My husband and I purchased a TIC 5 years ago, without really knowing what this would mean down the road, when converting to a condo. All we knew was: that that was the only type of home we could afford in San Francisco! After a few years of "after the fact research" and "prepping of the conversion legally" with our neighbors, we needed to jump both feet into the thick of it all: the city inspection and addressing all the city inspection requirements to be approved. We were so afraid of this stage of the process and it's unknowns!! And then -- we were introduced to VICENTE JIMINEZ, general contractor from JIMINEZ CONSTRUCTION, who had recently remodeled our neighbor's home! Along with a great architect: Jeff Burris, he basically held our hands and took us through the many steps and phases of our condo conversion. From hanging the job card in our window to handing us the final inspection approval note from the city - with a handshake! We probably made Vicente feel very uncomfortable that day with all of our hugs and screaming (of joy that was;)!
Was it an easy process? No, of course not. Big projects like these never come without any surprises: good and bad. You open a wall, you never know what's behind it. More so: You never know what the inspector will require next! But very soon into the big mess of construction, we knew one thing: we were in GOOD HANDS. We never felt alone in this big adventure, and Vicente and his team always made sure to respect our home and lives by making it livable by the end of a working day, 'cause yes: we were living in our home with our one and a half year old baby girl while all of this was going on. Call us crazy!
Quoting a project like a condo conversion must be one of the hardest tasks for a general contractor because even though they have the city inspection report in hand to work off of, some of these requirements are based upon unknown factors, like engineer based test results (?) or not knowing exactly how many wall the inspectors will want you to open in the end - before approval. I have to stress upon the fact that Vicente gave us a very detailed quote based upon the inspection notes, leaving just a few blanks where tangibles came into play, and Vicente never once invoiced us more then he quoted us! Now, this doesn't mean the city requirement's list didn't increase along the way, but that isn't his doing. Those extras of course came with additional quotes and costs. But as a general rule: Vicente stayed right on the dot with his quotes! And that was super important to us. You can imagine how reassuring that is while going along through the construction as we didn't have an endless budget and we wanted to make sure we had committed ourselves to something we would be able to afford/honor in the end.
Vicente kept us informed about every step of the way. He dealt with all of the inspectors coming through to evaluate the progress of the works. Vicente's team is very efficient, pleasant and respectful to have in your home (which is very important when you live and work in your home while the works are going on).
Vicente Jiminez (& team) is highly professional, skilled, resourceful and knowledgeable about the task at hand and San Francisco City codes. But even more so: he cares. Vicente cares about a job well done and about making his clients happy in the end. Which: we are!
If you haven't already gathered the following by my previous notes: My husband and I HIGHLY recommend Jiminez Construction, general contractor. It was a real pleasure working with Vicente! We trusted him with our life savings and have no regrets in having done so -- as he made it happen for us. We will keep using Vicente for all of our other construction needs as we go. read more