Basil Zaru Construction -

Dominic Maldonado

Basil did a FANTASTIC job as the contractor on our completely remodeled home and it is AMAZING! (apologies in advance for the long detailed comments below but wanted to support my statement).

My wife and I purchased a home over a year ago in Redwood City and given how hot the market was at that time, we decided to buy a fixer upper. We decided we were going to gut the entire house down to the bare bones (keep the existing roof and underlying foundation). We knew this would be a monumental task given my wife and I work full time (and neither of us have ever done a remodel) and needed a very experienced and knowledgeable contractor with solid subs who could execute on the remodel plan we put together with our architect (and it was very involved). We expected high quality work given a full home remodel (but stay within a reasonable budget given the cost to remodel) but needed someone who would be honest and practical (because you can't always get what you want given City limitations). Additionally, we didn't want to get hit as much with the typical ridiculous change orders we've heard others went through. We wanted someone who could work with us closely and would work through a detailed budget with us to think through all the possible costs (with some cushion) to ensure we minimize the change orders... so we needed someone who listens and is collaborative. After doing our diligence, we went with Basil Zaru.

Most contractors we met with reviewed our plans and gave us an estimate on paper with different phases and then it was up to us to ask questions. Basil took a different approach. He not only went through the detailed remodel plans and gave us a price with phases broken down, he also detailed out in more specifics and sat down with us numerous times to think through what could be missing, what is purposely omitted (because have to be at a certain point in the remodel process to know what the next step is or depends on how expensive the homeowner wants to go) and where cushion should be added to certain aspects given his expectations of what he's seen in the past and what the City likes and doesn't like. Not only that, he caught a drafting design issue that he worked to fix and improve (even the architect thought it was a great change!) so that we could maximize space.

Basil is easy to work with and is practical when possible. He'll offer suggestions to improve aspects of the project as needed and can be very accommodating. He's also very aggressive when it comes to timelines with his subs and expecting the best quality. I've stood there many times as he really pushed his subs to fix little things here and there which is key. He expects high quality work from the subs he employs, he checks everything they do and steps in and helps when he sees a problem coming up.

Lastly, we had some pretty big screw ups from other vendors and Basil stepped in and laid down the law and figured out workarounds when those third party vendors should have figured that out on their own without his help. He even went out and found some other vendors to help us compare last minute given the screw ups from the other vendors. Additionally, nothing is ever perfect with a home remodel and to make it even more challenging with COVID, it was hard to manage vendor and sub schedules (along with the City) but Basil worked around all of that. Timed things well and moved ahead on work when needed to get things done for City approval in order to prevent more delays.

Basil overall did an amazing job and I would highly recommend him for any project (small or full blown remodeling jobs) you might be considering. He's easy to work with, collaborative, has high expectations for his subs on the job to get great quality work and is transparent and honest if he sees roadblocks up the road and is willing to go the extra mile to make it all work.

Adam S