Highly recommend: I couldn't be happier with the work done on the seismic retrofit of our duplex in San Francisco. Mark and his crew were professional, knowledgeable, and incredibly attentive. They worked within a tight timeframe without cutting any corners and their price was competitive. Mark took the time to understand my needs and answer every questxion with patience over multiple months of discussion. The quality spoke for itself: our inspector was genuinely impressed by the quality of the retrofit and the work was also reviewed by an independent engineer. Mark earned his reputation as one of the best in the city, and I experienced that firsthand. read more

If you are thinking about retrofitting you should give Mark a call irrespective of who else you have talked to. He takes significant amount of time walking through the steps and even he pulls up your home and discusses potential issues and solutions. Highly Recommend !! read more

Mark answers the phone straight away and can help with all sorts of retrofit questions. He was incredibly helpful for me and a shining light in a word of voicemails and website forms left unanswered. Would recommend him and his company 10/10 read more

The owner, Mark is amazing. A great problem-solver with an engineering background and excellent suggestions. I found him reliable, personable and very reasonable. He has been in the business a long time and that experience is apparent. Mark was very honest in his dealings and operated with a lot of integrity with my best interest in mind. I wish I could find more construction resources with the same level of service and competency! read more

100% satisfied with the work! We hired Mark and the team after doing our research for a private home seismic retrofit. They were super professional, quick, reliable and had one of the lowest bids we got. The entire process was very smooth and easy. 100% recommend this team! read more

Was concerned about how earthquake-proof the building was for a condo, and called Mark from Seismic Retrofitters. He was able to look up the history of the building and confirm the safety of the building, saving me a lot of stress. Highly recommended! read more

Easy to contact with quick and concise answers to questions. Appreciated working with them.

I had a phone call with Mark while looking for a contractor for a retrofit of my home. Seismic Retrofitters doesn't service my area, but Mark was very helpful and informative. He explained how I can find a contractor to do the work in my area through the EBB website, and explained what type of work needs to be done. He told me what information to give to potential contractors, and also offered to answer any additional questions that I may have later. I really appreciated that he made an effort to help me even though the company doesn't service my area. Thank you Mark! read more

Mark came to do an assessment of my property in Marin after I received a very scary quote from another contractor. He was so nice and friendly, and after doing a visual inspection outside the house and inside the crawl space he told me the house is in good shape, nothing is urgent and that we can address some of the smaller issues when we do a bathroom renovation project later this year. He offered to talk with my architect too! I couldn't be happier- I got an honest expert opinion and I don't have to worry. Even though I'm not hiring him now I would definitely call him if I need any work in the future! Thanks Mark!! read more

We just completed a voluntary soft story retrofit (and ADU legalization) with Seismic Retrofitters. In fact, I wish I had engaged them for the structural engineering (which they do in-house) as well, that is about the only thing that could have made the process smoother! They started on time, stuck to the contracted price even when there were field revisions, Mark and Patrick kept me informed as to progress, inspections were passed and they finished ahead of schedule. Their guys were polite and helpful, they kept everything as tidy as possible (construction is messy, that cannot be denied) and most importantly, did I say they finished ahead of schedule? They know their business - I definitely felt I was in the best possible hands. Seismic Retrofitters reduced my stress, instead of adding to it. How many contractors can you say that about? I recommend them without reservation. read more

I'm really writing two reviews in one here - great experience both times and I cannot say enough about the professionalism of Mark Barbagelata and his team. My parents own a small apartment building in San Francisco. They were hard working blue collar immigrants who are now able to use the apartment income to support retirement. In 2015, San Francisco instituted seismic retrofit requirements that confused them. They got bids and asked me to act as go-between. We decided on Seismic Retrofitters. Though their price was middle of a tight pack, they had a better reputation and they answered our voluminous questions before contract and throughout the whole process... I went back and looked at my old emails and I asked a TON of questions/follow-ups to ensure my folks were being treated fairly and we were fully informed. Mark, Tammy and the rest of his team answered quickly, with patience and without ambiguity or double-speak. The work was expected to take 5 weeks around Thanksgiving and finished a bit ahead of schedule. Nobody likes being inconvenienced and due to the work and building configuration, tenants had to coordinate around it, sometimes parking in the street or leaving the garage early etc. Complaints from tenants were minor and Mark and his team stayed in constant contact with me and the tenants - at any given time, everyone knew what was going on and what needed to be worked around. My folks would go by during the day and check on things. I was a bit concerned they might be underfoot and a bit of a nuisance but Miles, the on-site lead, like Mark, was understanding of their concern and addressed their concerns. These are my parents and I know they are hard to satisfy. ;-) That was 2015/2016... Just this past month, there was a teardown new construction going on nextdoor and the owner and contractor contacted my mom and dad about concrete from our original construction that went over their property line. After checking out their contractor, I had some concerns about their removal of the material and potential structural/liability concerns. I suggested they contact Mark for a consultation. Over a period of 2-3 weeks, Mark participated in a back-and-forth with queries about inspections, permits, follow-ups etc. we weren't sophisticated enough to ask about ourselves. His representation, I'm sure, contributed to the speed of the contractor/neighbor's responses and the quality of answers/documentation we received. I was frankly shocked by Mark's willingness to help us out - again he demonstrated the same professionalism from his previous work. Mark and Seismic Retrofitters are not only experts at their work but go out of their way to support their customers. Thanks. read more

Review for only initial appointment, not work done: So I set up an appointment many weeks prior and the owner calls the day off at the time to explain that his wife was sick. This was a legit reason to not show up and I hoped his family was ok. We rescheduled for another time that same week and I had no issues with that. I was actually waiting at the house (hadn't moved in yet since it was in escrow) The three stars is due to the fact that on the day of the second appointment due to the rescheduling, he cancelled saying he was just too busy. Well then why did he waste my time with the initial email then two appointments rescheduled? I wasted a lot of time. He may do good seismic work but I don't know since I never had the chance to even meet. If you want someone more reliable check out California Earthquake Authority in Alameda. I vetted 4-5 folks and they were really outstanding and professional. read more

I wouldn't trust the reviews on here, as I think there may be some astroturfing going on. One of these reviews was written by Tammy M., who actually works for this company. For Mark to charge $350 just to come spend 15 minutes and give an estimate is absurd. I've since had 3 other contractors evaluate and offer estimates free of charge. They also independently gave me quite different evaluations of what was needed, lower estimates, and pointed out some things Mark did not notice. 2 have been in the biz over 20 years with a long list of references. Do check Angie's List and get at least 2 other estimates before doing something like a retrofit. I learned my lesson: avoid paying anyone for a simple estimate. read more

TL - DR version: If you need a seismic retrofit, just call Mark. As the owner of a Real Estate company and someone who knows construction and has done many of my own projects, most of my experiences with contractors have ranged from bad to terrible. Three things became readily apparent through working with Mark and his crew: 1. Mark really knows his stuff. From our first conversation with him he instilled a confidence level I have never felt with any other contractor. And when the engineer came up with plans including a solution that wouldn't work, Mark figured it out and came up with the right solution.. 2. He's honest: When we told him we wanted to replace the rear foundation, he came up with an idea that he said was just as good but would save us $10K. We went ahead with the foundation replacement anyway, but it was nice to see someone who really looks out for his clients. 3. He's a good guy: There was an open trench in our garage from the retrofit, so we asked him to put a drain in. He did it at his cost. There are many other examples of all of the above, making this hands down the best experience I've ever had with a contractor by far. On top of that, his guys work hard, they clean up every day, the finished work surpassed our expectations, and he even finished a couple weeks earlier than expected. Great experience, beginning to end. read more

As we just experienced our first earthquake since our retrofit I thought we should finally write a review. Earlier this year Mark and his crew completed work towards making our single family, freestanding home earthquake safe. They did an amazing job. We were hesitant to book them initially, simply because we are cheap. The thought of paying someone up front for an estimate, with no guarantee we would use them, seemed like a waste. Other companies said they would refund us the estimate fee if we booked them, but Seismic Retrofitters offered no such discount, we were wary. But after reading other yelp reviews we decided to get an estimate anyway. Mark was worth it. He was very detailed with his estimate and his rates were reasonable. Most importantly he stayed within the initial estimate. His crew was extremely professional, always cleaned up after themselves and completed the work in a timely manner. The results look secure and they pulled all of the proper permits and had it inspected as required. Mark was super patient with us as we had a million questions on a seemingly daily basis about the progress of the work. He was always just a phone call or email away and ALWAYS got back to us. We knew we had some termite damage and asked if they could fix that as well, Mark subcontracted the work out for us and hooked us up with the most amazing subcontractors people could hope for. As the damage was more extensive than we previously thought, Mark worked with us to get the costs under control and helped us to make it all work within our budget. I highly recommend Seismic Retrofitters. If a substantial earthquake hits the city, I feel we are as secure as one can possibly be! Thanks Mark! read more

Thanks for providing a WOW service and going the extra mile with our request. And special thanks to Mark B, he was incredibly responsive and helpful. read more

We just completed an extensive soft story retrofit on a twelve unit 1927 vintage sf building. (100% of code) They were subcontracted by BBC of San Rafael. While I would STRONGLY recommend avoiding BBC, Seismic Retro fitters were talented and ethical at all times. Miles, who we dealt with daily was very professional and competent, as was Mark, the owner. In this tough snake infested business these guys proved capable of delivering an excellent product. read more

When we bought our house, we had no idea we had foundation issues. After doing some research, we elected to use SR to help with our fixes. As part of the effort we ended up doing: - Front footing replacement - Support for our front steps - Bolting the frame of the foundation around the entire circumference of the house - Sheer walling the entire bottom floor (effectively our garage) - Attaching braces to all the joints of the beams - Attaching braces/rods from the main part of our house to the back deck/attachment - Auto-shut off valve for the gas meter Mark and his crew were knowledgeable, on-time, on-budget, and very professional. He also walked everything thru the permitting process on our behalf. His engineer is well respected. Very satisfied overall. read more

Seismic Retrofitters were professional, timely and more importantly had our best interest in mind to 1) kept costs down without impacting quality 2) communicated every step of the process with transparency and consideration. Mark B, owner of Seismic Retrofit also came to our HOA meeting ( condo building of 6 units) just to talk though our retrofit options. I had engaged with 6 other contractors and Seismic retrofit was the winner. read more

Mark is amazing. He is responsive, easy to understand, and does great work. My husband and I bought a house in Noe Valley that we knew had an under-supported garage. I got Mark's name from a friend who had also used him on her house and had a great experience. He came in and took a look at our house, he gave us an estimate, then another estimate when my husband asked for additional work, and then a third estimate when we scaled back our budget. He was really understanding, patient and helpful the entire time. Mark started work within a month's time, completing demo, trench digging, filling in concrete, installing beams and re-doing some dry rot on the side of our house within 4 weeks time. My husband is METICULOUS and also a handy engineer and he was watching Mark pretty closely the entire time. Mark both put up with him and seemed to genuinely enjoy their engineering banter. In the end, we both concluded that Mark did a fabulous job, and that we would definitely hire him again and again. Our project was completed in time, on budget, and with some great renovations that make me feel completely safe in our house. In short, hire Mark. It will be one of the smartest moves you have ever made with home renovations. read more

I purchased an old SF home and wanted to get the foundation bolted, plus various other reinforcements. They were responsive over email, a big plus for me. They meticulously met the time and money budget we had agreed upon. There hasn't been a big earthquake since the work was done, but I am feeling better about my house's chances when the next tremor hits. Impressed by that work, I hired them to rebuild a leaky porch. They did a thorough job on time and on budget. Including followups to ensure my satisfaction. It was a pleasure to work with everyone I met through Seismic Retrofitters. After working with them, I feel smarter - they educated me at every step of the process and worked hard to ensure that the job was done thoroughly and to my satisfaction. read more

Mark came to inspection on time and looked at the foundation of the property my client is buying in details. The house is on a downhill slope with a majority of the structure supported by steel beams which are supported by concrete poles and piers about 20-30 ft tall. It does look intimidating to a lot of people. However Mark spent his time explaining to us his findings, recommendations for enhancements to us right at the spot. He then offered to go to the building department and look and the foundation plan to ensure what he told us is accurate. At the end, he made a sketch by hand of the critical component of the foundation after looking at the original plan and sent to us to give us s peace of mind. He concluded that the structure is already sound and secure and it's not necessary to spend any money to do further bracing or retrofitting. I really appreciated what Mark did to my client as he acted very professionally and honest in the whole process. read more

I never am good at writing reviews so I tend to refrain. In the case of Seismic Retrofitters I wanted to take some time to thank the team. This was the largest project our 28 unit complex has ever undertaken. All our residents were very concerned on completing the project on time and certainly before the weather would become the problem. Mark, Patrick and especially Miles did an outstanding job. We were very impressed with the organization and efficiency of the Seismic team, especially during the time of COVID. The Seismic contract was well written and at each stage of completion we knew what had been completed, inspected, and signed off on. Our project is now complete pending the SFDBI and we are now better prepared for any possible earth movement. Thank you, thank you again Seismic! read more

I found Seismic Retrofitters through yelp after being disappointed with some structural work that another general contractor had done on the house and worried it wasn't nearly enough to prevent major damage after an earthquake. The general contractor I worked with claimed to know what we needed to reinforce foundations for earthquakes, but after his work was complete, I realized it wasn't nearly enough after doing a little more research. That led me to trying to find someone in SF that actually specialized in this kind of work which led me to the fantastic guys over at Seismic Retro-fitters. Mark came over and looked at our house, discussed scenarios, code requirements, engineering and came back to us with a good option that fit within our budget. He presented three scenarios with the first one being the minimum recommendation (the one we chose due to our budget),s and the next two being the more expensive much more involved projects. Mark is very professional, communicates really well and listens to any concerns and budget issues. His crew of guys were all very professional, did high quality work, were on time and left the house/garage are cleaner than it was when they arrived. As an fyi, this isn't cheap work to do on a typical old 1920's era SF house, but I can't imagine why it isn't the first thing people do when they buy a house out here. Just doing a few anchor bolts on a foundation is not enough, which is what most older homes have if at all. Also, as earthquake insurance is very expensive, has huge deductibles, and not particularly useful unless you're house is completely demolished, retrofitting to your house is the best chance you have of protecting your investment. These guys are also very busy/in high demand so you have to be a little patient to get on their schedules. read more

We are currently evaluating bids from Retrofit contractors to do our retrofit in San Francisco. We contacted around 25-30 contractors. The only contractor who never returned calls was Seismic Retrofitters (SR) until one day Mark (SR) unexpectedly sent a bid costing more than two and a half times what other excellent Retrofit contractors had quoted--when I called to ask how he could send us such an outrageous bid without even visiting our building, Mark responded he had visited our building. Mark was unable to say who he had toured our building with or when. We are grateful to have received bids from several contractors with superb references with a cost of 38% of SR. read more

Mark has been always so helpful, thorough and honest with his analysis and recommendations. He helped my clients many times, provided free consults and research. My first contact for foundation and seismic work would be him. Thank you, Mark! read more

Mark was referred to me by real estate professionals who are familiar with his work (I was clueless about finding a structural engineer). He was prompt in his response, he was professional, and when he evaluated my concerns, I could understand his explanations. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him, and I'm grateful he was recommended to me. read more

Seismic Retrofitters did excellent structural strengthening work on my home including installing shear walls and foundation bolting etc. Mark, Miles and the whole team were very professional and did really outstanding work. Very punctual and completed everything on time, also handled the permitting process smoothly. I got quotes from several different companies and Mark's was the most detailed and I found him very honest and that he was looking out for my best interests and trying to keep costs down for me without doing any unnecessary work. Overall I was very satisfied and highly highly recommend Mark and Seismic Retrofitters if you want to have work done on your home and put your mind at ease about earthquakes. read more

I had my 2 story house in the avenues seismic retrofitted in 2012 and am still pleased that it was done by Mark and his team members. I also included the smaller jobs, like having my water heater raised up from the floor and strapped securely and installing a seismic gas shut off valve. It was easy to negotiate with Mark on the bid. He was responsive and open to any questions I had. His team worked efficiently and left the garage clean and orderly at the end of each day. I still admire the work that they did and would highly recommend them. read more

Is this company a joke? They require $350 to bid on a project. That's a first for any contractor I've ever met. Such absurd nonsense should not be encouraged. Find another contractor to do the work. read more

We are currently in the process of the compulsory seismic retrofit for our 6 condo building and I have found Mark and the team to be very professional and capable. They show up when they say they will and conduct themselves well. Their prices have proved competitive based on our research, and we'll post more info and the project concludes. Thanks to Mark and all the team. read more

As a classic soft story, we needed to do some work before we sold our house (and before we brought baby #2 home). We had about a half dozen other companies look at the job...structural engineers, concrete folks, general contractors and other seismic specialists. I was blown away by how knowledgeable Mark was and their process could not have been any easier. His structural engineer was able to draw plans / get permits and the work started right away. I was hoping to recoup the costs when we sold and I'm sure we actually made money because of the work (the total cost was much better than other alternatives too). Our house sold fast and the structural integrity surely helped with that. Strangers that saw our garage commented on how stable and clean everything looked. And this is all without getting a new foundation (which still doesn't meet it's seismically safe). I cannot recommend Mark and Seismic Retrofitters enough. When we're looking to buy our next house, I will be sure to have Mark take a look. read more

Today we passed our final DBI inspection and the inspector said that the work was amongst the best he had ever seen! That pretty much sums it up for Seismic Retrofitters. Out of the 4 estimates we got, Seismic was the most competitively priced. As it turns out, they were the right choice! They completed the $100K project on-time and on budget, in-spite of the unanticipated complications that came up. Their staff and their construction manager Miles, were dependable and professional. All the members of our HOA are very grateful for their dedication to the job and want to highly recommend them. read more

This company is sterling in how it conducts business. My earthquake retrofit was a soft-story retrofit for a 30 unit apartment building. This company was easy to work with and i would highly recommend them. read more

Mark is a local expert with significant Real Estate experience, which is vitally important when working on the homes here in the San Francisco City. He knows the soil, the sub-districts and construction materials used over the past 100 years. Responsive, hard-working, and a contractor with integrity you can trust. When bracing your biggest investment, you should call Mark first. read more

Mark was very responsive and friendly. He was very professional and fast in analyzing the situation and what could be done at limited budget to improve the stability of the house. We highly recommend working with Seismic Retrofitters! read more

I own a pre 1906 earthquake building which had a soft story ground floor that needed upgrades per the new city requirements. Mark from Seismic Retrofitters charged a very reasonable fee for his engineer to make a preliminary sketch of the seismic requirements. From this, Mark gave be a bid for the work which included full structural drawings. When the plans were finished, he walked them through the building dept and obtained an over the counter permit. The work involved removing all the old plaster and lath on all the walls and ceiling and then installing steel, plywood , and bolting. When the old pipes were exposed, It became clear that much plumbing and electrical upgrades would be necessary and desirable. SR performed all the extras at a negotiated increase in cost. The only additional costs over the original contract were the permit fees, and the plumbing and electrical upgrades which were agreed to. Mark even helped me reconfigure the garage to get an extra parking space out of it. I have since hired SR to perform another soft story upgrade on a larger building with 3 ground floor retailer units, also on the soft story list. I couldn't be happier with my experience with SR. They know what they are doing and they can do it at a very reasonable cost. read more

My seismic retrofitting project in a 90 year old single family house in San Francisco had just been completed last week by Seismic Retrofitters. As others had pointed out, the whole process from the start (initial estimate/inspection, coming up with a plan and pulling the permit) to finish ( all the bolting/shear-walling, etc, and 2 city inspections) was smooth and within the originally agreed budget/bid. The actual work in my small 1000 sq ft house took about a week and a half including 2 city inspections. As a DIY type of homeowner who enjoys being a weekend handyman, I had actually thought about doing the retrofitting myself over many weekends, so I did some research on how retrofitting is usually done in a single family house. It's not rocket science but you do need to know what you are doing, how and why you are doing it this way, etc, in order to have an effective seismic solution. Since I didn't have the time and I wanted to get this done ASAP before the next BIG one hits, I reached out and finally chose Seismic Retrofitters. Mark was very knowledgeable in his field with this type of work, as well as what is needed to work with the city inspections/permits. There were other contractors (whom I communicated with before I contacted Mark) that somehow became unresponsive after I told them about my intention to get this job done with permits. To my pleasant surprise, Mark's guys did WAY more than what was called for by the California Seismic code A3. Without me asking, they even went ahead and added some additional nails/bolts to some work done previously (a few years ago) by another licensed contractor who didn't use the right screws/nails for structural support. His guys kept the work area clean everyday before they left for the day. Yes, it was no big deal, but when you add up all the little things that was enough to differentiate Mark and his team from the others. I had dealt with quite a few other contractors before and none of them would do anything beyond the minimal to get the job done, get paid, and wave goodbye. These previous licensed contractors were not cheap either, so it was not a matter of you-get-what-you-pay-for. Mark and his team are professionals and indeed surpassed my expectation; I felt it was money well spent. I would definitely recommend Seismic Retrofitters to do the job once, and do it right.. read more

Seismic Retrofitters did a great job! We spoke to a lot of other companies before choosing them and they appeared to be the most experienced and organized. Going through an earthquake retrofit is a big undertaking and they made it easy for us. They finished ahead of schedule and we had no problems at all with the city inspectors. They did a good job of communicating with us throughout the whole process. All of the guys that worked at our building were always very friendly. When you saw them work you could tell they were confident that they knew what they were doing. I did not appreciate how clean they were during the process until they were done. Afterwards we got our building painted and had scaffolding and painting crews that always seemed to leave garbage laying around everywhere. I would highly recommend using Seismic Retrofitters! read more

We found Mark Barbagelata and Seismic Retrofitters on Yelp and chose him for his expertise in seismic retrofitting. Other general contractors might claim to know about this type of work, but Mark specializes in it, knows the code requirements, and takes his work seriously. He and his crew were very easy to work with, from the initial phone call to scheduling to follow up. He insisted that we inspect his work before writing our final check. He offered three options before work started and explained each one before making a recommendation on the degree of fortification we needed. He even gave me advice on other repairs I was doing to my house! In short, I recommend Mark without reservation. Now I'm going to cancel my earthquake insurance--why pay for (dubious) compensation after the damage is done when you can take steps beforehand to minimize it? read more