Nuances of Architecture and Structures Adventuring to another culture is good for a lot of reasons: Crushing Cultural Myopia and Stagnant Paradigms is high on the list. Of course, seeing the sights is fun too.  With our Construction Education Series in mind, I paid close attention to the structural, waterproofing, and architectural elements of Scottish and British construction during my recent trip across the pond. Actually, I would have been paying close attention anyway – Appreciating the nuances of architecture and structures has become a passion for me. My walk around the grounds of Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, was mind bending. I couldn’t help contrasting the 200-year-old slate roof on the late author’s palatial home with the 30-year asphalt shingles at my home in the San Francisco Bay area. Even the concrete and clay tile roofs of the 1970’s construction boom are failing en masse. Longevity Longevity. That word came to mind again and again. The stacked stone fences that crisscrossed the Scottish Borders are a timeless reminder that humans share space with subsequent generations while the land seems to share space – only with itself. I’m certain that some of those stones, stacked without mortar, were in place when the Americas were only a spec on Columbus’ horizon.  In contrast, wooden community fences in most housing developments are slated for replacement within 20 years. Survival I sought out and found the cross section of a stone wall in a gated Abbotsford archway. The evidence of why these buildings survived three and four centuries or longer is evidenced there. Nothing about haste or production speed can be learned here. Only diligent attention to durability and immense patience. Stones laid 3-deep, course after course, with mortar engineered to breathe and allow humidity of daily life out of the building but shed and resist the blowing rain. Today Granted, many of the wood sills and windows were replaced in a recent renovation project. Granted, the project was funded by a sizeable fortune. Granted, labor was cheap. But the fact remains – That even the homes and stores in the towns of the Scottish borders are made of stone with an eye to not only practicality and security, but also longevity. Takeaway The smaller of these 2 bridges was constructed by stonemasons - probably discussing the fact that the American colonies and some fella named Jefferson had just declared independence.  The larger bridge…was built just a few decades later.   My takeaway? Care more. Rush less. Don’t settle for short-sighted compromises. -Scott Swinton, CCM, CCIP

"Help is on the way, Dear!" You hear it too! Just as Robin Williams in his unmatched acting ability depicted the endearing voice of Mrs. Doubtfire, "Help is on the way, Dear!" Is this how your Project Manager responds when you have a problem to solve? We hope so! But what does your Project Manager actually do? How do know you need a Project Manager? And why is this such an important decision? These are just a few of the questions we will answer in our 5-Part Project Management Mini-Series within our Did You Know Series. The Call for Help How do you know when you need a Construction Manager? Ask these 3 questions: If this project goes poorly, can I afford to be responsible for the outcome? Do I understand the full scope of work? Do I fully understand the specifics and steps that go into accomplishing this successfully? Relying on the contractor can work. But before you do that, be sure they are prepared to answer yes to all of the above questions also. If for you or your contractor, the answer to any of those questions is "No," then you should consider hiring a project manager - the call for help. Check out this great article in the CACM Vision Magazine Winter 2025 written by Kelly Zibell, CCAM, Senior Vice President of Community Management at Communitas. Click here to read!

...the term "going postal" originated in the 90's after a rash of killings by postal workers between 1970 and 1997? Glad that's over, right? ...61% of postal worker robberies happen in the Bay Area? Um, what kind of person... https://abc7news.com/post/push-combat-bay-area-mail-theft-gets-attention/15069820/ ...rather than a crowbar, thieves are often simply using the keys stolen from postal workers to break into commercial mailboxes. ...if you assault a postal carrier, you're looking at 5-10 years in Federal Prison and up to $250,000 fine. ...UPSI can't protect postal workers from you, or you from them (Though I guess that trend is over?), but we can help you protect your mail. Call us to help you upgrade your old mailboxes, move them to a safer location, or design other prevention methods. We do know Commercial Mailbox transitions - We've helped dozens of customers across the Bay Area. Mail theft is a real problem and UPSI has been collaborating with customers for two decades to provide solutions. Solutions can range from simply upgrading to more secure mailboxes in the existing locations, to completely relocating them and remodeling or constructing a structure to create a secure enclosure. Cameras and lighting can help, but the best way to prevent theft is to keep the mailboxes out of sight, put them behind a second lock (such as a lobby door), and upgrade to theft resistant boxes. A resident Doberman on a long leash can be a deterrent also, but some of our customers have pushed back on that one.

Welcome back to The Exciting World of Construction. Lesson Eight - Peaceful Congruence Dear Students, Today I am your philosophy teacher. From Concrete Foundations to Philosophy…yeah, I know…it’s a bit of whiplash.  We have learned a lot at UPSI University: Forming and pouring concrete, podium slab foundations, mud jacking, and stucco. Today we take off the boots and head to the classroom to explore Peaceful Congruence.  WAIT!!!!  Come back!  You enjoyed pouring concrete – you’ll enjoy poring over this for a moment. The multi-family inventory is aging. The BOOM of condos built in the 70’s, 80’s, and even the 90’s are not aging with grace. The quick fixes to maintain appearances over those middle 20 years of the structure’s lifetime are proving both inadequate and often in retrospect detrimental. Think Botox, crash diets, and fake tans – but for condos. Decisions to go cheap by past owners are almost uniformly proving detrimental to current owners. We all understand the temptation. None of us are innocent of decisions to sacrifice quality or permanence on the altar of this year’s budget or convenience. Our clever marketing department came up with a term that we have decided to ponder – Peaceful Congruence.  Think about Peaceful Congruence this way: Taking two people with misaligned incentives or values and bringing them harmoniously together. Think: getting the rancher and the vegan to work together for a common objective. Consider this:  Will the incentives of the current roster of condo owners ever align with the incentives of the future owners of that same condo? Are you thinking about it, or did you gloss over the question and hope I will answer it in the next paragraph?  Yeah, I thought so…no worries, I’ll help out. I’ll give one example and then class will be over: How about reserving funds for future repairs? Current Condo owner – not excited about reserving funds for the next generation of owners. Future Condo owner – Very excited about the current condo owner reserving funds for the next generation of owners.   Did you see that? That misalignment is both a demonstration of basic human nature, and also fundamental to why we have such widespread deterioration of the multifamily inventory today. We are all excited about others doing the right thing until “they” becomes “we” and the burden to act responsibly falls on our shoulders.  UPSI is committed to Peaceful Congruence. How can we both peacefully present what is in the best interest of the community now AND in the future while also peacefully bringing incongruous paradigms together to discuss the options. Peaceful Congruence! That’s just a small part of what UPSI can help with in your community!   Class dismissed.

Welcome to The Exciting World of Construction - Lesson Seven.   To Abate or not to Abate – that is the question: There are mixed signals and differing opinions on whether to abate for asbestos or lead based on the quantity, type of material, etc.  Let’s just say that the EPA is less ambiguous. The law wants you to test if renovating and abate if it’s present. It’s just that simple. Great information here, which we won’t bore you by restating:   https://www.epa.gov/large-scale-residential-demolition/asbestos-containing-materials-acm-and-demolition#neshap You should test for lead and asbestos any time you renovate, but especially if your building is 1980 or older. The law was passed in 1978, but, well, you know how it goes. The stuff was still on the shelves and a lot of it still got sold and installed. What do asbestos and lead-based products look like?    Unfortunately, just like the stuff without the hazard. In our world of urgent calls and emergency response, I agree, it’s easy to overlook some steps. Mistakes happen. But best practice is to always test and always abate if necessary. Some VERY HELPFUL things to remember if any of your communities were built in the 80’s or earlier: KEEP TESTING RECORDS PERMANENTLY ON FILE.  …‘Cause you’re going to be proactive and test the stucco, drywall, floor mastic if you have old vinyl flooring, and tar based roof membrane, etc for asbestos. (Talk to your Industrial Hygienist for specific targets in your communities) Test all painted surfaces for lead. Add a section to your Management Company’s work order that states if a community is “hot” or not. Send your vendors in armed with good information. REMEMBER: There is a 10-day MANDATORY wait time from the EPA when an abatement job is approved by the customer. Your contractor isn’t stalling! He CANNOT start until the 10-day wait is complete. My opinion – not necessarily the law: If you have a wet ceiling and a water leak is threatening collapse, cut holes in the WET portion of the drywall to prevent collapse. The “friable” or dry dusty stuff is what gets in your lungs. Wet drywall won’t make dust. When the collapse and mold entrapment danger is mitigated, then get the rest abated. Be safe! We have several great Industrial Hygienists and abatement companies on our team. We’d be happy to join your rapid response team!

Welcome to The Exciting World of Construction - Mud Jacking, Helical Piers and Foundation Underpinning. Lesson Six.   Mud jacking, and helical piers, and foundation underpinning... Oh My!   We aren’t taking you down the yellow brick road, but we are going to take you on our last journey in concrete learning. We’ve touched on a few uses of concrete in building foundations. From all appearances, it would seem as if a concrete foundation would be adamant against outside forces. All that rebar, wire, and tons of cement and rock would presumably stand the test of time. It doesn’t. While concrete has immense compressive strength (think about the crunch delivered from each step in a pair of heels), if the supporting soil is inadequate to evenly support a footing or slab, it can sag in some areas and snap like a pencil. Then What? Well…we fix it. But not like a wizard behind a curtain!  This is where mud jacking, helical piers, and foundation underpinning come into play. Mud jacking can magically lift entire concrete slabs with remarkable precision. Small 2” holes are drilled strategically around the slab, and a pump forces sandy mud through the holes and into the soil beneath to force the slab upward. Catch the video at the end to watch how this works!  Photo Credit: www.civiltoday.com Helical piers are drilled into the ground like a corkscrew on a long pole. The screw eventually engages with the bedrock and the top of the pole is used to lift against with a jack – pushing footings back into place. Used horizontally, they can prevent a footing from migrating downhill. Underpinning, loosely interpreted, is simply excavating beneath a failing footing and pouring more concrete below it to support it in place. We would love for UPSI to be the first place you “dream” of when you need concrete or foundation repairs. Our team of estimators and construction managers will make sure you are over the rainbow with your completed project.  No wizards at UPSI, just people who love to  problem solve for you!

Welcome back to The Exciting World of Construction. Slab-on-Grade. Riddle me this - You may drive on it; you see it everywhere you go, and you probably walk on it daily. What is it? If you were thinking of a Concrete Slab, you would be correct. For today’s lesson, we’re going to refer to this as “Slab-on-Grade.” But what is that? Well, we're glad you asked! What, in fact, is a slab on grade? While slab-on-grade is probably the most popular and easy to recognize form of concrete, it’s also likely the most unremarkable. We thought we might make up for that…with some remarks. When we think of concrete, slab-on-grade is typically what we envision in our minds. This form of concrete slab is used under a building, for sidewalks and driveways, and even highly engineered forms are used for highways.  Concrete is composed of Portland cement, sand, and gravel. When mixed with water and reenforced with steel, concrete is a highly versatile construction component. The durability of a concrete slab-on-grade is ideal for building, driving, and walking. In many parts of the country a concrete slab-on-grade is thickened at the perimeters for footings and becomes the foundation for homes and buildings. Assets of Slab-On-Grade Inexpensive to form and pour. Provides excellent resilience for commercial applications. Can be stamped and stained to mimic natural textures or architectural patterns . Liabilities of Slab-On-Grade Underground utilities are expensive to repair or replace in the future. Prone to cracking where soil is expansive or not compacted properly. Permeable to moisture. If improperly installed, water will seep up. This is just the surface of concrete knowledge. While there is much more to know about a concrete slab-on-grade, we know you have more important things to stay knowledgeable about on a daily basis. UPSI is here to manage your next concrete (or any other) project so you can focus on what you do best – whatever that may look like for you today.

Welcome back to The Exciting World of Construction. Concrete Composition and Failures. Lesson Two! You've heard the saying "...As boring as watching paint dry." But is it really? Is it boring to watch the color change and see the lines blend to display your beautiful new color and even coats? If watching paint dry is your thing, imagine the "chill" of watching concrete cure. First things first, what exactly is concrete? Follow us on quick journey through the world of concrete composition... Concrete is a general term for a mixture of fine aggregate (Sand), Coarse aggregate (Stone), Portland cement, and water. A Chemical reaction occurs as these are mixed which changes the mixture into a uniform composite. This transformation is called curing and the curing process, though initially rapid, takes nearly a month to be fully complete. Concrete has little tensile or bending strength.  Steel rebar is added as reinforcement. Cracks are not uncommon especially with flatwork such as sidewalks and driveways but do not necessarily indicate a “failure” of the system. Concrete has high compaction strength; thus, very heavy buildings are built on top of them. Modifying the combination of aggregates, cement, and water, plus an alphabet soup of other additives can improve the compressive strength. Now, let's see what failures you should look for in your concrete:  Spalling – When the surface of concrete “pops” off. Spalling - Photo Credit: https: // gsgdistribution.com/spalling-concrete-repair/ Efflorescence – When moisture moves through the concrete, evaporates off the surface, and leaves trace amounts of visible minerals (Typically white in color) on the surface. Efflorescence - Photo Credit: https://www.concreteconstruction.net Rust Jacking – When moisture enters the concrete, rusts the rebar, and then the expanding rust forces spalling or cracking of the concrete. Rust Jacking - Photo Credit: UPSI Project Stress Cracking – When movement (Often from expansive soil or seismic events) shears the concrete. Stress Cracking - Photo Credit: https://concretesupplyco.com/6-concrete-cracks/ ...Actually, this IS a failure of the system. You should probably call us soon! If you see any of this damage happening to your concrete, you know who to call! We are happy to give you a consultation to determine the best way to solve your concrete concerns.

Welcome to The Exciting World of Construction - Stucco Installation! Over the next few months, we'd like to share some of our thrilling knowledge with you.  Besides providing some of the most entertaining information you will hear today (wink, wink), our goal is to give you tools to make informed decisions while protecting your assets. While we find this picture to be fascinating, we know you may not enjoy it quite as much as we do. So, give us a few lines to explain what you are seeing. Your stucco should perform well. It may not have what it takes to make the cut on Broadway but how it performs on your building can make the difference between ducking tomatoes or taking a bow. Photo Credit - traditional-stucco3.jpg (600×400) ( esec-stucco.com ) Lath: Metal or plastic mesh, (or wood strips in legacy construction) that stabilize cement plaster. Lath is attached to the frame of a structure with screws or nails and the plaster is spread across the surface in multiple coats. Weep Screed: The lowest part of the stucco system - A continuous strip at the lower edge of a stucco wall, made of galvanized sheet metal, and designed to provide both a clean bottom edge, but perforated to provide an escape path for water that might penetrate the stucco system above. Coats: Scratch, Brown, and Finish coats - Scratch coat is the first and roughest coat designed to provide adhesion to the lath and begin to build thickness. Brown coat defines the final shape of the surface and continues to build thickness. Finish coat may have integral color or may require primer and paint and provides the final texture and aesthetic for the system. As always, UPSI is here to help you navigate any questions you have about your stucco and anything else that needs inspected, corrected, updated and added. We are here for you!

Welcome back to The Exciting World of Construction. Podium Slab Foundation Lesson Four. We trust what we walk on all the time, but do we know what’s really happening below our feet? UPSI does! And we are going to share our knowledge with you. We’ll spend a few months going over terms such as footing, pier, grade beam, slab-on-grade, and podium slab. That term, the Podium slab, has surfaced a lot lately with the SB-326 balcony inspections. (More about that at the end.) This has led to some interesting conversations (interesting to me anyway :) ) regarding building foundations. So, let’s start with an oversimplified explanation of the podium slab. Imagine a table with many legs. The legs are concrete and extend into the ground for some depth. The table top is also reinforced concrete.  The table top is your podium slab.  Those table legs are referred to commonly as piers.  The piers may sit on a footing or may have been drilled very deep down to bedrock. The piers rely on friction, the footing, and/or the bedrock to not sink and rely on the surrounding soil and bedrock to not rotate over... (think, that time as a kid you jumped up on your mom’s old end table and found yourself on the ground among a pile of antique firewood). The pier cap is a thickened section of concrete between the pier and the slab where the rebar reinforcement from the pier reaching up, engages with the rebar reinforcement of the slab, reaching down. There’s your podium slab.  On top of that podium slab will often be built many stories of retail, industrial, or residential space. So why does this relate to balcony inspections? The podium slab is strong enough to cantilever or hang over the edge of the piers. Often the architect will design a podium level balcony that is simply an extension of the podium slab. This balcony does extend out over open air but is an extension of the reinforced concrete podium slab. There is some discussion of whether those podium slab extensions should be inspected under SB-326.  While a more in-depth discussion of what is required for SB-326 inspection is something for another conversation, it is generally accepted that those slabs do not fall under the requirements set forth in SB-326 for inspecting balconies. Next month we’ll work to cement your understanding of these foundational ideas and reinforce the concrete principles we’ve already laid out. Until then, give me a call if you have any general constructions questions or problems at your community that we can solve for you!

Welcome back to The Exciting World of Construction. Steel Lesson Three. Steel yourselves...this is going to be a solid learning opportunity.   Steel is arguably the most important component of modern construction. Steel and glass high-rises may come to mind, but that's really not what we're hinting at here. Every wood wall is pinned together with steel nails, bolted to the foundation with steel bolts, and clings to the rafters with steel clips. Simpson Strong Tie Corporation struck gold by focusing in on Steel, namely all of the steel clips, straps, ties, bolts and frames that simplify and strengthen wood construction. But it's not just wood construction that is supplemented by steel. Tilt-up concrete walls, concrete slabs, retaining walls and podium slabs, reinforced block walls, brick walls, and stucco all benefit from the steel reinforcement buried within. But don't miss the trees for the forest. Besides the heavier steel, connections, and reinforcement, look no further than your kitchen cabinets. The door hinges, shelf pins and sinks are all steel. The power outlets, small and large appliances, and even the vinyl window over your sink all have an array of steel components. We could track aluminum, copper, and plastic the same way, but whether galvanized, stainless, malleable, or hardened -  Steel is King.

The 50-Year-Problem Part 2 - The 30-Year Study and The 50-Year Time Bomb In the 50-year Problem Part 1, The Renter Mentality, we explored the renter-like inclination of HOA owners to offload or defer the responsibilities of homeownership to someone else. Here we will fully realize why that's a  really bad  idea. A. The 30-year reserve study Humans are remarkably horrible at budgeting and planning ahead.  Dean Buonomano Ph.D. posted   Temporal Myopia: Making Bad Long-term Decisions to the Psychology Today blog. In it, he described the "I give you $100 now, or $120 if you'll wait a month" experiment. You can read it here for yourself, but in a nutshell, people chose a $100 gift far more often than the impressive 20% investment gain available by waiting a mere month.    The takeaway: Typical humans don't make wise decisions in a long-term consequence vs. short term gain dilemma.    But no matter what you think about the logic of accepting $100 now versus waiting a month for $120, it is utterly unthinkable that anyone would wait a month - even for $10,000 - if that person knew they couldn't be around in a month to collect. No sane person would ever invest in something they had almost zero chance to benefit from.   The takeaway: We're not stupid. If there is no chance of future gain, of course we'll grab ours now.   And yet the modern CID is organized as if the 2 Take-aways above don't apply to it. A disturbingly large percentage of HOAs in their 4th and 5th decade, have been victims of these two concepts.   First, corporate decisions are often made with expediency as the highest motive. Let's keep dues low and never pass a special assessment, to keep more cash in my pocket right now. Let's get this board meeting over ( or I've skipped it altogether ) so I can watch the game - while crucial decisions are delayed until next month. Let's look for a new/cheaper management company that doesn't expect so much from the directors. The list of ways humans sacrifice future benefits on an altar of expediency is endless - as with individuals, so it goes with HOAs and board members. Second, if my condo is a starter home, or I'm retired on a fixed income, or for whatever reason doubt I will be around to benefit - no matter what the future gains to the HOA - I won't buy-in. Why would I agree to commit tens of thousands of my hard-earned dollars to a special assessment or increased dues which will largely benefit the next set if homeowners? (And this presumes I have the available cash with which to get behind the assessment or increase anyway)   In 1985, recognizing these weaknesses, the state of California integrated the "30-year reserve study" into the Davis-Sterling Act, requiring homeowners associations to set aside reserves for future maintenance expenses. While well-intentioned, and probably better than nothing, the reserve study portion fell short of being truly impactful. The 2013 DSA update clarified some details but still failed to give the reserve study real teeth. Predictably many homeowners associations are content to implement the bare minimums while ignoring the true intent - reserving enough cash to perform preventive maintenance and executing repairs as soon as they are needed.    But worse than encouraging contentment with sub-mediocrity,  easy compliance has engendered a crippling consequence; Many communities now have an "Emperor's New Cloak" of compliance to cover their failure to adequately plan ahead.  They are very literally - exposed.   Many communities are stumbling toward a mid-life crisis, oblivious to metastasizing cancer just below the surface... taking yearly drags on their 30-year reserve study. B. The 50-year time bomb The 50-year Time Bomb - Q&A   Q - So what do short-sighted board members do when they see a complicated reserve study and a growing list of deteriorating assets? (sometimes literally growing - with mushrooms) A - They hire a handyman to put more caulk around the windows, and tell the manager to solicit a different reserve study.   Q - What do they do when a construction manager reviews the community and tells them that they need to spend $2,000,0000 to get the community back on track? A - They toss the construction manager and continue whacking moles.   Q - What do you do when foundations, elevator shafts, and other elements not represented in the reserve study, with a life-span in excess of 30 years, fail catastrophically in year 40? A - No good answer.   Q - How long does it take for a tree, 20 feet from the building, to grow roots large enough to compromise the French drains, the patios, and the foundations? A - Want to guess?   Q - What do you do as the experiments of the post-lead paint, post-asbestos, EPA-affected 1970's and 1980's systemically fail, and begin to be realized as really bad ideas? (I will go into this in detail next time) A - You wonder what it is that they are doing right now in construction that our kids will regret in 50 years.   This is not intended as a critique of the reserve study, a condemnation of board members, or a general criticism of the industry at large; what is intended here is something not unlike the orange flag of the highway construction flagman warning you to slow because you are too quickly approaching a narrow and hazardous place - where a cement truck just might back into your lane.   Like most sociological issues, the problems in The Great Sociological Experiment we call the HOA, lie with human nature itself.  Therefore, as in all sociological advances, it's going to take maturity and innovation to outsmart human nature here too and successfully incentivize and implement lasting change.