I am an Interior Designer in Alameda and I refer many of my clients to Goodale General Builders. Dobro is a great communicator and completes his scope in a timely manner. His crew is genuine and hard working. I always fell more confident that a project will go smoothly when Dobro is on site. read more

Goodale transformed a dingy, unusable garage room with a nasty old bathroom and "wine cabinet" into a fabulous new room and bath that serves either as a guest room or a workout room. They turned the old bathroom into a beautifully tiled room with a a new sink and toilet and turned the "wine cabinet" into an imaginatively reconfigured glass enclosed shower. I continue to admire their work and am grateful to the owner who helped me make good decisions for a difficult space. read more

We bought a fixer-upper in Kensington that needed extensive foundation work. Dobro was one of five contractors that we met with and immediately we knew that we wanted to work with him. The house was literally off the foundation and as a result there was as much as 9 inch slope in a single room. It was a daunting undertaking for sure! This spring's rain complicated things further and delayed project completion by about a month - even as Luis and his crew continued to work every day in the rain. Dobro kept us in the loop every step of the way and was very patient with us. The project took four months; our house is now even, with a new slab, bolstered foundation, all new drainage and a new deck! Dobro was very conscientious, thoughtful and did what he could to manage costs. I recommend him enthusiastically! read more

We thought we had a leak in our master bathroom and had a few other projects. We had a contractor recommended by several neighbors tell us that the entire shower and floor had to be torn out and replaced. We called Goodale General Builders for an estimate. Dobro, the Owner of GGB, took his time analyzing the leak, even going into our basement to view the problem from below. He showed us that we didn't have a plumbing leak, rather a problem with a poorly installed frameless shower door. Dobro is a good problem solver and saved us a lot of money doing a repair rather than a complete demo/replace. Dobro's crew is terrific. We were so fortunate to have Luis, Cesar and Miguel assiged to our projects. They are very skilled and worked tirelessly all day with only a short lunch break. They cleaned up the work areas every day before they left and were quiet and courteous. Our master bathroom looks like there was never a problem, but more importantly, the subfloor and studs with water damage are all repaired/replaced and the shower was thoroughly tested before the finishes were applied. We also had the exterior of our fireplace and chimney replaced. This required skilled carpentry and care since the fireplace is surrounded by huge, custom glass panes. The exterior of our fireplace now looks like a fine piece of furniture...It is stunning. Dobro supervised and reviewed the work daily. All work was completed early and his prices are fair. GBB is our "Go-To" partner from now on for home repair and projects. read more

As a Home Designer, I've had the opportunity to work with Goodale General Builders on several successful projects. The Owner, Dobro Goodale, is not only a thorough, clean, and timely General Contractor, he is fun to work with and his clients love him! He get's more referrals from existing clients than anyone I've ever worked with, which is the best review anyone can give to a General Contractor. Dobro also gets work from clients who have had bad experiences working with other GC's. I've personally seen him take a job that was heading in the wrong direction because of poor work from another Genral Contractor and turn it around to his client's satisfaction over and over again. - Adam Helm, Built Environment LLC read more

Dobro is both a professional and reliable resource. As a realtor, I rely on the guidance of builders and contractors to assist in informing my clients prior to purchasing property. Dobro is thorough in his assessments and breakdown of costs while setting expectation for potential overages. My clients who have employed him after close have always been more than satisfied. Dobro is always my first call when I'm asked for a builder referral. read more

I can't say enough good things about Dobro and his team. They just finished a GIANT electrical project on my house and did an OUTSTANDING job. You will not find another contractor as talented and as easy to work with in all of California. read more

Years ago (and two houses ago) our then-realtor suggested Dobro and Andy's budding business for our kitchen remodel, and we've never looked back! We always go straight to Dobro for any work we need done. His team's work is always solidly and beautifully done, his prices are reasonable, and he is just an all-around pleasant guy to work with. Not only that, but he has a ton of great contacts -- need a great roofer, electrician, architect? We always know we can trust Dobro to recommend other professionals that meet his high standards, and he will be honest if the work is best handled by someone else. I wish I could give 6 stars! read more

We owe Dobro a huge debt of gratitude. We are engaged in an extensive home remodel and struggling on multiple fronts with the current contractor. Dobro was kind enough to provide us with guidance and advice and spent almost 4 hours (at no cost BTW) with us at our home to evaluate the situation and help us understand how to address and resolve significant issues in an informed and confident manner. We are extremely grateful for his help and support. He gives us hope that there are honest, credible and capable contractors still out there who are committed to both high quality work and client satisfaction. Thank you Dobro! read more

Dobro is as easy to work with as any contractor I've used in the last twenty years. He is highly professional. The work is done well. He's creative about circumventing bottlenecks, and is even quite reasonably priced. The specific work he did for us was a seismic retrofit. read more

Dobro and his crew are professional, efficient, quality focused, and do exactly what they say they will do, when they say they will do it, and for the price quoted. We couldn't be happier with the lovely new deck they built for us - super strong and very attractive! read more

We have hired Dobro and his team for two large projects, including a deck remodel and a complete kitchen remodel. The results were phenomenal. Dobro makes sure to stick with timing and budget. He makes process improvement suggestions along the way and really pays attention to detail and to making sure the end result is perfect. Dobro hires the best subs as well.... read more

Goodale General Builders did an awesome job remodeling our kitchen. We get compliments on the job all the time. We've actually rehired them to do additional work on our home. The contractor's staff are really respectful and hard working. Great experience all around! read more

Dobro helped us inspect homes before we purchased one. He was a fantastic resource when deciding if we wanted to make an offer and more importantly when we did not! He was always friendly and available when I had questions. Dobro is also a licensed Real Estate agent so he even had answers for us on the buying process. And now that we have found a home he will be our first choice as a contractor to get the work done! read more

Let's start by saying that Goodale General Builders is a class act in all respects and will be our "go to" construction and repair company until owner Dobro Goodale decides to retire. Even though YELP only offers a maximum of 5 stars, we could easily reward Dobro and his team with 6. This time the project was to repair a support column and the parapet of the façade of our circa 1906 mission revival home. We really had no idea where to turn but based on GGB's great reviews on YELP we gave Dobro a call and asked if he could stop by to assess the scope of the work. "How about 11am tomorrow" he says, and lo and behold our doorbell rings at 10:58am the next morning and there stands Dobro, surely a good sign. As he explained in good layman's language what should be but also could be entailed to complete the job, our overwhelming impression was that Dobro is incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and straight to the point. He was able to put two excellent craftsmen (Luis and Cesar) onto the project almost immediately, and the exploratory surgery began. At every stage through completion of the project, we had the strong sense that things were being done correctly in terms of quality of materials, perfection of installation and aligning of new pieces, protecting the existing structure and attention to detail. A real positive aspect was the care that the guys took to clean up after work, and each day it really was difficult to find any evidence on the lawn or in the shrubs that work had indeed been done. In addition we required the skills of roofers and stucco repair folks, and Dobro masterfully acted as intermediary for the sub-contracts to make sure that the various aspects of the project came together. Throughout the project we had superlative communication from Dobro including his stopping by at the end of each day to inspect what had been done and to tell us what we could expect the next day. Dobro sent text messages, phoned and/or e-mailed with status reports throughout the project and even put together an interim invoice to let us know the charges about half way through the project so that there would not be any big surprises. Importantly, we felt that the final amount invoiced for the project was very reasonable (less than we originally anticipated) and work hours claimed were hours fully worked. Although home repair projects can be rewarding but are not all that much fun, Dobro and the team made the process about as easy and headache-free as possible, and the finished product is simply exceptional in appearance and obvious internal quality. read more

I have used Goodale General Builders for an array of jobs: Dobro has provided inspections before purchases of homes; he has also inspected the quality of work of other contractors. His knowledge of the code is solid and reliable. In addition, Dobro has done foundation work and straightened a crooked garage that was not only beyond most other contractor's skill set, but also within our budget. If you are looking for somebody that is reliable, competent, fair, and an effective communicator, you have found the right contractor. Goodale General Builders is a company of integrity. read more

I strongly recommend Dobro Goodale and Goodale General Builders. Our seismic strengthening project went very well. Goodale General Builders installed and built seismic strengthening for our house according to plans from an engineer. The project included installing sheer walls, bolting the cripple wall to the foundation, installing a lot of blocking, and building a small buttress wall next to a wide garage door opening. Overall, the process was very smooth, and we are extremely pleased with their work. First, the work was high quality; there was no cause for complaints on work quality at any time. Second, they made a point to clean up after themselves at the end of each day, and their attention to detail in keeping things neat and clean was great, despite how messy construction can be. Third, they finished the job on schedule even though I added in several change orders. Fourth, there were details that I had not considered, and there were minor discoveries when the walls were opened up. Dobro was very flexible about changing the work scope to address these issues and worked with me to find good solutions to issues like problematic electrical wiring. Finally, communication was excellent. First, Dobro communicated very well with the engineer, and they were able to discuss detail changes to the engineering design that retained the effectiveness of the design while reducing costs. Dobro communicated clearly to me what they were doing each day and what issues were coming up. I would definitely hire Dobro and his team for future projects. read more

Dobro was recommended to us by Andy Brucker, who is also a contractor and used to work with him. I hired Dobro and his crew a little over a year ago to remodel a bathroom and build a new bedroom in our house, which we had just bought. I called all of his references, which were excellent -I also chose him because he carried workers' compensation insurance on his crew and his license and liability insurance were up-to-date. Dobro is a pleasure to work with and had some great ideas that improved my first shot at a design. I put together the drawings and submitted the permit paperwork to the city as an owner-builder and hired Dobro as a sub-contractor. He was great in helping me anticipate what we needed to do to get the work done on schedule (like ordering the windows early...). His crew was always there when they were scheduled to be and I was impressed with the quality of work - particularly the framing and sheetrock finish work. Dobro did a great job coordinating with me and asking me questions when issues came up, as opposed to charging ahead and assuming he knew what I wanted. He also was able to deal with design changes and additions that came up along the way, and he worked with me to re-use as much material as we could from the demolition - which I really appreciated. The work went according to schedule and I never felt like he was scrambling to juggle too many jobs at once. I would definitely recommend him. read more