We hired Berkeley Craftsmen for a major remodel of a 1932 house, and they exceeded our expectations…read morein every possible dimension. It is exceedingly rare to find all the qualities you want in a general contractor--top to bottom throughout an organization--but Berkeley Craftsmen delivered them all: exceptional competence and skill, absolute reliability and trustworthiness, meticulous attention to detail, and a genuinely delightful team to work with. They should really be called Berkeley Perfectionists--in the best sense of the term. We would walk through the house, and someone would suggest moving something "one inch," and every time they were right. It's hard to believe, but they cared about our house just as much as we did. The entire team worked incredibly hard and steadily over the course of ten months. Even when we expanded the project scope--sometimes at their insistence, because they were committed to doing things properly--they stuck to the schedule and finished on the promised date. Literally no one could believe it, but we moved in on the day we had agreed to at the start. We cannot speak highly enough of the integrity, craftsmanship, and quality of Berkeley Craftsmen's work. And just as important, we were lucky to enjoy the camaraderie and collaboration that came with working alongside this remarkable team.

We undertook a very extensive renovation of our house in El Cerrito, and met with Berkeley…read moreCraftsmen on the recommendation of our architect. We are so eternally grateful for the introduction, and for their availability in taking on our project. I truly can't express adequately what a wonderful job they did building our home. The care and attention to every little detail, the excellence of every aspect of the work, and above all the quick, clear and responsive communication, at every stage of the huge project, were all outstanding. Mark Butler has continued to follow up long after most of the crews have gone, personally coming by to finish small punch-list items, making sure we are 100% satisfied. This project was very extensive, like down to the studs, with new foundation and drainage elements, all new interiors with drywall, new floors, complete new plumbing and electrical system, new exterior, solar system, windows, doors, everything, and we are completely in love with everything BC and all their subcontractors did for us. I can't recommend them highly enough, truly an exceptional company. It restores one's faith that there are still true craftsmen in the world who take their jobs seriously, and believe in honesty and integrity.

The first time we worked with Karen was back in 2015 when she remodeled our master bedroom addition…read moreand en suite. We got several bids to start but ended up going with her bc she quoted a fair price and offered a detailed breakdown of the costs of the project.  We're so glad we went with her bc throughout the process, she was very friendly and communicative and very honest about everything. She knew we were on a budget and tried her best to stay within that budget. We trusted her so much, we called upon her again 7 years later to do a small bathroom renovation.  She said she could get it done within a month and we're so happy with it! It turned out even better than we imagined. Her guys worked so hard to make this tiny bathroom look amazing! There were some misunderstandings on both our ends regarding the layout and estimate we had to clear up, but Karen was nice enough to reimburse us for some of the things to keep the project on budget.  We trust her implicitly and if she gives us an estimate, we're not second guessing or wondering if we're getting ripped off like we might be left wondering with other contractors. We appreciate her hard work and honesty, and we genuinely enjoyed getting to know her better through working with her. She's very sweet and we always enjoy talking to her! Beth was also amazing - always checking in with us to make sure we were happy with how things were going.  We loved working with Karen and her team! :)

Dinardo Construction provided a proposal for a master suite addition to my home. Although I ended…read moreup hiring a different contractor, Beth and Karen were friendly, responsive, and overall great to work with.

Tom and his crew built a new backyard fence for us in Berkeley and did an excellent job. This is a…read morecustom design (not a typical board fence) and it looks beautiful. Tom took care of elevation changes between the yards and installed pressure treated boards as mini retaining walls. He also recommended staining and sealing the fence and this will make it last longer. Tom kept me informed along the way and was easy to work with. He has many years of experience and it shows. His rates are very reasonable. I would recommend Tom to anyone.

We've been using Greyrock for all our repairs and upgrades for more than five years because of…read moretheir excellent work and very reasonable rates. Over the years, they've completely remodeled two kitchens and a bathroom for us, in addition to numerous other projects that included laying floors, hanging doors, building fences, replacing water lines, and repairing inferior work done by others. We've never found anything they couldn't do, including plumbing, wiring, and expert carpentry. They're creative problem solvers and have in-depth knowledge of building codes. Their work is consistently professional and aesthetically pleasing and always passes city inspection. In addition, they're easy to work with, cheerfully accommodating even the most unusual requests and never leaving a mess at the end of the day. We recommend them without reservation.

This may be a legit construction firm, but we'll never know. We were introduced to them by a local…read morereal estate agent, we tried to contact them several times, got one email back then we were ghosted, never to hear from them again. Today I got an email asking for us to be a referral for them. yeah, no.

Here's an enthusiastic yelp for Chris Houk of Houk Construction. I am a Realtor who does business…read morein the San Francisco East Bay and Chris has been a referral I have given to my clients for some time. Recently Chris worked with me on one of my own home projects and I have to say, Chris went way above and beyond the call of duty to bring about a happy ending to what could have been an expensive, hassle of a crisis for me. My clients say Chris is personable and easy to understand, true to his word on price and consistently does quality work. It's been important to them to actually like and trust the contractor who spends so much time in their home. The truly outstanding thing about Chris is that he takes on his client's situation as if it were his own and works creatively to find the elegant solution. Recently, Chris helped me navigate some really tricky communications with the City of El Cerrito Building Services. In the end, the City representatives proved to be very reasonable in their requirements, but that WASN'T the way things started out! If I hadn't had Chris' help in the early stages, I surely would have gotten caught up in alot of bureaucracy and things might not have gone so well at all. Even Realtors need good representation! A++ for Houk Construction! Thank you, Chris!

We have worked with Jeff Altmann and his crew on multiple projects, large and small. From a…read morecomplete kitchen renovation ( including foundations) to studio rebuild from the studs on out, to small cabinets, Jeff, Marty, and their rough and finish carpenters hit all the high marks on timeliness and meeting budget. And they came back at no extra cost to fix or update things when needed. I also noticed that over nearly a decade, his subs got better. The thing that really sets Altmann apart from others is a combination of old-school craftsmanship, modern tech and sensibilities when required, and that X factor of personal touch, patience, being able to listen, and posing the right questions.

I just finished a major kitchen remodel with Jeff and I'm just thrilled - both with the process and…read morethe result. He took the kitchen down to studs and bare floor and ripped out a wall and still managed to finish on time and on budget. And the work is impeccable. Jeff's entire crew is fantastic. We had to make a couple of unexpected decisions in the middle of the project and I was really impressed with how his project manager Marty and his lead carpenter Israel helped me problem solve. Almost everyone on his team is as personable as they are skilled. I can not recommend them enough.

I recently had Miller's Builders completely renovate my very old kitchen, add a 1/2 bath, and at…read morethe same time do a complete seismic retrofit in the basement. My house was built in 1918. At that time, there was a wood burning stove in the kitchen. It was vented by a chimney that went from the basement up through the kitchen and then through an upstairs bedroom and out the roof. Sometime, probably mid 20th century, the kitchen was updated and the chimney was enclosed in a wall separating the space into a laundry room and tiny toilet room at the back wall of the house, and the kitchen in the front part of the original space. There were windows in the kitchen side wall originally, but before we moved in, in 1989, a building was built next-door up against my roof-line, leaving almost no natural light in the kitchen. After an architect and engineer confirmed the safety of taking out the chimney and wall surrounding it and cutting a huge picture window in the back wall of the house, Charles Miller, owner, and his friendly team of skilled craftsmen got to work. Charles and Julia, his project manager assistant, were completely on top of details like the order of work, procurement of materials, and scheduling sub-contractors so that the progress of the work was not interrupted. Also, when it comes to finishes, these people are perfectionists! The tiniest cosmetic details were handled with an aesthetic and artistic eye. If something needed to be re-done, Charles pointed out to me if I didn't notice it, and it was re-done without complaint. This project took about 5.5 months until full completion and I was able to use the kitchen by about 5 months. I did not have the luxury of moving out during the remodel, so I welcomed that the crew worked just Mondays through Thursdays. I enjoyed 3 day weekends without construction noise. I was the designer of the kitchen, aided by my architect, and my cabinet designer from Home Depot. So, it was useful to be available when necessary, to make choices of things like flooring, tiling, lighting and innards of the cabinets. One special highlight was installing inset stud-bay shelving on one wall. Martin, the carpenter extraordinaire, meticulously created gorgeous shallow shelves for both decorative and functional items. My friends come into my new gorgeous kitchen with natural and LED lighting and give it delighted praise. I'm here to say you can trust Miller's Builders to do the job right with friendly helpful attitudes. And the price was towards the lower end of the 4 bids I received before making my decision. Honestly, I miss these guys.

Millers Builders did a phenomenal job on our project, which was converting a 1-car garage into an…read moreADU with a full kitchen and bathroom. They also helped us with our front gate and leveling part of our front yard for a parking pad. Throughout the process, Charles was extremely communicative and thorough. He really takes care to understand what details you care about, eliciting feedback every step of the way. He is very friendly and personable, and goes out of his way to make sure the finishing touches are exactly what you're looking for. The team was all super friendly and kind to everyone they encountered, including our neighbors and kids. They were all clearly talented at their trades and did a nice job pulling the whole project together. This team can do anything, and they will do it with a lot of pride and craftsmanship. I would without a doubt not hesitate to work with Charles and his team again, and strongly recommend them to anyone looking for a great contractor.

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!

1. Emailed Stuart Construction with a description of our project and request to schedule a time for…read morea consult. No reply after more than a week. 2. Called their telephone number only to get a voicemail message saying the voicemail box was full and could not accept any messages. 3. Called again and spoke to Jimmy who asked me to email him the details of the job. 4. Emailed Jimmy, more days went by without a response. 5. Received a call from Jimmy and apology. He said there was a possibility of stopping by our house that weekend to walk through, and would call to followup. Never received a call. The end.

Jim Stuart did a major remodel for us in 2004. It included digging down to create drainage under…read moreour house and adding 500 sq feet of downstairs living space plus an entire kitchen re-do upstairs and an indoor staircase. He estimated 6 months and was gone in 6 months 3 weeks. All the work he did was high quality and has held up beautifully. Today a question came up during another project and I needed his memory/knowledge. He offered to come over and came and assessed the situation, reviewed the old building plans with me and offered advice about next steps. That is really high quality service!