Balcony Builders · CSLB #1060736
Balcony Builders in California
We build, rebuild, repair, waterproof, and inspect balconies across the Bay Area, Central Valley, and Sacramento — for apartment communities, condominiums, HOAs, and hotels. A balcony is not a small deck. It is attached to a building, it usually sits over somebody’s living room, and on multifamily property it carries a legal obligation that repeats for as long as you own the building.
- CSLB #1060736 Licensed California contractor
- 9+ yrs Building commercial balconies & decks
- SB 721 / 326 Built and documented to pass
- One crew Structure and waterproofing
Where to start
Balcony Construction by Type
Supported, attached, and engineered differently — the balcony type decides the structure.
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Apartment Covered Balcony Construction
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Balcony HOA
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Cantilever Balcony Construction
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Elevated Balcony Construction
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Condo Balcony Construction
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Hillside Balcony Construction
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Large Balcony Construction
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Second-Story Balcony Construction
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Waterfront Balcony Construction
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Rooftop Balcony Construction
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Wraparound Balcony Construction
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01 Why it matters
Balconies fail where they meet the building — and that failure belongs to the building
Ask most owners where a balcony goes bad and they’ll point at the outer edge, because that’s where the weather is. The evidence says otherwise. Open up failed balconies for long enough and the same picture repeats: the damage starts at the wall. At the ledger connection, where the balcony is bolted to the building and where flashing was often an afterthought. At the door threshold, where water runs off the surface toward the opening rather than away from it. At the inside corner, where debris collects and never dries.
That location is what makes a balcony different from a deck. When the outer edge of a deck rots, you have a deck problem. When a balcony rots at the wall, water is inside the building’s framing — in the rim, in the wall cavity, sometimes in the floor of the unit below — and you have a building problem that happens to have started on a balcony. It is also why California legislated balconies specifically rather than decks: an elevated element attached to occupied space fails differently and fails worse.
Which leads to the other thing worth understanding before hiring anyone. On a balcony, the structure and the waterproofing are one assembly, not two trades. The membrane is what keeps the frame dry, the flashing at the wall is a structural protection rather than a finish, and the railing posts are penetrations through both. Splitting those between a carpenter and a coatings applicator creates an interface where nobody owns the failure — and that interface is where most of the balconies we rebuild went wrong.
A deck that rots at the edge is a deck problem. A balcony that rots at the wall is a building problem that started on a balcony.
Explore further
More ways we work on balconies
Pick the framing material, or the kind of work the balcony needs.
Framing materials we build balconies with — more coming as pages publish.
From a new installation to a single repair.
02 The D&B difference
What we do differently
Three commitments that decide whether a balcony programme stays fixed — or comes back as somebody else’s scope.
One crew owns the structure and the waterproofing
Framing, flashing, membrane, and railings from the same company under one warranty. No interface for a leak to become a conversation about whose scope it was — which is the single most common reason balcony repairs come back.
Built and documented for a repeating obligation
On wood-framed balconies more than six feet above grade at properties with three or more units, SB 721 or SB 326 applies and returns on a cycle. We build to that standard and hand over as-built documentation for the compliance file, so the next inspection starts from a record rather than from scratch.
We open things up before we price them
The critical parts of a balcony — the ledger, the joist ends, the threshold — are enclosed. An estimate written without opening one is an estimate of the visible half, and we’d rather spend an hour finding out than present the difference later as a change order.
03 · Service Areas
Where We Work in California
Every city links to a dedicated local page — crews, recent projects and compliance details for that area.
Sacramento Metro
5 cities
East Bay
13 cities
North Bay
7 cities
Don’t see your city? We likely still cover it — call (916) 848-2728.
04 How a project runs
How a balcony project runs with us
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01
Assessment
Probe testing at ledger, joist ends, and post bases, moisture readings, and where necessary an opening made so the enclosed parts can actually be seen.
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02
Scope & options
Written scope with repair, rebuild, and waterproofing priced where more than one genuinely applies, rather than one number and a defence of it.
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03
Engineering & permitting
Stamped engineering where connections, spans, or loads require it, then through plan review — handled by us and started early.
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04
Structure
Framing repaired or rebuilt, ledger connections flashed and fastened per CBC 1604.8.1, rated hardware throughout.
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05
Waterproofing
Membrane or coating installed as a continuous system, turned up at the wall, dressed over the edge, with slope that carries water away from the building.
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06
Railings, finish & phasing
Guardrails to current height and spacing, work phased so residents lose access to their own balcony only, not the whole elevation.
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07
Handover
Photo documentation of the connections before they were closed, and the compliance file material.
05 Scope
What we build, repair and document
Everything from the connection into the building to the handrail, in-house.
- New balcony construction — cantilevered, post-supported, and suspended
- Balcony types — apartment, condominium, HOA, second-story, elevated, wraparound, large-span, rooftop, and covered
- Wood, steel-framed, and concrete balconies
- Waterfront, coastal, and hillside balconies specified for the exposure
- Terraces and podium-level amenity decks
- Balcony extension and enlargement
- Balcony repair — framing, dry rot, ledgers, joist ends, post bases
- Waterproofing — membranes, traffic coatings, flashing, and drainage
- Railing installation and replacement in timber, aluminum, steel, cable, and glass
- Structural assessment and invasive openings where the condition is unknown
- SB 721 and SB 326 inspection support and post-inspection repair programmes
- SF Section 604 compliance in San Francisco
- Code enforcement resolution
- Annual maintenance programmes across multifamily and HOA portfolios
Built to current code: CBC 1604.8.1 ledger connections · ASCE 7 load criteria · Title 24 · 42″ / 4″ guardrail standard · SB 721 and SB 326 requirements for exterior elevated elements
06 Investment
What balcony work costs
Every balcony project is quoted after an assessment, because on a balcony the parts that determine the price are the parts you can’t see.
What drives the number
- What the enclosed structure turns out to need once it’s opened — ledger, joist ends, post bases
- Waterproofing scope, and whether the existing system can be recoated or has to come off entirely
- Number of balconies, since programmes across a property price very differently from a single element
- Railing length and whether the existing posts are anchored into structure
- Access, staging, and phasing around occupied units
- Engineering and permitting where the scope requires it
Programmes cost less per balcony: mobilisation, staging, engineering, and permitting are paid once across a whole property rather than repeatedly. On multifamily portfolios the difference between doing forty balconies as one programme and forty as separate jobs is substantial — worth knowing when an inspection report lands with findings across a building. Final pricing follows a free on-site assessment — no obligation.
In the field
What the surface was covering
Ledgers, membranes and connections, photographed before they disappeared.
07 Project example
A recent balcony project
An inspection flagged soft decking on several balconies. Opening the first one showed what the surface had been hiding, and what we find on most buildings of that age: the ledger had been fastened to the building without flashing, water had been tracking behind it for years, and the joist ends bearing on it had gone with it. The decking was the last thing to fail and the only thing anyone had noticed. D&B repaired the building’s rim where the water had reached it, rebuilt the ledger connection flashed and bolted to current code, replaced the affected joist ends with rated connectors, and installed a continuous waterproofing system turned up at the wall and dressed over the edge. Every connection was photographed before it was closed up, because that is the only time anyone will see it — and because the next inspection will ask.
We were told it was a decking problem. It was a wall problem that had reached the decking. Property Manager · California multifamily building
08 Case studies
Recent Projects, Documented
Real commercial properties — what the building needed, what we did, and what it delivered.
WaterproofingBalcony & Walkway Waterproofing — 12 Elevated Elements, Rio LindaThe coating still covered the middle of every walkway. It had given up at the edges, and the…View case study 
WaterproofingBalcony Waterproofing & Reconstruction — Apartment Walkway, San JoseThe walkway read as concrete and the railing read as tired. Both were wrong: the surface was a…View case study 
WaterproofingBalcony Waterproofing — Blue Apartment Building, VacavilleThe coating had not cracked. It had worn thin exactly where the debris line sat — along the…View case study 09 Client feedback
What property managers say
One contractor for the framing, the flashing and the coating. On the last programme those were three companies and the leak belonged to none of them.
They opened one balcony before quoting the other thirty-nine. That hour is the reason the number held.
Photo documentation of every connection before it was closed. Our engineer asked for it at the next inspection and we had it.
10 FAQ
Where to start
Our balconies failed an inspection. What now?
Findings have to be repaired to current standard regardless of when the building was built — SB 721 and SB 326 don’t recognise grandfathering. Start with the report and an assessment of what the findings actually mean structurally, because inspection language and repair scope aren’t the same thing. Our SB 721 and SB 326 pages cover the obligations, and our repair page covers what closing them involves.
A balcony is leaking into the unit below. Is that structural?
Assume yes until it’s been opened. Water reaching a ceiling has passed the membrane and is in the framing, and on a balcony the framing is attached to the building. It may be a coating failure and it may be a ledger that has been leaking for a decade. The assessment is free and the answer determines everything else.
We need new balconies built. Where do we start?
With how they’ll be supported, because that decides the budget more than size does — cantilevered, post-supported, and suspended balconies price very differently. The type pages cover apartment, condominium, second-story, elevated, wraparound, rooftop, and covered balconies specifically, and our new construction page covers ground-up commercial builds.
Do we waterproof, or does the structure need work first?
Coating over damaged framing is the most expensive mistake available on a balcony — it hides the problem and buys a few years. Waterproofing is the right answer when the structure beneath it is sound, and the only way to know that is to probe. Our waterproofing page explains the systems; the repair page covers what happens when probing finds something.
Our railings were cited. Is that a big job?
It depends entirely on what the posts are fastened to, which nobody can see until a section comes off. Railings are the most frequently cited item in both inspections, usually because older ones are 36 inches with wide baluster spacing. Our railing page covers installation and replacement, including why the estimate can’t be written from outside.
Do you work across a whole property, or one balcony at a time?
Both, and programmes cost meaningfully less per balcony because mobilisation, staging, engineering, and permitting are paid once. On a portfolio with findings across several buildings, that difference is worth planning around rather than absorbing.
Are you licensed and insured?
CSLB #1060736, insured and bonded, in business since 2017, working exclusively on commercial, multifamily, and HOA property. Balcony work is structural work over occupied space — worth confirming with any contractor you speak to.
What areas do you cover?
The Bay Area, Central Valley, and Sacramento, including Oakland, San Jose, Elk Grove, Stockton, Modesto, Vallejo, Concord, Walnut Creek, Fremont, and the South Bay. The service areas section lists full coverage.
How quickly can someone look at it?
Assessments are free and a licensed contractor calls back the same business day. If you’re working to an inspection deadline, say so when you call and we’ll work to it.
11 Start here
Tell us about the building — free assessment
Whether it’s new construction, an inspection report you don’t fully understand, or a ceiling stain in the unit below, the first step is the same: someone licensed opens up enough to see what’s actually there, and tells you honestly what it needs.
CSLB #1060736 · 9+ years · Insured & Bonded · Commercial, multifamily & HOA properties across the Bay Area, Central Valley & Sacramento