A-FFIX LLC

Bruce, Martin, and Jerry were a fantastic team to work with on our home seismic retrofitting project! They showed up on-time and were prompt to answer and address our questions. We are very happy with the results and appreciate the help we received along the way. We consider A-FFIX to be top of our list for seismic retrofits here in the PNW!

Everyone we worked with from A-FFIX was meticulous, hard working, courteous, thoughtful, and went beyond what was expected. Our old house will be standing for another century. They needed to do some repairs to the foundation and build a wall into the crawl space before they could attach the hardware. The job was completed quickly and they supplied us with a detailed review of our crawlspace and the project, complete with photos, when they were done. They did little extras that hadn't been included in the contract and cleaned up thoroughly before they went. The bill was $11,600

Affix did a great job. They care about what they are doing, were professional, easy to work with and got the job done earlier than originally expected. They also adjusted their bill to accommodate demo work that they didn't have to do. I would highly recommend Affix!

We had an excellent experience with A-Ffix; our 1940’s house needed to be retrofitted for earthquakes. They were extremely professional; they did the work as described and kept us regularly briefed when changes came up. The finish work was perfect; they left everything looking better than it had before they began the project. And, the price was reasonable as well. I highly recommend them; they finished on time, within price estimate, and without any of the contracting issues we’ve encountered with others. Thank you. A-affix!

It went very well. All the work was done as needed. The team was very professional.

The A-FFIX team was highly professional, knowledgeable and kept us informed throughout the process.

It went very well, they were flexible with scheduling when we turned out to be not ready, they stayed close to their time estimates, and they arrived at the time they said they would each day.

It went very well. The team delivered on everything it promised, and the results looked great. Everyone on the team was very professional, helpful, and easy to work with.

Again, this is a messy project. It was perhaps easier working in my unfinished basement than it would have been in a finished basement. The crew arrived on time and left 4:30 each day. They hauled away a huge pile of debris (one wall of the basement with a built in garage had dryrot and needed it removed and blocking and plywood reinforcing. The team were efficient, personable, polite, friendly-- and the manager, Taylor, coordinated the work, was responsive to questions and requests (i.e., to connect the washer/dryer when the work ran over a weekend).

Who knew a new concrete foundation could be so exciting! It was a great project. We were pleased with the whole process, from the initial bid that was more affordable than we had expected it to be, to working with Bruce, the engineer and the crews throughout the 5-6 week project itself. It was surprisingly painless for us (we lived in the house throughout). In particular, we appreciated the way that Bruce walked us through what our home needed, was patient and encouraging throughout our decision-making process to confirm the project, and then was on site and/or in touch throughout the project itself. There were a few surprises along the way like a failing beam under the house that needed to be replaced, and needing to rebuild our front steps and reinforce our back deck. Bruce and team took it all in stride, communicated appropriately and added reasonable charges for the changes. We also loved having the main crew on site each day -- Kismet and his team were cheerful, helpful and respectful, always willing to stop to explain what was going on, arrived promptly each morning and left the site in great shape each evening. They worked amazingly hard, especially in digging out tons of dirt under the house to make way for the foundation forms. Couldn't have asked for nicer, more professional people to spend 6 weeks with. The day of the shotcrete foundation pour brought a swarm of extra crew members to help. We left for work without a foundation and returned at the end of the day with it all done. Final inspections naturally took a while to be scheduled but all passed with flying colors. Bruce provided a helpful set of paperwork at the end of the project documenting all the work that took place. He also provided good advice about securing our belongings on the interior of our home which we have mostly done at this point. All in all a great experience. We would recommend A-FFIX highly!

Accurate description of scope of work; excellent workers-cleaned up each day, always on task; job done quicker than expected.

The crew was professional and polite. They did several extra things that were not part of the contract but added to the security and use ability of our basement. They finished the project on time.

It went very well. Work was on time as per schedule. Workers were professional. They covered my items and floors to keep them clean. The City engineers inspected the work and approved it. It took a long time to schedule as this work is in great demand. The basement looked less finished when they were done. I had not realized I would need to do refinishing when they were done.

It went very well. They warned me they were very busy, so I scheduled the work months in advance. I had to move any belongings away from the walls they were working on, but they draped the pile of stuff in the middle of the room in plastic to keep it dust-free. They had a 3-4 person crew who were polite and professional. They did the work, including multiple visits by code inspectors, in under a week. It was very noisy, especially bolting into the concrete foundation. The plan included replacing paneling on some walls in the basement with plywood. They upgraded the insulation in those walls as they did so. There was also a crawlspace section where they secured the frame to the foundation. Bruce stopped by regularly to make sure all was well. The result was a basement that has bare plywood on the walls, but that looks very solid. I don't think it is going anywhere. Now I have to paint it.

For earthquake retrofitting this company is worthless for older homes. Even trying to call them is a practice in patience - no answer and then there is no way to leave voice mail because the box is full. Furthermore, to pay by credit card they will charge an additional 5%. I wouldn't recommend this company for earthquake retrofitting on older homes because they don't have the resources or know how to actually complete such a job on an older home. I usually do not leave negative reviews but when I finally was able to contact Bruce by phone and told of the 5% additional charge for a credit card this was the last straw. The inconvenience of writing a check and paying postage for payment is archaic. Additionally, they couldn't make the day scheduled so I had to take another day off from work for the actual arrival. They overschedule their inspector(s) it seems or are way understaffed to take the work they agree to take. As it stands that is two days of pay plus the charge of $197.56 that it cost me to deal with this company. Furthermore, if they do not retrofit older homes they should make it clear in their advertising and let a homeowner know when contacted in order save the homeowner time and money.

Bruce Schoonmaker of A-FFIX is an extremely pleasant, honest, experienced and capable earthquake retrofit contractor, and the 2-3 man crew working for him in the Tacoma area are also a pleasure to work with. We experienced some sticker shock when we got the bid, but the details were explained in detail, and we decided to proceed. The city inspector subsequently confirmed that the work done was appropriate and very well performed. The project did stretch past the original three week estimate (ended up taking about 5 weeks), for reasons of complexity discovered as the project progressed. We had indicated at the start that we were having company between Christmas and New Years, and Bruce and his team accommodated our schedule by interrupting the work for that period. This is messy work, but the A-FFIX team were meticulous about keeping the work space, and our home, clean throughout. Despite some complications in performing the work due to unexpected characteristics of our home, the price of the job came in exactly as bid... no last minute surprises or overruns. In fact, Bruce and his team did several incidental repairs without extra cost... one of which involved several hours of Bruce's time to work with me to secure some very heavy bookcases to the wall in one of our bedrooms. It was difficult to decide to proceed with this expensive project, but we are glad we did (although the results will hopefully never be put to the test!) We had a very good experience with A-FFIX and can recommend them highly.

As noted; I've never heard another peep.

Bruce came out to my house to prepare a bid to seismically upgrade my basement. He was prompt, courteous and knowledgeable. He took dimensions, dropped off some pamphlets and I paid him the $95 fee for the bid preparation. He explained how busy he was and that it would take 2 weeks to finalize his bid. After 4 weeks I emailed him to say that I had received bids from other contractors and that I really needed his bid to make an informed decision. He replied that if I already had other pricing he was going to return my check and concentrate on bids for other customers. 3 weeks later I received my check in the mail. The experience was a complete waste of my time.

Crew was professional & friendly. Work, necessarily noisy, was accomplished with minimal disruption to us, and within estimated time schedule.

It went wonderfully. They apparently misplaced our address, and thus were a little late arriving, but were very courteous and apologetic. They offered to spend an hour taking careful measurements so they could put together a good site plan that was ready for engineering. This hour (in addition to the initial inspection) cost $99 (initial inspection was free). As that is completed, we can then turn to formal engineering for about $500, and the full cost would be $10-15k (he thinks). A good chunk of this is the drywall and other finishings that must be torn out and replaced as part of the work (because the basement is already a finished living space).

Very smoothly, Workers were professional. They consulted me when there were options or decisions about how things would be finished. There was a slight delay due to slow processing for the permit. They finished the interior spaces above my expectations. I would hire them again.

Everything went well with the installation and I am happy with the product. It took some additional time to get the installer scheduled.

I bought a 1969 split-level that was built to questionable standards. A-FFIX performed a seismic retrofit (anchoring the house to the foundation, and the first floor to the groundfloor, stiffening the corners). Bruce and his crew were an absolute delight to work with. They walked me through the options and came up with a plan suitable for my situation. They performed the work within schedule and budget and left the downstairs cleaner then they found it. They worked with me on accommodating other contractors that were in and out at the same time. If you need a seismic retrofit, I can only recommend them highly.

Bruce and his team were awesome. Because of my budget, I needed to do some of the work and Bruce was really good at explaining what I needed to do. Bruce's team did the work that i couldn't do and they did a great job. I would prefer to have had affix do the whole project. Its not easy doing this work in a crawlspace. I would hire Bruce and his team again in second. They are really good!

Bruce oversaw the entire process, coming personally to work sometimes when his workers were sick or he needed to check on some things. He showed me all aspects of the work. When wood rot or other problems were uncovered during the retrofit installation, Bruce was very careful and up front to show me the issues, tell me the additional costs involved, and get my permission to perform the necessary work. His workers were very responsible, cleaning up after themselves every day and working under some uncomfortable conditions (low crawl space, damp and cold areas in the basement) without complaint. They bolted the frame of my house to the concrete foundation and restored my walls to their original condition (replacing wallboard), corrected earlier building errors, tied down my water heater, had a subcontractor install an automatic shut off valve for my gas supply, and followed through with required inspections. I was completely satisfied and fully appreciated their conscientious work on my home.