Martin and team are the unicorns of the construction world. They're top notch in every particular: quality, communication, and speed from start to finish. Not only do they do absolutely fantastic work - fast but never rushed, thorough but never onerous - but they also excel at communication. Martin responded clearly and quickly throughout the project. We could not be happier with their work. The team was also cheerful - a surefire sign of a healthy work environment. The price was very competitive, and we are extremely satisfied. Our project included raising an entire section of our house, and installing a new foundation below it, with a retaining wall and piers. They also did a full retrofit on the new foundation. I wish we could hire Martin and his team for every project! read more

The owner stated he would be around for the project. I didn't see him other than the estimate. I found myself researching all the components of waterproofing a foundation. I felt like I had to give step-by-step directions on how to complete the project. At one point they didn't plan to put a liquid membrane on the newly poured concrete. The crew was really nice and responsive. The owner paid for a primer so I could fix the poor coverage that the crew had made with the liquid membrane. Eventually, they might be a good crew. At this point I feel like they're just practicing. They did good stucco work. read more

See all

I engaged East Bay Retrofit Construction to take on the replacement of a pier, post, and beam supporting an overhang connected to our home and the concrete walkway that along with the post was tilting and slipping down the hill. The team was undaunted by the heavy-duty design requirements (16-foot-plus hole for the pier) specified by the structural engineer who did the drawings for our permit submission. Owner Martin Alvarez is a pro-active communicator who vigilantly monitored his crew's progress on the project and stepped in to lend a hand and his considerable expertise as needed. The crew was diligent and friendly and despite the challenging weather conditions (pelting rains early on) managed to get the job done right in a timely manner at a competitive price. read more

See all

Martin and team did a great job on 2 projects at our place. They were very responsive and timely with all our requests. I would highly recommend them! read more

I chose to work with Martin Alvarez/East Bay Retrofit Construction because his willingness to tackle my engineered retrofit from within my shallow crawl space saved me thousands of dollars. Martin was easy to communicate with and he seemed to have good rapport with the engineer and special inspector my project required. My retrofit was completed well within the 9 months of the California Earthquake Authority's Brace and Bolt grant program even though we needed several extensions while waiting for the Oakland permit. Thank you Martin and crew! read more

EBRC replaced a broken foundation and concrete floor slab at the rear of our house in Albany. At the same time they did a major seismic upgrade to the whole space. They also installed new electrical wiring and modern lighting, put in new walls and a ceiling, and then painted the finished room. EBRC did an excellent job at a fair price. The crews always came on time and cleared up properly at the end of each day. They worked around our schedule constraints and in every aspect were respectful of our property. EBRC always responded promptly to our emails, phone calls, and texts. And to the extent that there were any issues, they were resolved quickly and effectively. We would not hesitate to hire EBRC again. read more

I hired Martin and East Bay to fix a failing foundation. Martin was great. The City of Vallejo, on the other hand, took 10 months to give us the permit. It was very frustrating. But I would hire Martin again in a heartbeat. He did what he said he would do for the price he said in the time he said it would take. read more

Martin and his crew did a fantastic job on several home repairs. We had a really bad leak in our roof that went down an interior wall. They first sealed the leak then replaced the interior wall and even painted it. We had another leak on an exterior door that they also repaired. I noticed that they missed a piece of door that needed to be replaced and brought it to Martin's attention. He had it completely fixed by the end of the week. They also replaced all of our gutters to new aluminum gutters. While they were replacing the gutters they noticed some damage on the roof. They showed me pictures of the damage and quoted me a reasonable rate to fix it. Great work from this team, you can't go wrong! read more

See all

In response to your reply about my complaint of the exorbitant charge of $1,4500 for one hour of work. I observed your young worker nailing all the metal plates while you were on your cell phone the whole time. In other words there were not two people working. I know you were in a hurry because you mentioned you had to quickly get to another another job. You didn't even show up the first time you made the appointment and I later called back to see if there was a problem. Your price was fine but not for one of your workers to nail down 21 4" by 4" small plates and 6 long 11"x2" metal plates for only one hour. I guess when you deal with a women you see $$. Also I'm sure you must have made only one trip, not two as you mentioned to buy these few items. Certainly not on my one hour watch. Joy read more

Martin and his crew were a pleasure to work with. Martin provided a competitive quote and worked with us on our options for a retaining wall and a new deck. He was able to schedule a crew quickly (met our schedule) and they never left till the job was done. We are very pleased with our new retaining wall and deck. They are well built and will be there for 100 years. He also built the deck out of trex after he provided a quote for trex vs wood. We are very happy with the cost, feel, and look of the trex and the redwood railings. His crew was very friendly and worked with us on small changes in the design. Any hiccups in material were quickly communicated from Martin. We are planning on hiring Martin again to help with a small project. His team can do anything. I've already recommended East Bay Retrofit to my friends for their new deck and leveling. read more

East Bay Retrofit Construction - Our deck builder! - General Contractors Near Me - Hercules, California

Martin and crew did a quality sump pump installation in our basement. Martin's quote was very reasonable. He didn't try to puff up the work but suggested we start modestly, with the sump pump in the place of primary water intrusion, and consider adding other channels to the pump later if the pump alone proves insufficient. Their work was quick, neat and efficient and they even added an extra plug that will help with the dehumidifier. Martin is honest and forthright. I would highly recommend him. John A. read more

Martin was able to help me when I couldn't find anyone who would even touch the job. He is expert and completed the work when others said it was impossible. He is efficient, completing the work quickly. He provided specs and was able to clarify a difficult job for me. He and his crew maintained the area and left it tidy. I highly recommend him to anyone who needs retrofit work. Martha F. - Benicia read more

They were quick to respond and show up for an evaluation. I was very grateful. But then they left and ignored all my follow up messages. What happened?? They must not have deemed me a worthy customer or the work I wanted wasn't profitable enough. Who knows, because they never followed up! read more

We used East bay retrofit construction for re-framing my house structure in Montclair, Oakland, because the house got unfortunate building structural damages by termite and Dry rot. The Construction work includes replacing wood beams & joists, concrete work with new French drain, stucco, exterior painting, and many others. Martin and his team did outstanding professional work with honest fair price. Their fee was best among 5 other contractors. Multiple professional staffs had worked over 3 weeks on a great amount of work. I surprised they work extremely efficient and beautifully. Even they were willing to take care of fixing unforeseen undesired condition. Their hard work and knowledge of what they are doing is outstanding. Martin is a great communicator and extremely reliable. I can not be happier the result what Martin and his team brought to us. I've recommended the Martin and his team to all my friends. You will be pleased if you get to work with them. Wishing all the best to Martin and his team. Sincerely, Yuji N read more

Martin and his team were really great. We got a bunch of quotes for a last minute fix of our siding/window/wall repair after the rains, and Martin came in at a totally reasonable price, and did solid work to make sure he opened up part of the wall to ensure that his estimate was accurate. He pulled and managed all permits and inspections. Once work started, his team was here *every day* (even some weekends, with our permission) to complete the work. When we added to the requests (redoing some extra dry wall), he provided quote quotes for the additional work, and completed them on team. We were especially happy to find that when he encountered dangerous situations (like some stair stringers that had begun to fail), he notified us quickly and gave us options on moving forward. We've already shared his contact info with friends, and will be contacting him for future work whenever its needed. --Matt read more

I highly recommend Martin for any retrofit or foundation work. I contacted Martin to do a retrofit project for my house - and he was very transparent, responsive, flexible and answered all my questions. He provided a competitive quote and amended it when I got engineering plans that asked for additional work to be done. He helped me navigate the EBB FEMA process from start to finish and secured all the necessary permits. Martin and his crew were on time and worked diligently to get the job done. read more

If you are doing the EBB-FEMA grant process for a brace and bolt project, these are your guys! I had 3 contractors come to my house to bid the project and Martin Alvarez of East Bay Retrofit was the clear winner from the start! He came to the bid as though he was serious about the project- he was the only one who put on his gear and went into the crawl space and took all the required pics for the EBB process as though he would win the bid. In the end he ALSO had the best price. Martin took care of all the EBB paperwork and the city permit requirements- I did almost nothing! I was so pleased with this process and with East Bay Retrofit. read more

Martin and his crew were AMAZING, and a pleasure to work with. I had been looking at quotes that were well out of my budget and considering financing. Martin came in with an estimate that was almost 30% lower than the next lowest bid and 60% less than what most other contractors were offering, and this included an expanded scope that covered other problems in the house. His crew arrived on time every day, maintained an incredibly clean work environment, and I saw them treat each other with respect and a concern for safety. The project (a French drain) was excavated and installed with textbook precision, and has made a noticeable difference in my home's drainage since the day of installation. Martin collaborated with me whenever I asked for detailed explanation, and made himself available by phone and e-mail throughout the process. I will absolutely hire EB Retrofit Construction for other home projects, and I encourage other property owners to consider hiring him as well. I believe this company must be one of the best values in the Bay Area. read more

Martin and his team did a great job on our crawlspace improvements. Very straightforward to deal with. An honest guy. I can't recommend him highly enough. He gave us a competitive bid for the job and once permits were in order he quickly scheduled a start date. Then his crew was there every single day until the job was done or we were waiting for inspectors. Martin replaced a large beam, added shear panels, added new foundations and posts under the middle of the house, and added new blocking and clips on the sides of the house. Very good work. read more

Martin and his crew have done two jobs for me and they both went well and were priced very competitively. Whether it is seismic retrofitting or just painting, these folks get the job done well and with little fuss. read more

I reached out to Martin to discuss some floor level issued in our single story home with a crawl space. He was very quick to respond and we quickly set up an initial assessment date. He was very clear on what his proposal was to fix the issue and he offered a reasonable price to get the project done. Once the project started, he and his crew were great to work with and communicated well throughout the project. We are very happy with the work performed and would reach back out to Martin for any future foundation projects needed (we are hoping there are none!) Thanks Martin! read more

Martin was very responsive and proactive with communication. He was up front about the time it would take to get the permit for the work. Once work started, Martin and crew were very clear about what they were doing each day, showed up on time, and left the property clean at the end of the day. The crew was also great. Very friendly, professional, and got the job done on time. Highly recommend for seismic retrofit work. read more

Martin and his crew are wonderful. The price was fair, in the middle of two other bids I received. The work went smoothly. The crew showed up on time, worked every business day until the job was done and cleaned up their work area at the end of every day. The foreman spoke excellent English. Martin was there to start the job and was always available by phone. I recommend this company to anyone who needs to have their home more securely anchored to its foundations. read more

Poor communication. I tried twice to set up a time to look at my project. The first time he was late, I and I had to leave to go back to work. He ended up calling me and saying he was on time, but had just gotten lost. The second time he emailed me at 10pm the night before and canceled the meeting. When I tried to set up a third time my message was read and ignored. Do not use if you have a time sensitive project. read more

I hired East Bay Retrofit to do a seismic retrofit of my craftsman home. Martin and his team were very easy to work with, from his initial inspection to project completion. Oakland permitting takes a very long time and Martin was communicative throughout. When the permit came through they were ready to get working, and I was impressed with the team's good spirits as they spent a week working in the tight crawlspace under my house. I had asked them to complete an additional small job while they were down there, and Martin was willing to help out. I asked Martin to take me through at the end of the project and he patiently explained the work they completed - everything looked good according to me, and more importantly it passed Oakland's inspection. I'd definitely recommend them. read more

We have done two projects with Martin and couldn't be happier. I would highly recommend him to anyone. The first project involved fixing the siding of our house that had been exposed to the elements after we had to fix the foundation. Not only is he responsive, but he gets the job done and does quality work. The second job was a few months later when we discovered water was leaking through one of our walls (this was a different wall than the one Martin had worked on) and into our house under the floor. Since Martin had done such a great job the first time, we immediately called him for the second job. Again, he did not let us down and did wonderful work on the side of our house. He is definitely our go-to guy if anything happens now. He's reliable, honest, trustworthy, and does beautiful work. read more

Got in contact with Martin early in the year and over a 4 month period he worked with me to answer all my questions, changed his proposal to match an engineer's plan, worked through scheduling during Covid, and got the job done quickly and with quality. He was really on top of emails which I appreciated and does everything at a reasonable price. His crew are also very good at what they do! Would recommend for retrofits! read more

As a real estate agent, I was looking for a specific characteristics in a contractor that I can trust to do a retro fit for my foundation. I was pleased to have met Martin from east bay and glad I've awarded him the contract ti perform the work. He diligently worked with the city of Oakland to obtain permits, meet with inspectors and finalize the work. Martin and his team are neat and clean, they don't leave a mess during the work and respect your house like it's theirs. Pricing is very fair and acceptable. I'm happy to recommend Martin to any of my clients who's owns a home or owners to be. Keep up the good work Martin. read more

They came through and saved the day! I needed finish work at the last minute, and they came and got it done in three days! They even stayed very late (6pm) to finish the job by the weekend! Easy transaction, and EXTREMELY capable. Feeling very lucky to have been referred to them. read more

This is an addendum to my review of several days ago. I posted a somewhat negative review re: EBRC, BUT it is the wrong company. My review was of another company with a similar name. My sincere apologies to EBRC and the Yelp readers who might have seen this review. Again, in regards to East Bay Retrofit Construction, I have not engaged them in any manner, apologize sincerely, and promise to not have such a swift finger in the future...and wear my cheaters. read more

Martin& his team have done an excellent job on the retrofit of my house. We are happy& satisfied with their work. They are honest, clean, reasonable, & a joy to work with. I would definitely use them again and would recommend them to all my friends. Thank you Martin & his team for your great work John & Hannah Singer read more

Martin and his crew were great and I'd highly recommend them! They did a number of things around our house - removed our deck, painted (inside and outside), did some electrical work. They were reliable, fast, reasonably priced, and easy to work with. I'm glad we found East Bay Retrofit Construction because now we know who to call when we need help. read more

Martin and his team were reliable and knowledge. All permits were handled quickly and accurately. East Bay Retrofit did a fabulous job on our 1937 Split level in Oakland. I highly recommend. read more

Martin was referred to me by a colleague that has has been working with him for a long time. He is knowledgeable, friendly, a great communicator and know to be an honest man, that does a great job. Only hear good things about him and he is exactly what people say. He did accommodate our desperate last-minute request and did a thorough inspection, with care and attention. Definitely, recommend him! A real retrofit professional. read more

Martin and his crew are everything you want in a contractor: prompt, responsive, communicative, skilled, honest, thorough, and reasonably priced. Martin was very responsive in preparing the proposal with us on a quick timeline. He and his crew did the job on time and efficiently. The job took a few days and at the end of each day everything was cleaned up to the point that you couldn't tell any work was being done. We passed inspection no problem. We highly recommend East Bay Retrofit. We were so pleased with them that we hired them for two additional jobs afterwards. read more

I participated in the Earthquake Brace + Bolt program. Martin and his crew did the seismic retrofit work for my house. My house had an engineered design plan due to some cripple walls greater than four feet. Martin said the work would take five days and he was on the mark. His crew did good work in installing the anchor bolts, hold downs, connectors, and plywood shear walls in accordance with the design plan. The cost was reasonable (and lower than other bids I received) and I highly recommend East Bay Retrofit Construction for your seismic retrofit work. read more

Martin and his crew did an outstanding job at a very fair price; the work was done efficiently, with care, and without delays. We had a leak that led to dry rot across two levels of the house. Martin came soon after I wrote requesting an estimate, and was able to schedule the job very shortly after that. The crew was friendly and very professional throughout the week that they were at our home. They did extensive work both upstairs and down, which in addition to replacing the rotting wood involved painting and sealing. Plus, Martin included free insulation and its installation for one of the walls that originally lacked it. At the last minute we asked him if he could remove some large pieces of decrepit furniture, and he hauled them away even though that was not part of the initial job quote. Martin has responded quickly to my emails as well. We have some more remodeling jobs to do, and without question we are turning to him for these future projects. This company really cares about the quality of their work and customer satisfaction; I recommend them very highly. read more

Martin made a reasonable bid on our home construction project (adding/removing some walls, etc) and was available to start within our time frame (ASAP). The job went fairly smoothly and Martin was very helpful throughout, with quite a few last-minute decisions and requests on our part. The final finishing work was good except for some fine details that were overlooked. Overall, an efficient crew at a reasonable price. We're happy with the final results and would hire Martin again. read more

We needed work done on our back shed and decided to inquire with a few contractors to get estimates. Martin had only one review, but I decided to see what his estimate would be. He replied back promptly and we set-up a time for him to come out today, Saturday morning. I usually don't give my addresses to certain vendors I find online until the day they come by. For obvious reasons of privacy and security, all vendors I've worked with have understood this. I gave Martin my cell to reach me this morning to get my address. Our communication prior to this has all been through Yelp and I have been very responsive. He messages me back an hour before he's supposed to come and says he finds "something wrong with me" and doesn't "trust" me. Wow, ok.. how unprofessional and rude. Unfortunately, I can't recommend Martin to get your services done. If he finds customers having something "wrong with them" despite their many positive reviews on other vendors and responsiveness then I honestly recommend you not wasting time on his business. read more

East Bay Retrofit Construction - General Contractors Near Me - Hercules, California

Martin and his team were very timely, communicative, and happily accomodated additional request such as adding insulation behind the shear wall. It was a great experience overall and I would strongly recommend them to others. read more