Extra Care Contractor

Robert Dorner a contractor with Swiss precision (unsurprising, as he is from Switzerland). He’s done numerous amazing jobs for us over the last year, including building a beautiful room in our attic; creating gorgeous built-​in cabinets and counters for our kitchen; and too-​numerous-​to-​count small jobs like installing outlets, locks, sinks, gates, etc. He is the rare contractor willing to do small jobs in addition to larger projects. Robert is fully licensed, has incredible attention to detail, is capable of doing all aspects of jobs, and bringing in qualified and courteous subcontractors when needed. I have recommended him to several friends and wholeheartedly recommend him to you.

Robert mounted our TVs to the wall in our office. He did a fantastic job! Very pleasant to work with and the TVs look amazing on the walls! Will definitely call Robert again for any future needs.

Robert is a real professional with amazing, Swiss-​grade skills and precision. He sweats the details even more than I do… and I’m a picky, hard-​to-​please customer.
Robert has done several projects for us around our house — everything from hanging heavy, expensive framed artwork extremely precisely to align with each other to renovating our guest bathroom. One time he came to reinforce our deck balcony and ended up spotting and consulting on stress cracks on a load-​bearing wall caused by settling of our foundation… no task or subject matter is too big or too small for him!
I strongly recommend Robert to any person who cares about quality and wants it done right the first time. It’s good to know craftsmanship and quality still survives in this age of corner-​cutting!

I’ve used Robert twice (two different homes) for work on a bathroom remodel and a kitchen. His team is superb. The pricing is competitive (believe me I’ve talked with dozens of contractors) and any changes I wanted were done with clear pricing adjustments. I’ve recommend him to several people and we are all very happy with his work. He even worked on a friends kitchen that another company did badly. His contracts are clear and pretty standard when it comes to hiring someone to remodel. I highly reccommend The European Renaissance Craftsman.

Sometimes I call on Robert to help me on different projects. He is a good communicator. He always takes the time to make sure that I understand everything and that all my questions are answered. And he always delivers as promised. I really appreciate that.

Last week we finished our 5^th project with Robert Dorner as our contractor in 4 years.
We remain satisfied and are discussing a new project with him now (Oct 2012)
A common entry garden wall with our neighbors, featuring vintage mid-​20^th Century glass panels was rotten and the original construction was channeling water into the rooms below the entryway. This was a complicated restoration– renovation, in part due to the powerful Diamond Heights winds the wall would have to endure.
We remain pleased with Robert Dorner’s structural knowledge, attention to detail, and in the case of the last two home improvement projects with him, we are appreciative of his ability to re-​design on-​site solutions when our original plans proved unrealistic or impossible due to the hillside location and cantilevered floors of our single family home.
In our experience Robert’s contracts have been clear and change orders have been within reason, although he loses a perfect 5^th Star rating for materials estimates being at the high end of what one would expect to pay.
That said, we have always visited change orders with him early enough, that we still had financial options keeping any project to date from large overruns or surprising billing.
In this vein of thought, Robert’s preference for quality –as with any contractor– requires his clients to maintain their due diligence in regularly defining with him their limits to the project financially. i.e. Using a lower finish in one place to afford the one we really want in another.
Robert’s deliberate temperment and pacing is probably not for everyone, but it has suited us. When working out of town, we have received daily jpg updates on the projects’ status
Work progress has never been interrupted for other projects which is a significant value in remodeling and repair in the S.F. climate.
We recommend that Unilocal readers meet with Mr. Dorner when planning major construction or repair and we stand by our previous positive review of 6÷18÷2011

Robert’s teams do satisfactory work, but the price is exorbitant. Make certain you clarify the cost of every line item when you choose to work with this contractor. Robert will insist things are clear — but his contracts leave a lot to be desired in terms of clarity.