If I could give Mountain Top Construction 6 stars I would. I might possibly be the trickiest client they have ever had and yet they only ever met me with patience, understanding and huge empathy. Not exactly what you'd expect from a general contractor but this is what they offered time and time again.
In January 2022, I decided that it was time to address a long neglected entire floor of my elderly mother's house. The bottom floor which, at one time, had held two rooms, a kitchenette and half bath, had been home to my uncle. When we no longer needed it for someone to live in, my father took down the wall between the two rooms to create one large room. This is where his new pool table resided. After my father passed in the late 90's, this floor unintentionally became a storage unit and general dumping ground for boxes, clutter and furniture my Mom used to find at garage sales. 'We could put it in the third floor' was an often repeated phrase whenever anyone had something they wanted to keep but nowhere to store.
A leak from a bathroom shower stall directly above meant that there was a giant hole in the ceiling. At some point, someone in my family removed all the drywall in the half bath. The window was then broken. The overall vibe was crack den. I don't know how else to describe it. It was floor to ceiling with boxes, rubbish, furniture and in such a state of disrepair that I felt overwhelmed every time I set foot downstairs.
I started gathering quotes in January 2022 and they varied in price and scope. But it was only then that I was made aware of all of the other neglected areas of my Mom's home. I've never owned a home of my own before and was at the bottom of a steep learning curve. After addressing a few of those issues, I decided that I had to have another go figuring out how to get this space renovated. It was August 2022, when I made contact with Mountain Top via Yelp. I also contacted some other contractors at the same time.
This is probably when I should mention that I live in the UK. My mother at this point was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and though I had been looking after bills and medical visits for awhile, my responsibilities had very much stepped up a notch. My trips to SF, at that time, were short with a very long to-do list. Karla came to have a look in person working to my demands that she had to come and see it before I flew back to London. Although one other contractor also flexed to my schedule to come round and look, he has, to this day, never come back to me with a quote.
We decided that the space would function better with a few minor changes but these would require an architect and plans. They have someone in house, Thomas, who was able to have a Zoom call with me and understand my priorities for the space. He drew up plans that, ultimately, were instrumental in obtaining a permit with the City first time around.
But then, we hit a major obstacle. My mother became very ill and was in the hospital for four months. So after we had gone to the time, trouble and expense of architects plans, the project was to stall because, we had no idea when, if ever, we could go ahead.
Once my mother came home from the hospital in Feb '23, she was wheelchair bound. This presented us with a scenario I had never prepared myself. We had no money at this point so I had to stall Karla for a second time.
Finally securing the funds in the early summer of 2023, we then set about fixing a timeline to begin work in Oct '23. It took me 6 weeks in May/June to clear the space.
The pressure I was under working my full time job in London and managing my Mom's entire life from a distance was immense. Karla remained responsive, supportive and made this process as easy as she could for me. I spent many, many late nights in London ordering materials online but this was only possible based on the fact that Karla did research first, sent me links, made suggestions... we kept a Google spreadsheet with what we needed when and were forever updating it and leaving comments for each other.
The difficulties of running a project like this when your client is 6000 miles away and 8 hours ahead with a constantly changing landscape in terms of my Mom's health can't be overstated. Karla often had to poke and prod me for a response but there was never one occasion where I felt she had run out of patience with me. She is organised, calm, cool headed and a person who I would have in the trenches with me every time.
Although the completion was a few weeks out (due to inspection schedules and Christmas), I can't complain. The final result in Jan '24 was an absolute, indescribable transformation. One of the hardest things I have ever accomplished in my life and one of the things I am most proud of, too. All impossible without Karla's outstanding PM skills and diplomacy. I have only scratched the surface here but I cannot recommend Mountain Top highly enough. read more