• CSLB License # 1141734
  • CSLB License # 1141734
Structural Safety Starts Here

Soft Story Retrofit in Los Angeles

Licensed seismic retrofit contractor for apartment buildings with tuck-under parking and open ground floors. CSLB License #1141734.
Los Angeles identified about 13,500 soft story buildings that must be strengthened under Ordinance 183893, and the compliance windows have closed for most of them. If your building still has an open Order to Comply, the city can cite and fine you, and your liability grows every month the work waits. CalPrime handles the full retrofit: structural assessment, engineering plans, permits, construction, and final sign-off with LADBS.
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Soft Story Building

What Is a Soft Story Building?

A soft story building is a multi-story structure with a ground floor that is much weaker than the floors above it. In Los Angeles these are usually wood-frame apartment buildings from the 1950s through the 1970s with tuck under parking, garages, or storefront openings at street level.

Your building likely falls under the retrofit mandate if it:

  • Has two or more stories of wood-frame construction
  • Was built under code standards in place before January 1, 1978
  • Has ground-floor parking or similar open space under the units
During strong shaking, the open ground floor racks sideways and the upper floors come down on it. That is what happened at Northridge Meadows in 1994, where a soft story collapse killed 16 people. The ordinance exists to prevent a repeat.
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Ordinance 183893, the Law Behind the Mandate

The Los Angeles City Council passed Ordinance 183893 in 2015 after the city identified roughly 13,500 vulnerable wood-frame buildings. The ordinance requires owners to retrofit qualifying soft story buildings, demolish them, or prove a prior retrofit
Once LADBS issues an Order to Comply, the clock starts:
  • 2 years to submit plans or proof of a previous retrofit
  • 3.5 years to pull permits and start construction
  • 7 years to finish construction and pass final inspection
Orders went out in waves starting in 2016, which means the 7-year completion deadline has already passed for most buildings in the program. Owners who have not finished face code enforcement, fines, trouble with insurance and lending, and full exposure if the building fails in a quake.

Not sure where your building stands? LADBS runs a public retrofit program database. We check your address and compliance status during your free consultation

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Crews stage the work around parking areas

How We Strengthen a Soft Story Building

Most retrofits reinforce the ground floor so it resists lateral movement without giving up parking. Depending on the engineering, a retrofit uses one or more of:
  • Steel moment frames. The most common fix for tuck-under parking, installed around parking openings to absorb lateral force.
  • Plywood shear walls. Added to existing ground-floor walls to stiffen the weak story.
  • Steel columns and beams. Replace undersized posts carrying the structure above.
  • New footings and hold-downs. Anchor the new frame to concrete so the whole system works together.
Tenants stay in place on nearly every project. Crews stage the work around parking areas, and most buildings keep partial parking access during construction.
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Our Soft Story Retrofit Process

Building assessment

We inspect the structure, review city records, and confirm your compliance status and deadlines.

Engineering and plans

Licensed structural engineers prepare the retrofit plans to the ordinance standard, and we build to them without rework.

Permits and plan check

We submit to LADBS, answer plan-check corrections, and pull the permits.

Construction

Crews install the retrofit with tenants in place. Most tuck-under buildings take 4 to 8 weeks of construction; larger buildings run 2 to 3 months.

Final inspection and sign-off

We schedule inspections and close out the Order to Comply so your record with the city is clean.

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What Drives Soft Story Retrofit Cost in Los Angeles

No two buildings price the same, so we scope from a site walk and give you a line-item estimate before you commit. The variables below are what move the number.
The main cost drivers:
  • Number and width of ground-floor openings
  • Building size and unit count
  • Foundation condition and soil
  • City plan-check and permit fees
  • Utility lines or site work in the way
If your building falls under LA’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, the city’s cost recovery program lets you apply to pass through 50 percent of approved retrofit costs to tenants, capped at $38 per unit per month. We walk owners through those numbers as part of every estimate.
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Why Owners Choose CalPrime

  • Licensed, bonded, and insured. CSLB License #1141734.
  • One team from assessment through final city sign-off. No handoffs between an engineer, a permit runner, and a builder who have never met.
  • Engineering-led construction. We build straight from the stamped plans, and field questions get answered fast.
  • Tenants stay housed. We stage work to keep units occupied and parking partly open.
  • Straight answers on cost, scope, and schedule before you sign anything.
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Where We Work

CalPrime retrofits soft story buildings across LA County from offices in Westwood and Newport Beach. City requirements differ, so we keep local pages for Beverly Hills, Burbank, Culver City, Glendale, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Torrance, and West Hollywood.

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Soft Story Retrofit FAQs

Check three things: wood-frame construction with two or more stories, built before 1978, and parking or open space on the ground floor. LADBS mailed orders to owners of the roughly 13,500 buildings in the program and keeps a public list. Send us your address and we will check your status at no charge.

The city can issue citations and fines, and an open Order to Comply surfaces in title searches, refinancing, and insurance underwriting. Your exposure in a lawsuit also grows once the hazard is on record. The practical fix is to start plans now; the city works with owners who are actively moving toward compliance.
No. Nearly all soft story retrofits happen with tenants in place. The work concentrates in parking areas and the ground floor, and crews stage it to keep most parking usable.
Engineering and city plan check usually take 2 to 4 months. Construction on a typical tuck-under building runs 4 to 8 weeks, and larger buildings can take 2 to 3 months.
Building size, the number of ground-floor openings, and foundation condition drive the price, and no two buildings come out the same. We give a line-item estimate after a free site walk, and rent-stabilized owners can recover part of the cost through a capped tenant surcharge.
Usually not. Steel moment frames are designed to fit around existing parking openings, and most buildings keep their full parking count after the retrofit.
The full scope. CalPrime manages assessment, engineering plans, LADBS plan check, permits, construction, and final inspection. You deal with one team and one contract.

Get Your Building Off the City's List

Send us your property address and we will check its status in the LADBS database, walk the building with you, and give you a clear scope and estimate. No cost, no obligation.
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Call (310) 486-8668