summary - CONCRETE/BRICK/LANDSCAPE contractors
George S. Kong
attached is a summary of recommendations i got from the net about
concrete/brick/landscape contractors/workers.
i contacted 4 guys who bid only the concrete:
ed stevens - low price, appeared competent in person
rick eldredge - high price, appeared competent in person
ron pena - low price, his concrete guy did not impress
celso lopez - very evasive on the phone, never got a bid
and 1 guy who bid the whole landscape job:
ken porter - astronomical price
i ended up going with bill lomax, in los altos, who was very highly
recommended by a friend of mine. he bid the whole job, and his price
for the concrete part was close to the lowest of the concrete-only
contractors.
the work hasn't been completed, so i can't report on the quality,
but i've had a fine time working with him, so far.
if i were to choose among the net-recommended folks, i would have
chosen ed stevens.
thanks to all who replied to the original post.
George S. Kong, Silicon Graphics, Inc., (415)390-3281 g...@sgi.com
......................................................................
From: Sandra J Shepard <sshe...@crl.com>
We used Universal Property Services 415-454-9709 (Walter) They do
*beautiful* work. Don't know where they go outside of Marin/"up
here" area but I would certainly call. They have some really gifted
guys--and man, are the prices fair for the work
From: j...@physics.Berkeley.EDU (John Bartolucci)
I know an excellent man for your job. He is not a contractor, but he
has the hours. He is currently replacing the foundation under my
house. He is: Frank Irwin. (510) 548-2593 He is in Berkeley.
From: Alexander Woo <w...@Playfair.Stanford.EDU>
Pellizari Concrete. He will bid on residential jobs but he doesn't
really want to do them. Too small.
From: Ralph....@Eng.Sun.COM (Ralph E. Miller)
I highly reccomend Ken Porter. He has done two different jobs for me
in the past. He will do just what you ask and offer good ideas if
you are not sure exactly what you want. He's at 408-629-7859.
Tell him Ralph sent you.
From: "DENNIS J. KOGA" <KO...@ralph.arc.nasa.gov>
In response to your request for recommendations for concrete
contractors, I can heartily recommend Eldridge Concrete, Rich
Eldridge (408) 738-6934 in Sunnyvale. Rich is a small businessman
but is responsible and does good work. He takes pride in what he
does, which is nice to see these days.
I have no relationship with Eldridge, except as a satisfied customer
who is interested in seeing good, small businesses rewarded. I
"found" him in the Sunnyvale area "Potpourri" newspaper and he
advertised something like 80% referral work, so since I was a
satisfied customer, I thought I'd pass this along. I interviewed
several concrete contractors and picked Eldridge to pour a garage
foundation and large walkways. He even offered a list of similar
past jobs for me to "check him out". I called two names (out of
about 20 on the list) and received great recommendations.
Eldridge is a little bit of a character, but is a hard worker and
delivered the job as promised (on time and for the quoted price)
despite last winter's heavy rains (work was done 10/93). The only
problem he had was with his helper who disappeared on him for a day.
At the time, Eldridge was looking to employ a full-time concrete
finisher, so he was doing his own checking out of possible
employees. Despite the problems with this process, he made sure my
job got done in a timely and quality manner.
By the way, as a final note, Eldridge also had about the best price
of the people I talked with. I believe there was another quote about
the same or just less, but the guy flaked out showing up for a
meeting, so there was no way I was going to hire him. Eldridge on
the other hand made sure to call on the one occasion he was running
late. Again a very responsible contractor.
From: Ralph....@Eng.Sun.COM (Ralph E. Miller)
>what did he do for you?
1. remove a flower bed, install a small retaining wall, and extend
the aggregate (concrete) around a pool.
2. Pour two concrete slabs for shed, build sidewalk out of large
bricks, and pour small concrete sidewalk. Take care to protect
existing irrigation pipes. Set up a shed from a kit.
>how good a job did he do?
Great. Left some concrete drippings on
existing sidewalk, but that is supposed to wash away.
>how did his price compare to others?
Medium, on the most recent job, the labor averaged $21/hr
>did he start/complete the work on time?
Yes. Some days he did not work full days as he was wrapping
up other jobs, but not a big deal to me.
>did you have any problems working with him?
He brings his dog along. I had to ask that he clean up after
the dog. He did.
From: tmo...@netcom.com (Terry Morse)
Blue Sky Designs (415) 726-5990
They came in and saved my landscaping project after another company,
Landsystems, messed it up in a big way. I get lots of complements on
the finished product.
Blue Sky sub-contracts the concrete work, but they do eerything else
themselves.
From: t...@wayback.apple.com (Tom Barrett)
He may not be the cheapest (he was the middle of three bids we got),
but Randy Diekman of Diekman Associates has been great for us. They
redid our entire backyard: new redwood deck, concrete steps and
patio, sod, plants, fence, retaining walls, and play structure.
Randy Diekman (415)340-9087
From: K...@SLAC.Stanford.EDU
There is a friend of mine by the name of Ron that does this type of
work. When you had this ad out a few months ago I told him about it
and he said he was interested but by the time I got to putting his
name in, I could not find the ad.
He can be reached at (408) 971-2949. (Ron Pena)
Tell him that K.C. recommended him.
He does excellent work and is quite reasonable. I have recommended
him before and the people have been more than pleased. They too
recommend his work and do swear by him. Ron is a good natured sort
that is strickly business. He is quick and efficient. Give him a
call and he can work with you on your thoughts and wants. You will
not be sorry you did. Trust me!!
From: naja...@ccmail.apldbio.com
Excellent work and price for concrete work is :
Mr. Celso Lopez Tel : 415-355-5656
He has done some work for us in a building in the city of
Burlingame. He is very reasonabally priced .
From: lu...@physics.usfca.edu (Luis Frigo)
Hi George. I'm an Italian landscaper, I can build very neatr rock
walls for planting, etc. I can also do your concrete driveway and the
brick walkways, not to mention maintaining all of your plants and
trees around your property green all year long. I'm here to serve
you, drop me a line...
From: Alexander Woo <w...@Playfair.Stanford.EDU>
Try Chris Albanese of Albanese Concrete in San Jose. He is the son
of the owner and does "scab" jobs. His prices are quite reasonable.
(Albanese did the foundations of a lot of the buildings in the
Stanford Industrial Park.)
From: DaP...@cup.portal.com (Pete o Wilkinson)
For all your Masonry needs call: Marczak Masonry (408) 395-7919. Talk
to Jeremy. He'll always give you a fair price and he loves his work!
From: cl...@shell.portal.com (Clare Chu)
Rick Miller Construction (510) 656-9314 for the concrete and
masonry. I've heard good things about him.
and
Future Landscaping and Design (Rich Hoppe) (510) 745-0148 He did my
landscaping and cost 20% less than the other quotes. We're very
satisfied with his work and his business attitude.
From: sei...@netcom.com (Rich Seifert)
Without question, call Ed Stevens (Stevens Construction) at (408)
224-0984. He just finished a concrete/flagstone walkway for me. He is
the most competent, prompt, and reasonably priced contractor I have
ever worked with.
From: Karen Krebser <kre...@erg.sri.com>
I have a friend that has a contracting business in San Jose, if you
are still in need of an estimate. His name is Frank Jerolimov, Jr.,
and his phone number is (408)629-5670. If he can't do the work
himself, perhaps he can suggest someone who can.
From: road...@netcom.com (medium rare)
Jon Chiselom 151 Calderon #2 Mountain View, CA 94041
tel 415-964-8203 pg 415-335-0949
He's a friend of mine, does good work, is very conscientious
about his approach (he talks that way about it... he's very
proud of it..), and he's cheaper than the usual contractor,
'cause he doesn't have the formal licensing and business
overhead. He's journeyman-level... and he can work as a lone
wolf, or assemble a good crew, whatever is required... He can
put together an estimate for you and talk it over with you,
then let you be the judge. He's a very friendly, fun guy to
hang out with... very easy-going, but all-business when he's
workin'.
George Kong
> i ended up going with bill lomax, in los altos . . .
> the work hasn't been completed, so i can't report on the quality,
> but i've had a fine time working with him, so far.
we're a week into the job, and i'm now a little less enthusiastic.
i still like bill, but i'm disappointed with his concrete
subcontractor, who has made many errors, some of them quite serious.
fortunately, i know enough to notice problems. bill is a
"do-the-right-thing" guy, and whenever i point out a problem,
he concurs immediately and fixes it without hesitation. he remains
extremely easy and pleasant to work with, and i expect that the end
result will be first class. however, i'm not certain that a customer
who is less hands-on than i would get as good a result.
George