1. Tinka Construction

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Berkeley, CA

Tinka Construction

4.8 (62 reviews)
Closed • 8:00 am - 6:30 pm

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1 day

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100%

Services - Tinka Construction

Deck construction

Guest house or ADU construction

Manufactured home construction

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Recommended Reviews - Tinka Construction

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Reviews With Photos

New kitchen done by George and his team @ Tinka
David N.

George demo'd and replaced 1400 square feet of plank flooring and did a full kitchen remodel for me. New cabinets, countertops, floors, sink, etc. He completed the job way ahead of his promised schedule with no surprises (change orders or additional expenses). He was an excellent communicator and never left me in the dark. All promises made were kept. Would recommend.

Jamie W.

George remodeled my whole house. He put in new floors, baseboards, drywall, doors, countertops, backsplash, dog door and completely redid my two bathrooms. The result is for the most part quite lovely and his prices were very competitive. He worked well with my insurance company and was patient with their delayed checks. His floor guys were probably the people I am most impressed with. They did a phenomenal job and we're very methodical. The reason I didn't give him a full 5 stars was because he went out of the country for a few weeks in the middle of my project and his crew did not always show. I was living in a hotel, so as you can imagine time lost was frustrating. I also wasn't very happy with the painting his guys did. There are paint spots on my bathroom floor, in my black grout, on my schluter and clumps of dried paint in my office. George was always really great about fixing things as I brought them up, but the paint is unresolved. One of my baseboards is also popping up near the fireplace, but this is trivial and an easy fix. In addition, his guys left trash all over the place each day. They were quite messy. If I were to do it all over again, I'd still hire George. I would be sure to include progress dates into my contract and I would hire a separate company for painting. EDIT: I should also add that George was very responsive to my questions. He did include a few things for free just to help me out, which was very wonderful. He came out to look every time I had an issue with something and worked with me on change orders. I gave him 4 stars because the painting, although everything else is very beautifully done. He did reach out to me after my review to let me know that he fired two of his painters after my project, so I don't imagine that will be an issue for any future clients.

Kitchen

Amazing kitchen renovation and experience working with Tinka Construction. George and his team truly transformed my vision to reality. They madd my kitchen a little beauty! I highly recommend them for home remodeling!

Alix R.

George and his crew are terrific. They fully gutted my house and remodeled it with new beams, new flooring, new insulation, new electrical, new appliances, and added one new bathroom and a completely new kitchen. They were professional, responsive, thorough, and fair, and I'm thrilled with the results. I highly recommend them!

Kitchen island
Adelina M.

I bought a new home and I didn't hesitate to contact George again to remodel my whole condo this time. In less than 3 months he was able to finish everything, which includes a new kitchen and living room, 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, one laundry room and one walk-in closet. The estimation I got from other contractors was more than double the time! George was very nice to help with getting the San Francisco permits and all the materials I needed to buy. This was my first time doing such a major work and he was there at every step consulting and helping with everything. My new home was a complete disaster so it was needed to do everything from scratch, all the plumbing and electrical. I still can't believe he was able to finish everything so fast! Everything is looking so gorgeous now and I'm getting so many compliments!

Tinka used tile we had purchased and suggested this orientation so the room would appear longer. It really works.
Kennan S.

5 stars to George and his team. We had been waiting many years to finish this bathroom remodel after another contractor completed the demo. We had no problem working with George and his team as they understood our needs, worked with our time frame and made an easy to follow payment schedule based on project milestones. His price was fair, and he explained every facet of the costs to us. In the end this bathroom is now the envy of the house and we will certainly have his Tinka back to work on other projects in our home.

Before. : (
D C.

George and the Tinka Crew came through with flying colors for our recent kitchen remodel. Professional business acumen coupled with superb craftsmanship provide a great experience and beautiful remodel. Highly recommend. See before and after photos.

Blue tile floor, wall tile, window with fresh framing, and new door to our hallway (we moved the interior door).
Allie H.

George and his team did a great job turning our small laundry room into a half bath. George is friendly and professional, and executed our plan perfectly. He was the only contractor we contacted who did not try to change our layout and plan for the room to make the work easier. The final cost matched the estimate given, and we love the end result. It's no wonder these guys are so busy, definitely plan for a bit of a wait since they have a lot of projects, but I highly recommend working with Tinka Construction.

George Catalin is a great contractor and a good man, skilled where it counts and it shows in the results of his work. When hardly any other contractors would even respond to my emails as we looked for bids to remodel three of our bathrooms, George responded immediately and let me know his availability, even though it wasn't for a few months. After that time, he was more than happy to listen to everything we had envisioned in the remodel and respectfully put in input based on his knowledge and expertise. He was honest every step of the way and leveled with me even if it wasn't necessarily to his advantage. That type of personality is invaluable to us when dealing with important and personal work in our home. George and his team were flexible when needed and courteous when in our home. George, Oni, Omar and the rest of the team were a pleasure to see during the project, and were happy to oblige when we needed some extra odds and ends done in our projects that weren't listed in our original contract. They had no reservations when asked to work later in the day or come back the next day to finish one of the stages a little earlier than planned in order to better fit our schedule. I would recommend Tinka Construction and George to anyone who is looking for a general contractor who is knowledgeable, honest, skilled and, simply put, has left us very satisfied with how our projects have turned out. We're excited to see our new bathrooms whenever we walk inside, and will call George when it's time for the next project on our home.

We had a great experience working with Tinka Construction to renovate our 1920's home in Berkeley. George and his team did an excellent job on multiple updates, including rewiring the entire house, installing new plumbing throughout, renovating 2 1/2 bathrooms, reconfiguring an unused space into a reading/hangout nook, and updating the kitchen with custom cabinetry after we relocated the refrigerator for improved flow. George is very easy to work with, flexible and conscientious. He takes pride in his work and is very detail oriented, managing a crew to deliver to his same standards, even down to details such as a thorough clean-up at the end of each day (which we appreciated). George is a creative problem solver and seamlessly blended the old and the new - the renovations look like they were a part of the original design! We love our 100-year-old "new" house and highly recommend George and Tinka Construction. George recommended Chen + Ruiz Architecture and Consulting (www.crarchconsulting.com) for the architectural design; Alex Chen and Daniel Ruiz, whom we also highly recommend, gave us many great ideas and managed the permitting process. Thank you George and the Tinka Construction Team!

Mari H.

We remodeled our kitchen. I am glad I found Tinka Construction. George is a nice and pleasant man to work with. He is knowledgeable and gave me good suggestions to choose materials. He even went to the store with me. His team is very professional. I am very happy with the kitchen cabinet they installed. It is beautiful and functional. We improved to work around the cabinet - easy to use and easy to clean. The quote was reasonable and accurate and didn't add other than we requested extra work. Only one concern is that their workers didn't wear masks in the house in this epidemic time. I am planning for another bathroom project with them. I sincerely hope they will do a good job next time, too.

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Ask the Community - Tinka Construction

Review Highlights - Tinka Construction

“George was always quick to respond to any of my texts and emails no matter what the news may be.”

Mentioned in 54 reviews

Read more highlights

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E&F Construction Services - bathroom remodel

E&F Construction Services

(153 reviews)

Lower Hills

We used E&F for a bathroom remodel. They did a fantastic job on a job that was not easy. This…read morebathroom had not been remodeled in over 70 years. Yes, 70 years. Everything needed to be torn down and replaced. The wiring was old. The plumbing was leaking. And the flooring needed to be completely replaced. They produced an estimate. And came in on budget. They gave a time frame. And finished on time. I'm not sure what more you could want in a contractor. We will use them again!

The Great (+2 stars) ==========…read more * The structural work: Our home is on a great, new, solid foundation (with shear walls), so we feel as safe as we can be in our home for an earthquake! * Our basement is also now more usable. * Drainage: There is now drainage around the foundation and under the basement slab, so we are no longer worried about our basement flooding! * The working crew were very friendly and considerate. The Bad (-1 star): ========== * The electrical subcontractor was quite bad. The electricians didn't install the dryer outlet properly (one conductor came loose before I first used it), most outlets they installed are loose (they give when pushing in a plug), and they installed a used, old (not LED compatible) dimmer for the LED lights they installed. Also, the owner yelled at his team a lot. * The plumbing subcontractor was bad, too. They misdrilled several holes, damaging the interior of the home. They didn't seal around exterior penetrations into the house. They didn't put a cover over the branch of a wye that was no longer needed. They wouldn't do anything about the loss of hot water pressure in a bathroom faucet that occurred after they moved some plumbing around (I ended up having to disconnect and disassemble the hot water valve myself and I found a piece of silicone clogged in there). They over-glued the drain of the laundry supply box making it nearly impossible to remove the cap, and they lost the o-rings on my faucet aerator. The Ugly (-2 stars): ========== * They overlooked details in the plans about where walls and doors should go, and denied responsibility since they weren't in the structural engineer's plans, which they opted to not have updated with the revisions I told them about. This lead to a sewer pipe being installed in an inconvenient location (it went through the foundation, so it can't be moved), a structural wall that was almost built in the wrong place (I caught it while they were digging the footing), and a room that was built with no doorway (they had to cut some framing to make the opening). * The pricing/scope was negligent at best, but I'd put it closer to misleading or deceptive. During the initial visits, they talked about all the things they would do (including putting up framing, drywall, and insulation), and then sent over an estimate that I accepted. I didn't realize until halfway through the project that the estimate didn't include many of the things they talked about (including the framing, drywall, and insulation); those apparently would be part of "Phase 2," not included in the price of the first estimate. I had chosen E&F over another estimate that was less expensive even though it did explicitly contain the "additional" scope. I was also surprised that the electrical and plumbing (most of which was necessary to get them out of the way for the structural work) was billed separately; i.e., an unexpected additional expense. * They chose to rebuild a segment of stairs (rather than just adding two steps at the bottom, per the plans), which ended up having insufficient clearance with an overhang halfway down. They tried to convince me there was no new problem because they built them the same as before (but the run of the new stairs was one inch longer, causing the 4th step down to be 4 inches closer to the overhang) and resisted remedying the issue. They just ended up taking a sawzall to trim the overhang -- a joist -- which I just have to hope doesn't compromise any structural integrity! Further, they didn't even finish the stairs (sand and seal); "Test your staining skills," they said. * They ghosted before Phase 2. As the structural work was reaching completion, we were going back and forth on scope for Phase 2. However, when the structural work was actually completed, they just stopped communicating, left dirt and demo debris they left on our driveway for a month, then disappeared. There were lots of things they removed to get out of the way (like several segments of fence) but didn't put back. I could easily add 3x more issues and details, but this review is already too long.

Mission Home Remodeling - Home remodel in San Francisco CA

Mission Home Remodeling

(54 reviews)

Hayes Valley

This review is long overdue - we finished our second-story addition with Mission in March 2025 and…read morecouldn't be happier with the results! Amazingly, our major project was completed exactly on time and essentially on budget, even though we ran into some unexpected challenges with the design (not done by Mission) that could have derailed it. The issues that came up were handled quickly and thoughtfully, and several of their suggestions genuinely improved the final design. One thing that really stood out was the team's honesty--any mistakes (inevitable/expected on a project of this size) were acknowledged immediately and addressed without hesitation, which is something other contractors sometimes struggle with. It's definitely important to stay involved, but we felt comfortable being away for long periods and trusted Dan to keep things moving smoothly. There were times when dust/debris reached areas outside the active work zone, but the crew made sure everything was thoroughly cleaned by the end. All in all, we would enthusiastically recommend Mission to anyone considering a major renovation or addition. Thank you Dan and the rest of the team!

Try to get some basic quote range but they say no, they cannot do that and we have to schedule a…read moresite visit even with the measurements and picture I provide. This makes no sense because we just want to get a ballpark to see if it's even make sense to continue. But anyway, on the date of the site visit, the guy come without any tool for measurements and for note taking. The guy just spent like 20 mins walking around the house and said he will get back to us with a quote. But I never hear back from them since. I think the company is very picky on clients and like to see if they have enough money to pay for their service. If they think we cannot afford it, they will just cut all the communications. This is also mentioned by other 1 star reviews.

Bumble Bee Construction - New siding

Bumble Bee Construction

(41 reviews)

Joe was great! He gave us a quick and reasonable quote for building a large garden trellis, and got…read morethe job done the next week. He is an experienced carpenter who cares about the quality of his work and attention to detail, great communication throughout the process. We will be using Bumble Bee for our next project!

My experience started off well. Joe was responsive, communicated clearly, and provided a fair…read morequote. Unfortunately, after a miscommunication about part of the project, which I thought we had resolved amicably (I compensated him for the materials he had already used), he later admitted he was upset and had been purposely avoiding my follow up communication. He left the original job on Friday saying he would return the following week to finish a few remaining items. After that, I spent over a month trying to get a response, with little to no communication and no explanation for this treatment. When I finally expressed my frustration, he admitted he had intentionally been ignoring me because of the earlier misunderstanding and offered to send someone to finish the outstanding tasks, "if that's what I was upset about." That level of unprofessionalism was far more disappointing than the few remaining tasks on the project. Misunderstandings happen, but they shouldn't result in giving a customer the silent treatment and leaving a job unfinished. I cannot recommend someone who responds to conflict by avoiding communication completely.

Prime Design & Build - Full Home Remodeling Cupertino

Prime Design & Build

(64 reviews)

Horace Mann, Downtown

Change is very difficult. It's also costly. And scary even. This company took the sting out of…read moreit. They aren't the cheapest out there, but once you see the work they do, it's almost a bargain. I did my research and wanted to find something in the middle- quality without excess. I found these guys. My project manager, Elijah was a total professional and also happens to be a real nice human being. His crew is even better (sorry, Eli). They listened and wanted my input. I grew to trust them quickly and started asking for their opinions about various things along the way to help me decide what to do. As stressful at it is to have people in your house everyday making lots of noise for weeks, I'm actually going to miss these guys. I will definitely hire them in future. I already have new projects in mind, and once the money is there, I'll pick up the phone and get to see my new friends again.

We contracted Prime Design & Build to remodel two bathrooms, a laundry room, a staircase, and to…read moreinstall hardwood flooring. Overall, the project went well, and we're happy with the final results. Bryan, our foreman, was a strong asset to the project. Even though he was managing multiple jobs at the same time, his responsiveness and willingness to go out of his way to address our concerns made a big difference. Because we were home throughout the process, we were able to catch issues early and communicate them directly to Bryan, who consistently followed through to resolve them. What Went Well: * The tile and flooring subcontractors were excellent - their craftsmanship and attention to detail truly stood out. * Bryan, our foreman, was responsive to texts and phone calls, listened to our concerns, and made sure they were addressed. He even designed a bi-fold closet door for us, and helped pick up all the material to build it. * Bryan also took the initiative to handle several unfinished items himself, which we really appreciated. * The post-build cleaners were top-notch and left the space in pristine condition. * Throughout the project, everyone we interacted with was professional, courteous, and conscientious. There were no conflicts or issues, which made the experience comfortable for us. Areas for Improvement: * The timeline was a pain point. While we were originally told the project would take 6-8 weeks, it ended up stretching to 12 weeks. * The design process fell short of expectations. Because Prime's in-house designers weren't available, our design work was outsourced. We only received a full design package for the master bathroom. As a result, we ended up creating our own renderings for the other rooms to help communicate our vision to the team. That said, we were very happy with the design and material selections for the master bathroom they did complete. We just wish the same level of attention and design support had been provided for the rest of the project. * At times, resource availability was limited, likely due to workers being assigned to multiple jobs. This led to workflow inefficiencies and delays. Toward the end of our renovation, our foreman Bryan had to personally step in to complete several tasks, such as installing faucets, shelving, and baseboards. He managed to get it done in between site visits and meetings, which we appreciated, but it also highlighted a lack of available crew to close out the project. Despite these few challenges, the quality of the work met our expectations. We appreciated the team's effort and the final outcome.

LB Construction & Remodeling

LB Construction & Remodeling

(105 reviews)

Eran and Jorge were great! Totally listened to our needs and wants. Offered excellent advise and…read morehelped us decide on colors, tiles, cabinets, everything. They used their sources to find us the best deals. I'm so happy we chose LB construction and remodeling to do our house. From a three bedroom, one bath to a two bedroom,two bath. Perfectly sized for our lifestyle. All done in only 5 months. Couldn't ask for a better crew to work with, they made me feel like a queen!

I worked with LB Construction for a bathroom remodel and highly recommend them, and our project…read morelead Yovel in particular. My bathroom was very outdated and probably hadn't been updated since the house was constructed in 1960. I met with more than five contractors and from the start, Yovel proved he had experience, a point of view on what would work for us, and an easy going manner. LB's quote was fair and they were upfront about potential change orders or other costs that might come up (not surprising for such an outdated bathroom!). Throughout the project, Yovel kept me updated on progress and sought my opinion when different options were available on how to proceed. In one instance, he came up with a great way to cut the tile so I could avoid paying for a whole extra box. The updates were particularly important for me because I didn't stay at the house during this renovation, because this was my only bathroom. I gave me the peace of mind that everything was under control when I couldn't personally be there to oversee things or give input. The bathroom turned out AMAZING and it's easily my favorite room in the house now. I would happily work with them again on my next home renovation.

Tinka Construction - contractors - Updated November 2026

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