We had an amazing experience working with Colm and his team. No one wants to do extensive…read morefoundation and structural work on their home but if you have to, I don't think we would have made it through with anyone else. They were so patient with us when we had to stop or stall work to secure more financing as the scope quadrupled (again, not at all CC's doing, just old houses), and they were just so considerate and sweet as we, insanely, but out of necessity had to live on-site during the very extensive repairs. It was bananas and it turned out beautifully and I think we need to send them a present.

We needed some structural work done on our new home and were referred to Current Construction by a…read morecoworker. We called and set up an appointment and then met with David. He reviewed the plans with us, explained the process, and walked us through the building permit applications . The structural soft story plans were not intuitive to me, but David explained it in a way we could understand and within a week we had a bid. It wasn't the cheapest we received, but we felt confident with his estimate and skills. The job took a total of 6 weeks and that includes getting a new steel beam, foundation upgrade, and installation of of seismic hardware. It was fished on time and on budget, which was much appreciated. As an added benefit, their crew also kept our garage spotless. I'd definitely recommend them!

The quote was high, about $3k higher than other bids. (minus 1 star), but he was the only one that…read morecould do it in the time frame I needed. He went over the time frame (Minus 1 star). After he went over the time frame he called me 3 times a day and my real estate agent demanding the balance that was due to him. I was never informed the work was complete. I was informed that his work was almost complete and that there was contractor mess all over my backyard at the time of the final walk through, which doesn't signal to me that it is complete. He was frantic about the money and rude (minus 1 star). He did a good job, on the actual fence. I wouldn't use him again.

Adrian helped us with work the city required for our condo-conversion. He was quick, reliable…read more(always showed up when he said he would, which I now know is unusual), and recommended a great plumber too! His prices were fair, and he didn't upsell us. The work we asked him to do wasn't sexy or something he'll be putting on his site--but it was exactly what we needed. Now that we're through the conversion and are looking for more specialized work, we'll definitely be calling him back.

Joe and his crew replaced and deepened 80% of our foundation, framed new living space, and added…read moremajor seismic upgrades including shear wall, ties, and foundation bolts. His price was competitive and he was responsive and attentive to our concerns throughout the process. He also went above and beyond in several instances to make sure the project was a success. We would certainly work with him again!

KC Custom Builders made a complex retrofit project look easy, when others couldn't. The plans and…read moreprice were fair, Joe Casey and his guys were never late, finished on time they were, courteous and most of all professional. I will definitely use this company again!

Shaddle Construction was booked up and declined to bid, but I was impressed that they responded…read morequickly to my request. It was a small gesture, but a little bit of politeness goes along way when so many contractors just ghost on you. Thanks John!

I wish I could give 10 stars for Shaddle Construction's work on our master bathroom addition…read more Working with Shaddle Construction was like night and day in comparison to the original contractor we hired who did a horrible job. Shaddle's level of workmanship, attention to our needs, and old-fashioned customer first attitude was clear from the start. The honesty and professionalism of John Shaddle, his subcontractors and his crew were evident in every interaction we had with them. It took us almost a year to find Shaddle Construction after the debacle of the prior contractor, but it was worth the wait. John and his subcontractors figured out how to correct the innumerable errors in workmanship in the bathroom interior and the exterior stucco. The shower needed to be completely demolished and redone. Subcontractor Chris Field meticulously made sure the floor slope was correct, the walls were plumb and painstakingly measured and rechecked his measurements before cutting each tile. Chris used a laser beam and a level to check each tile he installed to make sure the tiles were even. He was patient, professional, exacting and a joy to work with. The resulting installation is absolutely beautiful. Subcontractor Armando, of Armando Plastering, fixed the exterior stucco. He is an artist who managed to match exactly the style of the original 80-year-old stucco. The crew made sure that our house was protected from any dust and debris, cleaned up daily and were respectful of our house and us. We love our new bathroom and are so grateful to Shaddle Construction for making our dream finally come to reality. Our faith in people and contractors was restored. Thank you, John!

Josh is a great salesman and my confidence was never higher in his team's work than when he was…read morearound. At the end of the day, I am really happy with the quality of 90% of the work, which is why I'm giving 4 stars. I think underlying Covid-related problems caused most of the grief in our 2021 kitchen remodel: supply chain issues & illnesses causing delays that chain-reacted to stretch a 3-month timeline to 6 months, plus Josh's workload was double of normal with the same number of subs because all his 2020 jobs had been paused and came back ready to resume earlier than expected. I was accordingly understanding, but I still felt like we often got deprioritized as clients-- maybe because I wasn't calling to yell at him, like I overheard once. I almost tried to pitch my project management services to help him manage! We also had a stickler inspector who asked us to expand the scope of the initial project beyond what we budgeted or that Josh wanted to make time for (to rewire the rest of the house vs. just the kitchen). Despite (or because of) these external problems, Josh struggled with managing our expectations/communications. He knew we were first-time renovators who don't know when to ask questions vs. wait to see how it turns out. I am also a project manager in another field, so I love context and details. He seemed defensive and frustrated with us at times despite us trying to be as patient as we could be. I'm sure we weren't perfect clients, but we were trying to be really easygoing about it. Quality-wise: I love just about everything but the paint, which was sloppy in many places and in some cases peeled less than a year later (I suspect it wasn't sanded/prepped properly). I was also disappointed in the visual execution of the plumbing (it works fine), which Josh told me would not be plumbed on the exterior of the house, but was anyway. Plumbers also forgot to add an exterior water spigot but after the 3rd reminder, I gave up. The "construction cleaners" Josh hired to wrap did an okay first-pass on the dust and small debris, but it wasn't really livable until I did my own second pass, then hired another cleaner to do a third-pass deep clean. We also made the classic first-timer mistake of sending the final check before the last punch-list was ever complete. For a few months Josh kept saying "oh yeah I'll be by to take care of that next week" until we gave up and DIY'd a few finishing details and got rid of stuff the crew left behind. None of it was too complicated and it doesn't kill us to practice these skills: quarter round moulding for one wall of the floor, a couple gaps to close between cabinet and wall, capping the old sink pipe, caulking the sink fixtures, and paint touchups throughout. I hope I *never* need to do this extensive of a remodel again (at least not while I'm living in the guest room downstairs!). But if I do, because of the overall quality I would give Josh the benefit of the doubt on those extenuating circumstances.

Although we move forward with a different contractor, Josh provided competitive and quick quotes…read more He was helpful, knowledgeable, and personable; wouldn't hesitate to hire for future projects.

Who knows!? Came by, acted very interested in the project, confirmed we'd receive a bid in two…read moreweeks. Then for two+ months kept telling us they "hoped" to get us the bid "soon". And here we are 6+ months later. It's ok to turndown a project. But, just say it clearly and honestly. Stringing people along and never proactively offering info is plain rude.

I hired Jason Smith (aka Black Oak Construction) in October 2016 to work on my house in Oakland…read morewhich needed a new foundation and some work on the interior. I had the single most unprofessional experience working with him and one of his two subcontractors that I have heard of anyone having with a contractor. A job that, according to Jason's own paper contract, was supposed to take 4-6 weeks, ending December 7th 2016, dragged on until February 24th 2017 when I fired him. It was a rainy winter and he started calling his men off the job sometime in mid December because of too much rain, and I, trying to be understanding, allowed it for a few weeks, even though they were already way past schedule before the rain started. But when at the end of December I mentioned the interior still had not been finished and that I didn't understand why his men couldn't work on that if it's raining, he left me an angry voicemail and came up with excuse after excuse, and finally, in early January, rallied his men to put in 3 solid days of work on the interior. They didn't finish, but he had already moved them on to other contracts and didn't have time, one subcontractor kept saying so the few times he'd show up in the week to put in an hour or two at my place, he would often leave abruptly saying he has other jobs to go to. This is after being 2.5 months late on finishing the job I had hired them to do, they behaved like they were doing me a favor by coming once a week, even though I had paid for the entire job at that point, and I found myself begging 50-something year-old men to show up and do their work. It was demoralizing, disgusting, and unprofessional, and Jason was the only one my complaints went through so he is entirely responsible for how the situation was handled. He treated me like a little girl who didn't know any better and so he could make up excuses and reasons I was wrong not to expect things to be finished. I paid fully for a job that was 300% late in the end, and never finished, and which he refused to partially refund me on when I fired him. His guys eventually had done most of the work, which is why I had paid, but I fired them after I finally got the permit through the city for my new foundation in hand February, because I felt I could safely break ties with his circus at that point without having to hire someone else and start over trying to communicate with the city inspector. I have heard several stories from my friends about dealing with shady contractors but even they were shocked by how blatantly disrespectful Jason Smith was of my time and money, and how openly he lied about prioritizing other, newer contracts when he was beyond late on mine. This guy has no business running a construction "company" and I would caution anyone considering working with him to run the other way. During this whole ordeal I became aware of other customers who were unhappy with his work and with whom he'd had to settle with out of court, and I came to understand that I should have fired him in late November when it became clear he was egregiously late, instead of trying to help him get back on schedule by ordering materials myself. This was my first time dealing with contractors and I will never again, after dealing with Jason Smith. My house was far from a fixer upper for Oakland standards, and yet I lived with their unprofessional mess and trash for 4.5 months and was expected to not ask questions about why nobody was showing up. The only positive thing about the entire experience was one subcontractor, Daniel, who showed up and finished his work and did a great job on the foundation, and, as far as I know, never ran off to other jobs before completing his work.

I'm one of the owners of Domicile, a cabinet and design showroom at the San Francisco Design…read moreCenter. We specialize in kitchens, baths and functional areas of the home. I have been in this business since 1974 and have worked with contractors who range from cowboys with hammers to mega developes in Manila and the normal people in between. One assumes that if someone has a contractor's license you're going to get the finest quality work and that these workers are capable of doing whatever project they are hired to do. What elevates some contractors to a level above the rest is rational analysis of problems that may arise. The designer might be a tad dyslexic, the architect's draftsperson might inadvertantly err, materials might fall off the back of the truck, someone's toolbelt might accidently mar finished material - name your construction nightmare then analyze how the contractor reacts. Sean Kennedy never seems to derail. He takes a deep breath, discusses the options and resolves the issues, whatever they may be, in a mature, deliberate and calm manner. This is so important when you're working with a contractor. There are always surprises in renovation. Integrity should be this man's middle name. There is no blame, there is resolution and the end results are always at or above what the owner has expected. I can't tell you what a joy it is to work with Sean and his staff. They do what they're hired to do, in a timely manner, at the highest level of quality and for the amount of money that has been agreed to. This is what you expect from a contractor and this is consistently what you get from Sean Kennedy and Phollies. Hire these guys. You won't be sorry.

Phollies installed double paned windows in our property and did major dry rot repair work. Also…read moreSean's subcontractor painted the building. Everything done was five star work.

Green sequoia caused a disaster with my backyard. Sad part is that we had great experiences with…read morethem before and chose them because of that. If you are doing an outside project, don't pick green sequoia as this seems to be a trend (see Jonathan's review from July 2019). They kept demo'ing after finding an issue, making it worse, and then they left us hanging for a month until they were finally removed from the job. Overall, Green Sequoia did more harm than good on this. Not sure new management is working out. Full story: Green Sequoia previously did our bathroom and did a great job. Jessie and Victoria also did our closet. Love those two. We saw an opportunity to improve our backyard living space by removing unnecessary planters and retaining walls. We had two quotes and went with Green Sequoia, the more expensive one, because of the previous relationship. They didn't tell us that they didn't have exterior expertise and the person on the job wasn't a normal part of the crew but instead a subcontractor. When construction started, we knew there was a question if a retaining wall was supporting or redundant. As soon as the project started, removing a small part of that wall would have made it quickly clear it was supportive as the wall behind ended 8 inches from the top. That's when they should have stopped. They didn't. They dropped the whole wall and then only contacted me after. This caused increased cost and a safety risk for both me and my neighbor. The same occurred in another part of the property. Oversight of the subcontractor was clearly poor. Construction was halted a week after starting in early June because of these errors. Afterwards, Green Sequoia sat on it for a month without getting me change orders or a clear plan to fix it despite nearly daily questions and pings from me. I gave them an ultimatum on July 6th to have a plan by end of week or I would remove them from the job and seek a refund. Four days later they were off the job. No refund yet despite 5 follow up notes from me - but complaint filed with state license board. This project will cost me $20k more, with less improvements made, because of what it will take to repair their damages. The project was supposed to be 3 weeks. Currently it's looking like 3 months because I've had to remove Green Sequoia from the job and get a new contractor. Issues come up with old properties. When starting our plan I fully expected that there may be some small unexpected cost. My issue with Green Sequoia was the lack of oversight, the recklessness that caused increased damage, and the abandonment of the project. Two stars because through this disaster Kirk was still responsive. While I don't agree with their lack of ownership about their actions, I appreciate that communication lines stayed open and that he visited to do some bracing upon my request.

I've never left a bad review before but this company "redid" the outside of our house that was old…read moreand falling apart. They did a horrible job- left rotting wood on the exterior, added new siding that is splitting and uneven. Fairly certain we still have several leaks- thank goodness it hasn't rained much for the sake of our house. I look at the mess they made every day and am horrified. Going to have to get their garbage work done properly as soon as we can afford it. Such an insane waste of money.