Every repair your SB 721 report calls out, priced per finding, permitted through the City and documented for the re-inspection. Need the inspection first? Our sister company, Kaminskiy Design & Remodeling, performs it.
BBBAccredited BusinessKaminskiy Care and Repair (CSLB #1106209) repairs the balconies, decks, exterior stairs and walkways that California's balcony law (SB 721, Health and Safety Code 17973) requires San Diego apartment owners to inspect and fix. Bring us the report, from any licensed inspector, and we price every finding in writing, pull the permit inside the 120-day window, do the dry rot, framing, waterproofing and railing work, and hand you the photos and the final report for the re-inspection. If the building has not been inspected yet, our sister company Kaminskiy Design & Remodeling, a general building contractor since 2008 (CSLB #922807), performs the inspection and delivers the stamped report within 45 days; you hire them directly, as the law requires. Condominium associations under SB 326 bring us the engineer's report and we do the repairs. Since 2005, from our office on World Trade Drive.
Apartments, condos, walkways and stairs.
The law asks three things of a San Diego apartment owner: have every wood-framed balcony, deck, stair and walkway more than six feet up inspected by a qualified professional, keep the stamped report, and fix what it finds inside a fixed clock. The repairs are where Kaminskiy Care and Repair comes in. We take the report, price each finding in writing, pull the permit inside 120 days, rebuild the rotted framing, redo the waterproofing across the whole surface, re-anchor the guardrails and document every item for the re-inspection. For the inspection itself, our sister company Kaminskiy Design & Remodeling holds the license class and the years the law names.
AFTERBEFORE
Dry Rot & Framing
Waterproofing & Coating
Railings & Guards
Stairs & Walkways
Emergency Shoring
Permits & the City
Re-inspection & Close-outNeed the Inspection First?Every one of these is a call we take every week. A report with findings gets a written scope and a permit plan before the clock runs out, an immediate threat is shored first, and a building with no report yet gets the inspection scheduled by our sister company within days.
Text or email the inspection report and the address. No report yet? Send the address and the unit count and we set up the inspection with Kaminskiy Design & Remodeling.
We walk the building against the report, price each finding in writing, and file the permit application inside the 120-day window. Anything tagged an immediate threat is closed off and shored first.
The framing, waterproofing and railing work done inside the permit window, photographed item by item, with the final report for your records, your lender and the re-inspection.
Every job is backed in writing by our workmanship warranty and done by a Kaminskiy-certified, background checked technician.
An SB 721 report reads in the inspector's language: elevated moisture at the ledger, deterioration at the joist ends, membrane failure at the wall joint, guardrail anchors not sound. Each of those is a repair we price and permit every week: new joist ends and ledger, a new membrane and flashing, posts re-anchored into sound wood. The report also gives each element an expected service life; the short ones are where the money goes first.
SB 721 (Health and Safety Code 17973) covers apartment buildings with three or more units; the first inspection was due January 1, 2026 and repeats every six years. SB 326 (Civil Code 5551) covers condominium associations; its inspection was due January 1, 2025, repeats every nine years, and must be done by a licensed structural or civil engineer or an architect. Own both kinds of building and you follow both.
An element the inspector calls an immediate threat is closed off at once, shored if needed, and the report goes to the City within 15 days. For everything else the owner applies for the permit within 120 days of the report and finishes the repairs within 120 days of the permit. Miss it by 180 days and the inspector notifies the City; 30 days after that notice the daily penalty starts.
Localized rot at a joist end or around a post is cut back to sound wood and sistered or replaced. Rot across the ledger or most of the joists means the balcony is rebuilt from the framing out. Either way the waterproofing is redone across the whole surface, because a patched membrane is the next leak, and the re-inspection expects it.
Most of the buildings SB 721 reaches in San Diego went up between the late 1950s and the early 1990s: two- and three-story wood-frame stucco walk-ups with cantilevered balconies, open stair landings and exterior corridor walkways. Where your building sits decides what the inspection finds.
Sixty years of marine air and morning fog. The deck coating cracks first, water follows the balcony-to-wall joint into the ledger, and the guardrail anchors rust inside the stucco. The common finding is rot at the joist ends behind a wall that still looks fine from the courtyard. The common repair is new joist ends and ledger, a new membrane and flashing, and guardrails re-anchored into sound wood.
The exterior corridor walkways and the stairways that serve every unit are exterior elevated elements too, and they carry more traffic than any balcony. Blocked scuppers leave standing water on the walkway coating, stair stringers rot at the bottom where they meet the landing, and the handrails loosen. These buildings have the most elements to count and the most to sample, so the repairs are phased around tenant access.
Older walk-ups sit beside the condominium conversions of the 2000s and the podium buildings of the last decade. A condominium association is under SB 326 and needs an engineer or an architect for the inspection itself; we take that report and do the repairs. A building permitted on or after January 1, 2019 is on its own clock: an inspection within six years of its certificate of occupancy.
Three or more rental units in one building, and SB 721 applies: the inspection was due January 1, 2026, then every six years. A condominium project with three or more units is under SB 326 instead: due January 1, 2025, then every nine years, by a licensed structural or civil engineer or an architect. A duplex is outside both laws, though the same water does the same damage. Not sure which you own? Send the address and we tell you on the call.
Each finding is opened up, the rot cut back to sound wood and the joist, ledger or rim board sistered or replaced with treated lumber and new hangers. The waterproofing is redone across the whole walking surface, never patched, with new flashing and a drip edge sloped away from the wall. Guardrails are re-anchored into the new framing or replaced at code height. Every item is photographed before, during and after for the re-inspection file.
Repairs under SB 721 must be done by a qualified and licensed contractor to the inspector's recommendations, the Building Standards Code and the City's rules; in San Diego that is Kaminskiy Care and Repair (CSLB #1106209), from any licensed inspector's report. The inspection itself may only be performed by a licensed architect, a licensed civil or structural engineer, a general contractor holding an A, B or C-5 license with at least five years as a license holder constructing multistory wood-frame buildings, or a certified building inspector. Our sister company Kaminskiy Design & Remodeling, a B general building contractor since 2008 (CSLB #922807), performs it; you hire them directly.
Repairs are priced per finding, in writing, from the report: a joist end and a membrane patch is a small line, a rebuilt cantilever with a new guardrail is a larger one, and you see every line before any work is scheduled. No percentage markups, no surprises at the building. The inspection, when you need one, is a flat price per building from Kaminskiy Design & Remodeling, set by the number of elements and types.
We confirm which law applies, read the findings and the service-life notes, and book the site walk. No report yet? Our sister company schedules the inspection within days and the report is in your hands inside 45 days; we pick up from here.
Each finding checked at the building, hidden framing read with a moisture meter or opened at a soffit, then a scope and a price per line.
The application filed with Development Services, no-plan where the law allows it, plans where a rebuild needs them, and shoring first wherever an element is an immediate threat.
The work inside the permit window, photos of every item, the permit signed off, and the final report for your records, your lender and the re-inspection.
Health and Safety Code 17973(a) lists the qualified inspectors: a licensed architect, a licensed civil or structural engineer, a general contractor with an A, B or C-5 license and five years' experience as a license holder in multistory wood-frame construction, or a certified building inspector. The section does not bar the inspector from doing the repairs; it requires the repairs to be done by a qualified and licensed contractor, to the inspector's recommendations, the Building Standards Code and the City's rules. The owner hires the inspecting company directly, as the law requires: here that is Kaminskiy Design & Remodeling, with the repairs contracted separately to Kaminskiy Care and Repair, so the report stands on its own.
The repairs are permitted through the City of San Diego's Development Services Department. Like-for-like damage repair of a balcony, a stair or a walkway goes on the no-plan building permit with a pre-construction inspection (Information Bulletin 203); a rebuilt cantilever or a changed guardrail needs plans. An element the inspector tags an immediate threat is reported to the City within 15 days. The City publishes no separate SB 721 portal; the report stays in your records.
The first SB 721 inspection was due January 1, 2026 (AB 2579 moved it back a year from 2025) and repeats every six years. After a report, the permit application is due within 120 days and the repairs within 120 days of the permit. If the repairs are still not done 180 days on, the inspector notifies the City, and 30 days after that notice a civil penalty of one hundred to five hundred dollars per day runs until they are, with a building safety lien behind it. Reports are kept for two cycles and handed to a buyer at sale.
Where Kaminskiy started. Our San Diego crew works out of the office on World Trade Drive in Rancho Bernardo and covers the whole county, from the beach walk-ups to the inland garden complexes. Call 858-330-5590, text a photo of the report or the balcony, or send the form, and we answer in under three rings. Since 2018 our technicians have completed 7,691 repair visits on 3,488 San Diego homes and buildings.
Can't find your answer? Call 858-330-5590 and ask us anything.
Call 858-330-5590Send it to us with the address. We walk the building against the report, price each finding in writing, and file the permit application inside the 120 days the law allows; the repairs then run inside 120 days of the permit. An element tagged an immediate threat is closed off and shored first. You get photos of every item and a final report for the re-inspection.
Yes. The law requires the repairs to follow the inspector's recommendations, and any licensed architect, engineer, qualified contractor or certified inspector's report works. Most of the reports we repair from were written by someone else.
They are priced per finding, in writing, from the report: a joist end and a membrane patch is a small line, a rebuilt cantilever with a new guardrail is a larger one, and you see every line before any work is scheduled. Call 858-330-5590 with the report and the address and we quote it in days.
Our sister company does. Kaminskiy Design & Remodeling, a B general building contractor since 2008 (CSLB #922807), performs the inspection and delivers the stamped report with photos within 45 days; you hire them directly, as the law requires. Kaminskiy Care and Repair (CSLB #1106209) then prices and completes the repairs the report calls out.
Yes, as two companies: Kaminskiy Design & Remodeling inspects and signs the report, Kaminskiy Care and Repair repairs, under separate contracts. The statute does not bar the inspector from performing the repairs; it requires a qualified and licensed contractor working to the inspector's recommendations. The report lists every finding with photos, so you can put the repairs out to bid if you prefer, and it stands on its own either way.
Book the inspection now and keep the date you booked it in writing. The penalty in the law runs against repairs that are left undone after a report, not against the booking itself, and a building department would far rather see an owner who is moving than one who is waiting. If the inspection finds an immediate threat, that element is closed off that day and reported to the City within 15 days; everything else goes on the 120-day permit clock.
For a condominium project the association is responsible for the inspection under SB 326 and, under most governing documents, for the repair of the load-bearing framing and waterproofing it maintains, with exclusive-use elements split as the CC&Rs say. The inspection itself must be done by a licensed structural or civil engineer or an architect; we take that report and do the repairs, phased so residents keep their access, and documented for the reserve study.
It is the inspection California requires of the exterior elevated elements on apartment buildings with three or more units: balconies, decks, porches, stairways, walkways and entry structures that are more than six feet above the ground and supported substantially by wood, together with their railings and waterproofing. A qualified inspector identifies each element type, inspects at least 15 percent of each, and delivers a stamped written report with photos within 45 days. The first inspection was due January 1, 2026 and it repeats every six years.
Send the address and the report if you have one; if you don't, say so and we set up the inspection. We'll call you back with a scope and a date. Calling is still the fastest way: 858-330-5590.
Every repair your report calls out, permitted and documented, from one San Diego crew. No report yet? Our sister company performs the inspection.
We answer in under three rings, 24/7.No price games. You get a clear written quote before any work begins, backed by our workmanship warranty.
