Beware! Baum came to our home, looked at the job, told us it would be easy and gave me his book. We considered all options and decided to go with him. I sent him an email to tell him this news. I told him the woman he called my partner was my wife and that she should be included in all correspondence. I provided him with the proper spelling of both of our names and added her to the email chain. He replies and not only does he spell my name wrong, he does not include my wife by replying all. I bring my disappointment/frustration about this to his attention by emailing that I expect strict attention to detail for a $100k job that will tear our home apart. Replying all and spelling names correctly really should not be difficult. Next thing I know, he sends me an email (again, my wife not included) telling me that he spoke to his architect and they were too busy to do our job for the "foreseeable future". This was a lie. He didn't like my "nasty tone" and lied about the architect to get out of the job. Can you imagine? He can't spell a simple name correctly and has never heard of the reply all button and I am the problem??? When I called him out for being inept and homophobic suddenly it was all "I have done lots of work for gay people" as it is inevitable in my city. Bottom line...this man could not stand to be called out on his BS, lied and then pulled the "I know tons of gays" card. I was not nasty, I was direct. And as he saw me as beneath him as a woman/lesbian. Of course I was "nasty". Total piece of work. BEWARE! read more

I just want people to be aware of the poor communication & customer service Baum Construction presented. It was a nightmare for at least a year, but it was finally over with Court Judgement of $0 on a civil matter he filled AGAINST US in small claims. This is how Mr. Baum works. He gave us a book he wrote about contractors, and he then convinced us to sign an architectural design agreement for $8000. with a Deposit of $2000. up-front. Our verbal agreement with him was that our remodel was to be done in 5 months due to out of country guests coming. After 5 weeks of nothing happening with our project Mr. Baum came over to tell us we had to postpone our remodel and not start till the following year. Keep in mind he did absolutely nothing on our project and had our deposit of $2000. With feeling uncomfortable with him and his short temper flaring, we terminated his services. He then requested the balance of $6000 in which we questioned him as to why we would owe him that. His answer was," well you signed a contract ". It was Mr. Baum that breached the contract. He then proceeded to have his lawyer send us a Demand letters plus Legal Fees. He then proceeded to File a lien on my property. Later on, Mr. Baum file civil matter in small claims court for the balance against us. He wanted it all !! Justice Prevailed in court: $0 Judgment and Removal of lien from my property. We truly feel that this is how he operates (for extra money) because there are other similar reviews written on Mr. Baum (Baum Construction) Beware!! read more

This company promises you the world. They seem to provide great services, however, if you are the client, do not question their choices or timeline, because what they promise you up front is far from what they will deliver. If you are wanting a seemless home improvement, they are not your home improvement specialist. They cannot handle being questioned, honest feedback or being held to the timeline they provided to you. They give the impression that they have their stuff together, but they do not. Good luck to anyone who decides to go with his construction firm. You'll need it. read more

We had Michael do a kitchen remodel and we are very happy with the results. While not the cheapest bid (but not the most expensive either), in this world, you get what you paid for. Michael and his son, Chris, were very organized, fast and thorough. The subs were all excellent and polite. There was rarely any down time and we were thrilled at how quickly everything was done, yet done with great quality. We did a complete demo of an old kitchen down to the studs, removal of a wall, door and window. Basically, rebuilt from ground up. Michael and Chris were always around to answer the many questions we had. Their knowledge and expertise gave us great peace of mind. read more

We worked with Michael on a very large, eight-month remodel that finished earlier this year -- we added a master bedroom and bathroom, and built a new, larger kitchen on the opposite side of our house -- and I could not recommend him more highly. His conscientiousness, attention to detail and ready availability made him a pleasure to work with. This was going to be a major project, and we knew it would be very costly in terms of budget and timeframe, but it was a significant investment that we wanted to make in our home. So, we carefully interviewed several contractors, and came down to two -- Michael and one other. Michael's detailed bid, and no-nonsense professionalism, impressed us; the other guy was an unfortunate cliche of a contractor: flaky, vague and often incommunicado for long stretches. We knew whom to trust with our home. During the project, Michael was onsite almost every day, often both in the morning and afternoon. Moreover, when he wasn't around, he was easily reachable by phone and promptly came back if needed, by us or by the subcontractors. When miscommunication with the plumbing contractor resulted in a couple of issues, Michael immediately took responsibility and saw that things were put right ASAP. When delays arose with our window and door supplier -- not Michael's guy, but someone we had retained ourselves before even hiring Michael -- he stepped in and intervened after our inquiries went nowhere. Every remodel involves unforeseen problems and delays; Michael invariably responded with good humor and put us at ease. We felt like we were a team working together on the project, bringing it to its full realization. When we got down to the final days, he knew we were hoping to throw a Super Bowl party to show off the new house. In addition to riding herd over the appliance installers and others, making sure they held to the schedule, he was here himself knocking out every last detail -- on his hands and knees installing baseboards, screwing in door and drawer hardware, etc. I'm mystified by the cartoonish, less-than-stellar reviews on here; but it's clear from reading them that they don't seem to be from anyone who actually hired and worked with Michael. If you are considering him, I hope he has added our names to the extensive list of references he provided us; if so, we'll be happy to tell you even more about our experience with Michael and Baum Construction. read more

I strongly recommend choosing a different contractor. Their service is the worst I have experienced. Save yourself the trouble. I wish I had. read more

We contracted Mike to renovate a new purchased home. We reconfigured the home layout, added a bathroom, new kitchen, tankless water heater, all new electrical, and copper plumbing. We had a tight budget and timeline. He was sensitive to both and even paid for our rent for the home we were renting during construction when the job went two weeks longer than expected. Mike and his Son were also available for questions or concerns. We look forward to having Mike return for phase two (outside privacy wall) of our home improvement plans. read more

It's been over 2 weeks since Michael came out. I gave him a written description of the work I wanted done. He looked at it and said this was not how he usually works, but OK. He told me he would send me a proposal, but I haven't heard anything from him. A call or email, even if he was going to pass on this, would be nice. read more

Sigh. Typical contractor, apparently. Called and spoke to his assistant. She discussed pricing and I told her that we were ready to pay the right price for our bathroom remodel. Mike came out quickly, inspected and even left some material to review about hiring a contractor. Then...here we are over a month later and nothing. I will never understand why people come out to bid and then go silent. Why can't anyone respond to an email with an 'I'm sorry, I can't take your business right now'? read more

I just needed some shelving put in where the water heater used to be in a kitchen closet in an old (1950's) house in Long Beach. My landlord didnt see it as a necessity, so Iwas on my own to schedule and pay for it. I'd gotten Michael Baum's biz card somewhere through some networking and when i looked at the website, was hesitant to call just to ask for 3 shelves to be installed. I'm SO GLAD i did end up calling because it worked out perfectly! I am going to be letting my landlord know about him because she always seems to get the worst people to do installations and repairs around here. The people she picks are almost always creepy, smell bad and then leave my house/yard area a MESS and then i find out within a couple weeks of the job being done that it was NOT in fact done very well. All in all, he was really friendly, really flexible and didnt treat me differently just because it was a small job. He kinda reminded my of a funny uncle i would have. That is a GREAT resource to have and now I have a reliable go-to guy for big or small projects. Most importantly, he did a really quality job putting up the shelves, which i am so grateful for! For any landlords out there, i would highly recommend Baum Construction because he actually cleans up after himself, isn't creepy and his work will last so it will save you the time and money of having to re-do projects and/or having it ruin your property int he long run! read more

This clown is working two doors down from us and his trucks clog the alleyway and we get "attitude" when asked to move the vehicles. One time we had just come back from a really nice hike at El Dorado Nature Center. There was the owners black truck with the driver side door open, blocking (yet again) our ability to get to our garage. We honked, owner El Baldo Gilipollas looked at us and went back into the yard, we honked again and this time he came a little way into the alleyway, gave us a shrugged shoulders look and went back inside the yard. Finally my Wife said to me, this jerk is such a buzz kill, got out of our car and shut to car door so we could get by. That is when El Baldo finally came out (what, someone touched my truck). Then we were finally able to park. If you hire this jerk, he will do the same to YOUR neighbors. Bye the bye, I police the alleyway every afternoon after they leave to pick up nails, screws and sharp shreds of sheet metal cuttings left behind by this contractor so my tires or others will not fall victim to him and his crew. read more

I can't say enough good things about Mike and the work he and his sub-contractors have done for my wife and I. We are currently in the middle of our third project with Mike, a light remodeling of a bathroom. Prior to this one, we added on a room that we are using as a home office, and remodeled the other bathroom in the house. All jobs have gone smoothly, with very little or no downtime, and Mike is always available if I have questions. Doing any kind of remodeling is hard especially when you don't know the steps that are involved. Mike is great about walking us through those steps before we start, as well as outlining the impact (if any) the work will have on us living in the house while the work is being done. I would highly recommend Mike to anyone, and in fact a neighbor used him on a remodel project after seeing the work he did on our home office. read more

I have nothing bad to say about this company. Ive never done construction on our own home and we needed someone to do a job that wouldnt cost us the bank, but still do a good job. Michael is very quick at responding everytime i email or call him and i was pleasantly surprised when his prject manager came by with the electrician to view the job before starting. I didnt get ripped off in price and they did the job quickly and beautifully...viewing all the details to make the space match the rest of our condo. read more

Really hard to find good quality, reliable, and knowledge contractors. Usually can never find someone with all those qualities but Mike Baum has proven to me on many jobs that he can deliver. Never had any problems! read more

I had a garage Fire last March. It's a tuff situation when you need to get a contractor on board quick. You wonder is this the correct contractor. Well I found him. Mike was professional, approachable and a pleasure to work with. From March 2012 to June 2012, I worked closely with Mike. It was not an easy process dealing with the city planning department. But Mike was able to get it done. He handled it all the demo, testing, planning, the rebuild and the approvals. I would recommend Baum Construction & Development and I plan on using him again in the future. read more

I would have given him zero stars if I could have. Michael knew our budget from day 1 and we had the money lined up and ready to go. We basically told him how much money we had to work with and what could he do with it. He referred us to an architect he worked with (I would highly recommend that you get your architect separate--they seemed to be working in cahoots) and they messed up a bunch of times and didn't pay attention to the budget. He took about 3 MONTHS to come up with a bid, and when he finally did it was 40K over. He didn't have the balls to tell us in person--he emailed it. Baum offered no other solutions (i.e. reduce the number of bedrooms). He almost made us lose the entire project and interest rate we were locked into, but we were able to switch contractors. This guy is scammy and made a big mess out of our project. Baum charged us 3K for plans we never were able to use and posed as the architect to our lender to try to squeeze money out of the bank. He was supposed to get paid out of our loan but ended up threatening to put a lien on our house so we paid him out of pocket just to make him go away. We had a feeling that he was making money by making proposals and getting plans done and adding a fee for himself. I would highly recommend that you stay away from this guy. He was bad at answering emails and phone calls, took forever to get a bid and seemed like he just didn't know what he was doing. The last thing you need in a contractor is somebody who is unreliable, dishonest, and the most unhelpful person you could ever imagine. This guy is a total unprofessional. STAY AWAY FROM MICHAEL BAUM unless you want a mess on your hands. read more

Contacted Michael on 7/3 to get an estimate for decking. He said he would get back with me that evening to make an appointment for 7/5 a.m. He did call back, but said his carpenter would need to call me that Thursday morning to set up a time for that afternoon. Do I need to take this further??? I have not heard from them to date, even as I write this. Sooooo, you can be assured I would never do business with them. read more

I wanted to remodel my 3 bathrooms & my unfinished garage as well as re-piping my house. My neighbor referred me to Baum Construction. It was great at first when he brought with him a plumber. They spent about 25 min looking at everything. Then he told me it would take 1-2 weeks for a detailed estimates. I agreed. 2 weeks later, no response so I called. He said he was still working on it. Then the following week, his office called & asked if I chose someone else. I said I was still waiting for an estimate. Then the office secretary called me back the next day & said they were too busy to tackle my project!!! Why wasted my 3 weeks waiting if you know you're too busy. I was willing to spend $80-100k for this project but I guess it was too small for Baum to even call me himself to tell me why he cannot even provide an estimate. Oh well, I went with TNT Construction & the project just completed to my full satisfaction. I couldn't be happier with the result. I just want people to be aware of the poor communication & customer service Baum Construction presented. It's important to Make an informed decision for home remodeling needs. read more

I met with and received 5 bids from licensed general contractors to rebuild a garage with an attached laundry room due to a fire believed to have been caused by a dryer. The bid was for approximately $46,000 and I decided to go with Michael Baum because of his thoroughness in his written contract, referral list and reviews. He was not the cheapest but I have learned you get what you pay for and I can without reservation say that I was completely satisfied with his professionalism, on-going communication, his choice of subs and the finished product. I do not hesitate to give Michael at Baum Construction, 5 stars for the terrific job completed on this project. read more

Michael Baum is wonderful to work with. He answered the phone on my first call, and within a week he had visited the project and prepared a very detailed and professional estimate. He was able to schedule the work to begin at the date I requested. Before the project began we utilized the services of his designer, Julie Cunningham, who brought a great selection of tiles to help us complete the bathroom design. She also made several suggestions that improved the design immensely. Garret, who performed the daily supervision of the project, appeared every day at the appointed time. If he was going to be even 5 minutes late he gave us a call to let us know. All of the subcontractors were experienced and professional. The work was done in a very clean manner. Garret put tarps on the floor and stairs leading to the project every morning, and removed and cleaned them every evening. The bedroom outside the bath was cordoned off with heavy plastic. A zipper was added to the plastic barrier so we could still enter the bedroom if necessary. Michael himself came to the project once or twice a day to verify things were moving along and to address any issues that had come up. I could always reach Michael immediately by phone if I had a question or comment. read more