What I love about this company is that they're very responsive. They came out to do a walkthrough for our interior home remodel. Arlen & Sofia were very professional, had a lot of knowledge & got an estimate back to us fairly quickly after our visit. We will definitely be using them and passing along their information to friends and family. read more

Just completed a project with Lee & Co. in Grass Valley and couldn't be happier. Great communication throughout the project, clearly takes pride in their work, and the results are fantastic. Professional, reliable, and high-quality craftsmanship. Highly recommend! read more

John and Arlen are a pleasure to work with. As a designer, they do not only respond immediately to any situation thrown at them but also provide smart solutions to any problem that may arise in a remodel project. They approach every obstacle with a positive attitude and provide construction input when necessary. They have great client-contractor relationships that make the entirety of the project run smoother. They are always there for the client. They have a great team of sub contractors and work efficiently through all phases of construction. Neill & Lee, as a company, is fresh and one can tell that they have fun with their job. I would highly recommend them for any SF residential remodel. read more

I'd worked with John and Arlen back when their company was called "Neill and Lee". Their work was impeccable - high quality, on time, well managed, and not a single dollar over budget. Little did I realize that Lee and Co is not the same company and Neill and Lee as John and Arlen no longer work together. Naturally, when it was time to do an extensive remodel including a kitchen, bathroom and a few other items, I reached out to them. My wife and I were a few months from getting married and were looking for a drama free remodel as we had a lot on our plate. We quoted multiple contractors, and even though Arlen was the most expensive option, we went with them on the theory that we were paying for high quality work and smooth project management. I could write pages about the project and my blood still boils when I think about it. I'll try and keep it short. The supposedly 8 week project dragged on for over 8 months, and they never finished. In the end we agreed to part ways with an incomplete project and a partial payment because my wife and I were sick and tired of waiting for them to show up and finish the work. They're nice people and they mean well, but their project management skills and attention to detail are just not what I expected given my past experience and their premium price point. For example, our shower had to be redone three times - the first time they measured wrong and the waterproofing didn't extend to the full shower. They tried to tile over un-waterproofed drywall on part of the shower. Then the second time the white grout turned yellow and in the process of fixing it they damaged the tile so much they had to start over. The third time they used the wrong grout color and cracked our accent tile. That's when we gave up on working with them. Our grout is still the wrong color and the tile is still cracked. And this is only one of what feels like a million items like this. Our laundry closet was smaller than the drawings and couldn't fit our machines ("just use european machines" we were told). Our countertops were installed poorly and cracked and had to be partially redone. The second round of countertops were cut too small and there was a gap between the counter and the backsplash... We can't plug appliances into our kitchen outlets without tripping the breaker much of the time. Our dishwasher randomly floods our counter occasionally. Sometimes when we shower in our new bathroom the breaker trips in there, leaving you in the dark and having to walk down to the street, and into the garage to flip it back on. I could go on... These guys had good intentions and to be fair they tried really hard to make it right, but (on our project at least) we got totally incompetent project management that led to incredible levels of frustration on both sides. By the time Arlen finally stepped in (after many months of asking for him to sort his team's mess out), tensions were at an all time high and there was no saving this relationship. Don't fall for the sexy website or the promises of impeccable project management and high quality work. For us at least, the reality did not live up to the promise. read more

Wow! Took someone 3 freakin weeks to respond to my email. And on top of that, Roy Panaligan responded: "Thank you so much for your inquiry. Most if not all of our job sites are located in San Francisco." It's like seriously? Do you not want any freaking business? Guess not. Glad I am not using these jerks! They will probably over price you and take all your money and do a crappy job. DO NOT PAY FOR THEIR SERVICE! TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! If i could rate them i would give Negative 10. Thumbs down! read more

As a professional myself, I appreciate Arlen's approach to business and his professionalism in dealing with all aspects of our project. Arlen has been involved in the execution of two design projects for us and our client in San Francisco. We value his attention to detail and flexibility in obtaining value from his subs while providing fantastic quality. Both projects required a nimble approach, discretion, and odd hours to keep our client's operation going without interruption. Thank you to Arlen and his crew! read more

Reviews written prior to November 2015 are NOT for this company. The business changed ownership in 11/2015. The name was changed to Lee & Co. in mid-2016. Most reviews are for the OLD company/owners (Neill & Lee Contractors). My personal experience with the old ownership was great! However, my experience with the current ownership has been very poor. read more

Prior to hiring Arlen Lee or Neill & Lee Contractors, I checked with several other contractors recommended by different folks including my real estate agent, my previous landlord, my former neighbor -- a professional real estate flipper, and my hair cutter. While most of them had no problems meeting me for the initial estimate, you'd be amazed at how a) brief their proposals were and b) how lackidasical they were in getting back to me with a price. Even if $5-15K worth of work doesn't sound like much to most contractors (esp compared to $500K+ jobs), I worked hard for that money so I want a little more than one line that states "yes, we're gonna redo your basement slab". Arlen was quite prompt when it came to delivering a quotation and always met his commitments (appointments, proposal delivery dates, etc). Unlike some of the other quotes, Arlen's proposals were a detailed break down listing a line item for each "job" and describing how the highlighted problem would be solved. IMO, this is probably his best selling point. Personally, after working with Arlen for over a month (the projects were spaced out), I'm convinced that N&L are professional contractors who abide by the "we'll do what it takes to make the customer happy" credo. While I'm sure that there are other contractors in SF who also abide by this same mantra, it STILL helps to have a detailed proposal/contract that governs your business relationship. IMO, that always trumps glib lines of "trust me, I'm a professional" and a handshake. Each invoice had a clear line item labor, materials, and contractors fee breakdown. After reviewing one bill (I had several jobs done over time and asked for a preliminary bill to settle up with N&L about 1/2 through the total work), I inquired about one charge that seemed to me a bit long (time wise). Instead of getting all huffy and taking it personally, Arlen replied promptly with an honest email outlining all the steps his worker had to take to solve the problem (which was significantly more than I initially estimated). Arlen was also good about offering multiple suggestions on how to solve some of my problems (ex: I bought my house with the water heater not being vented properly). Whenever there was a building code question that came up that Arlen couldn't answer himself, he was able to get an answer from the folks he works with (the specialists). IMO, that's part of his "value-add" and something I came to appreciate. The first and most intensive job that N&L tackled for me was my basement/garage slab. While the slab itself was non-weight bearing, the house is on a hill so the basement gets wet during the winter months and would pool up because of improper drainage. The net result was a cracked "dingy" look to the garage. The N&L team pulled the appropriate permits, demolished the old slab, hauled out the rubble, laid down new rocks & a matrix of rebar, and re-poured/shaped the new slabs to direct the water to an existing drain. Other contractors offered just to pour new concrete over the old slab to make it look better. While this would have been cheaper, I was concerned about water getting in between the new slab and the old one. Furthermore, since the other proposals didn't save me much money compared to the one from N&L and the proposal they gave me was clearly the right way to handle the project, I ended up selecting N&L. During the construction, everything was taken care of (covered), the work was done quickly, the drainage was tested repeatedly, and the site was cleaned up well afterwards. When it came to checking out some sub contractors (like the roofers and the HVAC guy I needed to hire), Arlen gave me his opinion of the each contractor's work and tradeoffs between that company and the next cheaper/more expensive guy. Both of these projects are now complete and I am more than satisfied with the folks Arlen recommended & I ended up selecting. I definitely plan on using Arlen when I have some more intensive projects to handle (for example: at some point, my wife might compel me to add a dishwasher to our kitchen). read more

I'm not a big yelp reviewer but I have to say it's worth posting a review when you find something really worth mentioning. Finally, a group that cares as much about your smaller, mid-size project, as a $2 million job. These guys are great. They rebuilt our back deck--again, not a huge job--but they were responsive (initial quote I had within a day of our 1st meeting), always on time, efficient, and did extremely high caliber work (the deck looks fantastic). We also have young children, and they were very, very careful about their work around the kids. But I was most impressed with how well they handled the smaller details and follow up items. As an example, I had mentioned that the rain gutter above the deck should be replaced (not really part of the job), and the following day Arlen had installed a new gutter and painted it to match--I didn't even have to think twice about it. When we had some punch list items at the end of the project (which in my past experience can sometimes take forever to complete), Arlen or one of his guys was all over to get it finished and get it done right. They were very responsive to questions and requests for changes and you could tell that they wanted to make sure I was completely satisfied with every aspect of their work. If any other projects come up at my home, I'm definitely using them again. read more

This review is not intended to provide input to their work, but more for their customer service, or the lack of... The gist of it is that they came to our condo and gave us a lot of promising ideas and suggestions. Of the 4 contractors we met, we liked them the best and were anxious to move forward. We were under a time constraint because we were remodeling a 1700sqft empty unit and needed to be rented out asap and this wasn't a small project. They ended up totally ignoring us, and I had to follow up to ask them for the proposal. I got a really short email saying "sorry, we're not interested". We were really surprised and I followed up several times because we were desperate and couldn't find the time out of our full days to interview more contractors again. We spent so much time with them in the unit that we were actually late for the following 2 contractors that were supposed to meet after them. Their lack of responsible and considerate feedback created a detriment to us. And by my first impression of them I did not expect them to be that kind of people. Thought this was important to share... read more

VERY UNPROFESSIONAL! We tried to hire Neil & Lee for our kitchen remodel and during the walkthrough they gave us a very reasonable estimate. After two months of waiting for their formal proposal ( during which time they asked for the same information multiple times and claimed it was our fault despite the email evidence to the contrary) the bid was more than twice what we were told during the walk through. If they were two busy to do our job then tell us but don't waste our time just to bid yourself out of the project. Shame us us for trusting their word. read more

We are in the process of renovating a 100 year old SF Edwardian and started on the upstairs rooms. After interviewing and meeting with several contractors we chose Lee & Co. and couldn't be happier. From start to finish, this was an excellent experience. We are still amazed at how meticulous, professional and hard working everyone was and the fact that the project was finished on time-incredible! We want to thank Rob for the personal attention he gave our project and for the outstanding level of communication. We are truly impressed with the results and look forward to continuing our relationship when we get to the downstairs project. read more

John Neill has been my "go to guy" for home repairs for over a year. He is reliable, professional and does top quality work. He was highly recommended by a major construction firm and has lived up to the recommendation on every job. I, in turn, would recommend him to anyone looking for a good contractor. read more