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"American Kitchen and Bath, Inc. completed my contracted improvements on time and within budget. And that’s what would be expected. Yes, I would recommend them. AKB went beyond the normal expectations. My project required a whole house renovation. It included replacing the electrical, plumbing, windows, flooring and interior and exterior paint along with a completely new kitchen and bathroom. I found AKB by reviewing the City of San Jose permit website and saw they had pulled more permits than other local firms listed in National Association of Remodeling Industry (NARI). I completed an online contact request, and Shawn responded within the hour. We made an appointment to discuss what I wanted and was assured they could do the work within the budget. The process of developing the scope of work was very detailed. There were a few subcontractors necessary for my project, and I was introduced to each contractor at this early stage. I could tell from these meetings that the contractors had a very good relationship with AKB. It also involved working very closely with their designer, Buffy. I had no vision as to what I wanted, but Buffy was able to tease out what I did not like. In no time, she knew exactly what would appeal to my taste. Both Shawn and Buffy remained part of my project all the way through to the finish. When the project started, the demolition, installing a beam, rough plumbing and electrical all moved along very quickly. We were scheduled for the first city inspection when the pandemic shelter-in-place order was given. I was reassured by Johans, the owner, that the minute the business was released from the shutdown, my project would proceed. After the shutdown and passing that first inspection, the work progressed at an amazing rate. The site supervisor, Ron, would save up all of his questions for our Friday meetings as well as email or texting which would allow me to make necessary decisions quickly. They made sure that every decision I made was followed. There was a great deal of plaster and drywall patching, interior and exterior trim work, refinishing of doors, and many other finishing touches that needed to be done. Ron made sure each detail was completed with care and craftsmanship. The quality of the work was exceptional. All AKB employees and subcontractors were very responsive and respectful of my house as well as my time. At the first meeting with Buffy at my house, she called my house a “gem.” The finished project is better than I could imagine. I was promised a new beautiful home and now have my dream home, my gem."

"Punctual. Informative. Friendly. Good work, excellent completion. Pleasing sight."

"job went well but behind schedule as there were unforeseen issues that had to be updated/repaired. in addition to the delays crews were not on site daily as they were also working on other jobs at the same time. staff was very pleasant and courteous yet there were a few who spoke very little English. Overall i would most likely hire them for further jobs."

"In September 2024, I contracted with Scott C. McIntyre, the owner of Landscape Solutions to do landscaping work at my residence in Los Altos, Ca. The work consisted of replacing existing retaining walls and steps in my back yard and installing a new patio on an already flattened area on the hill in my back yard. Mr. McIntyre declared the work completed on November 4, 2024 although there remained issues with incomplete and substandard work and failure to adhere to rules imposed by the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB). I have filed a complaint (currently not resolved) with the CSLB. I paid Landscape Solutions $56,385.41 of a Total Contract Estimate cost of $58,790.00 (with a not to exceed clause of $60,000) with final payment to be made when the project was completed to my satisfaction. The project was never completed to my satisfaction with some (not all) of the outstanding issues described in this review. ISSUES WITH WORK QUALITY - NON-CODE COMPLIANT, SUBSTANDARD, NOT COMPLETE 1. The Guard Rail over the lower retaining wall is not building code compliant. The most serious issue with the work that Landscape Solutions did was that the guard rail built over a retaining wall does not meet building code and is not child safe. A picture of the guard rail is shown in the review I posted on Yelp (posted with a one star rating on January 20, 2025), but I am not able to show a picture on an Angi's List review. The guard rail is made up of vertical posts spaced approximately 45 inches apart and two horizontal rails between the vertical posts. The upper horizontal rail above the surface of the newly built patio forms the top of the guard rail. A second horizontal rail below it is halfway between surface of the patio and the top of the guard rail, leaving two large gaps between the horizontal rails, each gap approximately 19 inches wide. Code dictates the maximum gap in the guard rail is 4 inches. A child could easily fall through the large gap in the guard rail to the level below. A baby crawling on the patio could plunge head first off the patio to the lower level and be seriously injured. I emailed a picture of the completed retaining wall and guard rail to my city's Building Code Enforcement Division and inquired if it was building code compliant. A Code Enforcement Division representative replied with an email message (Client can provide the actual email message). Following text is from the email message: "The rail needs to be 42" high and there needs to be a maximum of 4" between the horizontal rails. The fence as shown does not meet the standards and intermediate rails need to be added." -----End of quote from email message sent by city's Code Enforcement Division------- NOTE: ALLOWING A CONTRACTOR WHO DOES NOT KNOW THE BUILDING CODES TO BE LICENSED PUTS THE PUBLIC IN DANGER. 2. Incomplete and substandard work i. There are areas with no pavers, just dirt, adjacent to the lower retaining wall. Contractor fixed some but not all areas along the newly built lower retaining wall. A picture showing an example of this issue is shown on my Yelp review but I am not able to show a picture on an Angi's List review. The picture shows where paving stones should have been installed next to the retaining wall. ii. Gate not installed in lower retaining wall. The retaining wall that was being replaced had a gate. I called this to Mr. McIntyre's attention in a reply message to his message that the project was complete. He replied in an email message that he would replace the gate. iii. In doing the work, Landscape Solutions workers moved items (e.g., wooden glider bench, other patio benches, chairs, patio table, an umbrella stand) from the flattened hill area to other parts of the back yard. I requested that the items be returned to their original locations. Mr. McIntyre, in an email message, agreed to do so. This was not done. Returning items moved to their original location should be a standard part of Landscape Solutions clean-up work upon completion of a project. ISSUES WITH NON-ADHERENCE TO CONTRACTORS STATE LICENSE BOARD REGULATIONS In items 3 and 4 below, quoted text is from Contractors State Licensing Board publication "Contracting for Success", which was downloaded from the CSLB website. 3. Contractor did not give buyer a copy of the signed contract as CSLB requires. "Before any work is started, the contractor must give the buyer a copy of the contract signed and dated by both the contractor and the buyer." 4. On the day work began, Contractor asked for payment of $15,000 along with the signed contract. "Except for a down payment, a contractor can't demand or accept payment for work or materials until the work is actually done or the materials are delivered. The down payment may not exceed $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract amount, whichever is less." Contractor gave following reason why he asked for $15000 at start of project. Quote is directly from an email message he sent client. Client can provide the actual email message. Text of email message from Mr. McIntyre, in quotes: "My son is out of state at college and it is very expensive. My cash flow and bank account funds do not allow me to pay for your materials before delivery and pay my payroll in advance of getting paid by you if this is what the CSLB requires." --------End of quote from email message sent by Mr. McIntyre-------------- 5. Contractor made additional changes not in contract without a change order being added to the contract. Contractor's office manager then billed client for the unauthorized work. The Contractors State Licensing Board publication "Terms of Agreement A Consumer Guide to Home Improvement Contracts" (downloaded from the CSLB website) states the following: "Extra Work and Change Orders become part of the contract once the order is prepared in writing and signed by the parties prior to the commencement of any work covered by the new change order.""

"The bathroom remodel went well. The completed work was beautiful and completed on time. Especially great job on the tile work. Would definitely hire again"

"We recently renovated both of our bathrooms and had an amazing experience with the crew. They were incredibly humble, clean, and professional throughout the entire process. They showed great attention to detail and were always responsive to any questions or requests we had. The team worked diligently every day until the job was done, and the results are fantastic. Recommendation: Make sure to order all materials and fixtures in advance—this really helps the crew work more efficiently and avoid delays. I highly recommend them for any job you’re considering, big or small. Their work ethic and professionalism truly stand out."

"I found Build the Bay through Angi’s List and I’m so glad we went with them for our bathroom update/remodel! Working with Eitan and his team was like night and day compared to other contractors I have worked with in the past. Specifically what I appreciated is that he treated me with respect and would take the time to explain in layman’s terms what was needed. (I’m not a construction pro by any means.) Eitan even shared a list of vendors that he has worked with in the past for materials and finishes, as well as a checklist to ensure I ordered all the finishing pieces in time. He would even be willing to review any products I was interested in to let me know if it was good quality. It’s only normal for unexpected issues to come up during construction, and what was also great is how communicative Eitan and his team were with me. They would quickly let me know what the issue was, explain what my options were, the cost for each, and what those options would mean in the long run. Eitan always responded very promptly via email or text if I had any questions or requested any updates. Our project has been done for about a month now and I have to say that I strongly feel like Eitan and his team delivered high quality bathrooms in a timely manner. I would definitely reach out to the Build the Bay team again if we needed to do work on our home again."

"I had some ideas in mind for a remodeling and C M Builders was able to accomplish everything I needed, and then some."

"Would not recommend them to anyone. We had the worst experience with these guys. Scope of project: kitchen complete remodel, replacing carpet flooring with vinyl tile flooring , redo electrical for kitchen area only cost: 100K+ what went to plan: - kitchen demo - made one nice dry wall - setting up and framing of the kitchen area what went wrong: - communication/scheduling : we would never be told ahead of time when work was being done. Sometimes there would be days stretches where no one showed up and then guys would show up randomly on a Sunday morning. At the start of the project we told them we were going to move into the back half of the house, so just have that clean. We moved into trash and debris everywhere. They also saw a vinyl strap , strapped to our tree, tied to our neighbor's fence (it was there keeping the fence up as the tree was leaning into the neighbors fence). In their brilliance, they decided to cut the strap and use it for themselves. How did we know? we found it on our roof, used to tie some electrical conduit. Who the heck does that?! We should've cut ties at that point, it was just the start...if we only knew. But we gave them the benefit of the doubt...but things kept going wrong. - Kitchen cabinet install was not leveled, we end up telling them to not bother coming back and we installed the whole kitchen ourselves (re-leveling the base cabinets, putting on the hardware, installing the cabinet doors. - broke several custom panels (to their credit, they did pay for the reorder) but we ended up installing it ourselves , which we were never offered refund the labor. - the kitchen counter was not leveled, we also had to redo it ourselves in order for the independent countertop guys to install it. - cut hole for electrical switch too big, huge gap now in our org Eichler panel that is not repairable unless we replace the whole wall. - cut hole in wood beam ceiling too big for ceiling vent even though they had the manufacturer's specifications. tried to fix it, but it looks terrible. - lied and said they had experience installing lux vinyl tile. They didn't. The flooring , which is supposed to be new, looks like flooring that has been there for years and hadn't been replaced. It was discolored, uneven, not leveled, and not even lined up. How can you mess up lining up squares? Our sales person Joe ,came and made excuses after excuses , telling us " no one can install it better than them" , that this is the "best" we'll get. I cannot believe he could look us in the face and say that. We ended up requesting 1500 back, though for us to reorder redo the tiles for the kitchen will be 3K+. - as a last F you to us, they gave us the bill for the permit fees which includes a 3% of project cost recycling deposit that is 100% refundable if they just do the paperwork and let the city know where they recycled the demolition material. Our kitchen project was 80K and so it was $2400. Guess what, they "never heard of this" and have no proof of where they recycled the material and so cannot get the refund. I have no idea where they dumped the material.....and we're out 2400. The best thing about this project is finishing and NEVER having to deal with them again."