Lema Construction

anita g.

Luis has been remodeling our Montclair (Oakland, CA) home and our parents' Richmond home for the past year. He's completed at least 30 different projects from painting to door installations to electrical to wood floor repair to building a heated room on a hillside home to metal work to pouring concrete to repairing my house's siding to.....

You get the idea. Luis and his team provide a range of services and all exceptionally well. Luis and his team's workmanship, integrity, timeliness, professionalism and pricing are exceptional and we continue to do business with Lema Construction.

I hesitated to post this because Luis is truly exceptional as a contractor and I'm not ready to share him with the world. But he is the real deal: honest, courtesy and a man of his word.

Maya M.

We would love to work with Luis given the all the work we have to do, and the positive recommendations on here look great. Unfortunately, he said he'd give us an estimate after we sent him a photo (rather than coming by in person). Once we sent him the photo, it's been radio silence, despite multiple follow ups. I'm sure there's a reason, but we can't work with someone who is nonresponsive or unpredictable. Total bummer.

Molly M.

We are just wrapping up a whole house renovation with Lema Construction and truly could not be happier with their work and our experience working with them. Luis and his crew are incredibly thorough, responsive, and flexible, and the quality of their work is very high. In several cases they suggested changes that were an improvement to our plans. To top it off they are all genuine, nice people who we really enjoyed getting to know. We felt they had our best interests at heart and could trust them completely.

If you're planning on anything from cabinet work to painting to tiling to a one room renovation to an entire home remodel, we highly recommend them.

Michael L.

Lema Construction just replaced 2 sets of windows in our house and did an excellent job. Luis and his team were a joy to work with, and I felt Luis really went ""above & beyond"" to ensure a) we got what we needed and b) it was done well. Definitely a top notch outfit. I heartily recommend them.

Autumn S.

Wow. I'm at a loss of where to start. After seeing all the spectacular reviews (are they fake?) I decided to give this guy a shot. I have contacted Luis so many times but he never follows through on anything he commits to. Consulting with him was a complete waste of my valuable time! Beware because he is incredibly kind on the phone, only thing is I wouldn't hear from him again until I called him repeatedly. I'm not sure why he didn't tell me out the gate that he simply was not interested in the job. He pulled a ""no show"" the first time he was to come and provide me with an estimate which I arranged my entire day to do. He finally returned my phone call that evening saying he was ""at a job site far away and turned off his phone"". Hmmm. Strike one. He then says coming out to my house is unnecessary and instructs me to send him a picture of all the work with descriptions of the work I needed done and he will provide an estimate. I sent 5 detailed pictures and guess what? I never heard from him. Strike two. I have my husband call him again a week later and he confirms he received the pictures and says he will give me an estimate later that day. Guess what? You know the answer! Three strikes and you're completely out with me. He completely strung me along knowing the whole time he didn't want the job. My bottom line is that this man is largely inconsiderate and lacks the common decency to simply say no to a job he doesn't care to do. Zero stars from me.

Jessica O.

Luis and his team were the best! They were quick with their work, they were efficient, and extremely polite. Luis' prices are fair and he is an honest and hard working guy. We will definitely use this business for any other needs in our home.

John F.

Luis and Lema Construction has just installed Windows and a French door in our home. This company was great to work with. The workmanship was excellent and completed in a timely manner. All of the individuals who worked in our home were respectful of our property and easy to be around. We also used sub contractors recommended by Luis for hardwood floor repair and refinishing, painting and roofing. They too were excellent. I highly recommend this company.

Joe B.

My experience with Luis and his crew could not have been better. They remodeled my kitchen as well as adding a bookcase to my home office and repaired my roof. The greatest bunch of guys you will ever have in your house to do work. They all get along with each other and make the job fun. My wife have remodeled 8 houses over the past 20 years, so we know what to expect. This is the best experience with a crew that we have ever had. Can't wait to move to our new house so we can remodel another kitchen with our friends at Lema Construction.

Cynthia H.

Edgar and his helper just finished a repair/rebuild of my front stairs this afternoon. This is their second job at my house; the first was a fence on our west property line the week after Christmas 2014 (about 6 weeks ago).

The fence project was tricky: an old fence had to come down first. When taking down the old fence, we discovered that it had been held up by two hollow pipes embedded in concrete, bricks, and rubble. The pipes were both now filled with rainwater, since their tops were never covered. ""No problem!"" and Edgar brought a jack-hammer to the site after lunch to take care of the concrete etc. The fence's bottom line had to adjust over the roots of a very large redwood tree while keeping the top line level. Edgar and his crew were definitely up to the job. :)

The front stairs were a completely different scope of work. After the painter working on the exterior of my house discovered extensive dry rot in the front stairs, he showed it to me. I thought perhaps we could replace a few of the treads and risers and take care of the stair safety, but when the painter walked me around to the north sidewall of the stairs, I saw that this might not be the way to go.... I asked the painter whether he would be ""more comfortable"" if we hired a carpenter for the stairs, and he said Yes.

Good thing, too! I got Lema Construction's number from our realtor, who is also a long-time acquaintance; Edgar had worked at her house, and she was ""very pleased"" with his work.

Once he opened up the stairs, Edgar saw--and was quick to show me--that the dry rot was much more extensive than we had thought. He checked in with me: did I want him just to make the stairs ""OK"" or...? I said that I didn't want what was quickest or cheapest: if the stairs needed to be completely rebuilt, so be it; if the stairs could be repaired/replaced, that would be fine, too.

All the risers and treads needed to be replaced. (Ten of each!) The north railing--replaced. The understructure--reinforced and added to when necessary (cross struts). New brick work to prevent earth/wood contact. Finishing touches that hadn't been in the stairs to begin with, but that he simply implemented and are simply wonderful. Caulking of every. single. joint. in the staircase. Letting the caulking cure before continuing to work in the same location.

Etc. etc. etc.

I only wish I had known about this contracting company sooner! :)

amit s.

This review is long overdue. Luis came highly recommended to us from a friend (who is an architect). And Luis stood up to our high expectations.

He is courteous, knowledgeable and fast. And has a high attention to detail.

We were renovating, and to some extent restoring, the interiors of an old victorian. He helped us recreate custom trim to match that of the house, perform significant structural changes, re-do the bathrooms, restore wooden floors. Being an old house, there were many surprises, but Luis was very helpful in guiding us through the changes, and the results look spectacular.

Could not recommend him more highly.