Markoff Structural Pest Control

I have used Markoff in 1985 when I purchased my 1885 Victorian in SF, and in 2001 when we went condo. In June or July, 2015, we asked Markoff to give an estimate to repair some redwood siding damage.
First, we were told it would be $ 500 to get a «review». When we mentioned we had done work with them twice before, we were told we qualified for a discount.
After doing a relatively quick review (no more than 20 minutes), we were given a $ 400 bill, which was not even applicable if they did the work. That is $ 1200 hourly. Who makes those rates? I noted several other reviewers mentioned «inappropriate comments», and in my opinion, that occurred here also.
I also agree that realtors are the biggest source of their referrals. Do not let your realtor direct you to these people!
I would recommend you find your own pest control company, and that it not be Markoff.
If I could have placed no rating, I would have.

I had the pleasure of having Markoff work on the termite damage to my house. They came highly recommended by a good friend of mine who is a reputable contractor. Paul and Steve run a family business that does a quality job and truly cares about their customers.
Paul came in to do the initial estimate. Through the initial stages of work, the termite damage was more extensive than they first thought. Understandable as you don’t know how deep these eff-​ing critters will infest and damage unless you start working into the walls. Steve walked me through the entire process and was the «foreman» that orchestrated the tear down of the damaged areas, installation and repair of all things wood and cement, chemical termite treatment, pressure treatment, roofing on a landing area, and painting. Yeah, them little critters got me good.
I was surprised to see the 1-​star reviews littered in all the 5-​star reviews. I have to say that the Markoff’s are quality people who really care. They were great to me. As the Golden Rule says, «One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.» It goes a long ways these days, yet it seems that many forget this sage saying.

We had Paul and Steve come out for work on our wooden staircase to be up to code. I found them to be friendly and super knowledgable. The work was completed quickly and at a very reasonable price. In addition, they took care of all the permit issues which was key for our multi unit building. I would recommend them for any wood inspection and construction work in the future.

Had Paul do our building in the mission. Very knowledgeable, he is one of the «old hands» in the contractor community and has done it all and see it all. A plus is that he speaks Spanish so he had excellent repoir with the spanish speaking tenants.
I think all the negative reviews are from people who do not know what to expect from a pest inspection, which is by definition a little evasive and involves looking at the guts of the building.

I forgot to add this when it happened: A few months after I posted my original review, Markoff called to complain about inaccuracies in the review. Now I am not the property owner, my name is nowhere on any documents Markoff had. So this means that my review was accurate enough that he was able to figure out who to call about it apparently pretty easily. I will leave it at that and allow all of you to form you own opinion regarding the matter. Not wanting to deal with any more confrontation, no one called him back.

On time, under budget, finished early, great work. I’m a real estate broker and I will recommend their services to all my clients.

I thought I was the only one ripped off by Markoff. Actually, at that time I thought that inspection was supposed to be like that. It’s just that every realtor I dealt with speaks very highly of him.
My experience, though, was like many others — he really did not do anything, walked around, charged me $ 400, and gave me report saying that he could not see anything because every wall was finished. I told him that there was supposed to be water damage in one area, so he made a few holes in the stucco, and run his famous screwdriver through them to confirm dry rot. He offered to repair water damage, but $ 35K estimate was not itemized, and I did not feel comfortable. By the way, it took several weeks to get that report and the estimate (probably because I already paid!!).
A week later I ran into another structural contractor, who gave me beautifully itemized estimate down to the charge of having portable toilet on the site.
Mr. Markoff, if you cannot provide service because walls are finished then you should not be charging hundreds of dollars for a useless piece of paper!

(UPDATE): Websites like Unilocal help consumers make educated decisions. I received a call from Markoff today asking to remove this review. Morally I cannot do that. However, I have updated the text to reflect a more neutral less slandering review. People have a right to know who is good and who is not. Call it a public reaction to a lack of government involvement.
I have a lot of very specific examples of why I have given this rating, but I will spare them the embarrassment and keep to the basics:
They inspected a house I was going to buy and also contracted some work that was required for a VA loan.
I was quoted 12k, told they would try to keep it under 10k then charged «addition work needed» grand totaling at 15k.
Finally arguing (and I mean arguing) the final price down (1k). Here are some things to consider if you are still thinking about using Markoff:
1. They inspected improperly and told me so while it was happening.
2. They never answered the phones until payday.
3. DON’T use them for the actual work. They will sub-​contract and raise the price by about 25% (if not over). If the inspect get someone else to do the work. That price hike is typical of ANY inspection contractor that sub-​contracts.
4. DON’T do anything until the terms are clear and WRITTEN DOWN.
5. Money drives the company. Dont pay until the work is done. Sub-​contractos are paid and you have all the lean release forms in your hand.
6. Sub-​contractors were good and nice. Thru I don’t remember the name. Chen something I guess.
7. They wont tell you what the sub-​contractor price was OR give you a breakdown of what building costs were… Should be illegal. If you fix your car, does your mechanic hide the costs from you or give you a sheet stating exactly what they charged for parts and labor? Of course they do.
One more thing — Most of the good reviews on here are from realtors…

Beware of this ripoff ! Totally takes advantage of being involved in real estate closing/​escrow drama.
Charged very high fees, over $ 1,000 for a job (questionably needed) that took LESS than an hour.
Would never use these people again.
Wish I checked their reviews before realtor hired them.
Caveat emptor !

Markoff Structural Pest Control has been in business about 40 years. I have been using them for 30 (I am a real estate broker). I know I have other choices but I like Markoff because they are so knowledgeable, honest (if they miss something they admit it and make it right) and a great problem solving organization. They look after their clients and try to save them money instead of just making a profit. In short they know their business, are available to answer questions and really care about their clients. They are the absolute best!

Paul Markoff is fantastically knowlegeable inspector — if you need a trustworthy resource to validate a home purchase, I wouldn’t look any further. He took the time to provide some candid advice on contractor hiring, structural maintenance, and long-​term thoughts for what I might want to consider to maintain my new home purchase. He’s practical, prudent, and very helpful in ensuring your home is a stable, safe investment.
Steve (his son) and crew also helped clear out a few pest issues — leaking window damage, unsafe stairwell. Like his father — Steve also went above and beyond to help provide me and my wife guidance on recommendations on what should be done and options on what could be done in the future. We couldn’t be happier with our inspection and pest clearance work — the Markoffs are great resources to call when you need confident, support and a good logical bit of advice. Top drawer folks, the Markoffs.

When the bank told us we’d need a renovation loan and a contractor approved to do a large pest repair, Steve helped us out! Our house purchase went through, and the pest repair was completed practically before we moved in – and this wasn’t a small job! The stucco work was fantastic — you can’t see where the façade was replaced on our house.
Because of their great work on the pest repair, we had Markoff do more general contracting work on our roof, light well, and all new windows. We have recommended them to family members, so we’d recommend them to anyone.

I highly recommend Markoff.
We just bought our first house in SF. Markoff was recommended by our agent and conducted the pest inspection.
Markoff found important defects that the seller’s inspector did not find. Based on their expertise during the inspection, we hired them for the repairs. They took care of the job in an incredibly efficient way. Steve Markoff himself oversaw the work at our house. The entire team was very professional and helpful during the process of the extensive structural repairs.
We will definitely use Markoff again in the future.

I was not that impressed by Paul Markoff. He’s a nice old guy, and he probably knows his stuff, but he just didn’t seem to even be trying. It might be my fault, but once I told him that I wasn’t selling my house and that I was worried about termites and also wanted a general inspection for my own information about what needed fixing, it might be my imagination, but I feel like he mentally decided that he didn’t have any liability worries, and he just clicked off.
It seemed to me that he simply wandered around the house, casually looking at stuff. Even though my worry was termites, he seemed to me to barely be looking around inside. Our electrician had in one room left a 5-​foot by 6-​inch strip open where he was running another electric outlet for us, which exposed the wood frame of the house. Markoff seemed to shine his flashlight at it for a couple of seconds and then walk away. He didn’t bother to go up into the attic.
In our finished garage, I pointed out the telephone access in the ceiling so that he could take a look at the framing. He nodded and made some grunting noises and then stuck a Markoff inspection sticker on my garage wall. Incredibly, his report notes that because the garage framing is finished and sealed, he couldn’t inspect it without removing finished material, which he would do only for an extra charge.
When I showed him the damage on our outside stairs that our electrician had pointed out, he looked at it and said, oh powder post beetles. Nothing you can do. Junk the stairs and do them over again. And then he told me that he had some guys who could do that for fairly cheap. When I asked about the risk to the house, he told me that he didn’t really need to look around because it would be rare for a house this old not to have an infestation. He said that there was nothing that I could do about it and to not worry about it and to instead «concentrate on the fun stuff.» Really, it seemed to me that he spent most of the time suggesting «fun» projects that I could do (remodel the bathrooms, redo the doors) and telling me about his guys that could do it for cheap.
The resulting report, excluding the form language, is about 200 words long (that’s including the words making up my address, listed five times). The only two suggested «steps» to take concern insect damage that I pointed out to him. One note is about not being able to inspect the garage framing because of the finish. The other is two sentences about how soil at the rear of our house should not be touching the house.
For all of this, he charged me $ 400 for about 45 minutes. That’s $ 533 an hour. I wish I could charge $ 533 an hour. And I can’t tell you how many times that his office receptionist emphasized that I needed to have the $ 400 in cash up front, or Markoff would not even start the inspection. Now I think I know why.

As a Realtor, there are three companies I would reccommend for a pest inspection. Out of the three I like Markoff the best. Stan the Marlboro man is a great inspector.

Paul came to my house a few months ago. He was rude and many of his coments were very improper. He also made false promises of when I’d recieve estimates-​which were needed to bring to my lawyer.
While he walked through my house with my children and I he remembered that he had once done a report for the previous owners. He made derogatory comments about them and their sexuality.
On the way out he had the nerve to suggest that I could hock my engagement ring to pay for the damages of dry rot in my home.
We hope we’ll never need to work with someone like this again!!!

Markoff is the CONTRACTOR FROM HELL
I own several properties and have worked with many contractors, and Markoff wins the CONTRACTOR FROM HELL title hands down.
Several years ago, I had dry rot in my house and asked Markoff to inspect the problem. At first, everything was done professionally. After the work started, Markoff discoverd more problems and eventually we had to replace the entire exterior wall and windows on one side of our house. The cost of the construction was over $ 100k.
After the construction is completed, the new wall and windows started to leak when there was none before. Markoff came back several times to do minor patches but nothing worked. Water would come through the side of our house like a waterfall everytime it rained. After 3 or 4 visits, Markoff said there was nothing he can do and it is no longer his problem!!!
We had to hire a consultant to find out where the leak came from, and the consultant concluded that the construction by Markoff was so poor that the whole wall and all the windows had to be torn down and replaced.
We hired a lawyer to sue Markoff. Markoff’s defense was that it was our fault because we did not supervise his workers properly. When Markoff’s insurance company read all the reports, they immediately agreed with our claim and settled with us. However, we had to pay for our lawyer and consultant’s expense which amounted to ten’s of thousands of dollars because Markoff dragged out the litigation for over 1 year. This entire ordeal took 3 years to settle. Meanwhile, we had to live through 3 winters of leaking wall and windows.
Sometime, even good contractors can make mistakes. But Markoff was not only totally incompetant, but continued to deny all his responsibilties even when he was presented with all the hard evidence.

These people REALLY saved my a$$.
I knew something wasn’t right with my house’s 100 year old slab, and the fun continued as the foundation footers showed themselves to be cracked, rotating, leaking…
Paul Markoff is the senior Man, he’ll do the estimates. They do charge $ 100 for an estimate, something that really bothers me. But Paul knows his stuff!
I needed help right away and Markoff Structural was able to begin at once. Steve Markoff is the son, and he’s in charge of the work and his crews. He’s also very good at what he does. He not only did what needed to be done, he taught me things along the way so I’d know what was going on and why. I had a budget and he worked with me to prioritize things that were the most important and to defer that which could be safely deferred.
When I was first told about Steve I was warned: He’ll find every little thing that’s wrong with your house and then proceed to scare the shit out of you about it. And to that warning he was true. :-)
But that’s ok. It means he knows his stuff and has a passion for what he does.
Markoff Structural and Pest Control got me through one of the most stressful and catastrophic house disasters I could have ever imagined. They even helped broker some neighbor problems, as everyone here was on edge and worried. They were fast, they were good and I definitely recommend them.

We’re buying our first house and were referred to Paul Markoff by our real estate agent.
Paul himself came out to inspect and did a great job — finding and explaining some defects that were not detected by the seller’s initial pest report. He carefully and patiently explained each defect/​issue to me.
I recommend Markoff because Paul detected some defects/​issues that the previous inspector had missed.

See update at end.
These people were supposed to do a pest report prior to one of the condos going up for sale. Stan, the inspector, used a large screwdriver to gouge holes in the front of our Pacific Heights Victorian building. No other pest inspection over the years has ever resulted in this sort of damage.
No attempt was made to patch or repair those holes, even after we contacted them to complain. They cancelled two appointments and then just didn’t show up for a third one to review the damage.
Finally, Stan came back unannounced. During that visit, he didn’t identify himself, didn’t admit that he had done the damage, had a smirk on his face the entire time, and tried to make jokes about it. His boss, Paul Markoff, then tried to make excuses for him.
According to Mr. Markoff, their defacing and damaging our building with a large screwdriver was «standard procedure» in order to tell if there was rot so they could give us an estimate to fix it. I guess that is their version of «We had to destroy it to tell you if it needed to be fixed.»
Now we have to make cosmetic repairs before the unit can go on the market. Needless to say, I will never allow these people on my property again.
Update: 3 years later and another inspection was needed for a condo sale. Even though I requested that Markoff not be used, the realtor forgot and sent them out.
When I realized that it was Markoff, I started explaining the problems that we had with them previously. Then Paul Markoff recognized me and started screaming at me and cursing until I told him to leave. I guess that is his way of dealing with customer complaints.