The short answer: A soft-story building is a wood-frame building, usually two or more stories, whose ground floor is much weaker or more open than the floors above, often because of tuck-under parking, garage openings, or wide storefront windows. Whether yours has to be retrofitted depends on where it is. In the City of Los Angeles, covered buildings that receive an Order to Comply must retrofit on a set schedule, while Long Beach has flagged about 3,100 possible soft-story buildings but, as of October 2026, its program is voluntary.
You open the mail and there’s a letter from the city about your building’s “soft, weak, or open-front wall lines.” It sounds serious. Is it a violation? A deadline? Something you can ignore?
A notice like this can mean very different things depending on which city sent it. Below: what a soft-story building is, how to spot one, what Los Angeles and Long Beach require, what a retrofit costs, and what to do first.
What is a soft-story building?
Picture a two-story apartment building with carports along the street. Upstairs, the apartments are full of interior walls. Downstairs is mostly open space for cars.
In an earthquake, the ground pushes the building side to side, and the upper floors rely on the ground floor to resist that movement. When the ground floor has far fewer walls than the floors above, it can rack, lean, or collapse while the upper floors stay largely intact. Long Beach’s Building and Safety Bureau describes these weaknesses as coming from insufficient bracing and stiffness in older buildings built before rigorous seismic design standards.
Building officials usually describe three related problems, often shortened to “SWOF.” Here’s how the City of Los Angeles ordinance defines them, in plain terms:
- Soft wall line: a ground-floor wall line that is much less stiff than the wall above it (one test in the ordinance is less than 70 percent of the stiffness of the wall above).
- Weak wall line: a ground-floor wall line with less than 80 percent of the strength of the wall above.
- Open-front wall line: an exterior wall line with no bracing elements at all, such as a row of open parking stalls.
So does your building fit the picture?
How can I tell if my building might be soft-story?
Here are the common clues. They’re useful for deciding whether to take a notice seriously, but they are not a diagnosis.
| Clue | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Wood-frame construction, two or more stories | Soft-story programs in Los Angeles and Long Beach focus on multistory wood-frame buildings |
| Built before 1978 | Both cities’ programs use 1978 as the cutoff for older construction |
| Tuck-under parking or carports below living space | Parking areas usually have few solid walls |
| Garage doors, storefront glass, or large openings on the ground floor | Openings take the place of bracing walls |
| Upper floors that overhang the parking | Weight above, little bracing below |
| Shops or offices below, apartments above | Mixed-use buildings often have open ground floors |
Only a licensed engineer evaluating your actual building can say whether a wall line is soft, weak, or open-front, or whether a past retrofit already fixed it. Which brings us to the letter itself.
I got a soft-story notice. Do I have to retrofit?
That depends on the city. Two neighboring cities can treat the same building very differently.
| City | Program | Is a retrofit required? | What the notice asks you to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Mandatory Soft-Story Retrofit Program (Ordinance 183893, effective November 22, 2015) | Yes, for covered buildings that receive an Order to Comply | Meet deadlines measured from the date of the order (see below) |
| Long Beach | Building Seismic Resiliency Program | No. The city says the program is voluntary and there is currently no timeline for required compliance | Verify or correct the city’s inventory using Screening Form-062, and consider voluntary strengthening |
In the City of Los Angeles, the program covers wood-frame buildings where the original building permit was applied for before January 1, 1978, and the ground floor has parking or similar open space that creates soft, weak, or open-front wall lines with one or more stories above. It does not apply to residential buildings with three or fewer units. According to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS), owners have, from the date of the order:
- 2 years to submit proof of a prior retrofit, or plans to retrofit or demolish
- 3.5 years to obtain a permit to start construction or demolition
- 7 years to complete construction
LADBS began sending orders in 2016, starting with the largest buildings. If you believe your building is exempt, the LADBS property owner guide says you can appeal in writing within 60 days of the order’s service date.
In Long Beach, the city’s inventory covers multistory wood-frame residential buildings built before 1978 with three or more units, and it estimates about 3,100 buildings citywide. Owners were mailed notices on August 9, 2024, and a second verification notice on April 9, 2025, and the inventory is searchable on a city map. If your building was already retrofitted with permits, the city has a removal request (Form-063). City staff have said a mandate could be considered in the future, so check the Long Beach Seismic Program page for updates.
Somewhere else? Several other Southern California cities, including Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Culver City, Beverly Hills, Burbank, and Torrance, have their own mandatory soft-story ordinances, each with its own rules. Call your city’s building department and ask exactly which program sent the notice.
What does a soft-story retrofit involve?
A soft-story retrofit is a structural project, and it starts with engineering, not demolition. The LADBS owner guide lays out the basic path, and it’s similar elsewhere:
- Hire a California-licensed engineer or architect to evaluate the building
- Have them prepare retrofit plans and calculations
- Notify tenants as your city requires
- Submit plans for plan check
- Get the permit
- Build, with inspections along the way
- Finish and get final sign-off (Los Angeles issues a Certificate of Compliance)
The design itself is the engineer’s call. Common approaches for these buildings include adding wood shear walls or installing steel moment frames at the open ground floor, which can also mean new or larger footings below. It’s the same reason any structural change starts with an engineer: the walls you can see are only part of how a building carries its loads.
Long Beach notes that the work is usually done in non-living areas such as tuck-under garages or parking areas, though parking can be temporarily disrupted.
How much does a soft-story retrofit cost?
Long Beach’s Seismic Program puts the average cost to retrofit a SWOF building at $40,000 to $160,000, and says actual costs depend on the size and layout of the building and how many wall lines need strengthening. Treat that as a city-published planning range, not a quote for your building.
What usually moves the number:
- Number of weak wall lines: one open parking front costs less than several
- Retrofit approach: shear walls versus steel frames, chosen by the engineer
- Foundation work: new or deeper footings add excavation and concrete
- What’s in the way: gas meters, electrical panels, and plumbing in garages may need to be relocated
- Hidden conditions: dry rot or termite damage found when walls open up
- Soft costs: engineering, plan check, permits, and tenant notice requirements
Help with the bill. In Los Angeles, owners of rent-stabilized (RSO) units can apply to the Los Angeles Housing Department to pass through up to 50 percent of the retrofit cost to tenants, capped at $38 per month and spread over 120 months. Applications are due within 12 months of completing the work and need a copy of the Tenant Habitability Plan. The California Residential Mitigation Program’s Earthquake Multi-Unit Retrofit (EMR) grant offered up to $49,600 per building in 2026 for 5 to 10 unit buildings built before 1991 in 14 cities with mandatory ordinances; that registration window ran from August 19 to September 30, 2026. Long Beach was not on the list.
Can tenants stay during the work?
Often, yes, since much of the work happens in parking areas, but plan for lost parking, noise, and utility shutoffs. In Los Angeles, rent-stabilized buildings go through the Los Angeles Housing Department’s Tenant Habitability Plan process. Ask early how parking and shutoffs will be phased.
What can I do myself, and when do I need a pro?
The paperwork is yours, and it’s worth doing right away. The evaluation, design, and construction are not DIY work.
- Read the notice: who sent it, is it an Order to Comply or a voluntary program, and what date was it served?
- Look up your building on the city’s inventory or map, if your city has one
- Gather records: year built, unit count, original permits, and any past retrofit permits
- If the listing looks wrong, use the city’s correction or appeal process before the deadline
- Hire a licensed engineer to evaluate the building and design any retrofit
- Ask your city about tenant notice rules and any cost recovery or grant programs
- Get line-item construction bids based on the engineer’s plans
DCI is a Signal Hill general contractor, CSLB License #803545, in business since 2001. Our soft-story seismic retrofit services coordinate engineering, construction, permitting, and compliance, and we work with owners’ architects and engineers.
FAQ
What is a soft-story building? A wood-frame building, usually two or more stories, whose ground floor is much weaker or more open than the floors above, often because of tuck-under parking or large openings.
How do I know if my building is on a soft-story list? In Los Angeles, covered owners receive an Order to Comply from LADBS. In Long Beach, you can search the city’s inventory map by address. Elsewhere, call your building department.
Is soft-story retrofit mandatory in Long Beach? Not as of October 2026. Long Beach says its program is voluntary with no timeline for required compliance, though a future mandate could be considered.
How much does a soft-story retrofit cost? Long Beach puts the average at $40,000 to $160,000. Your cost depends on building size, layout, and how many wall lines need strengthening.
Got a notice about your building? Start with a clear plan
If a soft-story letter just arrived, the most useful next step is a calm conversation about what it requires, what your engineer will need, and what the work could involve for your tenants and parking. Along with retrofits, we also handle apartment and commercial building projects. We’ll help you map out the steps and give you a line-item number you can plan around.
Give us a call at 562-425-1050 or email us at info@desistogc.com (dcidirect.net)