A.J.O. Group

Our kitchen renovation had just started — demo was completed, then our whole kitchen design was threatened when our contractor wasn’t able to get the permit approved to open up the floor plan. Giuseppe and his team came to our rescue — after speaking to Giuseppe on Thursday, he came to view the project on Saturday and by Friday morning our house was surveyed, plans drafted, and we had our permits! Quick to respond and throuroughly professional — I can only hope the rest of our renovation goes so smoothly! Thanks Giuseppe!

I can highly recommend A.J.O. and owner Giuseppe Sircana. They did a very thorough and cost-​effective solution to upgrade our foundation, bolting, etc. Having young children in our 1908 home in Berkeley, we wanted to make sure the seismic safety was up to the highest standard. Giuseppe personally consulted us and supported the process from beginning to end. He is very responsive and a pleasure to work with. I would recommend their services to family and friends at any time.

We are very impressed with this company. We have a 12-​unit building in Cow Hollow and were recently asked to do some reinforcement work to bring it up to code.
Giuseppe and his crew went into immediate action and walked our family through the entire process from city inquiry to legal to project management to implementation. We were constantly notified of progress via phone and email and were immediately serviced when had questions of our own. Bravo AJO Group; keep up the great work!

Giuseppe and his team did the structural drawings for a new spec home my company is building in Oakland. His team is thorough, responsive, and accurate. What’s more they produce only what you need and no more, saving you time and money. They were also able and very willing to create the design that met the structural requirements at the lowest cost. I highly recommend them.

As with some of the other reviewers, I came to know Giuseppe after the City of SF required seismic retrofits. As my building did not qualify, but the City thought it did, we needed his recommendation to be excluded from the requirements. He helped us push through some of the City bureaucracy and misunderstandings to be excluded.
Great service, follow up and if I need a Sructural Engineer again, I’d definitely give Giuseppe a call.

We engaged A.J.O Group for our 65-​unit historical boutique hotel in Union Square San Francisco. With the realization that we were dealing with a property that was over one hundred years old, we knew that we needed to entrust the structural integrity of our building and the safety of our guests with an expert in the field. We were blessed to find A.J.O. Group, headed by Giuseppe Sircana. Giuseppe treated our building with devotion and attention. He is an expert in the San Francisco Soft Story Ordinance. We are also going into a full-​scale renovation of our entire guest rooms and lobby and Giuseppe has proven to be an expert in all questions with regard to structural integrity and seismic issues.
Giuseppe and A.J.O. Group is a man of character. He is honest. He is responsive. He does not exaggerate the scope of work. We are proud and happy to consider Giuseppe and A.J.O. Group a part of the Hotel Bijou team. Thank you Giuseppe and we are thrilled to recommend you.
Very truly yours,
Hotel Bijou San Francisco

We engaged AJO Group to perform structural engineering work on a major expansion and renovation of a San Francisco home, adding 1k square feet on the side of a steep hill with unsound footing, the stripping the rest of the house to the studs and making major structural changes. AJO brought good ideas to the table to achieve both safe and to-​code engineering, and also considering the design goals with the architect. It is not always easy to marry these concepts together, but they did it… on time and budget. Highly recommended!

Giuseppe Sircana does amazing work. He prepared the plans for a detached garage and to build a three bedroom two bath apartment in an existing basement with low ceilings. Besides drafting the plans he was able to navigate the SF building department’s red tape. When construction issues arose, he was available to quickly make changes to keep the project on schedule and below cost. He knows his stuff, like how to make your ideas work through his vast experience. Al

This business was referred to me after my friend told me about what a great job they did for him with his soft story project. Giuseppe saved alot of cost for my friend in comparison to what others told him it would cost. I did hire A.J.O. /​Giuseppe. I found the cost to be very reasonable, and he showed up on time. Did the work he was supposed to, when I was told they were going to do it. Overall, the project was a success, and cost efficient. The others that I spoke with prior were not professional, nor did they understand the most efficient way to handle the project. Now, I can refer this company to others!

I am an Allied Member of AIA and have been around the Design/​Build industry about 40 years! We were referred to Giuseppe over 5 years ago by a dear friend and prominent SF architect. He was truly great! We will never forget his expertise and responsiveness to the remodel of our son’s 3-​story triplex in SF! What appeared impossible became easy fare as he helped modify the drawings for fast Building Dept approval! Last year, our son bought his second home there and obviously we wouldn’t have called anyone else for engineering questions.
We love this guy! If you need an engineer in the Bay Area — can’t do better!

i retained A.J.O. Group to provide structural engineering design for the full remodeling and second story addition of my house in Albany. The project was done in two separate phases: phase one we remodeled only the existing ground floor; phase two we added the second floor.
Giuseppe and his team worked out the best solution to have seismic and structural elements already in place during phase one in order to limit the work at the ground floor during phase two.
The design was efficient and cost-​effective. They were also responsive during construction providing all necessary consultation and inspections to bring the project to completion.

I worked with Giuseppe on a big project involving the conversion of a 6000sq foot warehouse into a single residence home! We had budget constraints, yet very elaborate design that required a savvy, experienced creative engineering firm! AJO delivered and cut budget! They are professional, timely, no hidden fees and willing to go the distance!
Highly recommended.

I have known Giuseppe Sircana professionally for about 10 years. He is punctual, polite, very honest about his work and reasonable in fees. On my own San Francisco demolition and construction project — it was not simple. He takes his work seriously and he is ethical — he doesn’t create extra work or pad bids. He knows he doesn’t need to because a responsible professional can stand on his reputation and business comes from that. No theatrics, no hype. A good man. He stays on my ‘A’ list.

We have a multiple-​residential building in Russian Hill which required an extensive Seismic Retrofit Design to meet the SF City requirement program. We selected AJO Group and in particular Giuseppe Sircana to provide the necessary engineering documents for the city. Not only did he provide the engineering documents for the Retrofit, but his company did so with speed and efficiency. We have been in business in S.F. for over 30 years in real estate, property ownership and management, so we have some mileage insofar as knowing how difficult it is to move from A to B with City Planning. AJO Group also delivered the final and essentially most important part of the project, the approval of the plans and OK to proceed with the upgrade. We would recommend this company to anyone who needs a top notch engineering firm with the capacity to move with efficiency from design to city approval.

I met Giuseppe Sircana with A.J.O. nearly a year ago after I received a letter from the City of SF indicating that a mandatory seismic retrofit would be necessary for the 9 unit building we own on 18^th Avenue– SOFT STORY Building!
He was punctual, knowledgable and I really liked the way he conducted business. Having met with 3 other engineering firms prior I was very impressed with Giuseppe.
He did an exploratory on the property to see exactly what the building lacked by way of concrete, supports, foundation etc… he pulled the original blue prints from SF City Hall and reviewed them with me and went over every aspect of what needed to be done. He pulled permits, worked with his team, dealt with PGE for relocating the meter, met with inspectors and he did it in the time he outlined on his contract. I could not have been more pleased for the simple fact that he did it all… I was removed from every aspect of the project with the exception that he provided me with updates every other day as the project was underway.
I recommend A.J.O. Group 100% for all your engineering needs and definitely can tell you they are experts in the mandated soft story retrofits!
I can be reached by email if anyone would like more detailed information about my