Brown Bear installed a Bear Box for us in time for us to make use of a grant from Placer County. It kept snowing, but they made it out in time. It was installed professionally and right where we wanted it, saving our trees. We had one issue, and they were out the next day fighting 4th of July traffic to correct a simple issue we had missed. We are very pleased customers!!! read more

We had an immediate need for snow removal from our roof. Frank & his crew were responsive and took on the task at hand. Fast, friendly, reliable is always nice. The snow broke out a window in the middle of everything and Brown Bear took that project on as well, boarded it up and kept right on going. read more

We used this company to buy and install a bear box. They were very responsive and easy to work with. Highly recommend.

The Brown Bear team is great to work with from the office staff, maintenance and housekeeping, everyone is professional and reliable. I have been using them for my vacation rental and I can rest my mind at ease that they are taking care of everything before my renters arrive. Also, I use them for any maintenance issues that may arise. Thank you Brown Bear! read more

After 10 years of loyalty to BB we've been treated poorly over the past few months. Moving on to better customer service .......

i have used them Brown Bear did what they were supposed to do / on time and stayed in touch. i plan on hiring them again like anyone else seeking labor you just want honesty read more

As a recent homeowner in Tahoe Donner, I needed extensive service support to complete required maintenance and desired updates. The various types of work (both exterior and interior) spanned construction, carpentry, plumbing, tree removal, electrical, pest control, etc. As luck might have it, I was introduced by our local, trusted realtor to Frank Brown owner of Brown Bear. Instead of having to vet and coordinate multiple vendors, Brown Bear does it all. They do high quality work at a fair & reasonable price. I've found them very knowledgable, reliable, trust worthy, flexible ... and committed to customer satisfaction. If you're in the Truckee / Tahoe Donner area and need any work (whether major or minor) .... reach out to Brown Bear. I'm completely satisfied and strongly recommend them. read more

Been using Brown Bear for many years, since I bought the house in Truckee Donner. Their services for me include the weekly lawn maintenance and any additional maintenance jobs the house in mountain needs. Most recently, they handled roof repair and re-painting and all outside house staining, and some inside plumbing. I have been extremely happy with their reliable and personal service. Very professional, yet friendly, business. read more

Brown Bear has taken care of our Tahoe Donner home since January 2012. They inspect our house weekly. Other services that they have performed: rescrew our metal roof, shoveled snow off of our decks when the snow load was too much, realigned/reconditioned our garage door and replaced the key pad, and they fixed our bear enclosure. Barbara and the office staff are prompt in resolving any issues. Frank and Schuler have my confidence in managing any problem that may arise. It's great knowing they will take care of my house when I can't be there. I highly recommend their services for the care of your mountain home. read more

Brown Bear installed a bear proof garbage enclosure at my house near Squaw Valley in 2006. The door will not open, so I called them to solicit a repair. They said they changed their database since then and no longer had record of me and said I would have to fill out a form and get approved before they would come to make the repairs. Are you kidding me? I have never had any company refuse to service because they changed their records since the installation. I just wanted them to service the product they installed, not have their bureaucracy forced upon me. read more

Have used Brown Bear for over 15 years. Everything was good until the last couple of years when their actual service and customer service have really gone down hill. The latest issue is their cleaners caused damage to our house and Brown Bear refuses to take any responsibility. Frank was incredibly rude and actually accused us of lying about what happened. This is the last straw, we are taking our business elsewhere. read more

Frank and the Brown Bear team did a wonderful job installing fencing in my yard and were able to get the job done quickly with great results. They even able to install an additional section of fencing quickly in an area we hadn't originally planned. My only regret is that I'll have to cut into the great work they did when I install an additional gate! read more

We have been loyal customers for them for over 10 years. In July we arranged for a cleaning after the Fourth of July holiday and they were a no-show. Our guests showed up to a dirty home the following week. When I called them, they apologized profusely saying that they had had some personnel issues at the top and begged us to get them a second chance. we did and they responded cleaning our home later that month.Then we got a new contract in the mail saying that they had raised their prices with increased premiums during holiday times. In addition we received an extra $40 charge for a cleaning we never ordered. They showed up at our cabin and found it already cleaned(By them!) and charged us $40 for a visit we never ordered. I called them and pointed the mistake out to them and also said it was outrageous to charge us given the way they had screwed us earlier in the monthThey responded that we still owe them the $40. It's far as I'm concerned I've lost my confidence in their management and I am in the process of securing another cleaning service that knows the meaning of customer service customer loyalty. read more

I used Brown Bear for 18 years, since I bought my place in Tahoe Donner. I had always been happy with their cleaning service and an added bonus was having a maintenance man available when needed. Recently, Brown Bear's service has been lacking, and unprofessional. I don't know if they've gotten too big, or there are new employees handling the calls, or they simply do not care. Several months back, my shower door came off and I called for maintenance. After a couple months, I was back at my residence to see that the shower door was not repaired. When I called, I was told a part was "on order," and if it hadn't come in yet, they would re-order from another vendor, and that they had been "sawmped" and "so busy....." Another month goes by, door still not repaired. I call and call and leave messages. After 3 full months, I get a message that Frank said the shower door is not fixable and to call a glass company. Really???? After the previous correspondences? It took almost 4 months to get that response? By the way, I then called a handy man in the area and he fixed the shower door in one afternoon. In the meantime, I have been on a cleaning schedule and had cleaning scheduled for the rest of 2017. Since I had not used the residence before the next cleaning, I called to cancel that one scheduled cleaning. I had also been told that "from now on, all request must be in writing. I complied by writing an email cancelling that one cleaning. I was sent a reply saying YES, I am scheduled for cleaning on that day. I replied back, NO, I do NOT want cleaning on that day, and got a reply that stated cleaning has been cancelled for that particular day. Well.....they went ahead and "cleaned" anyway, even after I have written confirmation cleaning was cancelled. (By the way, if you do not cancel cleaning and they go to your residence, you will still be charged a fee.) So, I had called Brown Bear to remind them of my prior cancellation and told them I would not be paying for that cleaning since I had it in writing that my cleaning was cancelled for that day. I was told that the person who answered by email does not work there any more. I have it in writing that the cancellation had been acknowledged. At this time, the gal on the phone instructed me that in the future, they will NOT have a scheduled cleaning date and I am to call a "few days in advance when I would like my residence cleaned." I replied, "that's fine, I will do what ever you want, I have been with you for 18 years, and as you change your rules, I will be happy to comply; whether it means, calling in advance, or putting it i writing." We had an agreement, Brown Bear took me off my cleaning schedule for the rest of the year, and I was to call when needed. Well, you can guess the rest of the story. I called and called leaving messages that I would like my residence cleaned, and left several dates. I called and got Barbara on the phone, she replied Frank got the message and wrote down the dates and to call back after 3:30 to speak with Tia? (I think that was her name) I also wrote an email saying I have called and left messages and please schedule a cleaning. Finally I got a phone message saying basically they were sorry to take so long to get back to me, they are very "sawmped and busy, and CANNOT CLEAN MY RESIDENCE," and they were booked out months in advance. Then whey did they have me cancel my regularly scheduled cleanings for the rest of 2017? I called back and said it was obvious they were not interested in cleaning my residence or having me as a client and that I was very sorry to end our 18 year relationship, but to please just mail my house key back. NO reply, of course. A week later, I pop into Brown Bear, and introduce myself and ask if I can have my key back, and was told it was "in the mail." Another week goes by, no key has arrived at my primary residence. I called to ask if they mailed the key in a plain envelope (it will not make it through the mail system in a plain envelope) or if they used a padded envelope as my key has not arrived. You guessed it, NO REPLY......Would NOT recommend Brown Bear. read more

I have had the pleasure of working with the Brown Bear team for awhile now as a second home owner in Tahoe Donner. I have to say that I am truly impressed with their front office service and their execution teams in the field. Whether it's garden work, staining, deck work, window washing, plumbing whatever, they make it happen - and always within a week of when I ask them if they can do it! Melissa in the front office is always gracious and expedient and will make sure that whatever your request, that it gets handled! Now I just need a Brown Bear app so that I can push the home care button I need and make it even more seemless. read more

Brown Bear Home Care was very helpful getting us a plumber to replace a 17 year old water heater. They did a great job and hauled away the old one. read more

We hired Brown Bear in February 2017 and had great customer service until the owner's wife came into the office in Fall, 2017. Ironically everyone on recent reviews has the SAME experience with her that we did. She is rude, forgetful, complained about previous staff, and tried to over charge us. Please take heed and do not utilize their services. BEST company ever is Virrey Cleaning. We've used them since with NO concerns. read more

Frank at Brown Bear did a great job at our house in Northstar. It is hard to get workpeople up here and he seems to have assembled a great crew. He was very detailed and we are pleased with how things worked out. There were many trades involved...plumbing, carpentry, heating ....but all were handled well....they were not cheap, but they did show and up and do the work, clean up, and finish in a timely manner. read more

I want to confirm that Brown Bear has returned to the excellent level of service that marked its early years. In 2016 and 2017 they had a sudden unexpected departure of staffers that brought the office close to collapse. I told them at that point that they could not count on my continued support. But they have recovered and everything is now back to what I wrote in 2015: viz. "We are long-term customers of Brown Bear, and they are great; I do not know how we could maintain a vacation home without them. Their weekly inspections provide us with security, they respond quickly whenever I ask them to check on a problem or fix it, they move our patio furniture out in the spring and back in the fall, and their staff are first-rate. We had them install a banister that turned out to be a work of craftsmanship far beyond what we expected. The cleaning service is also reliable and fairly easy to schedule. Highest recommendation, with no reservations." read more

I call them whenever I need work, from yard work to putting away furniture for the winter to hot tub repairs. They always seem to get the work done at a reasonable price. read more

This has been the worse experience with a service company I can imagine. I haven't even had them do any work on my house, but I would never want them too. They can't even handle paperwork, how can you trust them to be organized and meticulous enough to do work on a house? I called 2 WEEKS ago. First no return call. When I finally spoke to someone, I requested an estimate for work. The woman said she would have someone provide me a quote. A week and a half goes by. No return call. I call them again. The woman says "Oh no we're not 3 weeks out, we can get to it in the next week or two. Call me tomorrow if you haven't heard back from me by noon with a quote " Of course. No call back. So, I call again. Same woman, but now she says. "We can't get it done in the next few weeks, we are at least 3 weeks out. And I didn't get you a quote because I thought we put your order on hold." Really?! Are they crazy over there? read more

I've been using Brown Bear Home Care for years at my Truckee vacation home. Since I rent the home out on VRBO, it's important that I have confidence it will be spotless and everything in order of my next guest. I can count on Brown Bear Home care to take care of my house, take care of special requests, and always come through. Thanks!!! read more

We are a Tahoe Donner vacation home owner and have recently signed up with Brown Bear to perform guest check-out cleanings and any needed repairs to the house. We had another service for many years and were always having to find appropriate tradespeople ourselves any time something needed attention and we rarely got timely feedback on the condition of the house after a guest checked out. the Brown Bear team has been a welcome relief and so far every item that needed fixing was done quickly and at a very reasonable price through their own service crew. The cleanings have gone smoothly and I always get a prompt response to any of my questions. We are so grateful we found this service--should have signed up years ago!! read more

We have been using Brown Bear for our recent second home purchase in Tahoe City. I honestly don't know what we would have done without them. They take all the stress out of owning a second home. They do weekly inspections to give us peace of mind, plus handle whatever needs to be done (house cleaning, snow removal, hot tub maintenance, home maintenance, firewood delivery, you name it!), all at reasonable prices. We highly recommend the Brown Bear team for all your home care needs! read more

They did the work reasonably well. However their prices were through the roof. Worse yet, their "estimate" for everything is off by 100%!!! That means you have to double the price they estimate. For example we got an estimate of $800 to clear a defensible space around the house. Once they had gone through that money, they called and said they needed another $800 to complete the job. What happened? Did more tree grow? Did neighbors dump needles in my yard? Why couldn't they see what needed to be done when they estimated the job? Same thing happened for my shower repair. Lastly their billing was atrocious. The final bill I got included work I had already paid for. I called them and they said they would send a new bill. In the next 8 hours hours I got 3 more updated bills. All of the bills were indecipherable. They charged me for "coveralls". I have to pay for their clothes? If I could give them negative stars I would. read more