Review of my retrofitting project…read more by Montclair Construction C.Z. Nie 1/6/2026 We owe a house in El Cerrito about 800+ sq. Ft. We noticed the floor was slightly sloping towards the SW corner. We decided to ask Montclair Construction to take a look of the problems and provide us some correction advices. We made an appointment and Mr. Justin Caddy showed up right on time. After he checked out the house, he suggested to do a floor height level survey to quantify how bad the problem was. Mr. Justin Caddy and Mr. Nirmal came and did the survey. Luckily, the sloping was within the tolerance, but there definitely needed some work to stop it from getting worse. Mr. Justin Caddy proposed to do the following jobs : 1. Retrofitting by install more girder beams under the floor as well as piers. This would support the floor much better. 2. Install a French Drain, which would guide the water away from the foundation so the rain water would not affect the soil under the foundation. 3. Since the house was only bolted down on the foundation but did not have shear wall installed, might as well to get the shear wall installed included in the project. Because the crew would be working in the crawl space anyway. We thought these suggestions made great sense, so we asked them to do the project. The whole project started on 12/22/2025 and completed on 1/29/2026, which was not including the time engineers working on the plan and applying for the permit form the city. We are very happy with the results for the flowering reasons : The whole project was conducted by Montclair Construction in a smooth effective way. We did not have to deal with the engineering company, Upright Engineering, and the city. All of the paper work was handled by Montclair Construction in a proper professional manner. After the project we received a copy of the permit and the plan with no cost. During the construction period, my tenants were not disturbed (except some dust and noise), only once the crew asked for resetting a tripped breaker. Montclair Construction provided a portable potty at job site for their crew. During the whole process, Montclair maintained a superb communication. They promptly addressed all of my concerns and answered all of our questions ( since we know very little about construction works, we had tones of questions). We had used emails , text messages, and made many phone calls. We always got connected quickly. We had called Mr. Justin Caddy, Mr. Nirmal, Mr. Miguel, Mr. Javier, and office manager Ms. Diana Connolly many times, and anyone of them was always courteous and easy to discuss whatever the subject was. We had spoken with superintendent Tom while we were waiting for the city inspector to come. We must say that one hour wait did not seemed to me was too long, because we learned so much from Tom. We must say that everyone of the Montclair Construction employees we met was very professional and helpful. The project passed many inspections at different stage of the construction by the engineering company, Upright Engineering, and from the city of El Cerrito. Montclair Construction handled all of the inspections, so we did not need to be at the scene. During the construction We requested some favors from Montclair Construction, which was not foresaw at begging of the project. We asked Montclair to replace the small entrance door to the crawl space, because the old door was in bad shape. Montclair Construction ( Mr. Miguel's crew) replaced it with a new one, not just looks great, but also much stronger. Montclair did not charge for this job. At the end of the job, Miguel's crew pulled out some junks form the crawl space as city directed. We asked Montclair to haul them away, and they did at no additional cost. We appreciate very much! After the job, Miguel's crew did a good job to clean up the job site. We called for a few little things, and they all got addressed promptly. All in all, the experiences are all positive. We are very happy about the results. We made the right decision to ask Montclair Construction to do the job. We are very appreciative and thankful for Montclair Construction's professional help. Montclair Construction & Structural Inc. 3871 Piedmont Ave. Oakland, CA 94611 Office phone : 510-547-2457 or 510-545-9622

I can't say enough good things about my recent experience with Montclair Construction and the work…read morethey did on my backyard retaining wall. It was a big project involving drainage and a complete rebuild, and they handled every part of it flawlessly. The crew was fantastic--courteous, kind, and incredibly diligent. Even my next-door neighbor commented on how impressed he was with their professionalism. No litter, no loud music, no parking issues--just a great construction team doing excellent work. A special shoutout to Robert and Diana, who guided me through the entire process and answered every question along the way. Orlando, who oversaw the project, was also a pleasure to work with. Their communication was excellent, and they kept everything on schedule. I wish I remembered the names of the two main guys on the crew, because they absolutely deserve recognition--they were A+ workers, always hardworking and always smiling. I highly recommend Montclair Construction. They get a 10/10 from me--an A+ rating. This is one very happy customer, and I'll definitely use them again for my next construction project. C. Beam Oakland Hills ---

I had an excellent experience working with Quakebusters. Jerome and Francisco came to give me an…read moreestimate and helped me navigate the EBB application. Once the work began, the entire crew was very careful, thorough, and communicative. Unlike other contractors, they made sure to clean up the spaces when they were done for the day and made it a positive experience.

My wife and I went through the pretty byzantine CA Earthhquake Brace and Bolt (EBB) grant process…read morein order to get our house more quake-resilient and get the Berkeley rebate and CA grant money. I had spoken to Jerome early in the process for an estimate, and he came prepared with all sorts of literature about what brace and bolt consists of, the soup-to-nuts process and general earthquake preparedness. We had to get multiple quotes, but other contractors were either dismissive or way more expensive. Once we decided on Quakebusters, Francisco was tremendously patient with us and guided us through the entire process and helped with advice about how to gather the information we needed. The crew took exactly as long as they anticipated, arranged their own porta-potty facilities, were punctual, arranged for the special and city inspections, worked with our schedule and cleaned our crawlspace nearly better than they found it! Quakebusters were also transparent that there were cheaper options than to go through the official EBB grant process, but we decided spending the extra money for peace of mind and to have permits was out best option. Thank you guys so much! Who you gonna call? Quakebusters!

Enrique came out to work on our flat room after the huge storms last February. The problem was…read moresolved in that particular area but another spot appeared in the recent storm. He came out right away and found the problem. With the rain he could only Make sure it was covered with tarps but he will return when there is a break in the weather. He also replaced our full roof on our 3600 sq foot house. All is done with care and expertise. Nothing was left behind on the property. 5 stars!

One of the most unprofessional companies i've ever had the displeasure of dealing with. After…read moreno-showing for the first appointment I scheduled, the scheduler assured me her manager would call me to advise what time he'd be by during the 10-1:30pm timeframe today. Not only did I not hear from him, they didn't show up AGAIN. I've spent a total of 8 hours sitting around waiting for these unprofessional jerks. Zero respect for the time of others. They clearly do not give a damn.

So, reviewing contractors during the pandemic is complicated as the demand for work is great and…read morethe supply of workers is low. That said, this one felt needlessly complicated. Gen-tech is talked up on r/oakland and my spouse was considering some foundation work - these were the deciding factor in going with them over similarly priced bids. Due to the scheduling issues, we will not be using them for foundation work. We started contacting them in July. Our sidewalk compliance wasn't completed with certificate in hand until the end of September. The actual "doing" of the sidewalk only took one day + drying time. But, the scheduling took several rounds of back and forth emails + eventually my spouse calling. Did it get done eventually? Yes. If we were selling and not playing catchup after buying a house pre-market would this timeline have been acceptable to us? Probably not. What broke on the backend? I don't know. Was it delayed because it was a "small" (5k) job? Was it just the season? Who knows. If scheduling for this portion of the business is a ritual problem for them, why not consider a platform like jobber to keep the bids all organized? Anyway, it is done. And that's unfortunately the best thing one can say about this.

Homeowners beware. We needed to get a simple sidewalk compliance certificate before transfer of…read moretitle on the home we just sold. We have a couple hairline (at best) cracks in a couple spots and Chris Bowler came out, had a look, and failed us. Then proceeded to write up a report recommending that we needed to replace basically the whole sidewalk to the tune of almost $2,400. Absolute scam. So we had another contractor come out and they immediately passed our sidewalk with no repairs. Chris is a scam artist.

Robert has helped us with several projects over the years: Repairing an exterior wall with a leak,…read moreupdating our kitchen, and replacing windows and framing due to wood rot. Each job went smoothly, the work was excellent, and the prices were fair. What really stands out is Robert's reliability and responsiveness. He's easy to communicate with and, if the project fits his expertise, he'll take it on and get it done well and quickly. He's also connected us with great subcontractors for other work (HVAC, roofing, and carpentry) all of whom have delivered quality results at reasonable prices. Highly recommended.

I hired Robert on two separate occasions, with the first being a kitchen remodel and the second…read morebeing a full home renovation. In 2019 we renovated our kitchen. Robert's estimate was fair and he stuck to his word in terms of price and duration. Fast forward to 2023 and we were considering moving to a new house that we fell in love with but it needed a lot of work. I messaged Robert and asked if he could give his professional opinion before we made an offer to buy it - no problem. Robert was really helpful in the walkthrough and we ended up buying the house, hiring Robert, and working together over several months to renovate the kitchen, bathrooms, floors, stucco, HVAC, you name it. Robert was able to take on all aspects of the project whether it was something he'd do himself, with his direct employees, or with subcontractors that he'd worked with before. We were very happy with how Robert consistently kept the whole home renovation project moving along and with the details he identified throughout. Thanks Robert for helping us put together our lovely new home!

These people are incredible. They were doing a low dollar job for me that didn't have a lot of big…read moredollar work yet they gave me big dollar service. I personally think the crew for the great work realizing it was not a big money maker yet I got the big money maker kind of treatment.

If you ever have the horrible experience of a fire in your house, I hope you have the good fortune…read moreof having Coast Construction come to the rescue. It is surreal to live through a fire in your house like you see on TV, so when they rolled up in the big truck with plywood and snacks for my family, it was a relief. Kenyan drives the big truck and has a great crew that came out in the middle of the night to keep us safe! We weren't planning on doing a remodel but Mike Mardis made it easier on us by walking us through the entire restoration process. The entire estimating and project management team all took their time helping us with our insurance adjuster and helping us get the best replacement parts for our home. Praying our next Construction project is planned but even if it's an emergency and reconstruction, we are calling Coast Construction first. You should do the same!

We hired Tyson and his crew to install a French drain, upgrade some stormwater management on our…read moreproperty, and replace a leaking window. Tyson was forthright about the work that would be involved. He provided clear and detailed information about our options (no sugarcoating), answered all of my questions in a way that educated me and gave me confidence that he cared about the quality of his work. Most importantly, he was responsive and acted in a timely way. When existing conditions arose (as they always do with an old house), he was transparent about what was going on and acted quickly to adapt. It was a joy to work with Tyson, Juan and the rest of their crew. We'd hire them again in a heartbeat.

Tyson and his crew are a dream to work with. We've hired them for multiple jobs including seismic…read moreretrofit, installing cisterns, trench drains and more. They are professional, honest and easy to work with. I can't recommend them enough.

Quick and friendly service. Thoughtful explanation of estimate. Came in much lower than other…read morehighly rated contractors (the other ones claiming our current bracing and bolting was not up to standard when it had been reviewed by home inspectors and a structural engineer who felt it was appropriate except for securing the bracing to the structure). They seem to know their stuff and aren't too big to estimate jobs appropriately.

I did extensive research and received a half dozen quotes for the soft story and bolt+brace…read moreearthquake retrofit of my 1890 victorian in San Francisco. Howard is clearly incredibly knowledgeable, and the team helped me understand what my home really needed vs. what was gross overkill/a money grab. They were far from the most inexpensive, but also far from the most expensive. The teams were knowledgeable, professional, and on time. The project was pretty extensive and took several months, but I'm thrilled with the results and hope I never need to experience the quality of their craftsmanship!