Ezra Construction

I cannot recommend Moshe Ezra enough. He worked with me on my foundation and slab in Berkeley and as a first time Homeowner General Contractor I cannot tell you how wonderful the whole experience with his company was. I interviewed so many foundation contractors I almost gave up hope I would find someone I trusted. In the construction business you often find very expensive, soft handed, paper pushing contractors or the maybe-they’ve-been-drinking the-​night before kind. Moshe is neither. He is intelligent, highly efficient, a great resource of knowledge, experienced, hardworking and someone who really truly cares about doing a good job. He is the only contractor I had virtually no problems with throughout my process. He spends a lot of time on the job and does not let his employees slack off and anytime he made even a small mistake he was quick to fix it or come up with an efficient solution without any arguments. I feel like he treated me like he would treat a family member or close friend and that is something that is incredibly hard to find these days.
Sidenote: I know some people might be put off by reviewer Alison H. below. Please take the time to research her other reviews (something I did before I hired Moshe) and you will clearly see the woman is a little off her rocker. Something you can see from her 30 very detailed, colorful, slightly delusional, and hilariously ridiculous reviews about all types of services in the area. Alison H. has been working on a remodel the past year and she seems to be having consistently the same problem with every single contractor she works with. She refuses to pay and then complains about the work ethic of the worker. She sounds like a scam artist and it is sad she is trying to ruin so many peoples businesses. I am taking the time to write about Alison because I just had someone call me for a referral for Moshe and they mentioned her and it just bothers me that such a crazy person could gain any traction and I know many people would not take the time to delve deeper on Unilocal. (On a professional note, Moshe did not ever say anything negative to me about Alison H. I just feel personally offended by her strange and absurd review and felt the need to say something.)

Ezra Construction is one of the few construction companies I trust completely. They don’t play the «change order game» that many contractors play to add profit or compensate for inadequate job bid research. And they’re concerned about finishing a job correctly — not just focused on getting paid. This is SO important when you’re dealing with things like foundations, retaining walls and drainage — areas in which it’s very hard to tell the difference between good and bad work unless you’re a structural engineer or are able to see how the work performs over a number of decades.
Having had such a good experience with them on the foundation job, I have been confidently recommending them to friends, neighbors and clients. (I’m a real estate agent and don’t recommend other businesses lightly, as I don’t want to send my clients to businesses that may disappoint them.)
For reference: Ezra Construction installed drilled piers and a grade beam to stabilize my home’s old and broken foundation, and they installed extensive drainage to provide long-​term foundation protection, and completed a basement build-​out (converting garage and basement space into a great recreation room). They are now working to finish my new garage (built into a hillside so heavy construction, concrete work and drainage required) and front entry stairs and walkway on my Piedmont home.
Ezra and his crew were great with the foundation and drainage work. (I wouldn’t have hired them again if they hadn’t been!) Their prices have also been consistently super-​competitive, and well-​documented so that I knew the bids were well-​researched and unlikely to change (and they haven’t given me any change orders yet). Ezra reviewed my plans on both projects to look for areas in which I could shave off some cost without losing structural integrity. They handled every detail, made sure that on-​site surprises (like the unexpectedly high water table) were noted and properly addressed so that the finished product was solid and ready to hold my house for the next 100+ years. My structural engineer on the current garage and entry stairs project told me yesterday that she was quite impressed by them, and that they clearly know their job.
I recommend them unreservedly.

Moshe redid about ½ our foundation and did a great job. He had great ideas on ways for me to save money and good advice for concrete stairs and paths. l It took a little longer then expected, but I keep adding on to the project and increasing the scope. Moshe is hilarious and his guys are really respectful. I would definitely hire again.

I have no idea why he marched himself right up to, and over, the edge but he did it all by himself and with great determination.
Maybe it was because I couldn’t stop and chat the last time I saw him. I was running late and he was, at long last, clearing up the piles of debris that his guys had left (at his direction) all over my yard over the past year. He appeared (finally!) to have understood the last formal communication; an email detailing standard end of contract stuff to get his final check. This is all very normal. What is not normal was his yelling, the accusations, the nonsense I hung up on just before I wrote him that email.
He must’ve stopped cleaning up the minute after I left that day because there were still many piles of rubble lying around and he never sent me the final bill or the invoices. He chose to serve me with a complaint 3 months later instead. Still no final bill! Still no invoices! He did include my email which proves what? that I always had every intention of paying him in full and this is a frivolous complaint?
My lawyer took care of it with phone call.
But since Moshe chose to be such a pill, and since he said he believed in Unilocal once he found me on it, let’s examine his behavior over the year he worked on my contract:
He was amiable at first. Chatty even.
Then he got passive aggressive.
At the end he just went bonkers.
His guys borrowed my bobkitten (3.5′ wide so it’s not full grown cat) several times and left the key turned to the glow position (no matter how many times I told them about it) thereby destroying the life of my brand new, very spendy, battery.
He left a big pile of gravel blocking the driveway for at least 6 months. When he finally moved it, he immediately replaced it with another pile which he left for another few months.
He left a huge pile of very long, very heavy 2by material taking up a lot of space in my back yard for many months. I asked him to move it so I could put in my garden since he wasn’t going to be back for awhile and he refused. I moved it. It took me a couple days but at least I was able to work on my garden during what would otherwise be downtime.
Instead of warning me, the general contractor, or the plumber on the job at the time that he was about to compact the soil around an unsecured pipe and likely damage it, he just went ahead and knowingly damaged the pipe. When I brought this up to him. He said he told the (different) plumber about it 8 months earlier. He doesn’t care about the job he does or getting along with people. He only cares about having an excuse. There is no reason he couldn’t mention it to someone, anyone, at the time.
He caused a flood in my basement that set me back at least another month and tried to deflect the responsibility onto the plumber. I accidentally nearly caused the exact same flood so I now know for a fact that it was his drainage at fault.
He charged me through the nose for any little thing, and I do mean a 12″ piece of rebar, that was disturbed by another workman for which I paid him immediately. Can’t say the same for him. He damages other people’s work, delays your job, and can’t be bothered with his own liability.
The finishers hung around my house for a couple of hours drinking beer waiting for Moshe to come back and pay them.
Can anyone say double standard?
He’s a lot cheaper than Alameda Structural.
The slabs are beautiful. He hired new finishers just for my job because his finishers keep quitting on him as did his top guy who told me he quit because of how Moshe treated him.
The Miradrain work that faces the street looks good. It’s missing its flashing on the side of the house.
The plans call for insulation around the perimeter of the foundation. Didn’t bother to install that.
Back to the present: Paid in full, 6 days after cashing the check, he’s complaining about how the check was written!
Let me say that again. He’s had my cash in his pocket for about a week and his lawyer is still threatening me.
What a jerk.
Edit 5.11.14 for clarity. It;s probably less funny but easier to understand.