Richard Shockley Construction -

Scott Flint

We asked Richard to come out and bid on our bathroom in Fairfax.
Richard was very responsive and came out the next day. He crawled into the crawl space to check on dry rot and gave us an estimate right then and there along with great advice. He is very knowledgeable and has a fun personality. He called us the next day with ideas on how to save money on the bid. It's so unusual to find a conscientious and responsive contractor.

Here's an update: We hired Richard to do the work of replacing some dry rotted floor joists.
He came and set up his tools and work station,
Then after careful measurements he purchased the lumber needed and went to work.
Richard is very thorough and meticulous to details.
He replaced our rotted mud sill with fresh redwood and upgraded our bolting down of the foundation to 5/8ths rod which is stronger than the original.
Richard is very responsive to calls and texts and with his great sense of humor he's fun to work with.

Eliot Nett

Richard is amazing, his knowledge, his attention to detail, his decades of experience, he surpassed all of our expectations. During the siding project on our house he uncovered several structural issues which he either fixed or improved upon the existing construction. He basically rebuilt the front exterior wall to our house because we discovered it wasn't secured to the foundation(product of cheap house flip before we bought it) as we were replacing the window. He helped us with design, color choices, everything. He can help you envision the project and then execute it to perfection. We couldn't be happier with the results and all of our neighbors are commenting on how great our house looks! He's a great guy to work with and his little dog Eli is an absolute charmer too!

Patti Fitch

Richard is meticulous, detail oriented and does quality work. He removed two walls in our dining room, raised the sunken living room floor and installed new doors throughout the entire house. We are very happy with the finished product.

Benjamin Wisotsky

Richard is a great all-around contractor; setup man, planner, knows his materials, can virtually build/fix anything. I came into the job, a big job (20+ thousand) getting bids as low as 18k, throw that out, the lowest bid guarantees the biggest headache.

My own background in contracting, family concrete business, has me a cynical man. I hate the process; the quoting, the dealing, the fall-throughs, the general game. Richard knows his stuff, he’ll quote you based on your geography (aka — will your zip code increase the cost of a job that shouldn’t cost as much, sure, but that’s part of the game), he’ll do his best to sub-contract if the job is big enough, and his personal touch, if you get him working directly on a project, is professional, clean, a true craftsman.

Don’t expect any discounts or that Richard will come in as the lowest bidder, he won’t, you don’t pay Michelangelo the lowest bid to paint the Sistine Chapel, but you get what you pay for; artistic design, quality engineering, and a job well done (aka — no design flaws like broken sealant that you have to call another contractor in to fix). If there’s an issue, a problem, explain it to him, he’ll hold himself accountable and fix if necessary, and you (the client) play your part too: don’t breathe down the neck of contractors, give them some space, let their work speak for itself, and intervene if you need changes or want to inspect progress — Richard’s happy to talk, and he’s a talker, and a charming guy to know, we really enjoyed working with him.

Like I said, contractors, the game, it’s been around since man could learn a craft and sell his services. In antiquity we used to have specialized guilds (armories, forgeries, builders, surgeons, etc.), it wasn’t any different then. Know what you want, do your homework (i.e. realize the relative cost of parts, labor, what’s fair, and what’s unreasonable). If you’re the type of client who breathes down contractors necks, constantly changes expectations, doesn’t really have a realized vision, and wants to change the key labor aspects mid-job. Don’t bug Richard. If you’re like me, hope he has time for you.

I knew the game, I was clear, generous with time knowing how far he had to travel to get to me, how sometimes conditions (i.e. traffic, weather) change the schedules — but that’s all jobs, if you don’t know that then you don’t know contracting. Richard always came through, I was generous to him, we had a square deal, I paid out, he built me some beautiful renovations on my apartment units (I own a property investment LLC), he could have tried to rip me off — most contractors smell that kind of money and will attempt manipulation. Richard didn’t. We had a square deal, we both came through.

You’re lucky if you get Richard, himself, working your job(s). Just play by the rules, respect each other, you won’t regret working with him. So glad my jobs are done, life goes on. Good luck!

Jorge “JQ” Quintero

Leslie Hopkins Eaton