DBI Concrete Building Screening Program

Screening Program Details

The information you provide will determine if you have a rigid-wall-flexible-diaphragm (RWFD) building, a concrete building, or neither. It will also enable the City to develop an inventory of buildings to evaluate San Francisco’s earthquake risk and seismic requirements.

You may be asked to provide building information, including:

• Details about the structure and design, including ASCE 41 model building type.
• Information about past seismic retrofits and building uses.
• The documentation used to provide this information, including building permits, construction plans and structural design details.

There are two possible outcomes from the screening form:

a. Property owners may have the necessary documentation to answer the initial screening questions to demonstrate that their building is not part of the program. If you submit this information, City staff will verify whether the information provided excludes you from the program. At that point, you are considered in compliance and no further action is required.

b. If your building is not excluded from the program by the initial questions, you will need to hire a California-licensed architect, civil engineer or structural engineer to provide structural details about your building.

The deadline to submit this information is June 9, 2027.

The Department of Building Inspection (DBI) and the Office of Resilience and Capital Planning will analyze the information provided on the screening forms to determine if additional citywide seismic safety measures are needed for concrete buildings in San Francisco.

Concrete building owners who do not submit their building information will be automatically included in any potential mandatory retrofit program in the future.

Follow the instructions below to submit your concrete building information.

What to do

1. Gather documentation and submit information about your building

To complete the screening form, you will need to provide information about the building and its structural design. Building owners or their representatives are welcome to submit responses to the initial questions, but the property owner will need to hire a California-licensed architect, civil engineer or structural engineer if required to answer structural questions.

The first questions on the screening form ask for basic building information that can be found on a past building permit or completion notice, including:

• Number of stories.
• Date the original building permit was issued.
• Date the Certificate of Final Completion and Occupancy was issued.

If you cannot locate your permit documentation, the date of the original building permit and Certificate of Final Completion and Occupancy can be found here on DBI’s website. Enter your address or block/lot (parcel number) and search through past permitting documents dating back to the 1980s.

Older permit and property records can be viewed in person in DBI’s Record’s Management Division, located at 49 South Van Ness, 4th Floor.

The next few questions require a little more research, but can also be answered by the property owner. You may need to provide:

• Square footage of the 1-story portion of the building, if applicable.
• Permit documentation demonstrating a prior retrofit to any of the standards outlined in the San Francisco Existing Building Code Chapter 5G.
• Whether the building is a residential building with two or fewer units.

Once you have gathered the information above, you can click the link below to access the screening form and answer the questions.

Complete your Concrete Building Screening Form.

The screening form may state that the information you provided excludes you from having to answer additional questions. After DBI confirms the information is accurate, we will notify you that your building is in compliance and no further action is needed.

However, if you are asked to answer additional questions, you will need to hire a California-licensed architect, civil engineer or structural engineer to gather and provide additional structural information, as detailed below. The screening form will notify you when you get to questions that are required to be answered by an architect or engineer.

Please note the answers you have already provided as they will need to be entered again by your architect or engineer.

2. Hire an architect or engineer to provide information about your building’s structural design

The following questions must be answered by a California-licensed architect, civil engineer or structural engineer. The architect or engineer you hire may need to provide the following information:

• The building’s occupancy class and number of dwelling units.
• Structural information about the building’s vertical concrete elements such as walls or columns, if any:
  • Whether these elements support gravity load from floors or roofs.
  • Whether these elements are part of a lateral-force-resisting system.
  • Whether any of the concrete elements extend less than four feet above the adjacent grade.
• If the building is of light-frame construction over a one-story podium.
• If the building has concrete columns or wall piers, as defined by ACI 318 Section 2.3.
• If the building has a structurally reinforced concrete diaphragm at the second floor, the roof or both.
• Structural information about the building’s steel columns, if any, to determine if the building has a complete steel frame:
  • Whether these steel columns support gravity load from floors or roofs.
  • Whether these steel columns are connected to steel beams.
• Building type as defined by ASCE 41 Table 3-1.
• Date the building permit was issued for the lateral-force-resisting system for a multi-story building.

Once the California-licensed architect, civil engineer or structural engineer has gathered this information, they can click the link below to access the screening form and answer the questions.

Complete your Concrete Building Screening Form.

3. Receive a notice of compliance

DBI will review the building and structural information provided on the screening form for accuracy and contact the submitter about any missing or incorrect information.

Once the screening form submission is determined to be complete and accurate, DBI will send the property owner a notice of compliance and no further action is required at this time.

Resources

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the Concrete Building Screening Program

San Francisco Existing Building Code – Chapter 5G

Need help?

For assistance, please contact DBI's Technical Services Division at:

Email
dbi.concrete@sfgov.org

Phone
(628) 652-3720

In-person
Permit Center - DBI Technical Services Division Counter
49 South Van Ness Avenue, 2nd floor
San Francisco, CA 94103
Mon, 9:00am to 5:00pm
Tues to Fri, 8:00am to 5:00pm