Highly recommend this company for earthquake retrofitting! Tony was so helpful in guiding me…read morethrough the EBB program to receive grant money for the project, and the crew did excellent work. Very professional and courteous. Everything was done on time and as quoted with no delays at a very reasonable price!

The Great (+2 stars) ==========…read more * The structural work: Our home is on a great, new, solid foundation (with shear walls), so we feel as safe as we can be in our home for an earthquake! * Our basement is also now more usable. * Drainage: There is now drainage around the foundation and under the basement slab, so we are no longer worried about our basement flooding! * The working crew were very friendly and considerate. The Bad (-1 star): ========== * The electrical subcontractor was quite bad. The electricians didn't install the dryer outlet properly (one conductor came loose before I first used it), most outlets they installed are loose (they give when pushing in a plug), and they installed a used, old (not LED compatible) dimmer for the LED lights they installed. Also, the owner yelled at his team a lot. * The plumbing subcontractor was bad, too. They misdrilled several holes, damaging the interior of the home. They didn't seal around exterior penetrations into the house. They didn't put a cover over the branch of a wye that was no longer needed. They wouldn't do anything about the loss of hot water pressure in a bathroom faucet that occurred after they moved some plumbing around (I ended up having to disconnect and disassemble the hot water valve myself and I found a piece of silicone clogged in there). They over-glued the drain of the laundry supply box making it nearly impossible to remove the cap, and they lost the o-rings on my faucet aerator. The Ugly (-2 stars): ========== * They overlooked details in the plans about where walls and doors should go, and denied responsibility since they weren't in the structural engineer's plans, which they opted to not have updated with the revisions I told them about. This lead to a sewer pipe being installed in an inconvenient location (it went through the foundation, so it can't be moved), a structural wall that was almost built in the wrong place (I caught it while they were digging the footing), and a room that was built with no doorway (they had to cut some framing to make the opening). * The pricing/scope was negligent at best, but I'd put it closer to misleading or deceptive. During the initial visits, they talked about all the things they would do (including putting up framing, drywall, and insulation), and then sent over an estimate that I accepted. I didn't realize until halfway through the project that the estimate didn't include many of the things they talked about (including the framing, drywall, and insulation); those apparently would be part of "Phase 2," not included in the price of the first estimate. I had chosen E&F over another estimate that was less expensive even though it did explicitly contain the "additional" scope. I was also surprised that the electrical and plumbing (most of which was necessary to get them out of the way for the structural work) was billed separately; i.e., an unexpected additional expense. * They chose to rebuild a segment of stairs (rather than just adding two steps at the bottom, per the plans), which ended up having insufficient clearance with an overhang halfway down. They tried to convince me there was no new problem because they built them the same as before (but the run of the new stairs was one inch longer, causing the 4th step down to be 4 inches closer to the overhang) and resisted remedying the issue. They just ended up taking a sawzall to trim the overhang -- a joist -- which I just have to hope doesn't compromise any structural integrity! Further, they didn't even finish the stairs (sand and seal); "Test your staining skills," they said. * They ghosted before Phase 2. As the structural work was reaching completion, we were going back and forth on scope for Phase 2. However, when the structural work was actually completed, they just stopped communicating, left dirt and demo debris they left on our driveway for a month, then disappeared. There were lots of things they removed to get out of the way (like several segments of fence) but didn't put back. I could easily add 3x more issues and details, but this review is already too long.

We are very happy we used Tinka Construction to remodel our small bathroom and update our kitchen…read more George and his crew are super friendly, clean, and creative at solving transitions between spaces. His team is resourceful and they did not generate excessive work to add cost. For our kitchen / laundry facelift, we updated the flooring, backsplash, lighting, and reconfigured our laundry area. George's crew helped to side vent the dryer which the big box store was unable to do. George gave valuable input on our bathroom design to optimize the small space. He had suggestions for an in-wall toilet, a corner sink, window ledge niche, and talked us out of a doorless shower (thank you!). He knows small spaces very well and was able to place the fixtures in their best locations. George would give us a heads up on our requests that were going to cost more than ~1k. He had some subcontractors come in to help with varying degrees of quality and cleanliness. We are glad he managed the plumbing contractor who had to come back 3 times. His paint jobs varied quite a bit in consistency depending on who was painting. The best part of working with George was that we were expecting our first child, and he worked very hard to complete the project before her due date. To our surprise and delight he totally finished it before she arrived!

We are very happy to have chosen Tinka Construction to remodel our bathroom. The result is…read moreexceptional. George was always quick to respond to any of my texts and emails no matter what the news may be. Our bathroom needed a complete teardown to expanding one wall out an additional foot. His crew was outstanding whether it be reconstruction of a wall, plumbing, electrical, painting or cleanliness. And to complement George's crew, he uses highly skilled third-party specialty contractors, such as, for our custom shower install. What amaze us most was how the work was all done as seamless as possible by being creative and resourceful at solving any potential obstacles or issues. We are looking to hiring George and his crew again on another project.

I would definitely recommend contacting Feraru & Associates for any home renovation projects you…read morehave. Their design/build capabilities, broad experience and portfolio of completed projects are all very impressive. We were considering various approaches to a bedroom/bathroom remodel, and Sorin and his team walked us through multiple possibilities, listened carefully to our feedback, and set us on a path that matched our needs precisely. They also provided us with a lot of insight into the steps need to take the project from start to finish, and all of this was reflected in a very thorough bid. Sorin's communication, promptness, and follow-through have all been exemplary. We'd be glad to work with Sorin on any other projects in the future.

Feraru & Associates Building and Design remodeled our bathroom last year, and let me tell you--our…read morebathroom now looks so good, we're considering charging admission! From start to finish, their team was on point, paying attention to every tiny detail like they were crafting a masterpiece. They made the whole process way less stressful, even guiding us through material selection at multiple showrooms (because, of course, we couldn't find everything in one place). Luckily, with Sorin's help, it all went smoothly--no meltdowns, no decision fatigue... okay, maybe just a little. Their crew? Absolute pros. They showed up on time every day (which is basically a miracle in construction) and left the place spotless, like bathroom remodeling ninjas. Honestly, these guys know their stuff. If you're thinking about a home remodel, stop thinking and call them. In fact, we're already planning our next project with them--because once you start with Feraru & Associates, it's hard to stop!

I happened upon Kevin by word of mouth at the perfect time! I was visiting my sister and the water…read moredamage in her bathroom was well beyond my ability to cope with. He also dealt with some rot around her windows and managed to fix her deck that had been a hazard for far too long.

Kevin is great! I had him come and install an oddly-positioned custom gate in my backyard and the…read morequality was top-notch! Kevin not only does great work, but he is easy to communicate with and has an excellent customer service orientation. I was so impressed with all his work, that he is now my go-to handyman for all jobs in Berkeley. He is also very reasonable and fair in pricing. I highly recommend Kevin for any projects that you may have around the house.

Howard's company is the gold standard for retrofitting residential buildings in the Bay Area, and…read moremay be the only option if you have a very old house with a brick foundation. I recommend the company with no reservations. See my full story below. I purchased a 130-year old Victorian triplex in Oakland last year and given the many news stories I've seen in the past few years about the Hayward fault being overdue for a major quake, one of the first things I looked into was how to make it earthquake safe. Like many houses from this era, the house had an original brick foundation capped with concrete in some places. Because it is a large building, I was told by several retrofit companies that Standard Plan A would not work and I would need to hire a structural engineer to make a retrofit plan for it. These companies made no mention of brick foundations, which is surprising given the amount of old buildings in the bay area, most of which have not had full foundation replacements. Long story short, the structural engineer ended up telling me my brick foundation could not be retrofit and would need to be fully replaced. I got quotes for doing a full foundation replacement, and the cost was eye popping and made no sense financially given the house otherwise was not suffering any problems due to the foundation. I came across Howard's website while trying to figure out if there were any other options, and was heartened by his scientifically sound videos about retrofitting brick foundations. He inspected my house and made a custom plan to augment my foundation within the footprint of the basement and bolt the house to the new concrete footings. The cost for doing this was 1/4 the cost of a full foundation replacement and he took the time and energy to walk me through the reasoning and the math for why this would be sufficient to keep my house on its foundation during a major earthquake, which is what you need to prevent catastrophic damage. It took a bit of time to get the work scheduled (they're busy, for good reason!), but once his team got started they were the best contractor team I've ever worked with. I hardly noticed the work was going on while they were there, and they made sure to do things like keep my front garage door closed while they were working down below. The resulting work looks great and they ended up overbuilding compared to the plan, giving an even larger margin of safety. While of course only the results of a large earthquake will fully tell, it's a big weight off my chest knowing that the house is as prepped as it could be. It's clear that Howard is passionate about earthquake safety and takes pride in the work he does. It's a tough job crawling under buildings and digging in the dirt. He is a highly experienced expert at what he does and you won't regret hiring him.

I did extensive research and received a half dozen quotes for the soft story and bolt+brace…read moreearthquake retrofit of my 1890 victorian in San Francisco. Howard is clearly incredibly knowledgeable, and the team helped me understand what my home really needed vs. what was gross overkill/a money grab. They were far from the most inexpensive, but also far from the most expensive. The teams were knowledgeable, professional, and on time. The project was pretty extensive and took several months, but I'm thrilled with the results and hope I never need to experience the quality of their craftsmanship!

We had an amazing experience working with Dana the project manager from The Green Group on our…read morekitchen remodel. She handled everything from A to Z with incredible professionalism and care. Dana is extremely detailed, organized, and attentive throughout the entire process. Every step was managed smoothly, and we always felt informed and confident in the decisions being made. Our kitchen turned out absolutely amazing even better than we imagined! I highly recommend Dana and The Green Group to anyone looking for a seamless and high-quality remodeling experience.

We hired Green Group, specifically Tula, to do an extensive renovation of our bathroom after he was…read morerecommended by a friend. It was a complicated renovation involving moving the shower, switching water heater tank to tankless, removing walls etc. Tula and his team were excellent to work with and did a great job. I would highly recommend him! He was incredibly responsive and accommodating when changes were needed or surprises came up. His easy going manner made the project less stressful!

First: I have not used Troy Construction. So why am I reviewing them? Because out of half a dozen…read morecontractors we met, Bulent was my favorite. We did not choose Troy Construction due mainly due to timing (he couldn't start our project for 3-4 months due to his busy schedule). So why was he my favorite? He was down to earth, was very enthusiastic, clearly understood what we wanted to do, and had a lot of useful advice for us. Even though he had a busy schedule (which we didn't know until we asked him when he could start the project), he spent over an hour with us discussing our project. While we ultimately chose another contractor, we already know we want to use Troy Construction for our next big house project...

We had Bulent and his crew install a new bedroom and 2 bathrooms to our existing home in Richmond…read more It was quite a undertaking! Bulent and his crew were awesome to work with! They were polite, efficient and made the disruption as minimal as possible. Bulent kept us informed every step of the way. He is professional, personable and very easy to work with. Can't say enough good things about Troy construction!

I saw all of these 5 star reviews for Home Quality Remodeling and I thought 'they seem too good to…read morebe true'. We interviewed 4 companies for our project; which was a bedroom refresh (including removing popcorn from the ceiling) and a full bathroom remodel. All of the companies were around the same as far as cost for what we wanted on the bathroom. One of the companies didn't seem to want the bedroom part of the project and were really over charging for it. One of the representatives couldn't seem to keep times and dates straight, so we were down to two companies. We have never done a remodeling project like this and I had A LOT of questions. Shay at Home Quality Remodeling took the time to answer the many questions that I had, and he came back multiple times to lay out what we wanted. He was low pressure and patient, and he really seemed to want the business. So we went with him. Shay spent a lot of time explaining processes that I didn't really understand...I'm sure that I tried his patience more than a few times. Like many people, we went into this remodel project imagining all of the things that can go wrong and an idealized version of what we wanted. While there were a few hiccups, everything was completed ahead of schedule and totally to our satisfaction. The team who was on site doing all of the work were courteous and helpful. They cleaned up often and thoroughly and were willing to do more than required to make sure that the job was up to their exacting requirements. When all is said and done, we are very happy with the final result and wouldn't hesitate to have these guys do more work in the future. So I am adding to the five star review-although some of the processes were a challenge, the end result deserves no less than five stars I am somewhat embarrassed with the before pictures, you don't really see how bad things are until you see the improvement - from a 30 year old raising three boys beat the hell out of it bathroom to the new, luxurious bathroom that we have now.

This past year I hired Home Quality Remodeling to remodel my two upstairs bathrooms (the master…read morebath and guest bath). This included a complete demo of the master bath (including removing the tub and extending the shower) and partial demo of the guest bath. I was very happy and pleased with the results. From the beginning of the design phase through the final touches of the "punch list" my HQR Project manager, Ronnie Illan, was in constant contact with me. He helped me with materials questions, project timelines and even picked up some of the materials for me. From the beginning it was clear my satisfaction was his number one priority. The contractors HQR used on my project were equally friendly and easy to communicate with. Even when I made some changes in the middle of the remodel (which is bound to happen!) everyone was friendly and accommodating. In short, I was very pleased with the work HQR did and I would highly encourage others to include them when you are getting bids...I'm sure you won't be disappointed! Attached are pictures of both remodeled bathrooms. I've included pictures of the original master bath as well as the 3D rendering of the remodeled master bath BEFORE any work was done. Notice how close the new Master Bath is to the 3D rendering.

Nisan was very helpful on guiding me via the permit process for earthquake retrofit. Work was…read moreexecuted quickly. Thanks

A BIG thanks to Ryan and his crew for doing an excellent job doing the Earthquake Brace & Boldt at…read moremy parent's house. Easy to work with from the beginning to the end and completed in a timely manner. Also, Ryan answered all my questions even on his days off (Thanks again Ryan!).

I've had Damon & his crew (Carlos, Carlitos, Marcos, Samuel) do a couple jobs for me now (these…read morethings tend to snowball, ugh, lol) & they've always done top-notch work. I had a fan in my master bathroom crap out on me, which was weird, since I only bought my place 4 years ago, it was newly remodeled, & I even remodeled some more on top of that. My wife pointed out it wasn't working, but it looked new to me, so I popped the cover to find out...not new at all. New COVER over a fan that was a year younger than the missus. Uh oh. The old "lipstick on a pig" boogie from the prior owners/ seller. Damn. Hate getting hoodwinked. So, I think "well, better check the 'new' fan in the guest bath too." Pop THAT shiny, nice cover & ...same drill but even OLDER. Some mid-80's (I think) giant 13" circular fan they don't even make anymore. Double ugh. Last stop: laundry room. Final fan, pop the cover...whew, it's actually a new-ish fan. 1 outta 3 ain't bad, right? /sigh So I put out the feelers for an electrician (I had 2 dead outlets, 1 indoor, 1 outdoor as well) & after doing the "online quote" thing w/ Yelp, I got in touch w/ Damon @ Berkeley Home Repair. Funny dude, super helpful, quick & responsive. He schedules his electrician, Carlitos, to come out ASAP, for what I think is gonna just be a basic fan install & outlet fix job. Nope. Carlitos goes into the attic & discovers the ducts are all wrong. 3 fans running thru 2 ducts, both bathrooms on the same 4" line, & laundry room on some weird 3" duct. Now, you can get away with 4", but 6" is code & preferred, & every fan has to be on its own dedicated/ independent duct, or you're just blowing moisture from room to room & into the attic. Not good. We crawl the attic together & confirm I need a 3rd roof penetration & new ducts. So much for cheap & easy. Damn. Damon adjusts the bid (as gently as possible, considering my costs just went up almost 10x) & I wind up with 2 brand new Panasonic Whisper Quiet fans (amazing. Almost TOO quiet), a new roof penetration & cap, new independent 6" ducts for each fan, an excellent sheetrock patch & paintjob on my guest bath ceiling (prior, old-timey fan was just way too huge compared to current models) AND Carlitos fixed both dead power outlets (one of which turned out to be an arcing short/ broken wire inside the wall, which we were lucky to catch before a fire). All the workers were amazing to work with & did great on their specific parts of the now much larger order. Everyone worked quickly &, despite the gig snowballing far beyond the expected, Damon priced fairly & had the work done as fast as possible with minimal intrusion & inconvenience (crucial during these pandemic "work from home" times) Tho it was obviously a bummer to have a small job turn into a much bigger & more expensive one, I always felt like I was in good hands with Damon, his communication was clear, direct, quick & honest, & the outcome was excellent. I'll definitely be using Berkeley Home Repair for future work, since homeownership often means nasty surprises like the one I got ain't all that rare, unfortunately. Heh. At least now I know who to call to get sorted fairly & quickly. Thanks fellas! Will try to post pics when I get a chance...but most of this was "behind the scenes" work, or what my buddy likes to call "invisible money", heh.

I called this company and spoke to a guy named Damon who asked me to text him photos of the project…read moreI had in mind as well as a diagram with measurements. I did that. In fact, on the call he said I could text or email him and I asked specifically which mode he preferred - he said that text would get the fastest response. So I texted. No response. Called a couple times. No reply. This place has either closed or has awful customer service and communication. I'm grateful that I didn't spend long on this company but I still wish I could get my time and energy back spent schmoozing this guy who would end up ghosting me Edit: I got a notification 35 minutes after posting this review that he commented and I couldn't be happier that I left one star. Bro wrote an actual essay on yelp instead of doing good business