Jim Gillette and Earthquake Construction Service retrofitted my house in 2006 and my commercial…read morebuilding in West Berkeley in 2013. Both projects went great: on time and on budget. Jim made a list of recommendations and costs for upgrades to the basement crawl space of my house. We picked the five most effective upgrades, and Jim personally supervised or performed all of the work. He even insulated the basement at a small, additional cost. Now our 1915 house is bolted and shear walled. The 60-year-old commercial building was more difficult, so a structural engineer designed all of the shear walls and tie-ins with the existing frame of the building. Again, Jim personally supervised or performed all of the work to the exacting specifications from the drawings. I have been a happy customer of Earthquake Construction Service twice, and I would gladly recommend them for any size project.

I had a very strange phone call with James Gillett yesterday. I called because I want help…read morepreparing for the special inspection of my home's shear wall. The city of Oakland requires this inspection, but the previous owner (who had the wall installed) never did it. Special inspections are expensive and the city only authorizes a few companies to do them. I want someone with experience (such as James) to correct any major issues prior to the inspection so I don't have to do it twice. James initially said this was exactly the kind of thing he did and he would look at a "representative sample" of the shear wall. Things got weird when I told him that the city requires the whole wall to be inspected and I'd have to remove the drywall that covers part of it prior to his visit so he could look at all of it. He said I could do that "if I was masochistic" and that I should "learn to take yes for an answer". I again mentioned that the building department told me that inspecting the whole wall was the only thing they would accept, but if he knew a better way I was happy to do it. He said that he had already explained everything, that there was "no point arguing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" and he didn't appreciate me "giving him the third degree". I got the impression that James either didn't know anything about the inspection process in Oakland or didn't realize (despite several mentions) that addressing it was part of the service I was requesting. He seemed to think I was questioning his seismic retrofitting expertise, mentioning several times that he has been doing this work since the 70s and that many engineers and contractors do substandard work. I can't evaluate his expertise, but I know that before hiring someone, it's important that both parties understand what service will be performed and why. I remain baffled why he was so defensive over my attempts to reach that understanding. Over the years I've learned that when I get a strange reaction to a very normal question, it's best to just walk away. I was disappointed that this happened after reading so many positive reviews, so I decided to post this to give fair warning to others.

Zhang Architects Inc has collaborated with Austin and his team at Upright Engineering on several…read moreprojects throughout the San Francisco Bay Area where Zhang Architects provided architectural design services. Their team consistently delivers high-quality civil and structural engineering services with strong attention to detail, professionalism, and responsibility. They are responsive, easy to work with, and maintain reasonable turnaround times throughout the project process. We appreciate the collaborative working relationship and look forward to continuing to work with Upright Engineering on future projects.

We had great experiences working with Upright Engineering for our house addition project in SF…read moreBernal Heights. Our project located on steep slope and the structural design and cals requirements are extremely strict from DBI SF, we even went through the SAC meeting! Because Austin and his team have extensive knowledge to compliant with SF DBI's codes and requirements, we did go back and forth too many times for revision of the design or plan. the city was pretty happy with their works. Upright Engineers worked on our foundation, stairs and structural documents. Amber is very responsive throughout our permit application process, whenever there were new comments or changes from the city requirement, she responded right away and contacted the right person in the team for the request. we highly recommend Upright Engineering! Thanks

100% satisfied with the work!…read more We hired Mark and the team after doing our research for a private home seismic retrofit. They were super professional, quick, reliable and had one of the lowest bids we got. The entire process was very smooth and easy. 100% recommend this team!

Highly recommend: I couldn't be happier with the work done on the seismic retrofit of our duplex in…read moreSan Francisco. Mark and his crew were professional, knowledgeable, and incredibly attentive. They worked within a tight timeframe without cutting any corners and their price was competitive. Mark took the time to understand my needs and answer every questxion with patience over multiple months of discussion. The quality spoke for itself: our inspector was genuinely impressed by the quality of the retrofit and the work was also reviewed by an independent engineer. Mark earned his reputation as one of the best in the city, and I experienced that firsthand.

Not only did Dan put together a solid structural design for our home, but he's been very supportive…read morein working through updates and building with our contractor. Thanks Dan!

Dan and his team recently inspected our property for seismic safety as per the service I requested…read more They were thorough , seemed very knowledgeable and I enjoyed discussion our project with his team. Highly recommend.

( services were provided in October 2015 but I am referring a co-worker so I thought I should write…read morea review) We fielded 4 bids for our foundation replacement. Alameda Structural was not the cheapest, but they were not the most expensive either. But George was definitely the most punctual in terms of calling back and responding to e-mail. Honestly, he put everyone else we spoke to to shame in this regard. We were quoted 4- 6 (or maybe 8) weeks, they were done in 5. Our house was not on a hill or anything so there was minimal complications in this regard. The crew was nice, punctual and as clean as they could be considering the task at hand. WHen they were done they transformed the job site back to our home and left little to no trace of them being there. Fast forward to the present, we hired a retired city inspector as a consultant on a renovation project we are doing and when he and his colleague saw our foundation it almost brought tears to their eyes. They pointed out all the things that were done right and how beautifully executed it was. The part of me that wasnt laughing was glad that we went with Alameda Structural.

Unprofessional tier contractor. I got a quote for 700k for a 200k job…read more Next time do your clients a favor and just don't bid if you don't want to do work. Read all the other reviews, this company is run by snakes.

I called and left several messages to their office and cellular number but no return call. I gave…read morethree stars only because I don't think 1 star would be fair considering I never saw their work. I decided to go with a different inspection company.

With new construction in a liquidation area, the city of Oakland necessitated a soil analysis be…read moreperformed to ensure the foundations were designed appropriately. My builder recommended California Engineering Co. due to their positive experience working with this company on several other residential and commercial projects. California Engineering was very responsive in sending me a detailed proposal and their price was similar to a competitive offer. Mike Khoury was the Geotechnical Engineer, and has well over 30 years of experience in this profession. Mike was able to schedule drilling two week earlier than he committed because of the urgency. His drilling team took soil samples from two (2) locations on the property, instead of just one location that would have been the minimum needed. Mike explained in detail all the work that was being performed, the soil condition, and preliminary recommendations to how to best achieve a stable and safe foundation that's also value engineered to save unnecessary expenses. California Engineering Co. had the soil samples sent to the lab the next day, and a report was completed the following week. Mike Khoury met with me in person to walk through the report findings, and detail the recommendations. He then worked with my structural engineer and architect to agree upon an appropriate design solution. I had a very positive experience working with California Engineering Co. for the soil analysis and foundation design and highly recommend this company.

Quake Busters was easy to work with, had great customer service, and did a thorough job on our…read moreseismic upgrades. Francisco, the Operations Manager, was very easy to work with, responsive, clear, and always ready to answer our questions. We decided to have a structural engineer check the plan that Quake Buster proposed and the engineer confirmed the plan. The crew showed up on time, did a quality job, and thoroughly cleaned up the job site (very important, IMO). Overall, I think Quake Busters is a great option for seismic work, and especially if you need custom seismic solutions.

I had an excellent experience working with Quakebusters. Jerome and Francisco came to give me an…read moreestimate and helped me navigate the EBB application. Once the work began, the entire crew was very careful, thorough, and communicative. Unlike other contractors, they made sure to clean up the spaces when they were done for the day and made it a positive experience.

We are very happy with All Seasons Construction. They dug and built-out French drains with…read moreperforated pipe, drain gravel (lots and lots of drain gravel!), fabric and impermeable barriers on the foundation side. They also tied in our downspouts to separate solid PVC pipes. Finally, they installed surface drains and poured new patio cement. For the cement, they offered a wide variety of colors. During the bidding / quote process, Jeremy was courteous and took the time to clearly explain different options. He responded promptly to follow-up questions. The on-site crew was great with Miguel and Lazaro leading the team. This was a difficult project requiring a lot of manual work as a hillside made it impossible to bring down heavy machinery for digging the trenches or hauling out the old asphalt and concrete. Nevertheless, they completed the project in two weeks including working a Saturday. In addition, we had them pour a concrete slab in a basement crawl space. We only asked for a basic slab. They went above and beyond by building out a small retaining wall at its back and tied it into the foundation with rebar.

We hired All Seasons Construction this past summer to replace part of the foundation on our…read more1905-Berkeley house and I cannot say enough good things about working with them. They were so responsive whenever we had questions or requests. A large team showed up every day and they worked so fast and with such high quality. They replaced a significant amount of the foundation, put in a French drain and sump pump, and replaced our basement door, and the work took approximately six weeks, exactly what they expected it would. Who has ever heard of a construction project finishing on time?? The whole team was incredibly easy to work with from start to finish. And the work they did was really beautiful, which is a weird thing to say about a foundation and retrofitting, but it's true. It looks great! I can sleep so much better at night knowing our house is on secure footing again. And for all that, they charged a very reasonable price. We are so grateful we were able to hire them and would work with them again without a second thought.