Avalin Seismic Construction Co Inc

Retrofit for Earthquake Brace and Bolt grant done with quality work in a timely and efficient manner. Made whole process less stressful with personal attention to detail. Reasonably priced, diligent workers, great clean-up at end. Honest and trustworthy company.

Avalin was the lowest bidder of the three I obtained from the EBB contractor list. The work was top notch, on time and on budget. Genesis and Fred made it easy by keeping my up to date. Fred also went out of his way to resolve a record issue at L.A. County Building and Zoning that might have delayed or prevented the project from getting to completion. Avalin get my highest recommendation.

Fred and his team were the perfect professionals that I hoped they would be . I'm so glad that I chose this firm to do the seismic work on my house in Los Angeles . Everything ( and I mean everything ) went smoothly and without any glitches . I highly recommend this firm to do the job for the public . A+++ Five Star rating Sincerely Gloria

Avalin Construction is fantastic. Great job, great staff and great work. Reliable in all ways, helpful in all ways. Genesis and Fred provided and assisted providing any information for seismic retrofitting documents needed for insurance or EBB documentation. Construction crew were reliable, helpful, polite and even worked during inclement weather to finish the job. All around fantastic job.

We have two 100 year old residential structures in Long Beach which required a seismic retrofit. One was a simple brace and bolt project and the other required much more complicated work. We received quotes from three well-rated companies. On the more complicated job, Avalin offered the best price and got the work done quickly with no disruption and promptly provided the documentation needed to reduce the cost of my earthquake insurance. In addition, the company's owner provided valuable, thoughtful advice on another major project which was outside his scope of work. A delight to deal with. Highest recommendation

Fred Cohen and his team at Avalin, truly made the entire retrofit process seamless and feel effortless. We got several comparison bids and the costs from Avail were competitive but what really made us partner up with them was a true sense of professionalism and fairness all around. Once the process started the team took all from our hands, apart from us forwarding some EBB correspondence they truly made everything with us not having to leave the house once. Can only recommend working with them.

Avalin was A+ excellent, and I would hire them again without reservations. Fred at Avalin was the last contractor I spoke to in my search, and I'm very glad I did. He was knowledgable, responsive, professional and collaborative. I have a very unique hillside home, built in the 1920's with some additions that create non-traditional conditions everywhere. Fred worked well with my engineer, communicated everything to me (I'm an architect by training), and was completely solid throughout. Could not recommend his team more strongly.

We were very impressed with Fred Cohen, who performed our initial inspection for work needed. He seemed very honest and not at all "sales-y." The work was done quickly, they cleaned up every day, and it passed inspection. We'd hire them again.

Had a really good experience with Avalin. Highly recommended.

Working with Avalin Design Construction Co. was absolutely delightful! Despite the C-19 situation, they always followed-up. Answered any questions I may have had and I'd recommend Them to Any and Everyone. M. C.

I had a wonderful experience with Avalin. As soon as we bought our 1916 craftsman we began getting quotes for a seismic retrofit. The house was not bolted and during the inspection we were told the concrete foundation wasn't in super shape. The bidding process was confusing. Alpha told us we needed to spend 60k to replace the whole foundation, Golden did a hasty bid and missed an important feature. Fred (owner of Avalin) came down somewhere in the middle in terms of what we needed and distinguished himself by his level of customer care. At the other companies the jobs are basically bid by sales people, so it is a huge plus to have the owner/engineer bid the job in the case of Avalin. We were so confused by the three vastly different bids that we hired our own independent structural engineer to come tell us what we needed. Lo and behold his advice matched Fred's most closely, so we hired Avalin. Our experience from there was as easy as could be. Fred got the job permitted, his workmen were professional, neat and courteous. During bidding it seemed like there was a brick masonry wall on the front side of the house meaning we couldn't retrofit that wall but could opt to replace (which we didn't based on the advice of the structural engineer). During the job it became apparent that the wall was actually in front of the foundation so that there was no brick foundation and we could actually do a total retrofit on all four sides of the foundation. Even though our quote was for 3 sides, Fred did the last quarter of the job without hesitation and without charging us a penny extra. After they were done everything on the outside of the house looked as it had before, ie there was no mess. The inspector passed the work with no issue. Compared to a lot of the bigger retrofit companies, Avalin is a little guy in this business. But that was exactly why we had such a good experience. Friends have had nightmares with the bigger companies that have dozens of crews and thus low quality control. With Fred, he has guys who have been with him for years and he as an owner/engineer oversees the work. I can't recommend him and his team highly enough.

I am so happy that I chose Avalin as our contractor. I got direct communication with the owner and his small but efficient team. They were always extremely courteous, friendly and professional, and were very approachable and pleasant in answering all my questions along the way. They helped me understand every part of the complex EBB process, handled payment from EBB directly, and took the initiative to upload the correct forms and documentation to the program for me, as well as scheduling official reviews. The cost for the work was extremely fair. From the beginning, before signing the first work contract, I was guaranteed that I would not pay a cent above the estimate, and they were true to their word. The work itself was fast, professional and no-nonsense, and completely COVID-safe and contact-free, the workers never even had to come inside the house. I feel safer and more prepared now, thanks to Fred and his team at Avalin. I am so thankful to them for for helping me get there in such a painless and efficient way. Thank you!

Fred and his team did an excellent job. Very professional work from start to finish. The whole project cost is also very reasonable. Definitely worth it and would recommend this group to friends.

Avalin is a very professionally run construction company. Fred did the work as we agreed upon in a timely manor and I was very satisfied with the whole experience, The workers were on time, did not make a mess and cleaned up at the end of the day. Fred took care of the permit and the inspection by the city. Thanks Fred for a job well done.

We wanted to be sure that our house was properly bolted to its foundation for earthquake safety. Avalin will come to your house and take pictures and send a report about conditions for free. They also made a proposal to supplement the insufficient bolting. Owner Fred Avalin was polite and thorough in explaining the process and the difference between the existing foundation bolting on our house and what would be up to current code standards. They took photos of our foundation and offered photos of proper bolting to help me understand. They gave advance notice of inspections and sent information promptly.

Here is a company with extremely poor communication skills. In trying to get an estimate for the costs, it took three weeks for the owner to respond to the four emails I sent to finally tell me they couldn't do the job. It seems they could have done that immediately if they were either too busy or couldn't handle the scope of work. I had already contracted with another company by the time the owner responded. I cannot imagine working with someone with such poor basic communication skills - this extends to the two other people at the company who were contacted and NEVER responded. I will avoid this company permanently and can never recommend it.

Avalin did exactly what we agreed to on the schedule we agreed to for the price we agreed to. I had them do some preventative foundation bracing for my home that was built in 1968 to reduce the chances of my home being damaged by the next big earthquake. The work was completed in one day by 3 very nice gentlemen, and was done right the first time; we passed our Building & Safety inspection with no problem. Highly recommended!

I called the company and made an appointment to get an estimate for foundation bolting and cripple wall installation. Fred Cohen came to my house on October 7. After about half an hour he told me he had what he needed and I could expect a quote in about a week. On October 15th, having heard nothing, I email the company asking about the status of the quote. I received a reply the same day from Kathryn Chittenden apologizing for the delay. She it "should be ready and emailed to you in the next few days." On October 23rd, having heard nothing I emailed again asking for the status of the quote. As of now (October 25th) I've received no response. I've emailed the company today cancelling my request for a quote as I no longer trust that they can complete the work in a timely manner.

I am very satisfied with results. Inspectors and worker arrived as scheduled, cleaned u, and completed job on time. The company communicated wth through out the process. Work and inspection completed 5/10/2019.

Avalin was excellent! They were quick, professional, very affordable, and did a fantastic job. They also took care of all the paperwork and billing. Couldn't possibly recommend them more!

Excellent service. Fred came out as scheduled and within the week I received documents covering both his findings and his proposal, including photos of what the finished product looks like in a similar home. His crew of two came out 2 weeks later, as scheduled, and installed the Universal Foundation Plates (UFP) under the house at 6-foot intervals in about 7 hours. Attached image is of a typical UFP installation. The price included the Culver City building permit, which Fred insisted on obtaining. The crew did an excellent job and the Culver City inspector agreed. I highly recommend Fred and his company for earthquake retrofitting. Also, paying under $3,000 to retrofit a single-story house is much, much cheaper than earthquake insurance.

Fred came out as scheduled to review the building foundation - took pictures from the crawl spaces below building and basement areas. He then gave me a quote which I accepted and then we set a date for the work to begin. His crew came as schedule worked for total of 3 1/2 days always doing a professional job and cleaning the area where they worked. After completion Fred came back to inspect the work before having the building inspection scheduled for the permit which Avalin also handled as part of the contract. Inspection was done and permits signed off which I received. I was impressed at how smoothly everything went and have recommended them to other friends looking to do Bolt and Brace work on their homes.

I could not ask for better service. Five years after the retrofit I needed documentation for my insurance company. Their representative filled out the paperwork and forwarded it to me the same day I made the request. Everyone at this company as efficient, capable and polite.

Very smooth process from quote to final inspection, Avalin handled it all including the paperwork with the EBB. Professional, friendly, and the experience was painless, we would highly recommend this company.

I called four or five foundation contractors to bid the job. Fred Cohen, the owner of Avalin, came out to look at my house and explained in detail not only how the work would go, but the general condition of my foundation. There had been some slight shifting of the house and the floor in one room was bowing. He said it probably wasn't something to worry about, when of course an unscrupulous contractor right there would have upsold the **** out of me. So that gave me a good feeling for Fred's integrity. He sent a detailed proposal with photos he had taken under the house and it was the low bid. Unfortunately, this was in 2015 and I waited three years to hire him because of some job uncertainties of my own. By that time, the price had gone up $1,300. So if you need this kind of work, I recommend you be ready to make a choice and pull the trigger ASAP. Avalin sent a crew of two and it took them two days to attach the various anchors and plates. The crawl space under my house is minuscule. There's no cripple wall, so it's less than a foot in places. I wasn't sure they'd be able to get all the way around the perimeter of the house, but they were pros so I needn't have worried. The access was through a California basement so they were going in and out of the house, and they were conscientious about minimizing dirt. When they were done, I got under there to take a look. California code allows 6 feet between the metal anchoring plates (if memory serves), but in some cases they were less than 3 feet apart along the short dimensions of the house. The joist blocks/framing anchors were mostly about 3 feet apart. There was only one place where I was doubtful: no joist blocks/framing anchors for seven consecutive joists. I took some photos and sent them to Fred along with my concerns, and he sent his team back up and they spent another three hours under the house attaching about half a dozen framing anchors. They also added some work in another section of the foundation that I didn't notice as lacking. So Avalin was responsive to my concerns and generally seemed willing to do more than was strictly necessary to reinforce the house and make me happy. As far as the quality of the work, I hope I never have to find out, since that would take an earthquake. The not-so-good about Avalin was the communication and the wait. Business is good, apparently, and it was five months between paying a deposit and wrapping up the job. When I was discussing that initially with the woman in the office, she was a little short. Gets asked the same questions a lot, I imagine. Fred proved a little difficult to communicate with, like he didn't want to play the phone tag that's sometimes unavoidable. That left me in the dark about things like whether the second round of work was going to take place and when. Bottom line, this is a mom-and-pop operation that means very well, I think, but requires a little extra patience.