Earthquake
Retrofitting

Seth came out today to check under my house to give an assessment on ways I can improve my foundation for earthquake protection. He was awesome. He was on time and very personable. He explained things (with pictures) very clearly and answered all my questions. I was very impressed. 🙂

I did a ton of research on TerraFirma when I decided to pursue getting a seismic retrofit in my basement, and then to clinch it, my Engineer neighbor spoke highly of them as well, stating they are top tier in their field. Jake's Crew came out today to review, and instead of selling me on a $10,000+ price tag, educated me on why they were unable to do the retrofit - my foundation is hollow concrete, their drilling would shatter it, and their alternative wouldn't meet my required needs. Honestly, I'm BLOWN AWAY how awesome Jake's Crew was - honest, direct, helpful, and educated me on my foundation. They even cleaned up under the porch for me, graciously turned my outside water off under the crawl space (thank you!!!). I'm so sad my foundation isn't able to be seismically retrofitted but I'm ridiculously grateful to Jake's crew for being so honest. I highly recommend TerraFirma - I read a ton of reviews on multiple platforms, and when they do make a mistake they fix it and make it right. They are full of integrity, and I'll forever remain impressed and won't stop recommending them to anyone/everyone!

Everyone, from the job estimator and office staff to that guys that repaired my foundation/driveway and installed the earthquake mitigation system, were very professional and courteous. Very happy with the final result!

I needed to have 20 posts in my crawl space replaced and seismically upgraded. Bridget came out, was extremely helpful and knowledgeable and set up the project. Tony, harley, sebastian, came and did the work. They could not have been more friendly and professional. The work was done quickly and skillfully. Very excited to have this project completed and done so well!

Terra Firma seismically reinforced my home to resist earthquake forces that could cause its wood frame to slide off its concrete foundation. Within about 5 hours, a Terra Firma crew of three bolted steel plates to the perimeter of my home, connected the perimeter stud walls to the concrete foundation walls. The installation was performed professionally, primarily on the exterior, with only only 6 of the 37 plates installed in an interior space where the of the foundation wall was several feet below grade, making exterior installation difficult, if not impossible. Terra Firma's plumber also installed a vibration activated gas supply shut off valve to my gas meter. I'm very pleased with the work and am hopeful that my home will remain habitable after an earthquake.

This company is the gold standard for those interested in maintaining the health of their home. I tell you, ‘My home will never be the same’: The garage is level; We are earthquake proof; And, the will no longer be mold or mildew in my crawl space. The best part was, not just the satisfying outcome of the work done, but meeting & working with Walter. He talked to me so that I understood why parts of my home were on a downhill slope to disrepair. He drew illustrations so I could visualize each point he made: He was upfront & honest in his assessment of my 1972 home built in clay. If Terra Firma is the gold standard- Walter sure is the diamond. Get your free evaluation today & don’t forget to ask for Walt.

TerraFirma did a great job with the earthquake update on our home. They were friendly and performed the work in the time expected and at the agreed cost.

I hired TerraFirma to do a seismic retrofit on my house. The entire experience was outstanding! They showed up exactly when they said they would. The job was completed in the expected time and they cleaned up after themselves. I feel like the cost of the project was more than reasonable for the peace of mind l now have, knowing l have done what l can to protect my home in the event of an earthquake. I would recommend them to anyone who is looking for a professional company to work on their foundation.

I worked in the real estate industry for 5+ years and would recommend TF to clients but never had the chance to use them personally until recently. They are simply the best around as measured by the people on their team, the proposal they made (I had 3 different contractors bid our basement work), the execution, the willingness to get it right, and the fact that in my instance I was able to complete Radon, Earthquake Retrofitting, and Basement Waterpoofing with the same outfit with great long term financing and a warranty in place. I highly recommend Terra Firma. Thanks guys!

The crew was friendly, knowledgeable and efficient! They retrofit the house to the foundation. The office crew got the information on the retrofit finished project with pictures in a timely manner. This enable me to keep the insurance company happy too! I would highly recommend terra Firma

No clue if the job ws done technically perfect or not. Hopefully, I will never know (no earthquacks). they kept me well informed, were prompt, polite and left no mess.

When we first bought our 1900s fixer upper, we had no idea what lurked behind the walls of the illegal basement apartment. Once we opened up the space we were in for quite the surprise. All the wooden post holding up the main beam of the house were rotted through at the base. You could stick a pencil through the old, soft wood. Working with TerraFirma to fix the issue was an easy choice. Eric came out to assess our problem. He was friendly and professional as he walked me through the process that was needed to fix our foundation. It wasn't going to be cheap. Don't expect this kind of work to be inexpensive (especially on older homes). We needed concrete to be cut, 2ft cubic footers poured, and six shiny new steel posts. (And while they were coming out anyway, we had them do seismic retrofitting too). There's all kinds of math and engineering that goes into determining what's needed to structurally support a home. TerraFirma handles it all. And they are experienced enough to know what it's going to cost. One of the best parts of working with them (besides the friendly employees and professional workers) is that the price they quote you is going to be the price. Full stop. There are no unexpected add ons at the end. I can sleep well at night knowing TerraFirma's work is holding up our home. A few months later when the rains started in earnest and our basement flooded (an issue we guessed had been going on for a while, hidden by those illegal apartment walls and leading to the rotting of the old wood posts) we knew who to call. Eric came out again to look at options for a sump pump system and even worked on adjusting those plans (while he was on winter vacation with his family!!) when we discovered that a third wall was seeping water and we needed a much larger amount of fixing than originally thought. We no longer have to worry during downpours. While our old fixer upper still needs a lot of work and love, we know that we are (literally) starting from a strong, solid foundation thanks to TerraFirma.