We cannot recommend Megan Silver highly enough. We feel very lucky to have been connected with her and her Freemodel team for a complete home "refresh," along with a top of the line new kitchen, ahead of selling our home in Piedmont. Her design taste was impeccable; the timeline was swift and exactly as planned; and the quality of the workmanship was very high-quality (to the level that other neighbors were asking us for references); Megan was always communicative, responsive, and managed the team and project with a unbelievable attention to detail along with quickly attending to any punch-up items that we noted. Financially, the project performed exactly in line with the original estimates that Freemodel had provided. We also felt that the bidding, billing, change order and operational side of the project was very smooth - moreso than it might have been with many contractors. For work ahead of a home sale in Piedmont and the East Bay, look no further than Megan Silver and Freemodel. read more

As a Bay Area realtor, I had the absolute pleasure of partnering with Freemodel on a listing in Oakland. The market had cooled considerably, and my seller was worried he wouldn't even hit his acceptable number--his dream price felt completely out of reach. The home had personality--bold paint colors, dark floors, and dated tile from decades past. Freemodel came in with a sharp, strategic plan and executed every update with style and precision. I felt confident in every decision they made. Working with Dominique was a dream--responsive, smart, and on point throughout. The result? We got multiple offers and my seller landed his dream price in just five days. In a slow market. I'm Freemodel's biggest fan and can't wait for our next project together in the City. read more

Freemodel - Real Estate Services Near Me - Burlingame, California

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They are cray cray for sure Their focus was only on me signing by 8/31 to preserve their pricing and this was before I even got my quote. Many times I told them I only wanted to replace doors do baseboards and the basics because even if my place is made into the Taj Mahal I still live in a neighborhood that would never command higher prices ! The price they gave me as a base fixer upper price was 200k less than what John Buys Houses offered and that group is honest and very smart and credible. I am not sure what oriface they pulled that price out of just cray cray Then they insisted on full painting for 66k even after I had painted 80 percent because my white paint was not white enough lol They actually quoted a full 275k remodel in a neighborhood that would never ever see the value, I have many examples of the crazy prices I am willing to share with anyone that wants to see them. Outside I had 2 areas of dry rot I was quoted 500 they quoted 5,500 They wanted to remodel a bathroom in pristine shape I know this company got venture funding but it clearly was not Sequoia Capital lol Their CEO must be cray cray too or he would look at proposals This company won't make it no way people are not that stupid I have 3 licensed bonded reputable contractors go through my house thoroughly The pricing was 30k to 55k If you look at the comps here and the fact that the other houses did not get duped by Freemodel my profit would have been the 275k they quoted less profit I hope people wake up and don't get duped by them. They should change their name to Free cray cray Model! read more

Working with Freemodel was a stressful and costly experience. Instead of delivering an updated, safe home, they left us with dozens of hidden deficiencies, including gas leaks, fire-hazard wiring, inadequate plumbing, and compromised infrastructure. Significant work was performed without permission and without the required oversight of an engineer or architect. Significant work was done contrary to the original discussions. The core issue was their complete disregard for professional standards: they shaded the Scope of Work (leaving off significant changes they were going to make), failed to obtain necessary permits, skipped inspections, and ignored building codes. When confronted, the project manager simply shrugged and claimed an online permit would only take "15 minutes" to secure after the fact. That was a blatant misrepresentation. The project involved significant structural and utility work that required staged inspections throughout the process. Ultimately, we discovered that nearly every task requiring a permit had been executed incorrectly. And many short cuts in function and design had been used that made the house less functional and unsafe. Freemodel failed to honor both verbal and contractual commitments. Specifically: Scheduling: They never adhered to a timeline but consistently billed as if the project were on track. Compliance: They failed to obtain permits, schedule inspections, or adhere to code specifications. Accountability: They failed to live up to the commitments made to functionality for our family. Despite multiple requests, they refused to send a qualified project manager to assess and rectify the mounting failures of function, safety, and legality. Consider yourself warned: If you are planning a remodel, look elsewhere. If you are buying a home recently renovated by this company, demand that the Realtor provide the full Scope of Work and cross-reference it with city requirements. If any work required a permit, demand to see the signed-off City inspections before proceeding. read more

Working with Megan Silver and the team at Freemodel was a fantastic experience from start to finish. Megan took all the stress out of the pre-sales renovation by making the entire process incredibly easy for both me and my clients. She delivered beautiful designs that modernized the Oakland condo, including a stunning kitchen refresh and stylish new lighting throughout. I was so impressed with how Megan kept every detail on track, ensuring the project stayed strictly on time and within the $38,007 budget. Her work was instrumental in helping us achieve a final sale price of $520,000 and an outstanding profit for the sellers. I cannot recommend Megan and Freemodel highly enough for any agent/homeowner looking to maximize a property's value and sell for more. read more

I purchased a home that Freemodel did and have had nothing but problems with the house. Work was such poor quality and done wrong. Have had electrical issues and now plumbing issues. Dishwasher installed wrong so that water has now leaked underneath my flooring causing damage to the floor and cabinets. Countertops are discolored because of poor quality product. With defective seal. Refused to replace even though they said house was under warranty. LVF creaks when you walk on it and now has nails starting to come through and sticking out. New deck is starting to buckle, closet door they installed are falling apart. I can go on. HUGE WARNING TO BUYERS. read more

Seem to use inexperienced laborers resulting in a leak that caused extensive damage to 2 units. Beware if 1 year warranty.

The entire process with Freemodel was efficient and seamless. Debbie Lewis was responsive, friendly and professional. I will absolutely recommend Freemodel as an option for financing pre-sale projects in the future. Great work! read more

I contracted Freemodel in preparation for a premium Marin County property sale. Suffice to say, my 2023/2024 project missed and seriously exceeded normal permit processing timelines and work completion deadlines. What was contracted to be three months time took twice that and the errors were egregious. It's too extensive a list of issues to address in this forum. Key points: A critical path vendor, an A & E firm, shut down with no warning in the midst of our contract, taking my $14,500.K permit set plans with them and was never to be heard from again. I was also left with a huge excess of unused building materials that were over ordered. I had the foresight to salvage and remove these offsite as I had paid for them. The ' project management ' team on the ground was insufficiently vetted, unsupported for due diligence - when they showed up - which was infrequent - as well as proving to have a total lack of knowledge of code compliance. These project managers were operating under a false promise of meeting property listing deadlines which held huge potential exposure for the project's risk and liability, as well as renovation investment. In response, I engaged CEO John Garner in several calls and lengthy performance assessments. My project renovation was valued over $240K and they had a hefty lien on my property in exchange for my misguided decision of doing business with them. I eventually reached resolution. I salvaged a path and I sought total disclosure and transparency of their contract terms. I received direct recompense with the company for mismanagement but it was only after significant effort and undue stress on my part. The loss here was in time wasted - estimated to exceed over $75k in project management time to undo the poor quality work and missed deadlines. However, I fear many consumers cannot navigate these scenarios, may give up or just don't have the perseverance to deal with such job site negligence. Here's the warning: First, the consumer needs to be better educated to understand this is a start up company with less than 5 years experience in the design / build trades. Secondly, this is not a renovation company. This is a fin /proptech venture capital backed platform developed for short term, high interest loans leveraged against deeded property and the residential homeowner positioning to sell. ( see link: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pre-sale-home-renovation-startup-freemodel-raises-19-5m-in-series-a-funding-301735034.html ) That means you get " no interest " renovation funding at the outset, but pay hard at escrow / property closing for the project management, labor and materials all at exceedingly high mark up, well over industry standard. This premium 'funds' the loan. All the rest is scrappy on the ground and fraught with inexperience. There are no industry standard project management tools shared with the homeowner resulting in terrible job site communications and a sore lack of compliance procedures. A milestone chart, materials expediting and delivery list or similar tracking tools for instance. The homeowner is highly vulnerable to cost overruns, negligent workplace standards and project delays but with an attached hefty lien in place, can do little to defend a strong contract position. In other words - you seemingly can't fire them. Case in point: the change orders kept hitting my bottom line but in fact were due to over ordering of materials, lost hours in poor workmanship and errors from that of original estimates, sometimes inexplicably doubling in cost. The company finally acquiesced to my firm demands to manage the project myself. I stopped all work with the flakey contractor and finally brought in others to complete the work to a reasonable standard that would allow me to finally list the property over 60 days after the projected marketing date. Yes, my property sold and at satisfied market value. However, I attribute that solely on my stress equity to call out and resolve these issues. I also was fortunate to work with an excellent real estate agent who could spin the delays, help resolve issues and market / negotiate the final sales transaction on my behalf. Hope things are improving over there at Freemodel. Were these just growing pains or is it a fundamentally flawed business model? Nothing is 'free', after all. read more

This company is a scam. They think that because they're remodeling your home to sell, they can do a shit job and the buyer won't have any recourse. There are so many examples, but here's one: the attic fan was running at all hours of the night when it was cold. No one at freemodel would return my calls. When they finally did, the contractor came over and disabled the fan completely, so when it started getting hot it wouldn't turn on. The contractor was not responding to calls/texts. I climbed up there myself and fiddled with it and couldn't get it to work. When someone from Freemodel finally came, they said bc someone else had gone into the attic (me), the work is no longer under warranty. There are also fixtures that are improperly installed in both bathrooms. Freemodel said 'it passed our inspection upon completion so we can't help you'. I asked to see the inspection report and they never emailed back. I've been here for six months now and I'm always finding little things. The tube drain for the dishwasher was 12" too long. The tube was tied with string instead of a metal clamp. But they say they won't help me because other people have looked at it, but why would I trust them to come in and say 'oh, we messed up here'. The entire business rests on them not having to be accountable for the terrible work they do. Stay away from Freemodel!! read more

I own a real estate company on the Northern California coast and have had great success using FreeModel ! Our local rep is Azary and she is wonderful. Super easy to reach, very clear communicator, detailed work and consistent progress reports and follow up plus quality work by their contractors and suppliers. We have had great success with the homes we have sold where we used FreeModel , either simply doing fresh carpet and paint or a full transformation of the home. I completely trust them with my clients, and I have very high expectations of vendors, suppliers and people we hire to support our efforts, I can not recommend them highly enough ! read more

This was my first time and our team's first time using Freemodel. Everything about the experience was great, I have no complaints. Azary was AMAZING and it would be my pleasure to work with her again on another project. She was responsive, always communicated with us, and flexible in our asks. Thank you Azary and Freemodel! read more

I have been lucky enough to work with Louise Valuer. She is absolutely amazing!! I worked with her on another project and she filled in for the Marin project manager when she was on vacation. I will continue to request Louise for all of my future projects in Marin. She is organized, is a good listener and works tremendously well with me and my clients. We all love her! read more

John & Melissa have been super. I couldn't ask for better help & service. This project included refinished and expanded wood floors, interior paint, door hardware, new primary bath, new office from a former storage room. Project management was on time and within budget. As a result the property had multiple bids over list and sold quickly. I would not hesitate to use Freemodel in the future! read more

Kristina is a marvel! Brought us solutions Always a smile. Just hard worker , so professional and pleasant as can be. She went above and beyond what I thought was required. In terms of beautifying the space and interfacing w neighbors , City permit dept, and my sellers. She possesses what many project managers lack - high EQ. Thanks so much. read more

I'm a Realtor and Freemodel has been our go to vendor when we need to update and prepare a property for sale and the owner doesn't have any money. Freemodel does the work and get paid when the house sells, not before. This fix it now and pay for it later helps the owner profit more instead of selling AS-IS. Megan Silverman is our Project Manager and all I can say to the other negative reviews is that you obviously didn't have Megan as your PM. I can't recommend her enough and our mutual clients have been thrilled with the results everytime. read more

Cheap awful work floors not level, cabinet doors not lined up or closing properly, no trim around cooktop and oven not installed flush

We hired this company, because Sotheby's recommended them. They were the worst! They hire inexperienced contractors and the designer we had was not very good! The city inspector failed us for e to electrical, plumbing issues which Freemodel caused. We failed a roof inspection which was where they had taken out our fireplace. We got some negative responses from people who toured our home and we got the same amount of money for our home as if we did nothing to it! Stay away from Freemodel unless you want a heartache!!! read more