Having a well organized and well qualified staff of craftsman is so very important to completing your remodel with precision and in a timely fashion. We all have heard of that horror story of some neighbor who had “so and so” contractor or “big box store” remodel their kitchen and it took 6 months or more. Who could stand to be without a kitchen or bath for 6 months? This is not who we are. We are an organization of professionals employed by you to assist, coordinate, and manage the entire remodel process. Our charter is to complete your project on time and on budget. In addition, we are intimately familiar with our cabinet lines and therefore more efficient and accurate in their installation. The process is seamless. Once our designers have assisted in selecting your cabinets, counters, appliances, etc. we begin to create a construction document. The document describes in detail every task necessary to complete the project. This document then becomes the contract and the detailed guide for our staff during the remodel. Your project is then scheduled with daily tasks from beginning to end in advance of the start date. These are the reasons so many of our clients choose to use us to perform the remodel function of their project. This level of professional service and organization you won’t get from a big-box store or independent remodeler. This is also why we were recently voted “The Best Kitchen Remodeler” by the readers of the Pleasanton Weekly. We provide top quality workmanship in a timely fashion, every time.

Our contract is one of the most detailed that you will probably see for a remodel. It lists how we are protecting your home from dust, what we are removing, what we are saving, what electrical we are adding down to the outlet style and color, what walls get painted by color, brand and sheen, to how we will clean up after ourselves. Our reasons for all of this detail are twofold. When all of these decisions are made prior to the commencement of your remodel, there is less stress on you and your family. There will be no time lost contemplating those decisions while we are underway. The second is that we are the able to use the contract as a literal guide for our crews. With all of this detail spelled-out, our craftsmen are then much more informed and efficient and can refer back to the contract to see what your desires are. Your project will run much smoother and on time.

Permits are always necessary. Permits and inspections are designed to protect the homeowner and the contractor. Inspectors insure that the work being done is up to code and to building standards. The homeowner can then be assured that minimum standards are being adhered to. Also, with the strict real estate disclosure laws in California, any homeowner who completed a remodel without permits would need to disclose this upon the sale of their home which could significantly lower the value of the remodel and/or home. This risk is not worth the savings of a permit fee. A remodel worth doing is worth doing right. In addition, we maintain an exemplary relationship with the inspectors and building staff in the many Towns and Cities we do business in. If we were to be found doing work without a permit we would loose 18 years of reputation for doing things the right way. It’s not worth it for either of us!

Building codes are modified and updated most every year. They are mainly created for our safety but sometimes used for economic architecture. The most recent change that has affected us in kitchen and bath remodeling is fluorescent lighting or “efficient” lighting. In a kitchen you must have a balance of efficient lighting watts versus in-efficient lighting watts. The total lighting count of inefficient watts can not be more than efficient watts in a kitchen. This becomes a challenge because the new fluorescent can lights are rated at 26 watts. Most other incandescent (inefficient) fixtures are rated at 100 watts or more. Therefore you would need four fluorescent can lights for every one incandescent fixture for this balance. Alternatively, in a bathroom you need an occupancy sensor switch to control any light that is inefficient. This type of switch will turn the light off if it does not sense movement in the room. These most recent code updates were in response to the energy crises we had in California some years back. Ultimately they will save us all lots of money in our energy bills. In response, the lighting industry has come out with some fantastic fluorescent can light fixtures that no longer flicker, hum, and cast that awful blue light. We are now using these fixtures in most every remodel with great acceptance from our clients.