We just finished an extensive remodel of the exterior of our house which included moving the kitchen to an entirely new room, and removing a load bearing wall. Bertie finished the work on time and on budget, which is basically unheard of from my prior experience with contractors. His crew was there everyday working hard M-Sat. They were clean and courteous throughout the 8 week project. I cannot recommend Bertie highly enough! We will definitely use him again for our next remodel. read more

If Bertie gives you an estimate and it is in your budget, without any hesitation go with him. He takes a keen interest in your project, gets the work done on time and helps you in any way possible. Hector and other folks are great! Bertie might not even know this page exists but anyone who has worked with him will surely have nothing but praises for him. read more

We've used Bertie Penny for a full kitchen remodel, a downstairs media room remodel and a full master suite addition which added a new floor and about 550 square feet to our house. Always on time, always on budget, always with a wry sense of humor, and always a joy to work with. Deals quickly with problems as they arise, no drama. When you've found a good contractor, don't let him go, and Bertie's the best. If you're the type who gets hung up about written bids and contracts and timelines and invoices, he's probably not for you. Bertie and his crew just get the job done, period. Highly recommended! read more

I'm a Interior Designer that has worked with many General Contractors, and Bertie Penny is one that I highly recommend. He is honest, bids his jobs competitively, knows all the ins and outs of Construction, and has very talented subs. Most projects we have worked on were pure coincidence. Our mutual clients are always happy with his performance, and work ethic. He is ALWAYS on schedule and will normally finish before deadline. I have seen him fix problems first hand that could have been detrimental to a project. He has a old fashioned approach to construction that has been lost on many General Contractors, but not Bertie. He is patient with his clients, (and Designer) and gives his honest assessment. I would highly recommend Bertie Penny to any residential project, big or small. read more

My mom said that if you can't say anything good about a person, then best not to say anything. I could say that the things that were important to me as the homeowner, were definitely not at the top of their priority list -- like respect to your home and its contents and understanding how MY kitchen project is suppose to look (as opposed to how he wants to get it done). I am a woman and have never been given a hug by a contractor -- there's always a first time! read more

I was referred to this individual through my cabinet sales rep, who is quite professional. I was looking to replace my old kitchen cabinets and floor tile. Bertie Penny came out and performed some measurements and told me he'd have an estimate to me in a couple of days. He was on time for the appointment, prompt, and he did get back to me with the estimate. The problem is that he quoted me $9K to do the job! This was just for labor alone! I have a pretty small kitchen, which some may even say is less than standard size. Additionally, instead of providing me with a written estimate, he just called me one afternoon and told me it would take $9K to do the entire job. That's all he told me -- the total to do the demo, cabinet install, & tile. No breakdown was provided. Is he serious??? $9K is more than all the material purchased for the cabinet and tile replacement by far! I wasn't putting any luxury or ultra custom items in. I'm really not sure why the cabinet rep told me that this contractor was the best he knew of and that his customers really liked him. His prices were outrageous and nowhere near the norm -- I'd say by more than double! The only reasons I could think that he quoted me such a high fee was that he didn't find the location convenient or the job was too small to make it worthwhile for him. He mostly deals with jobs in San Francisco and I'm in the East Bay. He had only taken one East Bay job (in Moraga, I believe) from a previous client, and he ended up coming to my unit on the way to that job. Still, if he didn't want another East Bay job or a small job (I had told him that my kitchen was small during my initial call to him), he could have just declined making an appointment for an in-person estimate for me. That would have saved me the time and trouble of meeting him for nothing. Even with this excuse (if that is indeed the reason for his high prices), I find his behavior extremely unprofessional. I wouldn't do business with this man. If you do, be sure you get plenty of comparison quotes from other contractors. You may be amazed at just how much he's trying to gouge you. read more

Bertie and his crew were recommended to us by Kitchen Sync on Church Street here in S.F. to effect a major kitchen remodel we wished to do. This project, perhaps not surprisingly, proceeded to morph into a redo of the entire second floor, the stairs, and the entryway, including painting and new flooring throughout. Now I've worked with my share of contractors over the years and they seem to range from flat-out awful to middling to okay but never seem to be wonderful. Well, Bertie is wonderful. The man does what he says he will do, and, amazingly, *when* he says he will do it, all at a most reasonable cost. Perhaps the best part though is that he takes a genuine interest in the project at hand and offers suggestions (implementation of which he never insists upon) which in our case were not only brilliant but saved us thousands of dollars we would have otherwise spent had we followed those of an engineer consultant we had hired previously, and with a tremendously better end result. Remodels like ours I suppose are always a siege and one's survival is by no means guaranteed, but Bertie will increase the odds of survival enormously and produce a wonderful end product, of this I am certain. He has earned my highest possible recommendation. read more

Excellent contractor with a crew of experts- we installed a stained-glass skylight in our bathroom, and it looks fabulous! It was pricey, but you get what you pay for, and many friends have guessed that it would cost twice as much with other contractors, so we are very happy. We will be using Bertie often in future. Highly recommended. read more

All of my interactions with Mr. Penny have been friendly, professional and courteous. Contractors seem to get a bad rap on yelp, but with Bertie your job will come out spectacular. read more

I hired Bertie to replace my decking after many years. His proposal was not the highest of the three I obtained. He arrived on time each day. He and his crew left my home in a neat and clean state. The work was impeccable. He kept me informed each day about his progress. He finished A DAY EARLY! HE EARNED MY HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION. read more

Bertie and crew are THE BEST!!!! We have used Bertie on three stages of our house remodel and are preparing to tackle the last untouched floor in the next year and garage after that. We have been thrilled with the quality of every project. I am a woman, often alone with Bertie during projects and have always found him to be respectful and trustworthy. He is completely professional, gives good quotes and always tries to help us make choices that give us the most value for the least cash! He runs his buisness in the old school manner. He does not write up contracts, but rather works with his clients to undrstand their needs, taste and budget. He completes the job as quickly and efficiently as possible. We love that Bertie does not write up an official contract. I, a born lover of lists, keep mine and this is what we use to keep me up to speed. I would suspect that not having a written contract probably challenges those who have trust issues. When there is nothing written in stone however, there is nothing to officially change. Before we found Bertie we used another contractor on our previous house. That contracter bid was low and my husband picked him. This was our first project and we were complete novices. However after the added cost of permits etc. and all the change orders the total was as high as the highest bid received. We sure wish we had know Bertie then. In addition, his crew is a delight...kind, professional, genuine. We love them all. When they stop by to help us move a couch or just drop in to say hello we are always very happy to see them. read more

While painters were prepping the outside of our Inner Sunset Condo late last Fall, they discovered dry rot and other issues with the exterior. They wanted to know if we wanted to address them now or paint over them. Silly to paint over them and with rainy season coming, I was under the gun. A neighbor put me in contact with Bertie. He was there that afternoon. Two days later his carpenters showed up and working ahead of the painters, replaced all that was needed and no time was lost on finishing the painting. Working on "Time & Material," Bertie presented me with a more than fair price for all that he had done. In February of 2013, we contacted Bertie to replace the tile floor in our 1 Bath condo. In addition, we asked for chair rails to be installed and some finishing moulding around the fireplace mantel. In a 1 Bath Condo, a missing toilet can turn into a catastrophe if the job is not coordinated amongst the tradesmen in an efficient manner. The floor tile job was seamless and the results beautiful. The chair rails and mantel moldings are exquisite. Once again, the bill Bertie presented me was more than reasonable. My wife and daughter both give Bertie ***** as do I. Jim C. read more

Bertie came with high recommends from Gary Craddock (KITCHENSYNC)....and it resulted in the best contractor we have ever used....Excellent detail to each and every phase of the job...not just what you see but the hidden areas as well....His crew were excellent ...but if it didn't meet Bertie's high standards he would personally work with his crew to get right....he would question items and recommend different approaches ...which we found to very helpful... Bertie was always easy to reach, and reacted quickly when necessary.....went the extra mile with a great Irish smile and sense of humor.... read more

What a clown! I had Bertie "fix" two things. First, I told Bertie that very occasionally, my toilet needed two flushes. He proceeded to give orders to his helper, and the two of them spent an inordinate amount of time trying unsuccessfully to fix this smallish problem. I still don't understand why Bertie didn't do the work himself, but apparently he doesn't know how to deal with toilets. The helper did many things, including putting a large auger in the toilet, leaving huge dark black marks inside the toilet. When I commented on those, Bertie actually had the gall to say that his helper told him those marks were already there. I think I'd know if my toilet had huge unsightly dark black marks inside of it. What a joke. They were unable to clear up the problem and just mumbled something like, "Well, I think it's a bit better now." The toilet actually now needs two flushes every single time instead of just occasionally, I have to hold the handle down in order for it to flush, and it constantly runs! I'll need to get a new toilet now, since it now seems beyond repair and has those gross marks inside. I also had Bertie fix the kitchen faucet, which was leaking. I think he just didn't have the right part, because he and his helper were out at their truck, looking for it for a really long time. They put some new bolt or whatever inside the faucet, and afterwards, I noticed that it was super-tight to reposition the faucet from one sink to the other. When I mentioned that to Bertie, he said, "Don't worry. That'll loosen up." And loosen up it did in a couple weeks, bringing the same leak roaring back. When I mentioned the toilet problem to Bertie, he actually had the nerve to raise his voice and yell at me, as if it was my fault he'd been unsuccessful and had wasted my afternoon. If you want a man in a huge hurry who takes himself awfully seriously and who seems to consider small jobs like these to be beneath him and then is rude on top of it all, you should definitely hire Bertie. Unbelievable. read more