Soft Story Retrofit Engineer in Santa Monica: LA Ordinance 183893 Compliance Guide

**AAA Engineering Design** | Licensed California Structural Engineer | 8031 Main Street, Stanton, CA 90680 | **(949) 981-4448** Serving Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City, and all of Southern California.

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Soft-story apartment buildings in Santa Monica face a hard legal deadline. Under Los Angeles Ordinance 183893 and Santa Monica's companion program, owners of wood-frame buildings with tuck-under parking must complete seismic retrofits or face mandatory penalties, loss of rental income, and potential condemnation. Our licensed structural engineers have completed soft-story retrofit projects across Santa Monica and the greater LA basin, delivering code-compliant designs that protect tenants, preserve property value, and satisfy city inspectors.

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A soft-story retrofit is the structural reinforcement of a building that has a "soft" ground floor — typically an open garage or commercial space — that lacks the lateral resistance needed to survive a major earthquake. Soft-story buildings in Santa Monica collapse disproportionately in earthquakes because the weak first story absorbs excessive drift before failure, pulling the entire structure down on top of it.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake killed 57 people, injured more than 9,000, and collapsed or red-tagged hundreds of soft-story apartment buildings across the Los Angeles basin and Santa Monica. Engineers documented ground-floor collapse ratios exceeding 18 times those of reinforced structures. The retrofit process installs engineered lateral-force-resisting systems — steel moment frames, shear walls, or a combination — at the soft story to bring the building into compliance with ASCE 7-22 seismic performance targets.

A completed soft-story retrofit does not just satisfy ordinance requirements. It dramatically reduces the probability of collapse, protects tenant lives, eliminates owner liability exposure, and preserves the rental income stream that makes these properties valuable.

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Santa Monica property owners have access to the full spectrum of soft-story retrofit engineering and construction services. Understanding which service fits your building requires a licensed structural engineer to assess the existing structure.

**Mandatory Retrofit Compliance Engineering (Ordinance 183893)** Los Angeles Ordinance 183893 — which applies to Santa Monica under an inter-agency coordination agreement with the City of Los Angeles — identifies wood-frame soft-story buildings built before 1978 and assigns mandatory compliance deadlines based on number of stories and units. Our engineers produce the full permit set: structural calculations, construction drawings, Title 24 compliance documents, and plan-check response letters.

**Steel Moment Frame Installation** Steel moment frames are the most common retrofit solution for Santa Monica's tuck-under parking buildings. A moment frame consists of wide-flange steel columns anchored to a new reinforced concrete grade beam, connected by a horizontal beam with moment-resisting welded connections at each corner. The frame is engineered to deflect elastically during a design-level earthquake without yielding, absorbing lateral energy without collapse. Frame sizes range from W8x31 columns in a two-story fourplex to W14x82 columns in a five-story, 24-unit building.

**Shear Wall Retrofit** Where moment frames are geometrically infeasible — narrow garage bays, existing utility runs — plywood or oriented-strand board (OSB) shear walls with hold-down anchors provide an alternative lateral system. Shear wall retrofits are typically lower cost than moment frames but require more wall area to achieve equivalent stiffness.

**Foundation Upgrade and Grade Beam Installation** Most pre-1978 Santa Monica apartment buildings have shallow strip footings that cannot transfer the overturning moment from a new steel frame. Our engineers design reinforced concrete grade beams, typically 18-24 inches wide by 36-48 inches deep, poured monolithically with new anchor bolt patterns to distribute loads to bearing soil.

**Permit Engineering and Plan Check Support** Santa Monica's Building and Safety Division requires structural calculations stamped by a California-licensed structural engineer. Our team manages the full permit cycle — application, plan check, RFI response, and inspection coordination — through project closeout.

**Post-Retrofit Inspection and Certification** After construction, we perform field inspections at each structural milestone: grade beam rebar, steel column erection, moment frame welding, and final framing. Our letter of certification provides owners with documentation for their insurance carrier and city file.

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The California soft-story retrofit process follows a defined engineering and construction sequence. Santa Monica property owners who understand the process avoid costly surprises.

**Step 1: Structural Assessment (1-2 Weeks)** A licensed structural engineer visits the property, measures existing framing, documents the soft-story configuration, and reviews original building permits when available. For most Santa Monica apartment buildings, original drawings are on file with the city. The assessment produces an existing-conditions report that defines the scope of work.

**Step 2: Retrofit Design (3-6 Weeks)** The engineer calculates the seismic demand on the building per ASCE 7-22 and the Los Angeles Existing Buildings Code (LABC Chapter 92). The design selects and sizes the lateral-force-resisting system, details connections to existing framing, and prepares a full set of stamped construction drawings and structural calculations.

**Step 3: Permit Application (2-4 Weeks)** The permit package is submitted to Santa Monica Building and Safety. Los Angeles-area plan check offices typically review soft-story retrofit packages in 3-6 weeks. Our engineers respond to plan check corrections within 5 business days to avoid losing queue position.

**Step 4: Construction (6-14 Weeks)** A licensed general contractor installs the retrofit per the approved drawings. Work proceeds in phases: excavation and grade beam forming, rebar and concrete pour, steel erection, moment frame welding (inspected by a special inspector), and framing connections to existing structure.

**Step 5: Inspections and Closeout (2-4 Weeks)** City inspectors verify work at each phase. Special inspections are required for concrete, steel welding, and high-strength bolting under IBC Chapter 17. After final inspection, the city issues a Certificate of Completion, and the ordinance compliance record is updated.

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Santa Monica presents a unique combination of seismic, geologic, regulatory, and coastal factors that every soft-story retrofit engineer must address.

**Proximity to the Newport-Inglewood and Santa Monica Fault Systems** Santa Monica sits directly above and adjacent to two active fault systems. The Santa Monica fault runs beneath the bluffs and city center, producing a site-specific seismic hazard classification of Seismic Design Category D or E for most soft-story buildings. The Newport-Inglewood fault, source of the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, adds a secondary hazard. Our designs account for fault-proximity amplification factors per CBC 2022 Table 1613.3.3.

**Liquefiable Soils in the Low-Lying Areas** The flat portions of Santa Monica — particularly near the airport and the eastern edge of the city — contain sandy fill and alluvial soils susceptible to liquefaction under sustained earthquake shaking. Buildings in these zones require geotechnical investigation to quantify liquefaction potential and, when indicated, ground improvement or deep foundation systems.

**Coastal Moisture and Existing Wood Condition** Santa Monica's marine climate accelerates moisture infiltration in older wood-frame buildings. Pre-inspection often reveals dry rot at mudsill plates, deteriorated hold-down hardware, and corroded anchor bolts. Our structural assessment includes a systematic evaluation of existing wood condition, and retrofit designs specify stainless-steel hardware in high-moisture zones.

**Santa Monica Building Division Requirements** Santa Monica operates its own Building and Safety Division independently of the City of Los Angeles, though it adopts the LABC with local amendments. Soft-story retrofit packages submitted to Santa Monica must comply with local ordinance amendments and may require additional peer review for buildings over 3 stories or with unusual configurations.

**West Hollywood and Los Angeles Coordination** For owners with soft-story buildings in adjacent West Hollywood or Los Angeles that also require retrofit, our team coordinates simultaneous permit packages to align construction schedules and reduce contractor mobilization costs. West Hollywood enforces its own mandatory program with deadlines that overlap the LA ordinance.

**Beverly Hills and Culver City Comparison** Beverly Hills and Culver City have smaller inventories of soft-story wood-frame apartments but apply the same seismic design standards. Property owners in Beverly Hills and Culver City benefit from understanding the LA/Santa Monica framework because their buildings face identical structural vulnerabilities.

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Soft story retrofit costs in Santa Monica range from **$15,000 to $75,000** for engineering and construction combined, depending on building size, structural system selection, soil conditions, and existing framing condition.

| Building Type | Engineering Fees | Construction Cost | Total Range | |---|---|---|---| | 4-unit, 2-story | $3,500-$6,000 | $12,000-$22,000 | $15,500-$28,000 | | 8-unit, 3-story | $6,000-$10,000 | $22,000-$38,000 | $28,000-$48,000 | | 16-unit, 4-story | $9,000-$15,000 | $38,000-$55,000 | $47,000-$70,000 | | 24-unit, 5-story | $12,000-$18,000 | $45,000-$65,000 | $57,000-$83,000 |

*Number of retrofit lines*: Each moment frame or shear wall line adds engineering design time, steel fabrication, and concrete foundation work. A wide building with three garage bays may require three independent frames.

*Soil conditions*: Buildings on liquefiable soils or sites with poor bearing capacity require larger, deeper grade beams or ground improvement, adding $8,000-$25,000 to foundation costs.

*Existing framing condition*: Dry rot, corroded hardware, or non-standard framing discovered during demolition triggers supplemental repair work not included in the original bid.

*Steel vs. shear wall selection*: Moment frames typically cost $5,000-$12,000 more per retrofit line than equivalent shear walls but require less wall area and create fewer access disruptions for tenants.

**Penalty Avoidance Value** Santa Monica and Los Angeles assess administrative penalties of $550-$1,100 per day for non-compliant buildings past the ordinance deadline. A 90-day delay for a 16-unit building represents $49,500-$99,000 in penalties — equal to or exceeding the entire retrofit cost.

**Financing and SB 1127** California SB 1127 authorizes property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing for mandatory seismic retrofits. Repayment occurs through the property tax bill over 10-20 years, preserving operating capital during construction.

Our engineers provide detailed cost estimates as part of the structural assessment, giving owners the data needed to obtain accurate contractor bids. For residential seismic retrofitting guidance, our service page covers the full scope of residential programs.

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Selecting the right structural engineer for a Santa Monica soft-story retrofit is the most consequential decision a property owner makes in the process. The wrong choice produces deficient designs, rejected plan checks, failed inspections, and contractor disputes.

**Verify California Structural Engineering Licensure** Soft-story retrofit calculations and drawings in Santa Monica must bear the wet stamp of a California-licensed Structural Engineer (SE) or Civil Engineer (CE) with documented seismic design competency. Verify licensure at the California Board for Professional Engineers website before engaging any firm.

**Demand Ordinance 183893 Experience** The Los Angeles and Santa Monica mandatory retrofit ordinances contain specific prescriptive criteria, compliance schedules, and documentation requirements that a general structural engineer without ordinance experience will miss. Ask for a list of soft-story retrofit projects completed under the ordinance, including permit numbers you can verify with the city.

**Evaluate Moment Frame Design Portfolio** Steel moment frame design requires specialized knowledge of AISC 341 seismic provisions, connection detailing, and special inspection requirements. Ask to see stamped drawings from completed moment frame retrofit projects. Substandard connection details produce field conflicts and rejected inspections.

**Confirm Plan Check Track Record** Plan check approval times in Santa Monica range from 3 weeks to several months depending on completeness and accuracy of the initial submittal. Ask prospective engineers for their average plan check approval time and their rate of first-cycle approval. Our team achieves first-cycle approval on more than 75% of soft-story retrofit packages.

**Assess Communication and Schedule Reliability** Soft-story retrofits involve coordinating engineers, contractors, tenants, the city, and lenders simultaneously. An engineer who takes weeks to respond to plan check corrections or contractor RFIs costs far more in lost time than any fee savings. Our project managers provide weekly status updates and respond to all RFIs within two business days.

For a full overview of our structural engineering services, including both residential and commercial scopes, our service page provides detailed capability information.

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Santa Monica soft-story retrofit projects encounter a predictable set of technical and procedural challenges. Property owners who anticipate these challenges avoid schedule delays and budget overruns.

**Challenge 1: Unknown As-Built Framing** Pre-1978 apartment buildings were built under permit regimes with limited drawing requirements. Many buildings have been modified, added to, or repaired without permits, creating as-built conditions that differ from original drawings. Our assessment protocol includes systematic probing of wall cavities, attic access, and crawl spaces to document actual framing before design begins.

**Challenge 2: Shallow Footings Incompatible with Moment Frame Loads** Original strip footings in older Santa Monica buildings are typically 12-18 inches wide by 12-18 inches deep — adequate for vertical gravity loads but incapable of transferring the 40,000-120,000 pound-foot overturning moments generated by steel moment frames in a design earthquake. New grade beams require excavation adjacent to existing footings, careful shoring, and precise concrete placement. Our engineers detail the grade beam-to-existing-footing interface to prevent differential settlement.

**Challenge 3: Active Tenants and Occupied Buildings** Most Santa Monica soft-story retrofit projects occur in occupied apartment buildings. Construction access, noise, utility interruptions, and parking displacement create tenant relations challenges. We coordinate phased construction schedules that minimize unit access disruptions and work with owners to provide advance notice per California tenant protection statutes.

**Challenge 4: Special Inspection Coordination** LA County Building Code Chapter 17 requires special inspection for concrete placement, steel welding, and high-strength bolting on all moment frame retrofits. Scheduling the special inspector to be on-site at the right time is a serial dependency that causes delays when inspectors are overbooked. Our project managers schedule special inspectors 10 days in advance and maintain relationships with three qualified inspection firms in the Santa Monica area.

**Challenge 5: Plan Check Corrections on Connection Details** Santa Monica plan checkers frequently issue corrections on moment frame connection details, particularly at the beam-to-column interface and at the column base plate. Our standard detail package anticipates the most common correction categories and provides pre-emptive documentation that reduces correction cycles.

**Challenge 6: Budget Creep from Discovered Conditions** Dry rot at mudsill plates, corroded hold-down hardware, and deteriorated anchor bolts are common discoveries during demolition in coastal Santa Monica buildings. Our assessment includes a contingency protocol that identifies high-probability discovery conditions and assigns cost ranges, giving owners a realistic budget band before construction begins. Our foundation engineering services page covers the full range of foundation assessment and repair capabilities.

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AAA Engineering Design is a licensed California structural engineering firm with deep experience in LA Ordinance 183893 compliance retrofits across Santa Monica and the greater Los Angeles basin. Our engineers have completed soft-story retrofit designs for buildings ranging from 4-unit bungalow courts to 40-unit mid-rise wood-frame apartment buildings.

**Ordinance 183893 Compliance Expertise** We know the Santa Monica and Los Angeles mandatory retrofit ordinances in operational detail — the compliance tier structure, the deadline schedule, the documentation requirements, and the penalty assessment process. Our clients have maintained 100% on-time compliance across all mandatory programs.

**Full-Service Engineering Delivery** Our scope covers every phase: structural assessment, retrofit design, permit application, plan check management, construction observation, special inspection coordination, and final certification. Property owners deal with one point of contact from assessment through closeout.

**Fast Plan Check Turnaround** Our standard soft-story retrofit package is engineered for first-cycle approval. We include pre-emptive responses to the 12 most common plan check correction categories for Santa Monica and Los Angeles. Our average plan check approval time is 4.5 weeks from initial submittal.

**Transparent Fee Structure** We provide fixed-fee proposals based on the structural assessment findings. No hourly billing surprises. Our proposals include a detailed scope of work, a list of exclusions, and a contingency protocol for common discovered conditions.

**Direct Engineer Access** Property owners and contractors communicate directly with the engineer of record — not a project coordinator. When a contractor has a field question at 7 AM on a pour day, the engineer answers.

Contact us today to schedule a structural assessment for your Santa Monica soft-story building. Our engineers are available for site visits throughout Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Culver City.

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**Robert M., Santa Monica Apartment Owner (12-Unit Building, 3-Story)** "We had a hard deadline from the city and three weeks to find an engineer. AAA Engineering Design turned around our structural assessment in four days and had permit drawings ready for submittal in three weeks. Plan check approved in the first cycle. Construction finished two weeks before our compliance deadline. No other firm came close to that schedule."

**Patricia K., Santa Monica Property Manager (8-Unit, 2-Story)** "The building had unknown as-built framing — nothing matched the original permits. AAA's engineer spent a full day on-site documenting the actual structure before design started. That thoroughness is why the construction went smooth and the contractor had zero RFIs. They know what they're doing."

**James T., Real Estate Investor (Multiple Properties, Santa Monica and West Hollywood)** "I've used three structural engineering firms for soft-story retrofits. AAA Engineering Design is the only one that provided a fixed fee, hit the schedule, and handled every plan check correction without calling me. For anyone facing the ordinance deadline in Santa Monica or West Hollywood, they're the firm to call."

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**Phone:** (949) 981-4448 **Address:** 8031 Main Street, Stanton, CA 90680 **Service Area:** Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City, and all of Southern California

Call us today to schedule a soft-story structural assessment for your Santa Monica property. Our licensed structural engineers are ready to evaluate your building, design the retrofit, and manage the permit process from start to finish.

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**What is the deadline for soft story retrofit compliance in Santa Monica?** Santa Monica enforces compliance deadlines aligned with the Los Angeles Ordinance 183893 tier schedule. Buildings with two or more stories and 15 or more units in the highest-priority tier had a 2020 deadline. Lower-tier buildings face 2022, 2025, and 2028 deadlines depending on number of stories and units. Contact the Santa Monica Building and Safety Division or our engineering team to confirm your building's specific deadline.

**How long does a soft story retrofit take from assessment to completion?** Most soft-story retrofit projects in Santa Monica take 5-8 months from initial assessment to certificate of completion. The timeline breaks down as: assessment (1-2 weeks), design (3-6 weeks), permit (4-8 weeks), construction (6-14 weeks), and inspections and closeout (2-4 weeks). Accelerated schedules are achievable when owners engage the engineer early and authorize permit submission immediately after design completion.

**Does the soft story retrofit require tenants to vacate?** No. The vast majority of soft-story retrofit projects in Santa Monica are completed in occupied buildings. Construction typically affects parking access for 4-8 weeks during grade beam and steel installation. Our engineers design construction phasing plans that maintain tenant access to all units throughout the project.

**What structural systems are used in soft story retrofits?** The two primary systems are steel moment frames and plywood shear walls. Steel moment frames are more common in Santa Monica because they require fewer wall interruptions and accommodate the wide bay spans typical of tuck-under parking garages. Shear walls are used where bay widths are narrow or where structural geometry makes frame placement difficult. Many projects use a combination of both systems.

**How much does engineering alone cost for a soft story retrofit in Santa Monica?** Structural engineering fees for a Santa Monica soft-story retrofit range from $3,500 for a simple 4-unit building to $18,000+ for a complex 24-unit building requiring multiple moment frame lines and geotechnical coordination. Our fees include structural assessment, design, calculations, drawings, permit application, plan check management, construction observation, and final certification letter.

**What happens if my Santa Monica building fails to meet the compliance deadline?** Santa Monica and Los Angeles assess administrative penalties starting at $550 per day for non-compliant buildings past their deadline. The city records a compliance order against the property, which appears on title searches and creates lender and insurance complications. In severe cases, the city issues a notice of intent to vacate the building, displacing tenants and triggering relocation assistance obligations. Starting the retrofit process immediately is the only way to avoid these consequences.

**Does the retrofit affect the building's rental income or property value?** A completed soft-story retrofit increases property value by demonstrating compliance, reducing insurance premiums, and removing the legal liability exposure of a non-compliant building. Properties with compliance certificates sell at a premium in the Santa Monica market compared to non-compliant buildings, which carry disclosed mandatory repair obligations. For a deeper dive into seismic retrofit services, our service page covers all building types and programs.

**Can the same engineer handle both the structural retrofit design and the geotechnical investigation?** No. Geotechnical investigation — soil borings, liquefaction analysis, bearing capacity testing — requires a licensed geotechnical engineer. Our firm coordinates with preferred geotechnical partners for soil investigations when required, integrating their recommendations into the foundation design. We manage the coordination so owners deal with one primary point of contact.

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