Joe was great! He gave us a quick and reasonable quote for building a large garden trellis, and got…read morethe job done the next week. He is an experienced carpenter who cares about the quality of his work and attention to detail, great communication throughout the process. We will be using Bumble Bee for our next project!

My experience started off well. Joe was responsive, communicated clearly, and provided a fair…read morequote. Unfortunately, after a miscommunication about part of the project, which I thought we had resolved amicably (I compensated him for the materials he had already used), he later admitted he was upset and had been purposely avoiding my follow up communication. He left the original job on Friday saying he would return the following week to finish a few remaining items. After that, I spent over a month trying to get a response, with little to no communication and no explanation for this treatment. When I finally expressed my frustration, he admitted he had intentionally been ignoring me because of the earlier misunderstanding and offered to send someone to finish the outstanding tasks, "if that's what I was upset about." That level of unprofessionalism was far more disappointing than the few remaining tasks on the project. Misunderstandings happen, but they shouldn't result in giving a customer the silent treatment and leaving a job unfinished. I cannot recommend someone who responds to conflict by avoiding communication completely.

First: I have not used Troy Construction. So why am I reviewing them? Because out of half a dozen…read morecontractors we met, Bulent was my favorite. We did not choose Troy Construction due mainly due to timing (he couldn't start our project for 3-4 months due to his busy schedule). So why was he my favorite? He was down to earth, was very enthusiastic, clearly understood what we wanted to do, and had a lot of useful advice for us. Even though he had a busy schedule (which we didn't know until we asked him when he could start the project), he spent over an hour with us discussing our project. While we ultimately chose another contractor, we already know we want to use Troy Construction for our next big house project...

We had Bulent and his crew install a new bedroom and 2 bathrooms to our existing home in Richmond…read more It was quite a undertaking! Bulent and his crew were awesome to work with! They were polite, efficient and made the disruption as minimal as possible. Bulent kept us informed every step of the way. He is professional, personable and very easy to work with. Can't say enough good things about Troy construction!

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!

I've had Damon & his crew (Carlos, Carlitos, Marcos, Samuel) do a couple jobs for me now (these…read morethings tend to snowball, ugh, lol) & they've always done top-notch work. I had a fan in my master bathroom crap out on me, which was weird, since I only bought my place 4 years ago, it was newly remodeled, & I even remodeled some more on top of that. My wife pointed out it wasn't working, but it looked new to me, so I popped the cover to find out...not new at all. New COVER over a fan that was a year younger than the missus. Uh oh. The old "lipstick on a pig" boogie from the prior owners/ seller. Damn. Hate getting hoodwinked. So, I think "well, better check the 'new' fan in the guest bath too." Pop THAT shiny, nice cover & ...same drill but even OLDER. Some mid-80's (I think) giant 13" circular fan they don't even make anymore. Double ugh. Last stop: laundry room. Final fan, pop the cover...whew, it's actually a new-ish fan. 1 outta 3 ain't bad, right? /sigh So I put out the feelers for an electrician (I had 2 dead outlets, 1 indoor, 1 outdoor as well) & after doing the "online quote" thing w/ Yelp, I got in touch w/ Damon @ Berkeley Home Repair. Funny dude, super helpful, quick & responsive. He schedules his electrician, Carlitos, to come out ASAP, for what I think is gonna just be a basic fan install & outlet fix job. Nope. Carlitos goes into the attic & discovers the ducts are all wrong. 3 fans running thru 2 ducts, both bathrooms on the same 4" line, & laundry room on some weird 3" duct. Now, you can get away with 4", but 6" is code & preferred, & every fan has to be on its own dedicated/ independent duct, or you're just blowing moisture from room to room & into the attic. Not good. We crawl the attic together & confirm I need a 3rd roof penetration & new ducts. So much for cheap & easy. Damn. Damon adjusts the bid (as gently as possible, considering my costs just went up almost 10x) & I wind up with 2 brand new Panasonic Whisper Quiet fans (amazing. Almost TOO quiet), a new roof penetration & cap, new independent 6" ducts for each fan, an excellent sheetrock patch & paintjob on my guest bath ceiling (prior, old-timey fan was just way too huge compared to current models) AND Carlitos fixed both dead power outlets (one of which turned out to be an arcing short/ broken wire inside the wall, which we were lucky to catch before a fire). All the workers were amazing to work with & did great on their specific parts of the now much larger order. Everyone worked quickly &, despite the gig snowballing far beyond the expected, Damon priced fairly & had the work done as fast as possible with minimal intrusion & inconvenience (crucial during these pandemic "work from home" times) Tho it was obviously a bummer to have a small job turn into a much bigger & more expensive one, I always felt like I was in good hands with Damon, his communication was clear, direct, quick & honest, & the outcome was excellent. I'll definitely be using Berkeley Home Repair for future work, since homeownership often means nasty surprises like the one I got ain't all that rare, unfortunately. Heh. At least now I know who to call to get sorted fairly & quickly. Thanks fellas! Will try to post pics when I get a chance...but most of this was "behind the scenes" work, or what my buddy likes to call "invisible money", heh.

I called this company and spoke to a guy named Damon who asked me to text him photos of the project…read moreI had in mind as well as a diagram with measurements. I did that. In fact, on the call he said I could text or email him and I asked specifically which mode he preferred - he said that text would get the fastest response. So I texted. No response. Called a couple times. No reply. This place has either closed or has awful customer service and communication. I'm grateful that I didn't spend long on this company but I still wish I could get my time and energy back spent schmoozing this guy who would end up ghosting me Edit: I got a notification 35 minutes after posting this review that he commented and I couldn't be happier that I left one star. Bro wrote an actual essay on yelp instead of doing good business

Absolutely loved the work CA Building and Remodeling did on my backyard! They took my ideas and…read moreturned them into a beautiful outdoor space that exceeded my expectations. The attention to detail, creativity, professionalism, and quality of work were outstanding. They were reliable, easy to work with, and truly cared about making sure everything was done right. My backyard looks amazing, and I couldn't be happier with the results. I highly recommend them to anyone looking to transform their outdoor space!

Choosing California Building and Remodeling was a fantastic decision, and my only regret is not…read morehiring them sooner! I originally had a fully-enclosed pergola in my backyard and wanted to extend it to create a semi-covered outdoor kitchen. Gilberto and his team did incredible work. They flawlessly matched and extended my existing pergola, and they even built a side-by-side TV entertainment center that went above and beyond my expectations. Outfitted with ceiling fans, electrical outlets, and recessed lighting, the finished result is something I couldn't be happier with.

We used E&F for a bathroom remodel. They did a fantastic job on a job that was not easy. This…read morebathroom had not been remodeled in over 70 years. Yes, 70 years. Everything needed to be torn down and replaced. The wiring was old. The plumbing was leaking. And the flooring needed to be completely replaced. They produced an estimate. And came in on budget. They gave a time frame. And finished on time. I'm not sure what more you could want in a contractor. We will use them again!

The Great (+2 stars) ==========…read more * The structural work: Our home is on a great, new, solid foundation (with shear walls), so we feel as safe as we can be in our home for an earthquake! * Our basement is also now more usable. * Drainage: There is now drainage around the foundation and under the basement slab, so we are no longer worried about our basement flooding! * The working crew were very friendly and considerate. The Bad (-1 star): ========== * The electrical subcontractor was quite bad. The electricians didn't install the dryer outlet properly (one conductor came loose before I first used it), most outlets they installed are loose (they give when pushing in a plug), and they installed a used, old (not LED compatible) dimmer for the LED lights they installed. Also, the owner yelled at his team a lot. * The plumbing subcontractor was bad, too. They misdrilled several holes, damaging the interior of the home. They didn't seal around exterior penetrations into the house. They didn't put a cover over the branch of a wye that was no longer needed. They wouldn't do anything about the loss of hot water pressure in a bathroom faucet that occurred after they moved some plumbing around (I ended up having to disconnect and disassemble the hot water valve myself and I found a piece of silicone clogged in there). They over-glued the drain of the laundry supply box making it nearly impossible to remove the cap, and they lost the o-rings on my faucet aerator. The Ugly (-2 stars): ========== * They overlooked details in the plans about where walls and doors should go, and denied responsibility since they weren't in the structural engineer's plans, which they opted to not have updated with the revisions I told them about. This lead to a sewer pipe being installed in an inconvenient location (it went through the foundation, so it can't be moved), a structural wall that was almost built in the wrong place (I caught it while they were digging the footing), and a room that was built with no doorway (they had to cut some framing to make the opening). * The pricing/scope was negligent at best, but I'd put it closer to misleading or deceptive. During the initial visits, they talked about all the things they would do (including putting up framing, drywall, and insulation), and then sent over an estimate that I accepted. I didn't realize until halfway through the project that the estimate didn't include many of the things they talked about (including the framing, drywall, and insulation); those apparently would be part of "Phase 2," not included in the price of the first estimate. I had chosen E&F over another estimate that was less expensive even though it did explicitly contain the "additional" scope. I was also surprised that the electrical and plumbing (most of which was necessary to get them out of the way for the structural work) was billed separately; i.e., an unexpected additional expense. * They chose to rebuild a segment of stairs (rather than just adding two steps at the bottom, per the plans), which ended up having insufficient clearance with an overhang halfway down. They tried to convince me there was no new problem because they built them the same as before (but the run of the new stairs was one inch longer, causing the 4th step down to be 4 inches closer to the overhang) and resisted remedying the issue. They just ended up taking a sawzall to trim the overhang -- a joist -- which I just have to hope doesn't compromise any structural integrity! Further, they didn't even finish the stairs (sand and seal); "Test your staining skills," they said. * They ghosted before Phase 2. As the structural work was reaching completion, we were going back and forth on scope for Phase 2. However, when the structural work was actually completed, they just stopped communicating, left dirt and demo debris they left on our driveway for a month, then disappeared. There were lots of things they removed to get out of the way (like several segments of fence) but didn't put back. I could easily add 3x more issues and details, but this review is already too long.

Tried twice to schedule a site visit over text for a small project after speaking with Jesse over…read morethe phone. First time, no response. Second time, a time was scheduled but no one showed up.

De buena calidad el material y trabajo…read more Ethos Built helped us plan and rebuild our kitchen with real wood and custom built materials. Jesse was instrumental in visualizing and using quality materials with value throughout our long-term project. LOVE my new Italian-Mexican inspired kitchen! Gracias.

We approached contractors cautiously - the two jobs we had were relatively small and we weren't…read moresure if a contractor would take them on - but we had a feeling they were too big for a typical handyman. Eli was willing to take a look and we immediately knew we had our person when he came out to see the job. Affable, kind, generous with his time, Eli explained things thoroughly, understood our intent, brought a ton of experience to the table, was conscientious of our budget, had good ideas about how to achieve what we wanted within that budget, presenting us with good, workable solutions. He was incredibly responsive to text and email, thorough and professional with his transparent estimates, and started and finished when he said he would. Once going, his crew was terrific. Professional, yes, but also impeccably clean and with an amazing attention to detail. Romero and Giovanni took great care in their craft and were just a pleasure to have in the house. Everyday the jobsite was left spotless, all the tools and materials neatly arranged in the garage at the end of the day, doors and gates locked. In the end, the work was finished exactly to our intent, the fit and finish of everything was top notch, and everything was done on time and on budget. So rare these days! The job is done, but we find ourselves looking for other opportunities to work with him. We'd go to Eli again in a heartbeat.

Used Eli at SYR electric a few years ago - he fixed some circuits and old wiring. Would definitely…read moreuse him again for electric and wiring needs in Berkeley.

Home Healing Renovations completed a comprehensive remodel of my house that included some serious…read morefoundation retrofitting and concrete site work. This was a big 10-month project that involved coordinating with an architect and multiple engineering disciplines. I hired HHR on a personal recommendation, but also because I could tell that Jason cares first and foremost about doing quality work, and is a straightforward and honest communicator - not always easy to find in a contractor. The house looks great, tons of neighbors walking by keep telling me so, so it's not just my opinion - but also, several neighbors have commented on how nice and friendly Jason's crews are. That was my experience too, if you hire this company most or all of the work will be done by employees who - as best I can tell - like their jobs and the owner. That makes a big difference in how the project goes. Shout outs to Rafael, Costa, Santos, and everyone who put tons of work into fixing up the house.

HHR returned to complete a beautiful renovation on our second floor…read morejust two years after the first floor (reviewed in July 2024). Jason again coordinated the planning and permit process seamlessly and also worked with the City of Alameda to upgrade the electrical service to our house. They created a stunningly beautiful total remodel of the guest bathroom with new bathtub, gorgeous tile work and perfect installation of new vanity, fixtures, grab bars, lighting. There was excellent timing of the many stages of construction, with a smooth daily sequence of the teams of highly skilled and professional electricians,plumbers, carpenters and painters. We always received excellent communication for the schedule of work. There was hardly ever a weekday without substantial work taking place. All the workers were highly skilled, tremendously helpful, cheerful and professional. It was truly a pleasure to deal with the entire team. With these two renovations, HHR has now totally redone our three bathrooms, installed pocket doors, reconfigured closets, installed new wood flooring, and performed many electrical and lighting improvements. We are 100% pleased with the results of both of the renovations. Home Healing Renovations are the very best and are highly recommended.