Question 1

Do you keep a clean worksite?

Accepted Answer

Yes. At any given time, we have about four jobs in progress. We invite our potential customers to visit all these sites and see exactly how clean we work.

Question 2

What hours do you work?

Accepted Answer

We work from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm. We can, however, adjust the schedule if it’s more convenient for a client.

Question 3

Can I live in my house while it’s being worked on?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Most of the houses we work on are occupied. We cover any holes or trenches with plywood for safety.

Question 4

Do you have to move a house to do foundation work?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes the scope of a job will call for us to move a house’s location, but for general foundation work or seismic retrofitting, it’s not necessary. We take the weight off the old foundation while work is in progress, but we don’t actually lift or move the house.

Question 5

Do you have insurance?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we carry $2 million in liability insurance. When we need to subcontract to a shoring company, we use one with earthquake insurance. And all our employees are covered by workers’ compensation.

Question 6

Do you do seismic retrofitting?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we do quite a bit, and we consider ourselves retrofit experts. There are 20 or 30 engineers who use us as their top referral.

Question 7

Do you have engineers on staff?

Accepted Answer

Not on staff, but we consistently rely on four or five engineers who work with us when needed—a soils engineer, a civil engineer and a couple of structural engineers. Because of our long-term relationships, they come when we call, and there’s no downtime waiting for an engineer’s assessment.

Question 8

Do you do inspections for real estate transactions? What do those entail?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We look for any problems or issues with the foundation and assess the life left in it, but this can entail a lot of things. First, we look at the site conditions. Is the house in a slide zone, like the Berkeley hills? We examine the age of the house and determine if it’s level. We look for settlement, drainage and seismic issues. Older foundations are often in a state of deterioration. The concrete gets softer and may not have been built deep enough, so it’s in danger in case of an earthquake. We take all of these factors into account and provide an assessment on the foundation’s condition so buyers can make an informed decision.

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