James did a verbal foundation inspection on a house we were interested in buying. We were in a rush and he was able to schedule in 1-2 business days. He charges $350, which is in the same ballpark as other engineers. He was very knowledgeable and even answered a bunch of questions about other issues that our house inspector raised. read more

My basement flooded from the big storms we had a couple of years ago. Pearl installed French drains in my crawl space, and they have worked perfectly. Jim Pearl and his foreman Tighe were easy to work with, and finished the project on time and on budget. They have my highest recommendation. read more

We had Pearl Engineering do a kitchen/bath remodel of our 100 year old home in Trestle Glen. They did a fantastic job with the work, as well as making it easy for us to live in the house during the five months they were here. First day of tear down, the crew relocated and assembled a temporary kitchen our of our upstairs family room and deck. The old kitchen cabinets were installed in our family room, the old sink and refrigerator was relocated outside, and Tighe, the foreman, managed to run hot and cold running water from the house to our deck. The crew arrived every day on time, and left their work area well swept and well organized. Given the age of our house, they did the work on a time and materials basis .. I was initially nervous about such an arrangement but quickly came to learn that the inevitable surprise discoveries involved were much easier to deal with by changing the plan, without needing multiple change orders, etc. So i was involved a lot ... the foreman Tighe was a pleasure to work with and we quickly established a working rhythm. I would not hesitate to recommend Pearl Engineering for any project requiring a fair amount of engineering - James leads a tight crew who has worked together for a long time ... he is committed to managing a client's expectations. He is somewhat old school in his methods ,and has decades of experience in the Oakland area and can quickly assess the project and recommend a working solution. He can get busy and getting a hold of him at first requires some patience. They work mostly with repeat clients or via recommendation, thus they will likely be booked solid when you first reach out to them .. but once you are on their calendar working on your project, they will make you feel like you are their only client. Not the cheapest, not the most costly .. it occurs to me that Pearl Engineering represents one of the best construction values out there. read more

Pearl Engineering and Construction did drainage work in front of my house and in the basement. I was pleased with the work. The crew was easy to work with and did an excellent job. The cost was reasonable, too. I highly recommend this company. read more

Jamie Pearl knows soil, knows how to build houses on downslopes and upslopes and, knows how to work with a range of other contractors. He's smart, generous, and very knowledgeable. read more

I am not surprised these guys have a good rating. We've done a fair amount of business with them and have been impressed with their professionalism and their commitment to their customer's satisfaction. Tighe is positively a pleasure to work with. Raul, I can tell, cares about his customers and cares about doing a good job. Elias, communicates well and done a great job. We deliver rock often in the Oakland Hills and they always give us a prediction on the road conditions and steepness, which is important to keep our drivers and our customer's materials safe. Looking forward to more! read more

I would definitely NOT recommend James Pearl to do any work on your home! James did some things that we thought were highly suspect and unethical. When he spoke to us before he came to assess our home project, he told us the following: a) We were to pay him $250.00 as a consultation fee for him to come out to our house . b) It would cost us an additional $100.00 if he drew up plans for the project. c) The total of that $350.00 would come off of the total cost of the project if we opted to go with his plan. Because of this entire packaged scenario that he proposed, we agreed to have James come to our home and to pay him the initial $250. We felt it was an initial monetary investment in what could be a fruitful working relationship. Nearly one month went by and James made absolutely no contact with us. He did not produce the promised plans or bid. We left three voice messages for him starting a day after he promised the bid. In nearly one month, he made absolutely no contact with us! We would NEVER have considered having James come to our home for $250 if there was no potential for working with him on this project and deducting our $250 initial investment. We feel as though we were conned. What a scam...you charge someone $250 to come to their house, have a hypothetical conversation about potential work, promise them that they can deduct that initial investment from the total job...then you disappear with their money and never produce a plan! It's bad business! read more

I have been using James "Jamie" Pearl to inspect and repair foundations in the East Bay for 10 years. I have found Jamie to be upfront, ethical, a good value, as well as a person that stands by their work. I have referred Jamie to friends, family, and clients and in total Jamie has inspected or repaired at least 20 properties I referred. Everyone I spoke with has been pleased with the value and finished product Pearl Engineering provided. read more

We hired James Pearl Engineering and Construction to add an 800 square foot second story to our home and we were very pleased with the results. We have a 70- year old, cinder block home and James' engineering expertise made the project possible by coming up with several low-cost options. He worked well with our architect to get the plans done in an expedited manner. When moving on to the construction part of the job, James' crew was skilled, prompt and personable and their work was impeccable. His project manager onsite, Tighe, worked on our home like it was his, and was extremely responsive when called upon to meet or discuss an idea. He always had great ideas for us but was not pushy when it came to their implementation. Tighe also has great connections within the subcontractor community in the East Bay, which allowed us to hire folks that were just as great as our crew. Additionally, Tighe is well versed in navigating the different East Bay municipal building departments, which was imperative during the permit process. Overall, we were VERY pleased with James Pearl Engineering and Construction and would use them again for future projects. read more

I used Pearl Engineering on my newly purchased home. The work included construction, maintenance, and electrical. The quote was accurate. The work was quality. The jobs were completed with haste. The crew was professional and clean. Can't ask for more than that. I highly recommend Pearl Engineering. read more

I would give no stars if I could. Peal Engineering is a rip off, a very costly engineer. I am not sure they really know what they are doing as they had made many costly mistakes on our job. And, when things were not done right and it was his fault, he had an attitude that he did not care and then we had to pay for his mistakes. The job he did was more than twice as expensive as it would have been with another engineer. He also does not keep his word and is a total rip off artist. Please think twice before hiring him for any of your jobs. His work and that of his crew is bad. read more

James Pearl came out and saved me from a jam. I needed an engineering inspection at the last minute. James made it happen. He is a master at what he does and is able to translate into terms everyone can understand. His prices are more then reasonable and he treats his business and clients as his #1 priorty. I can not recommend him more! read more

Pearl and his crew did an excellent job on my 1948 house in the Oakland Hills. It was a drainage and foundation job that required some digging and fact-finding, and we discovered pretty much the worst-case scenario behind the walls and underneath the house. I felt that I was in good hands with Pearl; he explained very clearly the choices we had in scoping the project, and the final bill came in below estimate. The work, which included drainage and a lot of concrete, looks very solid. The crew, led by Raul, was 100% professional: working fast and very well coordinated, they brought in exactly as many guys as they needed each day. They got all the material deliveries in and debris hauling out very smoothly, and every day when I came home from work I was impressed to see how much they had gotten done. They also coordinated very well with another contractor, Warm Floors, who installed hydronic heating that goes inside the floor slab. Plus, they were friendly and always seemed to have a positive attitude, even when they had to do some pretty nasty excavation and demolition. On the day the concrete truck had been delayed (through no fault of Pearl's crew), they stayed until late evening to finish the floor slab, which came out gorgeous. Spending a good chunk of one's retirement savings on a construction job that you mostly can't even see once it's finished doesn't sound like a lot of fun. But I felt really good about getting this work done by Pearl, and I almost miss Raul and the guys showing up in the morning. read more

Pearl Engineering performed superior work, at a reasonable price, with care and goodwill, and attention to the aesthetics of the job as well as its structural needs. I recommend them highly. They reinforced my swimming pool, which is located on a significant slope, above my house. They gave me several options for the job and explained the engineering clearly. Once I had chosen an option, they were flexible about adjusting the plan to my own requests as the job proceeded. The workmanship was superior at every phase, and the staff was always gracious, responsive, and tidy about leaving the work site in good order every day. I now have a pool that is fully reinforced, at a price I could afford, with design elements I had not imagined but am thrilled to have. Their work has enhanced my property value and given my family a pool we will be proud of and enjoy for years to come. read more

Wish I could give Jamie 10 stars! My decks were rotten and Jamie developed an engineering plan that rebuilt my decks, repaired and saved some of the good "bones". The finishing work of his crew is outstanding and I got everything I asked for...and more. read more

WARNING: Do not call James Pearl for an estimate or written report. He said on the phone that his fee would by $250 for a written report (which would be deducted from repairs), but when he came out he said a written report would be an addition $250, or $500 total! I paid him $250 for the written estimate, however he never followed up. After several email messages to him, and no response I filed a complaint with the State Contractor Board and Alameda County District Attorney. It appears that there isn't a remedy other than small claims court, as it's not a violation to not provide a written estimate of repairs. It appears that he is running a scam. If you've had this experience with him, file a complaint with Alameda County D.A. and if there are repeated complaints, they may do something about him read more

Pearl Engineering has recently finished working on our home that was built in 1916. They did a fantastic job redoing a portion of the foundation, completing a seismic retro-fit and constructing a new slab and sump pump in our basement. They also provided additional services outside of their original scope of work that helped us to complete additional exterior improvements that we would have had to hire someone else to complete They were on time, courteous, and under-budget even with the additional work that they had completed! It doesn't get any better than that! Jamie and his crew were a pleasure to work with and we would highly recommend Pearl Engineering & Construction Co. to anyone that needs this type of work done on their home. read more

After purchasing our first home, a 1904 Victorian fixer upper, we were equally excited and terrified to get our hands dirty and begin the work. However, the work that needs to be done to our house exceeds our very limited handyman skills- it was going to take more than a hammer and nail. First on the bill was getting some major foundation work done. James Pearl came out himself to check out the place and walk us through the process. I really appreciated him coming a day before the work began to personally introduce his crew to us, too (it made me feel more comfortable knowing who was crawling around underneath my house for 6 weeks straight). What a great team to work with! Besides retrofitting our crumbling foundation, they went above and beyond what they needed to do: gave us some extra sq. footage and height in our tiny basement laundry room, fixed our heating/plumbing issues, and left our place WAY cleaner than when they started. His company has been hard to top. I highly recommend James Pearl and his crew! read more

I wouldn't recommend this person, no integrity. Charged $ 250.00 for a foundation inspection, gave no written report, no advice as far as repairs which my home foundation badly needed. Worst he didn't even bother to return my phone calls. Stay away from this company. read more

James Pearl did part of the inspection of our home in Oakland when we purchased it. Seemed to do a fine job. Once we bought the house, we contacted him to give us an estimate for the work that he had identified as needing to be done on the house. He was happy to come out and do another inspection and take another fee for the inspection, claiming that it would be applied to any work that we had done. Then we tried, repeatedly, to contact him actually to do the work, and never, ever heard a single word back. I was surprised to read from other reviews that he actually does any work at all. read more

Jamie Pearl is one of the most unprofessional people I have worked with in a very long time. I scheduled an appointment with him to come out and look at a drainage problem that I have with my property. It took a week and a half to have him come out to the property, which is fine, I assume he is busy because he is good. When he was at the property I was very specific in describing what I need. I also let him know that I need the bid for the work ASAP, as I have an interested buyer who requires this info. It took 3 weeks for me to get a ridiculously unprofessional piece of paper that described what he would do - no diagrams, no maps of the property, nothing. During this 3 weeks wait time I emailed him multiple times and left many, many voicemenails - none of which were returned. And for all of this, and a wait of over a month, he wants $350?? On top of that he did not do what I asked for. He also noted with the bid that he would drain the sump pump water back onto the property - not onto the street. Now I have a serious drainage problem with the property already - why would I want to put the water back onto the property and not off of it? Having owned properties in Oakland for almost 20 years and having worked with lots of "professional" people out there, I can't understand why anyone would work with this man. If you can't return a phone call or email, that does not work for me. read more