of information, spent quite a bit of time with me at my house and emailing back and forth which I very much appreciated and it was very helpful in making my decision. There is a lot of very helpful information on his personal website he has written lots of articles regarding this subject of foundations and retrofitting. read more