Important Information About an Apartment Building Retrofit

Renovation, retrofit, and refurbishment of existing buildings represent an opportunity to upgrade the energy performance of commercial building assets for their ongoing life. Often retrofit involves modifications to existing commercial buildings that may improve energy efficiency or decrease energy demand. In addition, retrofits are often used as opportune time to install distributed generation to a building. Energy-efficiency retrofits can reduce the operational costs, particularly in older buildings, as well as help to attract tenants and gain a market edge.

Benefits of a Retrofit

1. It is the law.

The law, signed in October by Mayor Eric Garcetti, caps decades of efforts to strengthen two types of older buildings that proved deadly in past earthquakes: brittle concrete buildings that dot L.A.’s major boulevards and wood-frame apartment complexes with weak first floors. About 65 people died when these types of buildings collapsed during temblors in 1971 and 1994.

2. Minimize liability losses

You could be liable for damages worth millions of dollars if your soft story building collapses during an earthquake and causes injury or death to tenants or innocent bystanders. This has already happened in Paso Robles, where the jury awarded almost $2 million in damages to the families of 2 women killed in a soft story collapse during an earthquake in 2003.

Earthquake scientists predict that there is a 99.9% chance of a 7-magnitude quake hitting Los Angeles in the next decade or so. If this earthquake strikes before you’ve had a chance to retrofit your residential or commercial building, many lives could be lost and massive property damage could result. Since Los Angeles codes state that building owners are liable for any loss of life and damage to property within their buildings, you could end up facing enormous liability losses.

One may argue, of course, that insurance exists to protect a building owner from liability in case his or her building collapses during an earthquake and injures people and damages tenants’ property. Even so, doesn’t it make sense to retrofit and thus prevent major losses instead of simply waiting for the worst and then relying on insurance to make things right?

In the midst of post-earthquake chaos, with building owners clamoring for insurance coverage right after the quake, you’d be very glad you decided to retrofit.

3. Save money

Save money by having a soft-story retrofit done before it becomes mandatory. Once soft-story retrofit becomes compulsory (as it already is in some parts of California), expect soft-story retrofitting prices to become a lot higher than they are now.

4. Lower earthquake insurance premiums

If you retrofit your soft-story building, the lower your earthquake insurance premiums are likely to be. Your earthquake insurance underwriter will probably decide you have low potential exposure (i.e. that you’re a low-risk client) because your building has been reinforced to protect it from earthquake damage.

5. Save on interest

A loan taken out on a soft-story building is likely to have a higher interest rate than a loan taken out on a properly reinforced building. The logic is simple. Structurally sound buildings make good collateral, while structurally weak ones pose a great risk to the lender. What if an earthquake demolishes or seriously damages the building before the loan is paid off? The lender will be left with a worthless (or nearly worthless) piece of property as security.

6. Attract tenants

Building owners are required by law to disclose their buildings’ seismic vulnerability to prospective tenants — so if you don’t retrofit, you could scare tenants away. On the other hand, if you retrofit, the fact that your building has been retrofitted may be used as an additional marketing/selling point. You could also command higher rent prices. In the end, it’s all about ROI.

7. Increase property value

According to Caltech’s survey, the benefit-to-cost ratio of a soft story retrofit could be as much as 7:1 — and since there’s a 99% probability of a big quake happening in the next 10 years — you should really get your soft stories retrofitted NOW.

Steps to Getting a Retrofit for Your Apartment Building

Understanding the Seismic Retrofit Mandate
Partnering with Design Professionals
Submitting Building Plans with the Right Retrofit Product Solutions
Communicating with Your Building Tenants
Completing Your Soft-Story Retrofit

To get started today or for more information, contact us today to schedule a FREE on-site inspection by our team of soft-story experts or call us now at (818)287-8002.

Posted on Tuesday, July 23rd, 2019.