Dan and his team recently inspected our property for seismic safety as per the service I requested. They were thorough , seemed very knowledgeable and I enjoyed discussion our project with his team. Highly recommend. read more

Dan and his wife Cecilia are very professional and drama-free. His crew were very efficient in taking measurements and Dan went over the overall plan in simple language for our Earthquake Brace and Bolt project. Thanks for everything! read more

We worked with Dan in spring/summer 2023 for our retrofit and retaining wall. Dan came recommend by a few contractors we had out for quotes. His work was very well priced, speedy, and thorough. Dan took the time to walk me through questions I had on certain design decisions to understand pros and cons of choices. We have a 1956 house on a hill with a living space over a garage and crawl space. Our retrofit required large plywood sections of walls, a Hardyframe install at the front of the house, and rebar and concrete work in additional to standard retrofit requirements. When we were doing our work, Dan worked with our contractor Golden State Seismic to make some required changes and deal with conditions in the field once we started demoing. He was quick to respond to keep us on track for inspections. I would recommend Dan for any retrofit you are considering! read more

Dan prepared our seismic retrofit plan in 2010. We had the work done according to his specifications. Since then, we've had contractors and engineers come out to our place for a few reasons, and everybody who knows anything about structural engineering admires the work that was done. Today we had an inspection for a CEA earthquake retrofit verification. Our inspector's assessment: we are in "great shape" retrofit-wise. We live in the Glenview neighborhood, so we are within a mile of the Hayward fault. It is such a blessing to be able to have peace of mind. Thank you, Dan, for being the expert that you are. And hello to Bear even though I have never met him. P.S. Coincidentally we have a cat named Bear. read more

We highly recommend Dan Szumski for making plans for your seismic retrofit project. We had struggled to find a seismic engineer willing to work on our 1915 vintage house since it is not a very large project. After getting no response or ghosted by 8 recommended seismic engineers, we finally found Dan via Rick Hoffman and are very grateful Rick pointed us to Dan. As an engineer myself, I very much appreciated Dan's knowledge and respect for older houses including his own. He was very open to discussions during the analysis and drawing up of plans in order to protect key features and aesthetics of our vintage house. Plans were received quickly and approved by the City of Berkeley pretty rapidly. Dan was also very responsive when implementation challenges came up once access was possible to previously unaccessible areas and plans were iterated rapidly to keep the project on track. I sleep better now with Dan's confidence in the seismic retrofit design and having the project completed including receipt of the transfer tax rebate from the City of Berkeley. read more

There was one moment in particular, during my seismic retrofit inspection, that stands out to me as a symbol for why Dan Szumski's team is so great. In my house, which had additions when I bought it, a certain part of the original foundation is hidden inside a wall. This section needs to be reinforced, and digging through the floor will be required to make that happen. As soon as he found this section of foundation, Dan began to explain his approach to reinforcing it in clear, simple terms. Almost automatically, he flipped from his careful sketch of the whole house to a new page on his notepad, and began to draw the wall. Because we were facing each other, his drawing was right-side up for me, and upside-down relative to him. It appeared both effortless and automatic for him to draw this way. What stands out to me about this moment is that Dan's only purpose, in making that drawing, was to help me understand better. I don't have a background in building, and Dan really went the extra mile to help me get a grasp on the key goals of the retrofit. Throughout the inspection, Dan showed me things about my house that I never would have seen on my own, and he also readily incorporated our own considerations--like not disturbing an in-home office during the retrofit-- into the plans. Cecilia has been great on the logistical end, and Neil was so kind and answered our many questions. Great work team! read more

Had the pleasure of working with Dan on some seismic retrofitting and partial foundation replacement. Extremely knowledgable, tremendous resource with deep well of wisdom for structural engineering. Big fan of Bear (his dog), as well. read more

As a local Realtor in Oakland since 1985, over many many years I have referred Dan to clients and not one client ever had a disliking of him. He's thorough, understands many types of repairs and understands how to work through the complicated city departments to get a project completed. Also, nice personality. He doesn't talk down but rather comes across as a teacher. read more

I signed up for the EBB (California Earthquake) program, where homeowners receive a grant for seismic upgrade. I quickly found out that my house - a "soft story" - required an engineer's report. Many contractors recommended Dan S as an engineer, so I contacted him. Dan was the only engineer who has a fee low enough that I would consider "reasonable". And he is clear about why he offers the low fee - because he wants every homeowner to be able to afford a seismic upgrade. Dan is very organized, we made an appointment, he showed up not only on time, but early. His plans were delivered exactly when he said they would be delivered. Upon reviewing the plans, I had some questions, which actually revealed an error. Dan came back and did a re-inspection, and he fixed the error. Later, in dealing with the Berkeley Permit Dept., Dan continued to work with them to revise the plans. The end result is that I have a very excellent seismic retrofit, and now I feel very secure about my home! Dan also gave me a special deal because he knew I was a music teacher, and he also lobbied for me with the permit dept. I highly recommend Dan! Also worth noting, Dan's wife, Cecilia, also gave me very helpful advice along the way regarding small details regarding dealing with the permit dept. and other things. read more

I used Dan Szumski's services twice in the past for two separate home purchases. He was highly recommended by my realtor at the time who assured me he's the best. I was not disappointed. His inspections were thorough, he answered a multitude of questions I had about various project ideas (moving walls, putting a heavy sauna on a 3rd floor deck, etc.), and his plans and feedback guided a couple seismic retrofit projects that ensure I now sleep better at night. It's been a while since I had the work done, but I just referred Dan without hesitation to a friend and was glad to see he's still in business. Thanks for all your help, Dan. read more

t pleases me to be able to write this 5 star review for Dan Szumski. I am a realtor in the East Bay and have hundreds of successful transactions under my belt. There is no one I trust more than Mr. Szumski, to inspect and report on the structural and safety issues of foundations in residential properties in the East Bay. I have used Szumski over and over again when my clients-- buyers or sellers, have questions regarding foundation issues. I know I can always count on him to tell it like it is. I have complete confidence in Mr. Szumski's work knowing he has spent years and years crawling under East Bay houses. He is extremely knowledgeable about soil conditions, active and inactive slide zones, types of foundations, retrofit issues, the location of fault lines, you name it. And Mr. Szumski can give you more than one way to remedy the issues that he has uncovered. Plus, he always takes the time to expain his findings and remedies so that the client truly understands and can then make an informed decision. As a real estate agent my reputation is all I really have and it partially rests on the quality of my referrals. There have been times when, based on one of Mr. Szumski's reports, I have had a deal collapse, but I would prefer that over a transaction that is successful in the short term but that negatively affects my clients down the road. In my opinion, Dan Szumski's work is the gold standard. read more

Alameda Structural recommended Dan Szumski to draw up plans for our seismic retrofit. Dan took our check for $855 (for inspection and drawing up plans), and proceeded to not return any phone calls or emails for over 4 months. We never received the plans we paid for, nor any updates, not any acknowledgment of our attempts to contact him. Only after threatening legal action did he finally mail us a check for a refund. We have heard that this is common practice for Szumski, so please avoid him at all costs. read more

A few years back Dan Szumski came out to do plans for a seismic retrofit. He actually mapped our house out wrong (putting walls where there were none; not registering other existing walls). He drew up the plans, then did not return any phone calls or emails from us or our contractor for about 3 months. It was an absolute nightmare, his plans were unusable, and he was completely MIA. In talking with folks from the City of Berkeley Building Department, they intimated his work has been similarly shoddy with other clients as well. We finally hired another engineer to redo everything. Also he yelled at his dog when he was here, which never wins points in my book. Dan was $850 down the toilet. 8/4/17 I'm updating this review to reply to Dan's comment. Dan - thank you for your interest in my review. You came out to my house in 2014, and my frustrations and concerns about the accuracy of your work and your lack of responsiveness at the time stand. As far as why now, I always meant to get around to writing a review but never made the time for it. Recently I had a friend ask me about my experience with you, and my concerns spurred me to finally get off my duff and put a review on Yelp. You're right - I only seem to review services that I have strong opinions about - either positive or negative - because those are the services that either really impressed me, or that I feel important to warn others about. I am really not trying to "trash" you - I am trying to accurately reflect my experience with you, and warn others the way I wish I had been warned. read more

Dan prepared the engineer plans for our seismic retrofit. Dan was friendly, easy to work with, and reasonably-priced. The process was pretty simple - Dan measured the inside and outside of our house (while his super sweet dog waited for him on our front porch), then he prepared the engineer plans, and his wife hand-delivered the plans to our home. The plans we're approved by the City on the first pass. I'd highy recommend Dan if you need engineer plans for your home. read more

If you're looking for an engineer to get you an estimate for your foundation, this is not your guy. Not only does he not do this work anymore, he's super RUDE about it. I wouldn't even give him a star, if that was an option. read more

We wanted to purchase a house that had a major structural foundation problem. However, the foundation contractor estimates to correct this problem were prohibitively expensive. Dan thought of a creative out-of-the-box solution that effectively helped us solve this this problem for less than half the cost estimated by the foundation contractors. This solution made it possible for us to move forward with the purchase. He was very responsive and got us the permit drawings quickly. In addition, when I had detailed questions about the drawings, he answered my questions right away.In the future, if I have any foundation issues, Dan is the first person I will call. read more

Dan Szumski recently came to inspect a house that we were in escrow for. He discovered that the house was lying directly on a fault line, and explained to us what the structural implications of that are, as well as the legal issues with trying to rebuild on that lot if the house were destroyed in an earthquake. At the very least he stopped us from investing a lot of money in a home that we would have a hard time selling in the future, and it is possible that he could have saved my family from a great tragedy. I am very thankful that we found an engineer that was so thorough in his inspection and so direct in his explanation. read more

Dan was recommended by a local contractor in Alameda. I called him and he said he could come by that afternoon to inspect our house as needed to create plans for a seismic retrofit. He spent a while crawling around under our house. Afterwards he explained what he observed and said he would mail us the plans. Overall he was friendly and informative. I received the plans as promised. I did not really understand them, but the permitting and construction work to implement the retrofit went smoothly and cost as much as I expected. read more

A quick response when we needed it for our Albany house. I've dealt with a lot of building related professionals and Dan gets 5 stars for not being reticent to get under the house and get dirty. My house was a real mess and he figured out what was going on structurally. Allowed us to keep on schedule and represented the interests of both the future buyers and the seller (me). I wouldn't accept anything less that a good solid inspection and Dan took care of it for us. read more

Dan helped us with earthquake retrofit plans for our properties in Piedmont and Albany. I highly recommend him and give him a 5 star review. Whenever my friends think about earthquake retrofit, we give Dan's contact to them because he is the one we and our dear friends can totally trust. read more

Dan inspected an old 1926 home I was planning to buy and the inspection contingency period was short. I called him on Thursday afternoon, he was able to do the inspection on Friday evening, and I had a completed report summarizing the inspection findings by Saturday. I was very impressed by Dan's thorough review and practical suggestions, plus quick turn around. He was referred by East Bay Structural and I checked the other reviews on the Berkeley Parenting website before calling Dan. I was glad I did and would gladly recommend him. read more

I want to add to my previous review. We needed additional engineering plans for additional work. Again, Dan not only did it, he went the extra mile. We had our plans exactly when he said we would at a phenomenal price, too. Permitting asked for additional drawings, I left him a message, and I was flabbergasted to find four stamped copies in my mailbox less than a week later. He just did the work, dropped them in the mail, done. The permitting guy I spoke with, by the way, knew his work. I. Love. This. Man. He's just wonderful. read more

Dan designed a new foundation for us. The price he charged is probably around the average, but the additional service he provided was simply excellent. After getting bids from contractors, changes to the plans were suggested by the contractor (raising the house in addition to digging for the new foundation). Dan made the changes promptly and at no additional charge. We also had a very lengthy back-and-forth with the city planning department, and Dan made the process go as smoothly as it could with the many small required changes to the plans, also at no additional charge. He seems to genuinely care about his work and his clients. read more