Believe every single negative review you read about Valley Home Development. Steve and Nikki Vallejos, along with their salesman Daniel G., sold me on an advertised 90-day turnkey solution. "Construction to occupancy in 90 days" as stated on their website and documentation. The reality was that eighteen months later the ADU finally got completed. Even factoring in very tail-end Covid related supply chain issue there's no excuse for such a gap been expectation and reality. But then again when no-one shows up to work for 4-5 weeks at a time, what do you expect. Bottom line: You should question any timeframes and deliverables they present to you, even if you are only planning on buying one of their DIY kits. Here are just a few of many examples of how Steve and Nikki operate aside from the extreme misrepresentation of their fictional 90-day turnkey solution: They sold me upfront on a comprehensive express warranty from 2-10 Home Warranty. This warranty was never delivered despite my efforts to get Nikki to respond. She communicated that she was following up with the 2-10 warranty people for status (implying that she had already submitted the paperwork), but I subsequently confirmed by talking to a 2-10 representative that neither VHD nor Nikki submitted any application for our warranty. I'll let you be the judge whether or not you should expect VHD to fulfill any warranty, express or implied. They were attempting to line up an unlicensed electrician to work on our ADU. I put a stop to that before any work was done. Sorry, but having a business license (which he did) is not the same as an electrician license (which he did not). Not to mention extremely bad form, to put it lightly, as a general contractor to not properly vet whether or not your sub-contractor is properly licensed. Long story short, after a subsequent electrician hiring blunder by VHD we ended up getting our own licensed electrician not only to ensure we had a licensed electrician doing the work but also to ensure a quicker timeline to completion. Steve and Nikki are changing their business model to attempt to move away from the construction side of the business. However, you'll note on their sales/marketing website (that goes by a different name than Valley Home Development) they list themselves, VHD, as a construction partner so nothing is really changing. Steer clear of Valley Home Development! Note: There is a glowing 5 star review right here on Yelp from a David D., and apparent very satisfied customer. However, it looks like he's actually one of Steve and Nikki's partners as his company is listed on their partner page. read more

I ultimately got an ADU for a reasonable fixed price ($225K), but I wish I had never worked with VHD Construction. It took 5x longer than promised. The people that own and run this business (Steve and Nikki) were terrible to work with. They were terrible business managers, were not transparent, didn't manage expectations (or set false expectations to make the sale), and provided terrible customer service. They also didn't own their glaring mistakes, of which there were many, never apologized, and don't appear to be learning and getting better, which seems confirmed by consecutive years of terrible reviews. If you go with them be sure to get a lawyer, put penalties into the contract for non-performance and delays, and beware!!! The list of mess ups is too long to detail, but a few things I'd call out is that it took them 20+ months from signing the contract to complete a tiny 392 sq ft ADU. They struggled with cashflow the entire time, didn't have enough workers and sometimes even brought out unqualified workers, mismanaged the permitting process (missed key deadlines and had to re-apply), asked for payments before milestones were met, made some glaring design mistakes (put sewer pump by front door), etc. Fortunately, their on-site contractor Fausto and his hands-on builder brother Esteban were fantastic, honest, friendly and professional, and did everything they could to get the job done and done well, in spite of their bosses who hamstrung them. Final result is solid. If Fausto ever goes out on his own - hire him!!! Or if you run a building company hire him away from VHD. read more

Well we just spent a little over 10K to completely replace the shower and walls behind. After having them out multiple times, because we kept telling them the shower was leaking, because it was. It leaked to the outside of the foundation. You could feel water under the shower pan when you took a shower . They came and did things like put a fan in the bathroom, put a fan in the closet. They never got to the bottom of it!! We hired a real plumber and a real general contractor and he came and took him 30 seconds to figure out that the pipe in the shower was NEVER glued. It was just placed there. Multiple emails and phone calls to Valley home development to get them to honor their warranty. They never responded back to us after multiple multiple phone calls and emails. We also had to replace the front stairs that they put in because they land a good 4-6 inches Stay clear or I can promise you you will be sorry. Believe everything you read, they mostly use people that are not licensed, and they frequently pick people up from Home Depot to work on your project. We also tried to collect on their bond. But they had no money in their bond. Because so many people have sued them. read more

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After 16 weeks of zero progress I had to cancel my project with VHD/Prefab ADU. During those 16 weeks there were 3 separate instances where I was unable to contact Michelle for 3+ weeks each. During the last instance, plans that were supposed to be delivered on a specific date were not and it took 3 emails, 1 certified letter, and 4 phone calls to finally speak with Michelle. Since there was no update or movement on my draft, no final pricing given, and no plans ready for city submission I decided to pull the plug. One of the primary reasons I went the prefab route was for the supposed speed that comes from using turn-key solutions and centralized/offsite construction. Prefab ADU's website says these ADU's are built in 90 days and are the "fastest solution on the market" - but you actually need to have a draft done to get there. I understand that delays can occur in any project, but the lack of communication on these matters or reply to customer messages is inexcusable. They are nice people but unfortunately they were unable to deliver on their promises or meet any of the agreed upon dates. read more

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Really amazing explaining the super complex process of having an ADU built. There are so many things to cover and we've been very happy with the entire process. I was recommended to one of their Dealers in Southern California and we were off to the races. We found a local General Contractor to assemble the wall and roof components for our project in Burbank. Went with the 1 bedroom 1 bath "Julie" floor plan. Our Dealer kept us informed throughout the entire process. Recommendation is to decide on everything in the beginning and not change anything. If you do, like we did, then expect some delays. All in all we believe we saved around $20 to 30K. There's a lot more flexibility then I first thought. read more

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I never write negative reviews, but I had VHD build my Adu from start to finish and experienced all of what I read in these negative reviews. I cannot recommend them and I should have listened to what others had already experienced with them. I see at least one of the positive reviews bought a plan and hired their own builder - that might be one way to go. Nice people but ... read more

Nice people. Terrible at running a business. This company built a 3,500 sq ft house for us 3 yrs ago. The design/build process took a painfully slow 5 years. They hired completely incompetent individuals to build the house - these folks were young, untrained, and shockingly completely unsupervised. The overall quality of work was appalling. Nearly everything was built crooked, levels and tape measures were not used, the paint was applied so haphazardly that bare patches were left where you could see the sheetrock. When we complained nobody replied to our phone calls, texts and emails. During the build, several of the sub-contractors complained to us that they hadn't been paid by Steve, and walked off the project. Steve's work on our project slowed to a stop when the house was 80% completed. We were left to hire our own contractors and pay out of our own pocket to finish the build ourselves. After we finished the job ourselves, Steve finally got back to us asking for full payment on the contract. They expressed frustration and blamed us for the problems. We've now been in the house for 3 years. During that time, it has had cracked and peeling paint, countless leaks, too many serious plumbing issues to keep track of, the driveway caved in, etc. Steve has been largely unresponsive and has ignored our requests to fix the problems. We filed a bond claim, which was approved, but there were so many other claimants who filed valid claims against Steve that there was no money left for us. We are currently in state court trying to recover what we can. read more

Designed and built a great ADU for us. But the process took easily three times longer than needed, permits were only issued after *I* made phone calls to city hall, they failed to pay subcontractors and we had a lien on our home at one point, and after finishing the construction they have completely disappeared and failed to fulfill warranty commitments. Everything took longer than they said and required huge effort and stress on my part to chase them down and find out if the project was going to happen, from design through final permit. Save yourself the stress and choose a contractor with a better business sense and who will follow through on promises and guarantees. read more

These are the least professional organization in construction. They don't pay their sub contractors on time causing them to stop work constantly. Making jobs last longer. They don't build relationships with their subs calling anyone on yelp to finish project left by other subs that have stopped because of non payment. Communication is nil. I would worn anyone considering doing business with anyone from this organization, that you could be left in the mud. read more

My partner and I spent several years looking to build an ADU after realizing that we had untapped rental income potential in our back yard. Several contractors we contacted with told us that it would be between $200,000 to $300,000 and not look very nice. We couldn't justify spending that much. Luckily, we found VHD and having them build us an ADU have given my partner and I both financial stability (not always easy in the bay area) and a peace of mind. Steve and the whole crew at VHD were so easy to work with. They took care of all the permitting (and it was rough, b/c the city of Oakland had just changed the code at the beginning of the project). VHD worked with us to build the ADU, making customizations and listening to our concerns. They gave us plenty of options. I think you would be hard pressed to find a better company to work with. I can't recommend them enough. read more

I tried another company to get my project done, but it was a nightmare. Then I discovered Valley Home Development. They were completely on board with any of the changes I wanted to make to the model I picked out. They were great about handling all the permits too. Unfortunately, we were ready to submit to the city right about the time Covid hit really hard. So my permitting process was incredibly slow because there was almost nobody working in the building department for almost a year. I'm kind of impatient by nature and so all the waiting was difficult for me but things finally did start moving along and by the time all the permits were cleared and paid for, I was very excited to start the building process. I feel like the quality was good of all the materials that the contractor used. The panel install went very quickly as did the foundation work. The construction foreman, Fausto, was great to work with. Whenever I had a question he stopped and took the time to explain thoroughly to me what was going on. He was good about texting me and letting me know whether or not there would be a crew at my house that day and what they would be doing. He would even let me know if he had to run back and get some thing just for a second, he would always let me know that he was going to be entering my property. There haven't been any serious problems. I think the worst delay was having to wait six weeks for windows to arrive and be installed. But even with that going on the company managed to keep working in areas that they could to keep the project moving along. I don't need to tell you that there are shortages everywhere including labor shortages now, but I do think the supply chain and the labor shortages are improving. I think this company did a good job of keeping my project going in spite of sometimes having short crews or having to wait on supplies. I think the crews that work on my house are well qualified. Every time they finish one section, they have to get it inspected by the building department. At one of the inspections, the head of the building department here in Vallejo commented to Fausto that he was taking a lot of pictures because the quality was so good he wanted to show his other inspectors what a correct installation looked like. I already had a lot of confidence in this company and the crew working on my project but it was great to get an outside opinion also. Yes there were delays, but the delays were not caused by the company. They've bent over backwards to keep my project moving to completion . They were great about making sure that I've got what I wanted in the ADU, my satisfaction was very important to them. I can't tell you how much it means to me to have complete confidence in the people that are running my project. read more

Steve, John, Jamie and vendors were amazing!!Built my parents a tiny home in the back of their own main home in which myself and daughters now live in. They paid attention to every detail it is their HOME but on a smaller version. They were caring like family! The only issue we ever had was with City of Fairfield but in their defense not many out there and new to the tiny homes market. BEST idea ever and THE BEST COMPANY to use. Just referred them to a close friend. read more

I was in conversation with Steve Vallejos at Valley Home Development for several months as I considered having an ADU built in my backyard. Because his company is at the forefront of the ADU industry, he was able to give me up-to-date information about the status of City of Berkeley ADU regulations (which are always changing!) and advise me about dealing with the city and about my particular lot. I visited several of his ADUs which were in various stages of being built right in my neighborhood. I was impressed with the thoughtful, attractive designs and the use of great materials. I believe VHD is a company built on integrity and lots of experience. Ultimately, I decided against getting one built, but if I were to decide to go ahead in the future, I would definitely contact Valley Home Development again! read more