Green sequoia caused a disaster with my backyard. Sad part is that we had great experiences with…read morethem before and chose them because of that. If you are doing an outside project, don't pick green sequoia as this seems to be a trend (see Jonathan's review from July 2019). They kept demo'ing after finding an issue, making it worse, and then they left us hanging for a month until they were finally removed from the job. Overall, Green Sequoia did more harm than good on this. Not sure new management is working out. Full story: Green Sequoia previously did our bathroom and did a great job. Jessie and Victoria also did our closet. Love those two. We saw an opportunity to improve our backyard living space by removing unnecessary planters and retaining walls. We had two quotes and went with Green Sequoia, the more expensive one, because of the previous relationship. They didn't tell us that they didn't have exterior expertise and the person on the job wasn't a normal part of the crew but instead a subcontractor. When construction started, we knew there was a question if a retaining wall was supporting or redundant. As soon as the project started, removing a small part of that wall would have made it quickly clear it was supportive as the wall behind ended 8 inches from the top. That's when they should have stopped. They didn't. They dropped the whole wall and then only contacted me after. This caused increased cost and a safety risk for both me and my neighbor. The same occurred in another part of the property. Oversight of the subcontractor was clearly poor. Construction was halted a week after starting in early June because of these errors. Afterwards, Green Sequoia sat on it for a month without getting me change orders or a clear plan to fix it despite nearly daily questions and pings from me. I gave them an ultimatum on July 6th to have a plan by end of week or I would remove them from the job and seek a refund. Four days later they were off the job. No refund yet despite 5 follow up notes from me - but complaint filed with state license board. This project will cost me $20k more, with less improvements made, because of what it will take to repair their damages. The project was supposed to be 3 weeks. Currently it's looking like 3 months because I've had to remove Green Sequoia from the job and get a new contractor. Issues come up with old properties. When starting our plan I fully expected that there may be some small unexpected cost. My issue with Green Sequoia was the lack of oversight, the recklessness that caused increased damage, and the abandonment of the project. Two stars because through this disaster Kirk was still responsive. While I don't agree with their lack of ownership about their actions, I appreciate that communication lines stayed open and that he visited to do some bracing upon my request.

I've never left a bad review before but this company "redid" the outside of our house that was old…read moreand falling apart. They did a horrible job- left rotting wood on the exterior, added new siding that is splitting and uneven. Fairly certain we still have several leaks- thank goodness it hasn't rained much for the sake of our house. I look at the mess they made every day and am horrified. Going to have to get their garbage work done properly as soon as we can afford it. Such an insane waste of money.

We had an amazing experience working with Colm and his team. No one wants to do extensive…read morefoundation and structural work on their home but if you have to, I don't think we would have made it through with anyone else. They were so patient with us when we had to stop or stall work to secure more financing as the scope quadrupled (again, not at all CC's doing, just old houses), and they were just so considerate and sweet as we, insanely, but out of necessity had to live on-site during the very extensive repairs. It was bananas and it turned out beautifully and I think we need to send them a present.

We needed some structural work done on our new home and were referred to Current Construction by a…read morecoworker. We called and set up an appointment and then met with David. He reviewed the plans with us, explained the process, and walked us through the building permit applications . The structural soft story plans were not intuitive to me, but David explained it in a way we could understand and within a week we had a bid. It wasn't the cheapest we received, but we felt confident with his estimate and skills. The job took a total of 6 weeks and that includes getting a new steel beam, foundation upgrade, and installation of of seismic hardware. It was fished on time and on budget, which was much appreciated. As an added benefit, their crew also kept our garage spotless. I'd definitely recommend them!

AJ was referred to me from my realtor. I hired him for a full house renovation, and the entire…read moreexperience was exceptional from beginning to end. Taking on a full house renovation can feel overwhelming, but his professionalism, organization and communication made the process smooth. What really set him apart was his problem-solving and guidance. He offered smart design suggestions, handled unexpected challenges without hesitation, and always made sure to explain options before moving forward. He gave me great suggestions for my bathroom renovations. He suggested a floating toilet and figured a way to add a stand alone shower and bathtub in my small primary bathroom. He also collaborated with me in designing my powder room, and gave me exactly what I was looking for. Most importantly, AJ enjoys his job, takes pride in his work, and enjoys working with his clients . He's patient and answered my never ending questions and always explained what was happening. I'm so happy with the transformation of my house and to find a contractor that is trustworthy, reliable, and knowledgeable.

Revitalize Bay Area Builders came by today to estimate on patching a sizable hole in some drywall…read morein my house. He gave me a fair quote that I accepted, and, to my surprise, he started fixing the wall right then! He is professional, prices are fair and his work is quality. He was also helpful with options for me to try before he quoted on another project that could potentially be costly. Very honest. I highly recommend this company.

I was hopeful that Setter was going to be a helpful solution for a few home projects but they are…read moresimply not up for the task... -When I contracted with them for home drywall install they were confident their Pro could get the job done quickly and efficiently. After the first day of install, it was very evident the Pro had minimal experience hanging drywall (if any) and I needed to stop them immediately - gaps between sheets that were hung in incorrect directions, etc. (see pics). I contacted another sub-contractor and we had to tear everything down before starting again. I give 2 stars here for the customer service received from Jesse on the Setter team for stopping the Pro immediately and providing a small credit. -Giving Jesse the benefit of the doubt and having already had a Pro provide a quote, I gave Setter the opportunity to make up for the mishap and engaged with them for tiling services for bathrooms. Long story short, the project they quoted would take 8 days of labor ended up taking 14 and nearly double the initial quoted cost. The Pros they sent showed up late, left early and some days did not show up at all. The part that was most disappointing is that Setter charged 3 days or work for a task that took a single day and auto-debits your credit card once they have it on file. One of the biggest issues regarding Setter is not being able to communicate with the Pro themselves and having to go through Setter which often causes long delays and added costs (i.e. if a Pro needs more of a certain material, they let Setter know and eventually you're notified during M-F business hours). Setter also states they'll provide the basic materials for the job (sponges, gloves, wipes, etc.) and then sends you a bill for them afterwards. Setter should take a step back and secure qualified Pros before expanding to any additional services or geographies - I would not recommend you waste your time/money until they do.

Run as far as away as possible if you're considering them for any home improvement work…read more I had Setter replace a patch of wood flooring in my kitchen and the scratched flooring in the downstairs bedroom. I also asked them to do the room repaint while they were at it. The job was a disaster on nearly every level. I'm not sure the "pro" they brought on had even installed wood flooring before. First Attempt: - Large misaligned gaps between all the boards, and the wall. - Floor was uneven throughout - Squeaks in several places. - In the kitchen, they cut the boards close to the island leaving several inches of lined up cut board, covered in glue. For the paint job, there were just three cans of paint, that matched with the exist paint. One for the trim, one for the wall, and one for the bathroom wall. They managed to paint the entire room in an obviously different color, and then only "discover" the other paint I had pointed out them later. The paint job itself was really subpar with patched areas not blending at all, and any are of detail looking messy. Second attempt: After complaining about the issues. Setter promised to fix it for me and send out a supervisor as well This meant they sent back the same unqualified pro to try and fix his mistakes. And the person they had to supervise showed up once or twice for a couple of hours. He tore out all the wood flooring he had used in the first pass and threw it away. And by throw it away, I mean he left it in the rain outside my house in a garbage bag, and never actually disposed of it or any of the other trash on the job site. All of the flooring is expensive Brazilian Chestnut hardwood that I bought. Like the paint, Setter never reimbursed me for this. Even worse, the flooring is discontinued. I spent months tracking down the last few boxes of the flooring so that the repairs would match. So now, any future repairs or projects are impossible. At the end of the second attempt, the gaps were improved but still pretty bad by any flooring standard. Even worse, he managed to heavily damage the new wood being installed. And there's still a huge gap in the flooring in the kitchen/fridge area. Their supervisor said it couldn't be fixed, and the best he could do was put in more baseboard to cover it. What he actually did was just put in a random piece of wood on top of of the gap. Applying the Finish: At this point I was 2.5 weeks into what they had quoted as a 3-4 day job. The still had to apply a simple top coat finish to match the sheen I had on the existing flooring and fix up their paint job. Applying finish for a small bedroom is a quick 2 hour job. Their "pro" took the full day to do it, and the entire coat was filled with bubbles, hair, and other debris the next day. He blamed it on the heater having turned on, and then spent 1-3 days sanding down the bubbles and then reapplying the coat. Afterwards there were again bubbles, and the heater was never turned on. More complaints to Setter and they brought in and their supervisor took over. He spent more than a week sanding the topcoat bubbles for a ~125 sq ft room. He also suggested applying wax as a coat instead of reapplying the finish. I told him to do what he thought would match with the original flooring. He went the wax which doesn't match the existing flooring at all. In the kitchen, where the replaced wood was much smaller I asked them to try using the same finish again after the sanding process. But the sanding wasn't polished out, leaving obvious swirls underneath the new finish. And the finish was applied with a brush leaving obvious brush marks in the finish Baseboards & Repaint: After replacing the floor and applying the finish, they had to reattach and re-caulk/repaint the baseboards and touch up their earlier paint job. The baseboards, weren't lined up evenly and the caulking/paint joins looked like a first grader coloring outside the lines. Throughout the room there were little dents and holes, and any part of the job the required attention to detail demonstrated a shocking lack of it Final Insults: After all this and even acknowledging the remaining issues in the paint and gaps in the flooring. Their "pro" asked me to sign a statement saying I was satisfied with their work. A few weeks later their billing kept trying to contact me to bill me for the "extra" work they had done, telling me that I was delinquent. Whatever bill they were talking about was never delivered to me in app, in text message or email. The followup work was supposed to be guaranteed to be free to fix their earlier mistakes. If anything Setter should be paying me for time and money lost. Not only did Setter force me to pay for their poor work, but I will have to find an actual flooring expert to redo all of their work. And, I haven't been able to rent out the room in the last few months because all of the work is unfinished because of COVID-19.

With a baby on the way, we really needed to undergo a major remodel on our house in preparation for…read moreher arrival. We interviewed 6 different contractors and ultimately decided on Gavan Duffy of Build It Green Contractors (B.I.G.) (license#886570) I won't get into all of the details of our decision, only the key elements which were: 1. Budget, our project came in slightly over budget. Not due to B.I.G, but to a few changes we decided to make and the general nature of working on a house built in the 20s and all the little surprises we found along the way. The important aspect for us was Gavan's clear communication with us regarding our options and the costs associated with each choice. 2. Timing, Gavan has a young child and he understands all of the challenges and changes associated with being expectant parents. He and his crew worked hard to stay within our time frame and still give us plenty of time to get our house in order prior to the baby's arrival. 3. Quality, We could not be happier with the attention to detail that Gavan and crew put into our remodel. Our house is stunning and the work is craftsman-like. 4. Cleanliness, this may not be important to everyone, but construction is messy work and B.I.G. cleaned up after themselves after each day. To me this demonstrated the commitment to quality that Gavan and crew insist on. If you have a remodel scheduled, then I encourage you to discuss it with Gavan Duffy at B.I.G.

Gavan and Build It Green was not the first contractor that I contacted for my leak issue, but he…read morewas the first to promptly organize a time to scope the matter. My plan was to call several contractors, collect quotes and pick from the lowest price and/or best match. But, Gavan made it easy enough, and I trusted his assessment enough that I ended up going with him without much additional due diligence. The leak issue wasn't able to be fully diagnosed without removing the stucco on the outside and dry wall on the inside - so Gavan suggested starting there. He produced a small initial quote for labor - which would allow him to produce a more accurate total quote. From there, he provided an estimate that ended up being within 5% of the final cost. He had a wide ranging team working for him - most notably Omar, a very friendly and extremely capable contractor in his own right, as well as several others. He brought in specialists for the roofing and stucco work, as well. The only issue to raise was that scheduling was sometimes challenging - as Gavan is a pretty busy fellow and who was consistently coordinating so many other parties. Sometimes, schedules were shifted around - which did require some flexibility from my wife and I, but nothing too problematic. At the end of the day, he and his team were trustworthy, were all very polite and friendly, and produced very solid work and cleaned up nicely afterwards. I would recommend Gavan and Build It Green, and in fact - when another small project arose within weeks of the big project - I didn't hesitate to call Gavan again.

Nightmare: Waking up after a night of wind & rain to a…read morepuddle of water in the corner of the kitchen floor. Scan up, see old, now unused vent from previous gas stove drip, drip, dripping from the ceiling. Remember that we are no longer renters and can't just call the landlord and be done with it. Panic. Dreams of fluffy bunnies & yellow flowers: Call Larry, whom we'd just consulted regarding other minor repairs. The rain stopped that day, so Larry zipped over same day while we were at work, climbed up on top of our roof and determined that not only is our roof in impeccable shape, but that the leak was a very simple fix: change out the vent stacks on top to be "high wind" tolerant. Sigh. Dark chocolates, & sparkling alpine lakes: All told, we've had Larry power wash our outside stairs & reseal them, replace a strip of wood outside of a window, & replace those vent covers on the roof. Throughout the process, Larry appeared quite knowledgeable & offered fair prices. Furthermore, he dissuaded us from other repairs after investigating and finding them unwarranted. May your dreams be filled with bunnies and flowers and chocolates and beautiful lakes.

Wow! I'm so impressed…read more Larry was hired by the building to replace the funky carpeted hallways in the corridors and also to power wash, stain, and refinish the deck off both of our bedrooms. Larry and his crew were always friendly and smiling while hard at work. The crew was so nice they even carted my groceries out of the elevator when I came home early one afternoon and they were finishing up the slate floors. They have done an excellent job. Very efficient high quality work. I hardly heard a peep while they were in the building. Hire Larry at Paragon Management Consulting for your next project-even if it's a simple one. You won't be disappointed. . .

Schiller Construction was incalculably helpful during a stressful, full move out renovation due to…read morewater damage. All flooring, the kitchen, two bathrooms and some some walls were removed. Brett Schiller was a voice of reason, calm demeanor and great attitude. Insurance was an absolute pain in the neck and Brett took it in stride. Workers and subcontractors were all very skilled, polite and tidy. Without question, we would hire Schiller Construction again.

Okay, in their defense.. i did not get to hire them so i can't tell you how good the work was, or…read moreif they were on time. BUT.... I will tell you this story: We met with Bret Schiller (seems like a nice guy) and gave him our plans that was drawn up by our architect so he can give us an estimate. We didn't hear from him for a few days, i started to get worried. So we called him and left messages. he didn't call back. Turns out he had gone out of town for a week or so and neglected to tell us. Fine.. no big deal i thought. i'm sure he was busy and it was an honest mistake. But thats not all.... He informs us that he has LOST our plans! Needless to say, we did not go with him to do our remodel. He did apologize profusely and offered to pay for new plans drawn up. And we were leaning towards another contractor anyways since we thought he dissappeared on us so weren't going to hire him anyways. So no huge harm. But just wanted to share the small experience.

I called saying I was looking for a contractor for a project and person answering the phone assumed…read moreI was a telemarketer and I was told not to call back. Remove listing from yelp? Doesn't seem to be an active business. Bummer.

I had several projects that needed to be completed and Mr. Barnes did an exceptional job with every…read moreone of them. He refurbished my back deck to like new condition with planks and supports, replaced all of my inside doors, cleaned out my rain gutters, and trimmed two overgrown trees in my backyard. We have plans for an extended deck, new fencing and a bathroom remodel. Mr. Barnes is an amazing problem solver and has numerous ideas to help beautify my home as well as make it more efficient. I highly recommend Mr. Barnes for his expertise and professionalism.