REF Builders

We couldn’t be happier with our home remodel and highly recommend REF Builders.

From start to finish, they were on time, detail-oriented, and incredibly accommodating of all our input. What really set them apart was the communication. They explained everything clearly and flagged issues that weren’t even in the original scope — like asbestos we didn’t know about — and walked us through options instead of just leaving it to us.

They handled the asbestos abatement and even took point on our PG&E upgrade, staying on top of it despite the long follow-up period that came with it. When supplier delays popped up, they took point and either pushed to get the materials in time or re-sequenced the work to keep us on schedule.

Their planning and execution were excellent. We had rain delays and a few unplanned repairs pop up, but they worked through every issue and still delivered on schedule. You can tell they take pride in the details and finishing the job right.

If you want a contractor who’s reliable, transparent, and actually cares about the quality of your home, this is the team to hire. 5 stars.

We chose Roberto / REF Builders over 3 other contractors to add 900sqft to our house and change the existing layout to go from 4 bd/2 bth, to 5 bd/3.5bth. We remodelled everything - it very was close to a complete tear down.

I would highly recommend REF based on our experience. Their quote came in reasonably priced. Roberto, his crew and sub-contractors were honest, transparent, flexible, hard working, and perfectionists. They went above and beyond to work around our need to accommodate our need to stay in the house, while delivering quality work on time.

Roberto himself is a perfectionist, noticing imperfections we didn't even see, and fixing them himself. He treats his work as a craft and takes pride in it. His sub-contractors are the same, with his painter especially, as well as his electrical and plumbing guys all being exceptional. Frequently surfacing suggestions to improve upon original lighting and plumbing plans when they saw the architects plan wouldn't work as well. They really want to get it right for the customer.

When unforseen work came up (e.g. moving the sewer line) he did his best to make sure he priced the additional work, accounting for our budget, frequently offering to cover labor if we wanted to cover material for small improvements he saw he could make. A great example: We weren't planning to replace existing siding and just have new siding match. However after demo, there was only a small section of old-siding left. He offered to replace that last chunk, without charging labor, if we covered the material, so we were set for the next many years.

The best example of his customer-centric attitude: The architect we used messed up the positioning (off by many feet) of a 700lb 60ft vaulted ceiling beam in their plans. We noticed this after Roberto and his crew had already installed it, and started to build roofing on top of it. The architect suggested we would have to pay for their mistake to re-do the plan. Roberto stepped in feeling this wasn't fair to us, took on the cost of tearing it down again, and moving it to a new position to meet structural needs, while making it aesthetically pleasing (some of the photos here, are of that beam). This customer-focused attitude shows up in all aspects of the project.

Roberto delivered the project on time, it looks fantastic, and he also helped us work around PG&E delays.

I'd highly recommend considering Roberto and REF for your construction needs - whether complex or simple. They're customer-centric perfectionists.

We used Roberto and his team (REF builders) to renovate our entire house. We added 750 sq, i.e added an additional bathroom, new roof, extended our living room/kitchen and rearrange our bedrooms. It’s was a complete gut job. Roberto helped us keep within our budget and on track.

He and Paola made the city inspection a breeze and took care of the PG&E upgrade as well.
His team worked almost everyday so that we can move in before our baby was due. Roberto and Paola are a great couple, easy to work with and very considerate.

All renovations has it’s issues and Roberto tried his best to fix it. If we could do it over we would change several things but we would definitely hire Roberto and his team for the job.

Thank you Roberto and Paola.