Greenberg Construction

we have a 50 years house in santa monica and we were in looking to update the kitchen and adjoining bath. Upstairs, we converted a closet into a master bath, and, because we are using the closet for that, we are having to create a new closet. We had an architect create drawings, and then we had a number of people provide quotes.RON was the middle of the three we got. One guy, who was more of a "handyman," and I am not saying anything negative about that, gave us a quote that about half of Ron . The third guy, a contractor, like Ron, gave us a quote that was $25,000 more than Dominic's. So, pricewise, I was comfortable with Ron' s. More important, we clicked with him. He was very conscientious and careful, and super-nice. He came out several times before actually preparing his quote, to ensure that he understood the scope of the project. We kept tweaking it, and he kept rolling with our changes, no problem. Very, very patient with us. Another thing: he genuinely seemed to like our house (which, of course, we do, too). He took time to answer questions, to make suggestions...and this was all before we ever decided to go with Dominic. After we signed the contract, Ron worked closely with us regarding selection of materials. He has "people" everywhere, which really helps when it comes to picking out the materials. For instance, we needed to buy all new appliances for the kitchen. He sent us to his "guy" at SEARS , and we got an amazing discount. He has a "guy" at the cabinet store, the tile store, the fixture store. He volunteered to come with us to our meetings with the vendors to help us select materials. Anyway, to jump to the conclusion, the good news -- the great news -- is that everything went unbelievably well! The quality of the work is amazing. As said before, there were many components to this project. First, we turned a closet in the master bedroom into a full bath, with a claw foot tub and a double vanity. All new stuff, and a lot of work. It came out great. We ended up using an electric heating mat under the floor tiles; that was Ron idea. He also was the one who steered us into the wall tiles we ended up using, and we couldn't be happier with the final look. It is amazing.

Because we used the master closet for the bathroom, we needed to build a new closet. Ron took space from the adjacent bedroom; and then, because we used THAT space, we borrowed space for that bedroom from the front bedroom. As you can see, this was a lot of work, as all three upstairs bedrooms were impacted. In addition, we had hardwood floors put throughout.

Downstairs, we ripped out the old kitchen and put in a totally new one, ripped out an old bathroom and totally updated it, took a set of stairst that had been ugly exterior stairs, and broke down a wall to make them INTERIOR stairs. That was a lot of work, making them look finished and consistent with the rest of the interior. Anyway, the kitchen and bathroom are amazing. We get a ton of compliments from visitors. Ron helped us select the vendors who suppled the various items, and we were uniformly thrilled with the quality of the items we got, as well as the prices, since they typically gave us the contractor's discount by going through Ron. There was a ton of work to do. Before we could re-do the kitchen, for instance, the floor had to be leveled - not surprising that a 130-year old house had a wavy floor. Also, there was an old brick chimney going up through the kitchen that Ron demo'd. That was his idea, and it turned out to be a great one, as we gained a lot of space by doing that. Mechanically, we installed a brand new boiler, and exchanged a number of "old fashioned" radiators for modern baseboard radiators. They are still hot water heated, but take up a lot less room. We had a lot of detailed design work in our tiles in the baths and the kitchen, but ron work on the tiles is simply terrific. The final finish work is smooth, clean, beautiful.

Timing wise, the project took about two weeks longer than originally anticipated, but, truthfully, that was a function of the number of changes that we made to the project as it went along, so that is on us, not Ron.

We were so pleased that this year, we have decided to gut and re-do another bathroom. This time, I didn't bother with quotes from anyone, I just called Ron again. He is a great craftsman, a great listener, has great ideas, but won't shove them down your throat. Perhaps most important, he really cares about the project, and about you.