Our project was completed six months ago, and my husband and I honestly still marvel daily over how awesome everything turned out; we still walk into the kitchen in the mornings and think “wow, I can’t believe we live here.” Choosing EBCON to renovate our home was one of the best choices we made.

After buying our house, we wanted to make significant changes to the kitchen and bathrooms. Our goals were to brighten up the very dark kitchen, to open up space to accommodate an island, a larger range, and proper ventilation, and to modernize the three bathrooms. We also needed a bunch of other miscellaneous work done, such as making repairs to the foundation and removing a fireplace.

My husband and I are full-time software engineers and parents to an energetic toddler. We’re also first-time owners of a single-family home. Although we initially researched directly hiring specific tradespeople (for instance, to modify cabinets or install a new countertop), we quickly realized that managing all the dependencies would be complicated, and we were worried that our lack of experience would lead to a costly mistake somewhere down the line. The tipping point was when we realized we would need permits from the City of Palo Alto. Time to call a professional!

We chose to work with EBCON because we wanted someone experienced and trustworthy to guide us through the remodeling process. I’m a nit-picky person (for confirmation, ask anyone I’ve done code reviews for), so I wanted someone known for producing high-quality results who had a great eye for detail. Lastly, as working parents, we needed someone who was comfortable with doing a lot of communication and decision-making via email. Erik had great recommendations from several coworkers, and they all mentioned that while he wouldn’t give the lowest bid, what he charged was fair, and he explained all the costs up front -- no hidden surprises.

Erik delivered all of that and more. Our project completed right on time and right on budget. It was about as stress-free as a project of this size can be. He gave us great advice and we appreciated that he took the time to educate us about our options and make us feel comfortable with every decision. Throughout the process, we emailed almost daily and met him on-site once a week to review progress. He often impressed us by pointing out areas that didn’t meet his high standards and were already being addressed. When he needed a decision from us, he was very clear in outlining the factors we should consider. And whenever we asked for something, his response was basically always “no problem, we’ll take care of it” -- at no extra charge. For example, we approved the location of our recessed lights during an in-person walkthrough, but changed our minds after the cabinet installation and painting. I would have expected us to be on the hook for a revision like that, but Erik was happy to do it because he agreed it would look better.

The overall workmanship is incredible and it’s obvious that he, his site director, Roberto, and all the workers and subcontractors took great pride in making our home the best it could be. They even created a lovely photo book of the before-and-after of our remodel, and gifted us cutting boards made from the remnants of the stone for our countertops. EBCON’s long warranty shows that they stand by their work, and half a year after moving in, we haven’t had to call them back even once for repairs.

Could we have gotten some of this work done for less money? It’s possible. We have to admit we had sticker shock when we saw the initial contract. But having heard horror stories from other friends (and even our designer) about their terrible experiences with other general contractors, we know we made a great decision going with EBCON. They took the stress out of the equation and made the project actually pretty fun. We were so happy with them that we later hired them again to remodel our condo! Needless to say, we can’t recommend them highly enough.