Get matched with top engineer structural pros in Desert Hot Springs, CA

"We had some issues with our sink and our kitchen was overall old and outdated. Since we've moved into the house, we haven't done any remodeling so we thought this would be a good start. Meir and his partner brought a few samples and gave us a fair estimate. We decided to continue to shop around but eventually called Meir back because of the low price he gave us. We were extremely surprised at how fast the process was and we are happy at how new and improved our kitchen looks now! This includes cabinet, sink, counter top,  highly recommended services :)
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"This is a long review. Please read the whole article to put the ratings in context. To start, we have all plans and permits ready and paid for. We were ready to execute when we sought out contractors for bidding. First contact: Rep did not show up due to miscommunication. Sion personally apologized and arranged to come out himself. He requested electronic copies of the approved plans. When we sat down at our residence, he had printed out his own full size prints from the pdf files we sentand was prepared to discuss the details of the drawings. He is a civil engineer and it reflected in his depth of knowledge beyond what I would expect a GC to know. I had to call the architect to get some clarifications and this is after I have sat down with 3 other contractors already. He submitted a written bid at the sit down and after we had time to review his proposal, he answered my questions within 24 hours. He wasn't the most detailed, but it was sufficient for us to understand and compare with other bids. His initial bid was very competitive and we know where the cost increases will be based upon the quality of finish we are looking at. Reviewing his license, he has a Class B (general contractor) AND a Class A (engineering contractor)!!! His license dates back to 1981 for the B license and 1996 for his A license. Go to cslb.ca.gov license # 407061 to verify yourself. He also looks to be up to date on insurance with no complaints to CSLB. Through the initial discussions, Sion offered up a few suggestions on improving the aesthetics and functionality. We will take those under advisement, but requested the bid against the drawings as-is so we can compare contractors fairly. Upon review of all offerors, we selected Real Construction. 1) They have excellent references in the south bay/culver city area. 2) Sion has a Class A and B license. 3) They were lower priced for the same scope of work (typically a danger sign, but I'll address this more later). It took two iterations to agree to the scope, payment schedule, terms, and final price. Terms included us remaining at the residence during construction. It was a fair and straightforward exercise. No games, no fuss. Since starting, communication has been excellent. They are available via email, text, and phone and are very responsive. Sion explains each step and the following steps so you are well informed. He is patient and willing to work with our desires and needs. The subs he uses have, for the most part, been professional and very knowledgeable. Sion and his subseven have some, I'll call them passionate, discussions... which I find is a good thing. It means everyone cares to do the job right and not blindly do what they are told. Experts in their fields, they include us in the discussions to ensure what they are going to do will meet or exceed our expectations. As a project engineer myself, I totally enjoy this and appreciate the attention to detail. When we started to put down foundation, floor joists, and frames, I walked around with both large and small levels verifying that everything is down, plumb, and level. I found one vertical beam that was 1/4" off over an 8 foot run, which was acceptable and the most out of alignment I could find. Everything else was dead level or plumb. He ordered all his hardware from a lumber yard in Woodland Hills. We wrote checks directly to them and deducted it from our running balance with Sion. Sion also provided the lien waivers. Our first change order occurred when we pulled back a wall and found no foundation under it. It was permitted by the city, so we had all assumed it had a proper foundation. To remedy, Sion charged $11k to tear down necessary walls, dig, and pour a proper raised foundation, re-build the walls, plumbing, electrical, etc. that would not have had to be touched before. Note this area is to support the new second floor, so while the price may seem high, a lot of work went into it. All the rough framing was done well. We had a few issues from the drawings that the architect had put together. For example, the walls were drawn as 8' high, but were actually 8' 4" high. Sion had to return all the 8' sheer wall (with restocking fee) and purchase 12' sheer wall and trim 20" off each one. He wasn't happy, but he did the work without a change order. This also forced a change to the stairs since we were now one step short of the height. It also changed the roof line. Sion discussed several options with us and he found ways to make the whole thing work. I was really impressed. Rough Plumbing and Electrical were done well. We opted to do a change order to increase the water main diameter and put in a recirculating hot water system. We also had to increase the size of the gas lines to accomodate several new appliances. The total change was about $8k for all the work, plus recirculating hardware. I am very happy with the quality of work so far, so I thought it was a fair price. I'm sure I could have gotten it cheaper, but probably not with the same level of integrity and attention to detail that I have seen. Insulation installers were fast and used good quality materials. Dry wall contractors took a few days since there was a lot to put up, plus we have 14' vaulted ceilings in almost every new room. Sion used Milgard for the windows and french doors. Roofers did their job well. The tile work was done by his workers. Good quality overall. My wife saw a 'waterfall' design at Floor and Decor and decided she wanted that pattern of river rocks running up the shower and on the shower floor. Used metal bullnose material. Everything was installed the way she wanted. Sion's shower glass installer came out, and installed what we agreed upon. He tried to upsell us on some things, but he was ok when we politely declined. Sion gave us an allowance for the master bath and we were able to stay within it and ended up with something we like. The flooring was a bit of a different story. He gave us an allowance, but his flooring contractor was going to charge us an absurd amount of money. Sion was OK with us contracting the flooring ourselves. It was a lot of work and time for us, but we did save a lot of money on that aspect. His workers generally work hard, but some of them do have a bit of an attitude. Just deal directly with Sion and let him handle them. For the stucco, Sion only bid stucco color for the addition. It took us a bit of discussion to understand why he wanted a change order to fog the entire house. Fogging is the last step in stucco with the coloring. After a bit of research, we saw what he was telling us was correct and the price was reasonable. Unfortunately, he limited us to the basic colors, but we found one that my wife liked. Should you use Sion, make sure you are very explicit in the painting instructions. He will assume a single color. Sion was present almost 90% of the days throughout the project. He was there before 7am (mostly because he wanted to beat traffic down). Now we are in the final throws of the project. Sion completed the bulk of his contract in 18 weeks, right about when he thought he would be done. So, he held his promised schedule in spite of a few issues along the way. Overall summary: For the rough work, Sion is on top of the game. The detailed work required some arm wrestling and discussion. Communication is generally very good. Though Sion can get stuck on an idea and you have to be patient to let him get it all out before he hears you. After I figured that out, it was easy to deal with him. He is responsive to phone calls, emails, and texts. He can get a little emotional if you don't do exactly what he thought you would do, but hey, he's human and not a machine. I'm ok with that. Integrity: Sion didn't do anything to make me question his integrity. He worked hard and he kept his word. There were a few times when we remembered things differently, but I believe that those are honest differences and not an attempt to mislead or increase the price. The one real complaint I have is that he was on contract to keep the grounds clean each day since we are living through the construction. We called him on it the first week when the worker"

"Excellent job, on time and on the budget"

"Jessica is very profession in arranging a visit by one of their structural engineer to confirm a wall is non-load bearing. Edward came, observed and confirmed it. He also provided info what city may need for getting a permit for removing it. He is also very professional and very knowledgeable."

"We first met Anthony and Klay about two years ago when we were considering remodeling the home we were currently living in. We had found them through yelp and since they were highly recommended through yelp we proceeded to give them a call. We met with Anthony and outlined our desires and dreams, we then showed him some rough sketches we had done. Anthony took what we had presented him with and had plans drawn up so we could get bids on our project. After interviewing with four other contractors we decided Anthony and Klay with Fiorebuilt Construction were the right contractors for our project. Anthony was very forthright and to the point about both the cost and inconvenience of our project, what we appreciated most was he listened to what we had to say. However this was just beginning. I now found myself with plans for what I thought was my dream house, a contractor that I was sure would do an excellent job and a husband that suddenly seemed to have cold feet. For about a year Anthony would call me once a month I never felt pressured, he was just keeping in touch. I have found that today it is hard to get one call back from most contractors let alone one a month. After one year of waiting I had reached the end of my rope, I told my husband to either give me a good reason why we could not start our project or I was going to call Fiorebuilt Construction and get started. Then my husband sat me down and broke the news to me. He didn't want to remodel the house we were living in he wanted a house on a bigger lot where he could have a swimming pool and a four car garage. I was devastated. I loved my neighborhood and the plans for my new home. I told my husband he had a month to find a house we all agreed we wanted to live in and it had to be in the same school district. I also told him I wasn't going to help him look. Well my husband was right, about 2 weeks later he found a run down house on a huge lot in a great neighborhood about a mile from our current home. After having new plans drawn up we gave Anthony a call to tell him about the change and to ask him for a bid. We also called and met with eight other contractors out which we got bids from six. After careful consideration we decided to once again that Fiorebuilt Construction was the best choice for our project. Only now it was not a remodel but a whole house that was being built. It took three days to tear down the house to the slab and about a 11 Months to build our 4,925 square foot custom home. It was a long process and frustrating at times but Anthony and Klay did everything they could to make the experience as pleasant as possible. Building a home is not for the faint hearted. There are so many options, decisions and occasional changes to be made but a good contractor will make all the difference in the world. I love my dream, every time I turn the corner and my house comes in to view I get a smile on my face and a warm feeling in my heart. Everyone who comes over raves about the quality of construction and how beautiful the home is. Thank you Anthony and Klay from the bottom of our hearts for building us our dream house. It was a pleasure to work with you. We have recommended you to people who are thinking about remodeling and will continue to do so in the future. Thanks again, Katie & Mark"

"To start, Steve Letwinch showed up on-time and has a very professional demeanor.  He has an extensive and impressive building background. 
One thing I really liked about Steve was his willingness to work with me before we ever even entered into contract.  I continued to refine precisely what we wanted in the back yard, to discuss numerous options with him, and in the process had a lot of questions--each time Steve willingly and very patiently priced the cost differences and answered my questions in-detail.   And his responses were extremely timely; I didn't have to wait days for him to get back to me.  This was how it went through the entire construction process--any question that I had throughout construction was usually answered within a couple of hours, and on very rare occasions within no more than twenty-four hours.  Steve has excellent and very timely follow-up skills.
Steve's proposal was detailed and specific, which was a breath of fresh air as surprises can arise if you don't nail down every detail at the time of contract.  His pricing was very competitive as well. 
If you, the reader, are new to construction or remodeling, it's good to know that there are always bumps in the road along the way.  The question is how does a contractor respond--does he repair it or does he let it go and expect you to accept it?  I noted a couple of things, Steve himself noted a couple of things, and he fixed everything to our satisfaction.  The end result?  Beautiful!
For the pricing quoted above, please keep in mind that our patio cover is 14 x 33, has 8 x 8 posts, 4 x 8 rafters, 2 x 4's on the top, and knee braces.  And the rebuilt deck now matches.  So these are very "beefy" and rich looking--not your typical patio cover by any stretch.  The two retaining walls are also each 35 feet long, so roughly 70 lineal feet of retaining walls.  And the fireplace is a full masonry, wood-burning fireplace with a damper--nine feet wide by seven feet tall, so these were all extensive to build.
We're very, very happy with the final result in the back yard.  Steve brought in good subs--the concrete turned out beautifully, the fireplacewas built by a mason who has built masonry fireplaces for many years (why get a pre-fab fireplace when, with Steve's very competitive pricing, you can spend just a few dollars more and get a gorgeous masonry fireplace!), the stucco work is perfect, and the patio cover has made our back yard an oasis.  We've had several friends comment on how lovely everything turned out, and we absolutely agree.
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"Very smooth. He was on time and finished the job promptly. learn a lot about doors and openers during the process."

"From the bigining to the end, the whole processes went very smoothly. SGI will be our contractor for life, thank you for everything."

"I am very pleased with this company. I originally requested a quote for exterior painting and stucco repair. Then I eventually added the walling in of an exterior door and the replacement of rain gutters. The quote was reasonable but a bit higher than I was willing to pay because the property might be sold in a few years. Mike agreed to lower the price to make it more attractive to me. The work started promptly and it was immediately apparent that the job was going to turn out excellent. The attention to detail and the quality of the preparation was visible right from the start. The crew (Christian, Robert, Julio and Nery) arrived on time every day and worked very hard. They uncovered damage that was not visible prior and repaired a lot of wood rot and termite damage without increasing the quote. The job took a bit longer than originally estimated, but I didn't mind due to the quality of the work being done. The finished product exceeded my expectations and was well worth the price paid. I am planning on having my kitchen remodeled within the next year and will definitely be contacting Mike and his crew. I am looking forward to seeing what wonderful work they can do with my kitchen. Thanks MC Construction!!"

"Tomas was amazing from the appointment till the end of my project. Always kept me informed of what was happening at the house. Work was finished before agreed upon completion date. I will be using them in the future and would recommend them anytime."