San Jose’s Soft-Story Retrofit Ordinance:
What Owners Need to Know (and How to Prepare)

San Jose has taken a major step that will affect thousands of multi-unit buildings over the next decade.

The City’s new Soft Story Retrofit Ordinance targets older wood-frame buildings with weak or open first stories—parking levels, tuck-under garages, or crawl spaces that weren’t designed for modern earthquake standards. The ordinance goes into effect on April 1, 2026, and sets deadlines through 2033 for owners to evaluate and retrofit their buildings. (sanjoseca.gov)

If you own or manage an apartment or condominium building in San Jose, especially anything built before 1990, this is now part of your reality.

This guide explains:

• Which buildings are affected
• What the deadlines are
• What the retrofit work typically involves
• How Avant-Garde can help you navigate screening, design, permitting, and construction

What Is a Soft-Story Building?

San Jose defines “soft story” (technically “wood-frame target story”) buildings broadly as: (sanjoseca.gov)

• Wood-frame buildings with three or more dwelling units
• Built before 1990
• With a story (often the first) that is significantly weaker than the story above, commonly because of:
  • Large garage openings
  • Open parking stalls
  • Big shop windows or open ground floors
  • Crawl spaces with cripple walls that were never retrofitted

In past earthquakes (Loma Prieta 1989, Northridge 1994), this configuration led to:

• Partial or total collapse of the first story
• Loss of housing units for months or years
• Liability claims in the millions from tenants

San Jose has an estimated thousands of these buildings, many of them rent-stabilized, spread across the city with higher concentrations in Downtown and West San Jose. (sanjoseca.gov)

Which Buildings Are Subject to the Ordinance?

Under the current program, subject buildings generally:

• Were constructed or permitted before January 1, 1990
• Have two or more stories
• Have three or more dwelling units
• Have at least one wood-frame target story (weak or open story, including crawl spaces)

Subject buildings are grouped based on age and number of units: (sanjoseca.gov)

• Group 1: Pre-1978, 5+ units
• Group 2: 1978–1989, 5+ units
• Group 3: Pre-1990, 3–4 units

If your building falls into any of those categories—or if you receive a soft-story notice from the City—it’s safest to assume you are in the program until an engineer documents otherwise.

Key Deadlines: Screening, Design, Permits, Construction

The ordinance is structured in two major phases: screening and retrofit. (sanjoseca.gov)

1. Screening Phase (All Groups)

• Deadline: October 1, 2027
• Every subject building must be screened by a licensed professional (typically a structural engineer or architect) to determine:
  • Whether it is indeed a soft-story / wood-frame target story building
  • Whether it can be exempted by evaluation or needs retrofit

2. Retrofit (Design + Permit + Construction) Deadlines

• Group 1 (Pre-1978, 5+ units): April 1, 2031
• Group 2 (1978–1989, 5+ units): April 1, 2032
• Group 3 (Pre-1990, 3–4 units): April 1, 2033

In practice, that means owners and HOAs will be:

• Selecting engineers and contractors through 2026–2027
• Designing and permitting retrofits in the late 2020s
• Completing construction between 2027 and 2033

If you wait until the last minute, you’ll be competing with hundreds of other owners for the same engineers, contractors, and permit capacity.

What Does a Soft-Story Retrofit Typically Involve?

Per San Jose’s program materials and Bay Area precedent, a typical soft-story retrofit: (sanjoseca.gov)

• Strengthens the weak story and its foundation without rebuilding the entire building
• May include:
  • Installing plywood shear walls over existing wood studs where walls exist
  • Adding new steel moment frames or brace frames at large openings (garages, carports)
  • Pouring new foundations or grade beams to support new steel or shear walls
  • Improving cripple wall bracing around crawl spaces
• Focuses on the critical earthquake-vulnerable story (usually the first) and its support

The design criteria will likely reference:

• California Existing Building Code (CEBC) Appendix Chapter A4 – focused on earthquake risk reduction in wood-frame residential buildings with soft/weak/open front walls. (sanjoseca.gov)
• FEMA P-807 – a performance-based method for multi-unit wood-frame buildings with weak stories, allowed in many Bay Area programs for “compliance by evaluation.” (sanjoseca.gov)

The exact solution depends heavily on:

• Building configuration and height
• Garage / parking layout
• Existing foundation condition
• Soils and any geo-hazards
• Tenant occupancy during construction

Do I Need an Engineer, or Can a Contractor Handle It?

San Jose’s own FAQ is direct: to understand the risk of your building and determine if it’s at risk of collapse, you should hire a licensed architect or civil engineer with experience in seismic evaluation. (sanjoseca.gov)

In practice:

• Engineers/architects:
  • Perform the structural evaluation and screening
  • Decide if your building can be exempted or must retrofit
  • Design and stamp the retrofit drawings and calculations
• Contractors (like Avant-Garde):
  • Provide existing conditions information and photos
  • Coordinate with your engineer
  • Prepare and submit the permit package with the engineer’s stamped plans
  • Construct the retrofit
  • Document work for inspections and potential FEMA rebates

You should be wary of any contractor who:

• Offers to “handle the engineering” but does not have an engineer clearly identified, or
• Cannot explain which design criteria (Appendix A4, FEMA P-807, etc.) your engineer intends to use.

How FEMA-Funded Rebates Fit In

San Jose has secured federal Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funding through FEMA specifically to help offset soft-story retrofit costs for qualifying owners. (sanjoseca.gov)

Key points:

• The City refers to these funds as rebates (not full cost coverage).
• Prioritization will likely favor buildings that:
  • Provide affordable housing
  • Are more at risk of displacement impacts
• Program details and application processes are being developed as the ordinance rolls out.

For owners, this means:

• Keeping clean documentation of design and construction costs is critical.
• Working with a design-build team used to FEMA/City documentation requirements can make rebate applications smoother.

How Avant-Garde Helps San Jose Owners & HOAs

We are not an engineering firm. We are a seismic, foundation, and drainage contractor with deep experience in Bay Area soft-story and wood-frame target-story retrofits.

What we bring to San Jose’s program:

1. Pre-Screen Support

• Walk your property with your engineer or before you engage one
• Help you understand whether your building likely falls into Group 1, 2, or 3
• Provide detailed photos and notes your engineer can use in screening

2. Engineer + Contractor Team

• Introduce you to structural engineers who have designed:
  • Soft-story retrofits in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and other cities
  • 4–5 story wood-frame apartment buildings
• Help scope their work so you’re paying for the right level of analysis and design

3. Permit Management

• Assemble complete permit packages with your engineer’s stamped drawings
• Coordinate with San Jose Planning, Building & Code Enforcement
• Respond to plan checks efficiently, avoiding avoidable delays

4. Construction & Phasing

• Build the retrofit per plan, including:
  • Plywood shear walls
  • Steel frames and new foundations
  • Cripple wall bracing and foundation ties
• Coordinate with tenants (and property managers) to:
  • Maintain safe access and egress
  • Minimize downtime for parking and living spaces
• Maintain clean, organized sites (a common theme in our reviews)

5. Documentation for Rebates & Future Buyers

• Provide:
  • Before/after photo sets
  • As-built changes where appropriate
  • Clear description of scopes and materials used
• Make it easier for:
  • FEMA/City rebate reviewers
  • Future engineers, inspectors, and buyers

Why Start Early?

You don’t need to rush into construction tomorrow. But there are real advantages to getting ahead of the curve:

• Better choice of engineers and contractors before everyone else scrambles
• More time to:
  • Integrate seismic work with other renovations or capital improvements
  • Plan tenant communication and any temporary relocations
• Less risk of:
  • Rushing into poor designs or low-quality work
  • Bottlenecks in permit processing as deadlines approach

Next Steps for San Jose Soft-Story Owners

If you think your building might be subject, or you just want clarity, here’s a simple sequence:

1. Get oriented:

• Read the City’s [Soft Story Retrofit Ordinance & Program page]. (sanjoseca.gov)
• Look at your building’s age, height, and unit count.

2. Talk to a specialist team:

• Contact a seismic contractor + engineer team (like us and our partners) who have soft-story experience in other Bay Area programs.

3. Plan your path:

• Decide on timing for screening, design, permitting, and construction that works for your Group and your finances.

If you’d like a walkthrough of what this would look like for your specific San Jose property, you can contact us and we’ll help you build a realistic, ordinance-compliant plan.

Final Thought

San Jose’s soft-story ordinance isn’t just another code update. It’s a long-term, city-wide effort to keep people in their homes and buildings standing after the next big earthquake.

You can either treat it as a headache, or as an opportunity to:

• Protect lives and property
• Protect your investment
• And avoid the chaos we’ve seen in unprepared buildings in past quakes

Our job at Avant-Garde is to help you do it once, do it right, and be able to prove it.