Case Studies-blog

Fire completely destroyed four units in this large apartment complex and damaged several other units in the affected building as well. Extensive structural, siding, and trim work was needed, as well as complete reconstruction and refurbishment of the interiors. The adjuster’s initial scope of work was sorely inadequate and it was necessary for us to extensively negotiate a proper scope of work with the insurance company in order to affect all necessary work to restore the property.

This fine 2,370 sq. foot. two-story home, built in 1968, was completely destroyed by fire. We rebuilt it from the ground up. The owner elected to enlarge the footprint to increase some bedroom and laundry room space. We reconfigured and redesigned the kitchen, and installed custom cabinetry in the family room.

This 126-year-old Victorian was completely gutted by fire. The renovation included restoring certain classic features, while upgrading and modernizing other elements of the property. The owners elected to raise the entire structure and add an apartment unit on the ground floor. We revised the floor plan and integrated architecturally designed additions. The cost of all of the work exceeded one million dollars.

This Ranch Style Home built in 1954, burned completely to the ground. We rebuilt the structure with a nearly identical footprint, while completing upgrades to the kitchen, baths, and interior. Considerable design expertise was brought to bear in completing the project.

This elaborately constructed 1928 Spanish Colonial home was almost completely destroyed by fire. We reproduced the fine finishes including hardwood trim, mahogany doors, and plank oak flooring. Custom-designed and fabricated features were installed. The owners sold the home immediately upon completion to their great financial benefit.

Fully gutted by fire and rebuilt by Coast using insurance policy proceeds, this midcentury house was taken down to the studs – what is called a “full gut” in the industry.  All new from the drywall in, with new floors, kitchen and bathroom. 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

When your commercial space has a fire that’s bad enough to see the fire department cut a hole in the roof to let the smoke and heat out, you’ve got a pretty serious problem. Coast repaired and re-covered the flat roof of this commercial condo and then did a full build-back of the interior, including flooring & drywall, work stations and sinks, and a modest employee kitchen.

Housing like this in Berkeley frequently started out as a vacation house for people in San Francisco well before the Bay Bridge was built. In this building’s case, it suffered a fire in the upstairs bedroom that spread into the attic. Fire hose water then cascaded down into the bottom level, requiring everything but the framing to be replaced and rebuilt. When we left, the building seemed ready for the next 100 years of its life in Berkeley.

Kitchen fires are terrible! One second you’re cooking, the next the stove and surrounding cabinets are in flames and there’s a hopeless feeling because there’s nothing that you, the cook can do but beat feet and get to safety. This house got a new kitchen, followed by additional flooring replacement due to fire hose water, but the house is lived in and loved to this day.

What do you do when you’re on vacation and something catches fire in the living room and the whole house is infested with smoke? You call your insurer, place a claim, and find a good contractor. Coast took this repair on and (as we do with almost all of our projects) managed the engineering drawings required to apply for a permit, managed the permit application through to approval, and then used the building permit to rebuild the interior and exterior. The insurer can’t repair just one side of the house, so in this case, we successfully negotiated with the insurer to cover a complete reskin of the house. If it matched all around before the fire, it ought to match after, and this means that the insurer doesn’t get to pay only for a crazy-quilt partial repair, all walls should match, and here they do!

Exposed beam ceiling. Tudor style construction in and out. This house fits its older neighborhood, and it was important to the owners that it be reset with correct period details while the electrical and plumbing systems were brought up to modern standards due to building code requirements – something that Coast is particularly well positioned to insurers to pay for, because “code upgrade” is an actual section of most insurance policies, and that section addresses not what was, but what is required by government regulations before a reconstructed building is inhabited again.

Coast was called to this building near the Tesla factory to secure the property after it had closed and subsequently been taken over by squatters.  The two lowest levels were secured to keep people out by the Court-appointed receiver.   Coast used over 100 sheets of plywood and some interlocking 2×4 framing to accomplish this.    Coast has been securing damaged, abandoned buildings for their owners since 1990 and has been through thousands of buildings both to initially secure them, and sometimes to later rebuild them to repair the damaged that triggered the board-up in the first place.

This 1920’s tri-level house was completely gutted by fire and was red-tagged afterwards. This restoration project was funded by insurance policy proceeds and exceeded one million dollars in work. The results were transformative, with the owner deciding to remove a wall between the kitchen and dining room to create a sightline to the new, large glassed French doors at the rear where the completely rebuilt deck was.