Pearl Engineering & Construction Co

Pearl and his crew did an excellent job on my 1948 house in the Oakland Hills. It was a drainage and foundation job that required some digging and fact-​finding, and we discovered pretty much the worst-​case scenario behind the walls and underneath the house. I felt that I was in good hands with Pearl; he explained very clearly the choices we had in scoping the project, and the final bill came in below estimate. The work, which included drainage and a lot of concrete, looks very solid.
The crew, led by Raul, was 100% professional: working fast and very well coordinated, they brought in exactly as many guys as they needed each day. They got all the material deliveries in and debris hauling out very smoothly, and every day when I came home from work I was impressed to see how much they had gotten done. They also coordinated very well with another contractor, Warm Floors, who installed hydronic heating that goes inside the floor slab. Plus, they were friendly and always seemed to have a positive attitude, even when they had to do some pretty nasty excavation and demolition. On the day the concrete truck had been delayed (through no fault of Pearl’s crew), they stayed until late evening to finish the floor slab, which came out gorgeous.
Spending a good chunk of one’s retirement savings on a construction job that you mostly can’t even see once it’s finished doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. But I felt really good about getting this work done by Pearl, and I almost miss Raul and the guys showing up in the morning.

We hired James Pearl Engineering and Construction to add an 800 square foot second story to our home and we were very pleased with the results. We have a 70– year old, cinder block home and James’ engineering expertise made the project possible by coming up with several low-​cost options. He worked well with our architect to get the plans done in an expedited manner.
When moving on to the construction part of the job, James’ crew was skilled, prompt and personable and their work was impeccable. His project manager onsite, Tighe, worked on our home like it was his, and was extremely responsive when called upon to meet or discuss an idea. He always had great ideas for us but was not pushy when it came to their implementation. Tighe also has great connections within the subcontractor community in the East Bay, which allowed us to hire folks that were just as great as our crew. Additionally, Tighe is well versed in navigating the different East Bay municipal building departments, which was imperative during the permit process.
Overall, we were VERY pleased with James Pearl Engineering and Construction and would use them again for future projects.

Pearl Engineering has recently finished working on our home that was built in 1916. They did a fantastic job redoing a portion of the foundation, completing a seismic retro-​fit and constructing a new slab and sump pump in our basement. They also provided additional services outside of their original scope of work that helped us to complete additional exterior improvements that we would have had to hire someone else to complete They were on time, courteous, and under-​budget even with the additional work that they had completed! It doesn’t get any better than that! Jamie and his crew were a pleasure to work with and we would highly recommend Pearl Engineering & Construction Co. to anyone that needs this type of work done on their home.

I would definitely NOT recommend James Pearl to do any work on your home! James did some things that we thought were highly suspect and unethical. When he spoke to us before he came to assess our home project, he told us the following:
a) We were to pay him $ 250.00 as a consultation fee for him to come out to our house .
b) It would cost us an additional $ 100.00 if he drew up plans for the project.
c) The total of that $ 350.00 would come off of the total cost of the project if we opted to go with his plan.
Because of this entire packaged scenario that he proposed, we agreed to have James come to our home and to pay him the initial $ 250. We felt it was an initial monetary investment in what could be a fruitful working relationship.
Nearly one month went by and James made absolutely no contact with us. He did not produce the promised plans or bid. We left three voice messages for him starting a day after he promised the bid. In nearly one month, he made absolutely no contact with us!
We would NEVER have considered having James come to our home for $ 250 if there was no potential for working with him on this project and deducting our $ 250 initial investment. We feel as though we were conned. What a scam… you charge someone $ 250 to come to their house, have a hypothetical conversation about potential work, promise them that they can deduct that initial investment from the total job… then you disappear with their money and never produce a plan! It’s bad business!

I used Pearl Engineering on my newly purchased home. The work included construction, maintenance, and electrical. The quote was accurate. The work was quality. The jobs were completed with haste. The crew was professional and clean. Can’t ask for more than that. I highly recommend Pearl Engineering.

I have been using James «Jamie» Pearl to inspect and repair foundations in the East Bay for 10 years. I have found Jamie to be upfront, ethical, a good value, as well as a person that stands by their work.
I have referred Jamie to friends, family, and clients and in total Jamie has inspected or repaired at least 20 properties I referred. Everyone I spoke with has been pleased with the value and finished product Pearl Engineering provided.

I would give no stars if I could. Peal Engineering is a rip off, a very costly engineer. I am not sure they really know what they are doing as they had made many costly mistakes on our job. And, when things were not done right and it was his fault, he had an attitude that he did not care and then we had to pay for his mistakes. The job he did was more than twice as expensive as it would have been with another engineer. He also does not keep his word and is a total rip off artist.
Please think twice before hiring him for any of your jobs. His work and that of his crew is bad.

After purchasing our first home, a 1904 Victorian fixer upper, we were equally excited and terrified to get our hands dirty and begin the work. However, the work that needs to be done to our house exceeds our very limited handyman skills– it was going to take more than a hammer and nail. First on the bill was getting some major foundation work done. James Pearl came out himself to check out the place and walk us through the process. I really appreciated him coming a day before the work began to personally introduce his crew to us, too (it made me feel more comfortable knowing who was crawling around underneath my house for 6 weeks straight). What a great team to work with! Besides retrofitting our crumbling foundation, they went above and beyond what they needed to do: gave us some extra sq. footage and height in our tiny basement laundry room, fixed our heating/​plumbing issues, and left our place WAY cleaner than when they started. His company has been hard to top. I highly recommend James Pearl and his crew!

James Pearl came out and saved me from a jam. I needed an engineering inspection at the last minute. James made it happen. He is a master at what he does and is able to translate into terms everyone can understand. His prices are more then reasonable and he treats his business and clients as his #1 priorty. I can not recommend him more!