“But for the structural engineers and building inspectors charged with the unglamorous but important business of keeping multifamily structures safe, the two incidents are linked by tragedy. They’re also connected by the sense that lives could have been saved if society paid more attention to how our places of residence are not only constructed but maintained against the ravages of time.
“While it’s too early to draw conclusions about the cause of the Florida tragedy, for Bay Area building inspectors and structural engineers it has brought back memories of the last Bay Area building failure, the 2015 collapse of a balcony in Berkeley, an incident that killed 5 Irish college students in the U.S. on visas, as well as 1 America student.
“ ‘Any prudent city or state is now going to be on high alert to do what California did after the Berkeley tragedy,’ said Tom Miller, an attorney who represents homeowners associations throughout California. ‘There will be a push to strengthen inspection requirements for key components of the building that affect its safety and structural integrity.’
“Condo associations now have until January of 2025 to complete their first inspection. Jim Schlagel, an inspector with California Deck Inspection, said that the response to the statewide legislation has been muted. Some of the larger management companies like AvalonBay have been proactively getting inspections done for all their complexes, but most owners have not. There are roughly 1.3 million buildings in California covered by the two Senate bills. (SB 326 Condominium Bill and SB 721 Apartment Bill).
“ ‘Nobody is rushing to get them done,’ Schlagel said. ‘The legislation is largely unknown by most mom and pop owners. There is a high level of unawareness.’
“The Bay Area doesn’t have the sort of mid or high-rise beachfront condos that are common along Florida’s sandy coast, but many of the high-rise buildings in downtown San Francisco and Mission Bay are constructed on bay mud — which can allow buildings to settle more than expected, which was the case with the Millennium Tower.
“Schlagel said that most of the decks he has inspected for owners looking to comply with the new state laws have been in good shape. ‘There was one deck in an apartment complex in L.A. where I immediately called the property manager and said, You’ve got to get someone out there right away, or someone is going to get hurt,’ he said.”
Excerpt from article by J.K. Dineen / San Francisco Chronicle
Image credit: Champlain Towers South, Florida, after its collapse. Brandon Taylor, WLTX/Twitter
Owner Jim Schlagel is a License “B” Contractor and is authorized to perform inspections toward compliance with CA Law SB721 and SB326. Some of the top cities we serve are Fresno, Sacramento, Bakersfield and Los Angeles.