Harvey and his team did an excellent job stabilizing and repairing our outdoor stairs. The stairs…read morewere in really poor shape and felt like they were ready to fall down, so we needed the work done immediately. Harvey was extremely responsive and his crew started quickly. He communicated clearly about what was possible and was honest when the stairs turned out to be in worse condition than first assessed. The team replaced the unsalvageable parts and stabilized the rest, and the workmanship on the parts they replaced looks solid. All-in-all there was only so much they could do given the stairs were built incorrectly and were in very bad condition, but they pulled through and got everything into a safe, workable state. Harvey was also a really nice guy to talk with. Professional, personable, and easy to work with. He kept us informed when the timeline shifted, worked efficiently, and left the area tidy when they finished.

It is so rare to find a contractor who is willing to take on a range of tasks from small to large…read moreand do excellent work on every task. Harvey Varga took on a whole list of things that we needed done--from building a 150-foot fence, building a sidewalk and concrete pad, rebuilding kitchen cabinets to install a dishwasher, putting in a new vent fan, fixing an improperly installed dryer vent, etc. He was very responsive to our initial request for work and had a crew with a couple of days. Each task was given detailed attention and done with perfection. His crews were efficient, competent, thoughtful, and quiet. They were respectful of us, our property, our neighbors, and our dogs, and cleaned up at the end of each day. It was a pleasure to work with Harvey Varga and his crews. We give him and them our highest recommendation particularly for someone who has a mix of small and large jobs. Tom & Virginia

We are very happy we used Tinka Construction to remodel our small bathroom and update our kitchen…read more George and his crew are super friendly, clean, and creative at solving transitions between spaces. His team is resourceful and they did not generate excessive work to add cost. For our kitchen / laundry facelift, we updated the flooring, backsplash, lighting, and reconfigured our laundry area. George's crew helped to side vent the dryer which the big box store was unable to do. George gave valuable input on our bathroom design to optimize the small space. He had suggestions for an in-wall toilet, a corner sink, window ledge niche, and talked us out of a doorless shower (thank you!). He knows small spaces very well and was able to place the fixtures in their best locations. George would give us a heads up on our requests that were going to cost more than ~1k. He had some subcontractors come in to help with varying degrees of quality and cleanliness. We are glad he managed the plumbing contractor who had to come back 3 times. His paint jobs varied quite a bit in consistency depending on who was painting. The best part of working with George was that we were expecting our first child, and he worked very hard to complete the project before her due date. To our surprise and delight he totally finished it before she arrived!

George helped us with a complete remodel for our home in Berkeley. He and his crew (Oni, Enrique,…read moreMarvin, Wuillian) are extremely smart, honest, professional and creative. His pricing is also reasonable and transparent. We started with an awkward layout (even no room for fridge in the kitchen!) and ended with a tastefully transformed home: open, modern and feels much more spacious than before. George is patient, transparent, detail oriented (with a special eye for safety!) and always a clever problem solver on behalf of his clients. What he did for our project was too much to list, but I'm attaching a few photos where the end results can speak for itself! Contractors like George is hard to come by and highly sought after in the current environment, we would recommend him to any one who values craftsmanship and quality!

It's rare to find someone who balances meticulous attention to detail with a clear vision of the…read morebig picture -- but Andrew does exactly that. His background as an architect, combined with his aesthetic sensibility and deep technical knowledge, makes him exceptional. He knows the best approaches, materials, and craftsmen for any project and offers complete transparency on everything. He lays out your options clearly, helping you balance quality with budget considerations. I hired Andrew to convert my garage into a studio and perform roof maintenance on my main house. During the roof work, his expert roofer spotted a serious issue that had been missed in the home inspection -- catching something that could have caused significant problems down the road. Andrew also counseled me on other renovation priorities, helping me understand what needed immediate attention and what could wait until I had the funds. If you want a project done right the first time, with someone who truly has your best interests in mind, I wholeheartedly recommend Andrew.

An update to my earlier review of Blue Dog. Since my first engagement with Andrew and crew, he has…read moreconstructed a deck on our north Berkeley home. What a *GREAT* job his team did for us. We have a relatively small house so the deck has virtually added a new living space. And we could not be happier with its build, the elegant beauty. Andrew designed the deck for us, recommended the wood materials and well, we love it! We hired Blue Dog again to rebuild our daughter's house in Albany. Again, he has taken the lead on design and rebuild. And once again, we couldn't be happier. Many thanks to Blue Dog and Andrew and his team.

I recently had Miller's Builders completely renovate my very old kitchen, add a 1/2 bath, and at…read morethe same time do a complete seismic retrofit in the basement. My house was built in 1918. At that time, there was a wood burning stove in the kitchen. It was vented by a chimney that went from the basement up through the kitchen and then through an upstairs bedroom and out the roof. Sometime, probably mid 20th century, the kitchen was updated and the chimney was enclosed in a wall separating the space into a laundry room and tiny toilet room at the back wall of the house, and the kitchen in the front part of the original space. There were windows in the kitchen side wall originally, but before we moved in, in 1989, a building was built next-door up against my roof-line, leaving almost no natural light in the kitchen. After an architect and engineer confirmed the safety of taking out the chimney and wall surrounding it and cutting a huge picture window in the back wall of the house, Charles Miller, owner, and his friendly team of skilled craftsmen got to work. Charles and Julia, his project manager assistant, were completely on top of details like the order of work, procurement of materials, and scheduling sub-contractors so that the progress of the work was not interrupted. Also, when it comes to finishes, these people are perfectionists! The tiniest cosmetic details were handled with an aesthetic and artistic eye. If something needed to be re-done, Charles pointed out to me if I didn't notice it, and it was re-done without complaint. This project took about 5.5 months until full completion and I was able to use the kitchen by about 5 months. I did not have the luxury of moving out during the remodel, so I welcomed that the crew worked just Mondays through Thursdays. I enjoyed 3 day weekends without construction noise. I was the designer of the kitchen, aided by my architect, and my cabinet designer from Home Depot. So, it was useful to be available when necessary, to make choices of things like flooring, tiling, lighting and innards of the cabinets. One special highlight was installing inset stud-bay shelving on one wall. Martin, the carpenter extraordinaire, meticulously created gorgeous shallow shelves for both decorative and functional items. My friends come into my new gorgeous kitchen with natural and LED lighting and give it delighted praise. I'm here to say you can trust Miller's Builders to do the job right with friendly helpful attitudes. And the price was towards the lower end of the 4 bids I received before making my decision. Honestly, I miss these guys.

Millers Builders did a phenomenal job on our project, which was converting a 1-car garage into an…read moreADU with a full kitchen and bathroom. They also helped us with our front gate and leveling part of our front yard for a parking pad. Throughout the process, Charles was extremely communicative and thorough. He really takes care to understand what details you care about, eliciting feedback every step of the way. He is very friendly and personable, and goes out of his way to make sure the finishing touches are exactly what you're looking for. The team was all super friendly and kind to everyone they encountered, including our neighbors and kids. They were all clearly talented at their trades and did a nice job pulling the whole project together. This team can do anything, and they will do it with a lot of pride and craftsmanship. I would without a doubt not hesitate to work with Charles and his team again, and strongly recommend them to anyone looking for a great contractor.

Our deck was embarrassing. It was 40 years old and looked every bit of it - peeling red paint, wood…read morethat had been patched and repainted so many times it was basically held together by stubbornness, sagging lattice skirting underneath, and a pathway that was on its last legs. A former coworker had recommended Roberto on Yelp, so I called him right away. We went through the whole planning process together, got aligned on the design and materials - and then life happened and we just weren't quite ready financially to pull the trigger. Roberto was completely gracious about it. No pressure, no attitude, just patience. When we were finally ready to go, he picked right back up where we left off and his team came in and got it done. That kind of professionalism set the tone for the whole project. When his crew got into the build and found issues - and on a 40-year-old deck, they found a few - Roberto would come find me, show me what they'd discovered, explain what needed to happen, and just handle it. No surprises on the bill, no drama. Straight communication and solid work from start to finish. The finished deck is beautiful. These guys take pride in their work and it shows in every detail. If you're on the fence, just call him. You won't regret it.

I found Rco construction on yelp during my search for a company to build a backyard deck. I…read moreinterviewed a dozen companies and landscaping contractors during this exhaustive campaign - to include a full itemized quote from RCO Unfortunately, I had to postpone my project due to circumstances out of my control Despite cancellation of this project, Sergio was hands down the most thoughtful, patient, thorough and professional contractor I met. His attention to detail was outstanding and the quote he provided was more than fair - actually, he was less expensive than those without licenses. When my project begins, I will absolutely use Rco construction

1. Emailed Stuart Construction with a description of our project and request to schedule a time for…read morea consult. No reply after more than a week. 2. Called their telephone number only to get a voicemail message saying the voicemail box was full and could not accept any messages. 3. Called again and spoke to Jimmy who asked me to email him the details of the job. 4. Emailed Jimmy, more days went by without a response. 5. Received a call from Jimmy and apology. He said there was a possibility of stopping by our house that weekend to walk through, and would call to followup. Never received a call. The end.

Jim Stuart did a major remodel for us in 2004. It included digging down to create drainage under…read moreour house and adding 500 sq feet of downstairs living space plus an entire kitchen re-do upstairs and an indoor staircase. He estimated 6 months and was gone in 6 months 3 weeks. All the work he did was high quality and has held up beautifully. Today a question came up during another project and I needed his memory/knowledge. He offered to come over and came and assessed the situation, reviewed the old building plans with me and offered advice about next steps. That is really high quality service!

We've had a great experience working with Mike Pourzand of Gehl Design / Build…read more Our original project was to replace a dilapidated shed in the backyard of our North Berkeley home with.a completely new structure having an identical footprint. Mike was very attentive and responsive to our objectives, and he developed a number of innovative and cost-effective design ideas to address our needs. We were often impressed by the way Mike's design ideas built on his extensive engineering and construction knowledge -- and vice versa. We also appreciated his efforts to anticipate and navigate city permitting requirements. Based on our very positive experience during the design phase, we elected to engage Gehl Design /Build to oversee the construction of the new shed, as well as to design and manage several additional projects (including a new and expanded driveway, new fences and gates). As part of this second phase, Mike identified and secured bids from qualified contractors he had vetted and worked with previously. His recommendation -- which we ended up going with -- proved excellent. On several occasions, Mike helped explain elements of our plans with our neighbors. He was very respectful and straightforward in his approach, helping to secure their support and goodwill. What made us feel that we were in excellent hands with Gehl Design / Build was not only Mike's extensive experience and his impressive knowledge and skill set. His dedication, patience, responsiveness, and integrity are all exemplary -- and made working with him a true pleasure.

The guys at Gehl design team helped design, build and implement a 300 sq ft design Artist studio…read morespace from start to finish, as well as build a small detached storage shed, that also looked contemporary in design. Mike and his team helped with every aspect of this project, from initial brainstorming, conception and design, to implementation -- I can't recommend them enough!!

On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best) I give David Vazquez Fencing 100!…read more We've worked with David Vazquez for years and he is the ONLY carpenter we allow to do work at our home in Pleasant Hill. He's built hundreds of feet of redwood fencing and hog wire fencing, pergola, deck and installed the interior doors in our home. David is very professional, always completes projects on time and at an excellent price for all of the value he provides. I cannot recommend him enough!!

David and his team did an amazing job on replacing the fence that runs along the top of the hill…read morenext to our neighbors. He worked with me to figure out exactly what would work best for both my neighbor and me, and the final product - hog wire in the top third and a good neighbor fence in the bottom two thirds - came out beautifully. And when he discovered that a small retaining wall was necessary at one end of the hill, he immediately added it to the work, no problem. I can recommend him without reservation.