I cannot say enough good things about Kent! He has helped us with the most important purchases we've made and with one of the most important things for our family (safety). While on the market for a house, our realtor contacted Kent for several verbal inspections. On one property that we were interested in making a bid on, we weren't sure if we needed a structural inspection because the house appeared well maintained and the lot was very flat. However, Kent came and told us this house would likely fall apart in a big earthquake, because it appeared never to have had any seismic retrofits since it was built 100 years ago. Bringing it up to current safety standards would likely be a huge project costing around $400k. We avoided a real lemon! Before making an offer on our current house, Kent also came. This house was in bad shape with a lot of deferred maintenance and borderline in a yellow zone on the Kropp map. However, Kent told us that the foundation looked good, seismic retrofits had been done probably in the last 20 years (so no further work was needed), and it was probably on bedrock. Sure enough, when we were replacing sewer laterals, the crew confirmed his evaluation (it was very difficult to dig and they had to drill a lot). At the same visit, we mentioned that we were going to see another house that just listed, which was more move-in ready. Kent advised us (free of charge!) that he already inspected that house and to avoid it completely. It was in a landslide zone and had already encroached into the neighbor's lot! That saved us a lot of time! Recently, I contacted Kent to evaluate our detached garage for seismic retrofitting, which to our knowledge had never been retrofitted since it was built about 100 years ago. Kent came for a site visit and wrote up a short report. He noticed that some of the concrete around the pillars looked newer and encouraged us to look through old permitting archives. When we did this and sent him the microfiche files from the early 1990's, he told us that indeed seismic retrofitting was done then and we didn't need to update it! Saved us probably around $30k! read more

Professional, knowledgeable, practical, accessible, reliable, efficient. Helped us navigate a difficult deck project in El Cerrito. I would highly recommend Kent for your project and I plan to use him on future projects. read more

Long overdue review but Kent is the best! We reached out to Kent twice: First was to determine if our house was structurally sound to remove a wall, so we can open up our kitchen. We've spoken to multiple contractors who mentioned the wall was not load bearing and can be quickly removed. However, after confirming with Kent, he shared knowledge about the soil in our area, potential earthquakes, and recommended specific ways to reinforce the home if the wall was removed. Second project was a seismic upgrade. Permits passed quickly, contractor worked well with Kent, and everything went smoothly. I recommend Kent to anyone who wants to learn and understand the structural integrity of your home. He's very knowledgeable of the Bay Area and creates a detail plan so you're ready to ask for bids from contractors. read more

We won the Earthquake Brace and Bolt award last year and we were looking around for seismic retrofit general contractors. It turns out our house has a soft-story and would need an engineered solution -- and general contractors don't do that -- they only build. I asked several of them who they'd recommend and they pointed me to Kent Ferre at KSF Structural. I asked him if he could do the plans. It turns out that there wasn't enough turnaround for last year and we had to return the award. This year, I put in my application again and actually won it (two years in a row!) but I had my ducks in a row and had asked KSF well ahead of time if he could do the plans. Kent came and spent several hours measuring my house. The next day, he sent a very thorough inspection summary. Three weeks after that, came an extensive set of plans. We wanted some slight changes to the layout and he accomodated those immediately and sent us a new set of plans. We agreed and he sent the final documents along with the seismic calculations of the loads. Kent always returns emails promptly and is a joy to work with. Five stars there. In terms fo the cost, it turns out when you do an engineered solution that you don't need to make every inch of the entire perimeter of the house -- all four out walls into sheer wall -- as the standard plans have you do. And we didn't need an expensive steel truss system poured into the foundations to support the soft story as one general contractor suggested we might. So I think we ended up saving money over the standard plans even considering that we had to get custom engineering plans made - in terms of labor and materials that will be needed. And we got a very nice set of measured engineering plans made for our house, which is nice given that it was built in 1917 and floor plans are long gone. Skip ahead and the permit was accepted by Oakland. The city had an engineer look at them and they were stamped "approved immediately. So the lack of hassle there was much appreciated. read more

I am a general contractor. I had been working along with Mr. Ferre at KSF Structural in some projects, and I can highly recommend him as a PE he is knowledgeable and very efficient. He is really present and involve on each of his projects, that helps to finish the project on time. read more

I've used Kent twice so far, and plan on using him for every future purchase as well. He's thorough, punctual, professional, and gets the reports back in a timely manner. Thanks Kent, Kyle DeGennaro read more

Worked with Kent to develop structural plans for a multi-wall removal project in our home. Really appreciated that Kent was always quick to respond to questions, worked hand in glove with the contractors when needed, and delivered plans ahead of schedule. Contractor took the plans, which sailed through Oakland permitting, and didn't have any follow-ups with Kent as far as I know. Would recommend KSF and will call again for any future projects! read more

We had an unusual need for a structural engineer, one that I worried about finding someone to accommodate. Well, not only did Kent Ferre (owner of KSL Structural) accommodate us, he did so quickly, with expertise, and generosity. Kent is clearly the consummate professional: arriving on time (even waiting outside because he was actually a few minutes early), providing answers required with regard to a potentially complex concern, following through quickly on an approval letter required by a public agency. But more than that (!), Kent was down to earth, explained engineering concepts clearly to this "engineering-challenged" customer, understood there was an emotional human element in addition to the more obvious engineering concern, helped us define the parameters of our project, and limited his work to this limited scope. Moreover, Kent is in my 'hood--and it always feels good hiring a local. Hire Kent and KSF Structural!!! You won't regret it!! read more

I needed several structural evaluations in my home buying process in the Marin area, and Kent went above and beyond. He truly showed superior integrity through out the process and is someone I would highly recommend! read more

Another long overdue review. A few years ago we reached out to Kent to inspect a sagging back room (rhat ised to be the porch) to learn if it was compromising the Integrity of the house. He responded quickly, made a thorough inspection and alleviated our concerns about the porch, though also discovered a sloping floor to keep an eye on, but nothing to worry about in the short or medium term. He wrote a thorough helpful report. I highly recommend Kent! read more

I run a maintenance department for a local property management company and KSF Structural recently helped us out with a project at an apartment complex overlooking Lake Merritt. He was able to provide prompt service from the time that I first requested an appointment with him (Unlike many other of the structural engineers I reached out to who all seemed to be booked months in advance! Maybe I was lucky with my timing? )... During the appointment Kent patiently walked the entire property with both the owner and myself. He answered our barrage of questions, without blinking once, all the while continuing to take his measurements and make his notes that he would later use to turn into a PROMPTLY returned report. I highly recommend using Kent and his company if you're in the need of a structural engineer in the East Bay. He is a true professional. read more

Kent recently inspected our home and foundation. He was thorough and incredibly informative, giving us suggestions for a few simple ways we could improve the earthquake resiliency of our home. As new home owners, we feared every crack meant something terrible, Kent assured us things were fine and demonstrated a keen understanding of our structure, the soil it was on, and various other factors. I would highly recommend working with KSF. read more

KSF Structural - Structural Engineers Near Me - Oakland, California

I requested KSF (Kent) draw up structural plans for moving a first story wall that supported the second story at our house as part of a kitchen remodel. His work is very fast, comprehensive and he is knowledgeable about current home construction codes. He worked with our builder and also communicated directly with them. He treated me as if my project was as important as any he was working on. He returns calls promptly. He also made a site visit and was right on time. His prices are very fair. Additionally, he designed earthquake stabilization and incorporated those into the drawings for the older part of the house at our request. He was enjoyable to work with. I highly recommend him for any home structural engineering needs! read more

KSF provided all the specifications I needed to replace my 400 square foot deck including number of piers, pier diameters, pier depth, pier spacing, beam dimensions, beam spacing, joist dimensions, joist spacing, ledger size and bolt spacing. I wanted a deck that could support a crowd of people. Coincidentally, my teenage son threw an huge party on the last day of school. We had just enough time to lay the deck plank unscrewed before 250 raucous high-schoolers descended on it. My KSF Structural deck never even wiggled. read more

Another review long overdue. Kent was awesome! I had the pleasure working with him on my foundational repair project. He's very responsive and very patient with explaining the project to me. I've already recommended a few folks over to him. Thank you for all that you do Kent. read more

You can trust Kent to do a good job at a fair price. Hire with confidence.

KSF principal and owner has a Civil Engineering degre, California P.E. license, and S.E. license. They have been in business for more than 15 years. They provide first quality and on-time engineering and drawings for your remodeling or construction permit needs. No job is too small. Their attention to details and proven client satisfaction are shown with the many repeat businesses like mine. I am a Managing Engineer with the Alisto Engineering Group, located in Walnut Creek. We have used KSF many times and we have never being disappointed. We will keep using KSF for all our soil and structural engineering and permit needs. read more

Kent did the structural drawings for a second story edition that we are permitting. He has been thorough, responsive and very helpful. His prices are extremely reasonable. I would recommend him highly!! read more

Kent did a wonderful job for us when we were doing a large addition and remodel to our home. We were impressed with his creativity and aesthetic sense, which were very important to us. This was a large and complicated project and we feel we got great value for our money. read more