We found Fred Franke through our architects, after we had a poor experience with the contractor we…read morehad originally planned to work with. Our architects, who are very discerning, both said that if they ever need a contractor for their own homes, this is who they would choose. We are so grateful for this recommendation. We did a massive remodel, down to studs, on our 1939 historic home. I cannot imagine having gone through this with our original contractor, or really anyone else. Fred gave us an accurate and honest estimate of costs and timeline, he made sure to keep us updated throughout the process, and welcomed all of our questions. Whenever we thought there might be a problem or something was overlooked, he was always way ahead of us, aware of it and with answers. He is extremely knowledgeable, able to provide solutions to the inevitable problems that arise when working on an old home. His team of guys are very skilled and helpful, and he subcontracts with the best, so the quality of the finished work is excellent. I do not recommend using a contractor who does all the work themselves. You want someone who works with other true experts in their respective fields. Fred has been doing this a long time in San Diego and has relationships with the best. He is also skilled at working with the city and getting permits and things through. And he really went above and beyond for us to coordinate with the other folks we hired to complete the project (pool company, landscape company, and even Tesla for installing home batteries and car chargers). Beyond all the work, he became a friend through the process. He is honest, funny, and kind. He would always take time to chat with our neighbors and our families. We are looking forward to having him and his family over for dinner in our new home. We have now been in the house for a year and he just checked in with us a couple weeks ago to make sure there were no issues that had arisen. This review is honestly hard to write because it is hard to put into words how grateful we were to have worked with him. We have recommended him to friends and colleagues for their work and do so without reservation. If you are looking for a contractor, I hope for your sake that you get to work with Fred.

To say we had a great experience with Fred and his crew is an understatement. Franke Contracting is…read moreAMAZING!!! Fred is at the top of his field bringing a level of professionalism that we simply did not find in any other contractor. Fred oversaw every aspect of our extensive home rennovation, provided a weekly schedule, walk through with client, and frequently provided updated financials. We knew exactly what was happening each and every day. Fred and his deep bench of experts brought a level of service and knowledge we could have only dreamed of. Each craftsmen meticulously ensured quality and consistency for their respective trades. Fred treated our home as if it was his own, his suggestions and problem solving only lead to a project that exceeded our expectations. Undertaking a complete home renovation is a daunting and expensive task - Fred made it the BEST experience, and we recommend him a thousand times over. He turned our 1920's bungalow, into our California dream home. Fred became a trusted friend, and our neighborhood misses him!! There aren't enough stars to truly rate the Franke team!

Todd Shimp works alongside his crew to make sure every detail is done correctly. We had a huge job…read moreto do-- 1700 sf added to our house. He was able to fix all the mistakes on the architectural plans, and stayed within our budget at the same time. Best of all, he has a great eye for design. So not only can he and his crew build it well, they help make tough design decisions and come up with clever solutions to tricky problems. I couldn't be happier with the results.

Todd Shimp & Shimp Creations built my house seven years ago, before I had a yelp account. He did a…read moregreat job! He is fair, honest, dependable, flexible, collaborative, efficient, knowledgeable, and creative. He also came back a couple years ago to do a smaller project on the property, just a few days work. It went just as well, so small job to big, he's the guy to hire.

After hearing all the horror stories about general contractors, I will admit I was a bit reluctant…read moreto even add the master bath on to my home. I submitted a query on Thumbtack, and Solomon responded within minutes. He gave me such a great bid, that after only interviewing 2 other contractors, I gave the job to him. I was impressed from the beginning about how responsive he was, always answering my emails, calls, and texts right away. He was here at 7 AM every morning, and stayed until all the rest of his crew had gone home. He must be a neat freak like I am because every day he would clean up things so that they were cleaner than when he started that day. My job was a complete master bath addition to my bedroom, and he finished the job in a month and 1 day. He was such a perfectionist that even if I couldn't see anything wrong with some little piece of trim or something, he could, and would do it over until he was satisfied it was right. I know that I asked him to do more than what he originally bid on, and he gave me a very fair change order quote, but then he actually went above and beyond my expectations, to create the most beautiful bathroom EVER! I just can't recommend him enough. Hire him and get your job done quickly and perfectly, at a fair price!

We just moved to San Diego from Atlanta and found a great old 1925 Spanish home in North Park in…read moreneed of a remodel. We needed a total bath gut job, all of the indoor, out door repainted, doors reworked with hardware replaced, stucco repaired, a bonus room build out, accent tile work in the courtyard and roof. Soloman from SK Fine Homes submitted a bid, we accepted and he immediately tackled the massive projects. Its been a little over 4 weeks and everything has been completed beyond perfection. The work far exceeded our expectations! Details such as accent boarder work on tiles, matching paint to particular accents, making sure doors worked perfectly, tile work laid out with precision, and of course the entire projects ran smoothly, on schedule and everything done so well. Not being from the area, we really did not have many connections. We are fortunate to have our project managed by Soloman. Our next remodel will be our kitchen and we plan to call SK Fine Homes back to lead this remodel.

We started our major remodel with KL9 construction last year in October 2011 and it was completed…read moreJune 2012. At the beginning of construction, we also found out I was pregnant so the pressure was on to get the house ready. Our home was a complete remodel, it went from farm country look to coastal contemporary with Asian influence. Our design preferences were inspired from our travels in Asia. We gave him photos from our favorite resorts and he was able incorporate the elements throughout the house. On a side note, we are not the easiest clients. We had special requests, a gazillion changes, sometimes hard to get a hold of, etc... They had to start the project and we were delaying them because my husband and I were both traveling, so they actually emptied our house and packed it up in storage units on their own. We didn't have to lift a finger. When we came back into the country, the house demolition started. I was impressed from the beginning. We have worked with other contractors before where you truly hate their guts after they do the work for you. This was not the case with KL9. The quality of work and attention to detail was top notch. We are living in a our dream home. I love love love my home. Our neighbors were amazed and asked us who did it. KL9 all the way!

Remodeled my bath - Very conscientious of keeping my house clean. Easy to work with. Responsive…read more Beautiful work.

[Original review was at 3.5 stars rounded down to 3 stars. However, I received some VERY unpleasant…read morecommunication from the "branch manager", Eran Chan, subsequent to my review post. He demanded that I provide my identifying information, ignored my request for privacy based on the review, and made accusations that I used a fake contractor. It was irksome enough to remove an additional star. Remainder of review remains in tact.] As first time homeowners, we discovered that the market for construction/ remodel help is difficult to find in San Diego. It's hard to filter out the reliable reviews from those who are associated to the business owners. This is heavily prevalent on Yelp and exceptionally so for service providers: it's important to notice how many of those 5 star reviewers have (1) no yelp activity, (2) no yelp friends, and (3) created the yelp account close in time to the date the review was placed. You should be cautious of the veracity of these reviews. With Treeium, you'll find a that there are some valid reviews and some questionable. I lend mine as one backed by evidence. To date I am the only Yelp Elite reviewer. I'd be happy to pass along my complete sentiments privately. I selected Treeium from -- you guessed it-- yelp. My husband, who's the more calm and friendly individual between us two, was the one to receive the initial marketing pitch from the company (we'll leave identification of individuals private). Overall, I would say they do a great pitch. The representative that they send is friendly, knowledgeable, and conveys a strong level of confidence in how the project will go, etc. The individual came back a second time to talk to me with my husband.. and even I was thoroughly convinced by the pitch. Once you sign the paper, that's where the rollercoaster ride starts. The first guys that came in were kind enough to lay down carpet covers to avoid stomping around in our Asian household (read: NO SHOES INSIDE) and on our brand new carpet. Subsequent contractors were less respectful and didn't bring shoe covers. We had to lay down our own carpet covers. Thankfully I wasn't present for most of the process because I'm sure I would have raised hell through each phase. They were relatively timely on the breakdown and removal. There were strong initial attempts to protect our property and minimize the construction mess. But once the actual work started, it seemed like there was just problem after problem. There were many pros and cons.. pros are evident by the final bathroom being done (finally).. My biggest qualms however were: (1) PRICE: we had to pay for a lot of additional things after the quote that just kept getting tacked on the original quote. It was frustrating to find out that certain tiles or things that we wanted were unavailable or could not be incorporated. We had to settle on several aspects. There is a payment plan option to make it more palatable. In retrospect, I think the project was on the higher end of what we could have found elsewhere. (2) FAILURE TO MEET TIMELINE: this is the MOST irksome part. We were told 4-6 weeks.. it took almost three months. With the various contractors that are required in any one job, I understand that the more parties there are.. the more likely there will be scheduling problems. But the timeline was edging on unreasonable. (3) AVERAGE COSMETIC JOB: I have never heard a contractor tell me your wall is crooked, therefore, there will be a gap between tile and wall in order have a straight tile surface. It's a minor aspect but gap bothers me every day like an itch in a spot you can't reach. Also, the white tiles that were chosen were shaved at the corners, leaving ugly brown rounded corners amidst the white tiles. Another itch. Also, we opted to keep the bathtub. They cracked the bathtub with removing the old parts around the tub. Rather than fix the tub, we were told we could pay more for someone to fix the cracked porcelain or go buy our own fix it kit. After all the extra costs, we opted for the fix it kit.. which i think is ridiculous. Oh but by the time we got around to it, the tub started to rust in the places where they damaged it. When you step back and look at the overall reno, it does look better than what we had. We're generally happy with the final product (my husband more than I)... and it is definitely an improvement. We did refer Treeium to another group of friends who did an even bigger project, but they had the exact same complaints we did so I feel that our comments are valid and verified. Prior to the unpleasant communications received from Eran Chan, I would have been happy to share that Treeium is *capable* of doing a good job and that we might return. With his harassment, I don't foresee our return or further referral.

Too bad Yelp doesn't allow for no stars - these contractor's don't even deserve one star. These…read moreguys are a bunch of corner cutting hacks. They remodeled my grandmother's bathroom, replaced some drywall and lights in the kitchen. They are completely careless of details, did not properly prepare or finish the job and their work is crap. They even sat my 80 year old grandmother down to watch her give them a yelp review at the beginning of the job before even starting on the work. Talk about having dishonest business practices and taking advantage of the elderly! There's screwed up grout, nails showing on thru the drywall and paint, areas they painted and didn't tape off etc. They didn't even have the decency to replace the outlet covers on a full bathroom remodel and left the hallway light cover completely bare. Like I said cheap and cut corners. They refused to come back and properly take care of their sloppy work until my grandmother paid them in full. Even the contractor that came out to inspect the work indicated that aspects of the work done were not up to par. Photos added to business since yelp does not allow them on reviews as of yet. On top of that, they did not haul away any of the construction waste and left my grandmother to deal with trying to fit that into a normal garbage can. Word of advice - do not hire these jokers - there are so many other companies out there that do provide excellent service - this company just isn't one of them. I will note the project was completed Dec 2013. They came out and fixed a few things related to painting the hallway in Jan 2014 however my grandmother was told the work has to stop somewhere. Essentially they didn't do the job right and by example of my last photo uploaded it they don't believe they did it right. Called the review not fair but that's what reviews are for. They did offer to come fix it at no charge today however to protect my grandmothers house we are not allowing them anywhere near it. Just an update, Eran their officer manager posted a couple pictures of the bathroom afterwards in an effort to do damage control and I am glad they did because none of them are close-ups yet you can still see how the grouting is going over the glass tiles and the little patch above/behind the shower head where there's grout basically rubbed on with a finger and never cleaned. Additionally they don't show the wall they filled where screws are visibly protruding and of course they didn't show any of the hall way or kitchen ceiling. Just be sure to not pay this contractor until the job is completely done and done right!

I was in a bind helping my parents get permits for their wedding venue. All the other architects…read moreblew them off or were charging crazy amounts of money. Dave went above and beyond flighting for our project to be permitted according to code, they tried to require us to have sprinkler systems installed that wasn't required which would have cost us over $50,000. His knowledge of the building code is unbelievable and so helpful. Overall we saved a ton of money going with an experienced professional, probably close to 100k. Stop looking and do it!

We have worked with Kuop Designs on a few projects and they have gone very smoothly with attention…read moreto detail and timely coordination responses. David understands the design process as well as the construction process which makes for great projects!

At S&S Kitchens and Additions, Bob, Amanda, and Emily are a pleasure to work with. My older brother…read morehired Bob to design & build his new custom home after a fire burned his previous home to the ground and the architect was 6 months late with the plans. My brother is very picky and also hard to please. After I saw the high quality of the work S&S does, I asked Bob to come look at a project I was wanting to do. After I found out that I could not build a building exactly where I wanted to due to a septic system leach field, Bob suggested another location on my property that I had not even thought was possible. His expertise and vision is exactly what I needed. In addition to the new building, we are having S&S expand and remodel our kitchen. My wife really enjoys working with Amanda on the kitchen design. She is so helpful in providing solutions to help make decisions much easier. We are at about the half way point and couldn't be happier with the honesty, integrity, and quality of work from our friends at S&S Kitchens and Additions. I don't normally write reviews, but with such a big undertaking that I had minimal experience with, Bob has made me feel comfortable enough that I felt others might want or need to work with someone like him too!

An absolutely outstanding contractor. Robert and his team does it all and treats the project as if…read moreit is on their own home. Quality work and timely. Robert also has a design team that works exceptionally well in understanding your desires and bring forth design concepts that are right on with what you desired. We are looking forward to hiring him again for follow on projects.

A&P construction help us remolded our kitchen cabinet and bathroom at fair price with his original…read morequote. we are very appreciated. The job quality is good.

Al was referred to us by a business friend who had his kitchen remodeled and was a very satisfied…read morecustomer. After our plans for a 350 sq feet room addition (office/guest room) were finalized and he got the plans approved by the City, it took him only 5 weeks to finish this addition, beginning to end with all 4 City inspections and final inspection approved! He was on schedule, budget and his work ethics were excellent. Clean-up on a daily basis, being on time, supervising every day his excellent crew made us loyal followers of Al and we certainly will hire A&P Construction again for any future projects we may have.