Having your building meet today’s earthquake safety and building standard is crucial and is a must. This is because in a high-risk place for earthquakes such as Los Angeles, California, one major shake could potentially destroy lives and livelihood. Let us discuss how upgrading your building’s ability to withstand earthquakes through soft story retrofitting and other ways can improve the marketability of your building.
Reduce Damage
If your building has a structural flaw or a soft story, it might have a high risk of collapsing. It can pose a potential risk for the safety of the tenants and the property can also become a liability and if the damage is worse, your property might become condemned. The wisest solution to make your building resilient to seismic shakes is to get a soft story retrofit. This way, you can protect your investment and reduce the damages a strong earthquake might induce. Most importantly, you can ensure the safety of your tenants.
Before a seismic retrofit, a tenant habitability plan is required to make sure that your tenants’ day to day activities are not disrupted by the construction that will take place. Prior to the actual construction, your tenants should be given notice and in the tenant habitability plan, you should be able to identify the actions you will do to reduce the inconvenience for your tenants.
Reinvent Your Space
Having a soft story retrofit will also give you a chance to improve the functionality of your living space by relocating stuff, removing partitions that makes your space cramped. This is another way you can increase the value of your real estate property. It’s like hitting two birds in one stone. You get to make your building safe and at the same time, you are also making it a more functional space to live in.
Take Advantage of Natural Lighting
Speaking of reinvention, you can also utilize the natural light and creation of green spaces to increase the marketability of your investment. Let natural light in by using large windows. Natural light and wide windows can give you the illusion that your space is bigger. You can also beautify your terraces and balconies so that when a potential tenant sees the outer shell of your building, it can leave a great first impression of you and your building.
Sustainability is Key
Old structures can be given a Los Angeles soft story retrofit in order to extend its resiliency. When you retrofit an old building, you can do your part in saving Mother Earth through sustainability because it will reduce the environmental impacts compared to when you demolish the building, dispose of the debris, and then build a new one, including its shipping. Plus, since you will keep the original structure intact, you also get to preserve the historical persona of the community you belong in. Have the possibility of this consulted with your soft story retrofit contractor.
Efficiency on Utilities
When you decide to get a soft story retrofitting for your building, it is best to also look into the electrical and plumbing condition of your building so that you can have the seismic retrofits and the fixing of utilities at the same time. You don’t want to strip the progress just because you have to replace the worn-out utilities. It’s wise to consider using smart technologies and renewable energy for added efficiency while still saving in cost. When tenants find out that they will have no problems when it comes to utilities, it can become a huge boost in their probability of availing the space.
Aside from getting a soft story retrofitting for your building, which is a must for your safety, these are just some of the ways you can increase your property’s potential. Safety and convenience alone can already be a big selling point, but it wouldn’t hurt to give your tenants the best experience you can give by making sure they are safe and sound while they are at your building.
Get a Seismic Retrofit
Call us today for a retrofitting consultation and let’s discuss how we can help you make your investment a resilient property that can withstand earthquakes and attract more customers. Our professional team of project managers, engineers, and other experts of retrofitting will put all our hands on deck to make sure that you will achieve the retrofit needs specific for your building. Contact us now to get a project cost estimate and let’s start making sure your place is as safe as possible.
