By LE Construction · Published October 6, 2026
Many older houses in Ventura County went up before bolting a house to its foundation was standard practice. If yours sits on a raised foundation with short wood walls underneath, the state has a program that will pay part of the cost of fixing that. It is called Earthquake Brace + Bolt, or EBB, and the process has more steps than most homeowners expect. We are a registered EBB contractor in Santa Paula, so this is the explanation we give clients who ask.
What the retrofit does
Under the first floor of many pre-1980 houses there is a short wood wall, called a cripple wall, between the concrete foundation and the floor framing. In a strong earthquake, an unbraced cripple wall can fold over, and a house that is not anchored can slide off its foundation. A brace-and-bolt retrofit fixes both weaknesses. Plywood or OSB panels are nailed to the cripple walls so they can’t rack, and anchor bolts or foundation plates tie the wood sill to the concrete. The program also requires the water heater to be strapped.
The work follows the California Existing Building Code, Chapter A3. Almost all of it happens in the crawlspace, so you can stay in the house while it’s done.
Who qualifies
The basic house type is narrow on purpose. To qualify, the house has to be:
- wood framed,
- built before 1980,
- on a raised foundation with cripple walls 4 feet tall or shorter, and
- in one of the program’s eligible ZIP codes, which numbered more than 1,100 across California as of January 2025.
A house that already has a completed Chapter A3 brace-and-bolt retrofit does not qualify. Taller cripple walls, hillside foundations and crumbling foundations fall outside the standard plan and need an engineer. Those houses can still be retrofitted, just not with the EBB grant.
In Ventura County you find this house type all through the older neighborhoods of Santa Paula, Ventura, Ojai and Fillmore, which have many Craftsman and mid-century homes on raised foundations. Whether a particular address qualifies comes down to its ZIP code being on the current list, which is worth checking each registration period.
What it pays
The base grant is up to $3,000 toward the retrofit. Households with an income at or below the program’s limit, listed as $94,480 on the program’s site, can also apply for a supplemental grant of up to $7,000. Together, the two grants can cover much of the cost, and sometimes all of it. You can’t stack the EBB grant with retrofit money from another program.
How the process runs, step by step
This is where people get tripped up, because the order matters.
1. Register during the window
Registration opens for a limited time each year on the Earthquake Brace + Bolt website. In 2025, the second period ran from August 20 to October 1. You answer questions about the house, and those answers decide whether it qualifies.
2. Get accepted, then hire a contractor
Once accepted, you log in to a homeowner dashboard and decide whether to hire a contractor or do the work yourself. A hired contractor must hold a California A or B license and be listed in the EBB Contractor Directory. If you do it yourself, the program does not reimburse your labor.
3. Permit and before-photos within 12 weeks
From your acceptance date, you have 12 weeks to get a building permit and upload it with the other pre-retrofit documents. The permit has to be only for the seismic retrofit, dated after your acceptance, and it has to reference Chapter A3 or one of the accepted standard plans. Your contractor can handle the permit.
4. Wait for the go-ahead
After the documents are reviewed, the program tells you the retrofit may begin. Don’t start before this. Work that begins early makes the whole retrofit ineligible for the grant.
5. Six months to finish
From the approval date you have six months to complete the work and pass the city or county’s final inspection.
6. Submit the final paperwork
The after-photos, the permit with its final sign-off, the contractor’s invoice and a payment authorization form go up on the dashboard, and the grant is paid.
How permits work around here
In Ventura County, the building permit comes from your city, or from the County of Ventura if you live in an unincorporated area such as Somis, El Rio or Piru. Each office reviews retrofit permits on its own schedule, which is one reason the 12-week deadline deserves attention. Start looking for a contractor as soon as you are accepted.
A note on earthquake insurance
If you carry a California Earthquake Authority policy, the program says you may qualify for a discount of up to 25 percent on your premium once the retrofit is done. Ask your insurer what records they need. The final inspection sign-off on the permit is usually the main one.
What we do on an EBB job
We look at the crawlspace before you commit, so you know whether the house fits the standard plan and whether the sill plate needs repair first. After you are accepted, we prepare and pull the permit, take the required photos, do the bracing, bolting and water heater strapping, meet the inspector and put the final documents together. One of our clients described it this way: Luis “took charge of all permits and navigating the EBB process to ensure we got our State refund check.”
If your house might qualify, the best time to call is before registration opens, so the plan is ready when the window does.
Frequently asked questions
Can I start the retrofit before the EBB program approves it?
No. The program is strict on this point: construction that starts before you get approval from the program, even if it is not finished, makes the retrofit ineligible for payment. Registration, acceptance, the permit and the pre-retrofit photos all come first. Your contractor should not pick up a tool until the program confirms the retrofit can begin.
What happens if the retrofit bid is over $10,000?
If a bid is more than $10,000 including permits and fees, the program asks you to get two bids from contractors on its directory. You can still choose the higher bid, but you have to state why. Houses with long perimeters or sill repairs are the ones most likely to reach that number.
Can a rental property get an Earthquake Brace + Bolt grant?
In 2025 the program opened eligibility to non-primary residential properties, which brought rentals in for the first time. Rules can change from one registration period to the next, so check the current program rules when registration opens. The house itself still has to meet the same requirements as any other EBB home.
Can the grant be paid directly to the contractor?
Yes. When the retrofit is complete, the contractor invoice states whether the payment should go to the homeowner or to the contractor, and you sign a payment authorization form. Some homeowners prefer to pay the contractor in full and receive the grant themselves, and others have it applied directly. Decide before work starts so the invoice is set up correctly.
What photos does the program require?
Before the work, five date-stamped photos of the outside of the house and three photos of the crawlspace walls and foundation. After the work, five more exterior photos, three crawlspace photos taken from the same angles, two photos of the strapped water heater and one photo of the crawlspace access with something for scale. A contractor who has done EBB jobs before will take these as part of the work.