Finn Construction Services

I needed a french drain installed on my property and was calling around for estimates. Dan was very courteous and although he didn’t have time to provide an estimate in the East Bay nor have time to actually do the job, he did spend 20 – 25 minutes over the phone providing instructions on the proper way of installing a french drain. It was very informative and I appreciated the time he spent educating me on the process.

I can’t speak to the quality of his work, but I had a very unprofessional experience with him trying to get a bid. He came out to look at my seismic retrofit job 10÷24÷15. He told me he was excited about the job and that is was the kind of work he loved to do (being mostly steel work) and that he’d get back to me with a bid. I sent him the plans and never heard back. So I emailed ¹¹⁄₂ to confirm he got the plans and he emailed the next day ¹¹⁄₃ saying:
Hi Anna,
I received the drawings but have not had time to work on the estimate or get
the plans out to the iron works companies. I will try to do so towards the
end of this week as I wrap up a job. Dan
Weeks go by and I hear nothing. So on ¹¹⁄₂₄ I email him again to check on my bid and get no response. So I call him on ¹²⁄₁ and leave a message and he calls back. He makes excuses that he had the flu for a couple of weeks and was behind, but that he had spoken to his steel works subcontractors, but still had to get their bids and he would get me the bid by the end of the year. I told him I’d really like to get it so I can make a decision and make my plans for 2016 and he assured me that he’d get it to me. I even told him it was okay if he was too busy and can’t handle my job, but to please let me know and he assured me he wanted to go forward. This was on 12/​1, over 5 weeks after our first appointment and over 3 weeks after the last time he said he’d have the bid by the end of the week on ¹¹⁄₃.
Cut to yesterday 12/​15, 15 days after our last conversation and he emails me this:
Hi Anna,
Due to landing some other projects I wish to not bid your project.
Dan
A contractor who can’t come up with a bid in 7 weeks and doesn’t respond to emails and lies about timelines. is not someone I would want to work with! Timelines and honesty are so important in a construction job. I gave him the opportunity on December 1^st to be honest with me if he couldn’t handle bidding my job, but he continued to string me along and waste my time for 7 weeks! I have a permit that expires in a year as he knows. I found my experience with him to be very unprofessional, dishonest and disrespectful.
You can judge for yourself by his one line email. He didn’t even have the courtesy to call.
My father was a contractor in San Francisco for 60 years and he got all his jobs word-​of-​mouth and would never have treated a client like this.

Dan took my job on a few hours notice. In the process of putting a new floor in at mezzanine level we ran into some issues that were much larger than anticipated. Dan and his crew sprung into action and delivered our project on time and on budget. In addition to being a super nice guy Dan is very responsive and communicative with his clients. And as other reviews have stated his knowledge of all things construction is quite encyclopedic. I would recommend him to any home or business owner that needs a highly professional contractor that won’t break the bank.

We had a leaky shower faucet that flooded through the ceiling into our kitchen, leaving a very ugly hole… I contacted Dan on a Saturday after reading great reviews on Unilocal and he got back to me immediately even though it was both a weekend and a small job. He wasn’t available but helped introduce me to his sheetrock specialist Lucky, who came by early the following week and left us with a good as new looking kitchen ceiling. I would definitely contact Dan again in the future!

Dan is very helpful. Although it turns out that my home is not located in the area he serves, he still gave me a 15-​minute free consultation on my problem. Very nice and knowledgeable guy!

I called Dan and he was extremely helpful in finding us a seismic engineer for one of my insureds. He called us back in two minutes as promised.

Scrolling through Unilocal,I was looking for someone to help me. Who needs more stress and hassle when your apartment has been flooded? Dan was the man with the plan, like a light through the darkness. He took my call (on repairing granite countertops – which he doesn’t do, but he has connections luckily for me) while on vacation. When I called back a week later, he was back and helped me out yet again: he had names of companies and the people to talk to, he had knowledge of the industry and how to go about getting quotes, and he gave me awesome recommendations. If I ever need something built, I am going to him.

I am overdue in writing this review. Dan and his team did our kitchen remodel several years ago. I did the traditional three bids and his bid was very competitive. What I really liked was that Dan took the time to really sit down and listen to what I wanted to do. We really clicked and even though it took us a while to final make the go decision Dan was always there to answer questions and provide information. What really impressed me was the measures Dan took to minimize the costs on those gotchas that always come with a remodel in the 95 year old San Francisco building. I have also been very happy when I used Dan as a resource for finding resources after our remodel. I highly recommend Dan he did a beautiful job on a gut to the stubs and re-​build kitchen. We love our kitchen and Dan.

Dan Finn — thank you for making my weekend! Interested in changing my countertops in my new condo, I had no idea where to start. I called Dan and he picked up on a Sunday — then proceeded to chat with me and give me some great recommendations. Dan gave me a place for granite and sinks/​fixtures, as well as the ins and outs of what to look for/​brands to purchase. What once seemed completely daunting now sounds so simple. Dan took the time to help me even though his business is booked for a bit and told me to call/​email him if I needed more help. When I decide to do more upgrades, I will call Dan.

I am lucky to know Dan Finn so it was easy to find Finn construction. I have been disabled six years now and Dan has worked with me as to figure easier ways for me to live my life. He put in a pantry wall unit so I have access to my canned goods, other than over head cabinets that were difficult. He has put in shelfs and a wall mounted desk with no legs so my wheelchair has super access. Dan has mounted my flat screen TV and the best he raised my toilet. Dan has worked with me real close to get things just right. Dan does fine and precise work I give more than five stars if I could. this work my seem simple compared to rebuilding a foundation to a home but these things helped make my life not only stable but much safer.
Thanks Dan!

We have a house in Eureka Valley. We initially sought out Finn Construction Services to do some repairs long neglected from the previous owner. Particularly we had foundation issues left over from Loma Prieta in 1989. Dan came back with a a full plan for strengthening and stabilizing the foundation and did the work quickly and for a reasonable price given the complexity. We brought Dan back two more times for two kitchens and a complete remodel of a rental unit. His workmanship is top notch and his skills and knowledge of structures and their components encyclopedic. Our questions were always answered thoroughly and with a smile. Finn Construction Services can be relied on for a job well done and at a price you can afford.

Our house on upper market was suffering from a terrible foundation leak that was exasperated by the rains this past winter. The water penetrated the unfinished back, subterranean room on the 1^st floor and made its way to another room, undermining tiles on the way, soaking through a closet and a carpet. We interviewed 5 or 6 contractors about the problem. Each one said basically the same thing: french drain. However, although the solutions all seemed to be identical, they all had wildly different prices. In one case they couldn’t even give me a bid instead citing T&M with no cap which basically scared us silly.
Dan came over, took stock of the problem, sketched out a possible solution on the spot, and delivered a professional and competitive quote as promised two days later. Dan came recommended to us by a friend of a friend and has had extensive foundation and concrete experience. He has a degree in engineering from Portland State, has worked on dams and does seismic foundation work in addition to general contracting.
The work on our house started days after he delivered the bid and we agreed to take him on to stop the leak that penetrated our rear retaining wall set into the hillside. The work turned out to be more extensive than we had originally anticipated. The foundation wall was low and thick on our 1936 home. Instead of stopping Dan’s team dug down 10 ft. in a narrow work space extruded soil from under a stair case. The final product was a double french drain system that connected directly to a downspout in the floor of a rear staircase instead of spilling out over the stairs from a higher stair. Our house has no street access to the backyard so all materials had to be carried by hand, up the stairs and through the first floor of the house including excess soil after the trench was filled with gravel.
The work was done expediently, professionally and at all steps of the project we were kept informed by Dan who was on site every single day to supervise and do the work himself. The inside of the wall was sealed with a double layer of Kryton, a slurry that Dan assured us penetrates concrete pores and grows toward moisture adding another layer of protection to the ailing wall. There has been a series of bad rains since the work was complete and no water has come through the wall. Dan gave us a 10 year guarantee on the work and was very confidant that fix would work and we’d now have a dry basement, well, at least in this room, we’ve other issues elsewhere.
Dan’s final bill was more than the original estimate and bid. The overage was reasonable given how much more work he did in the end and how much deeper he went than originally projected. Whenever you open up big holes you’re never sure what you’ll find there and I’m not surprised that it turned out to be more than originally estimated. At all stages Dan did his best to save us money and leverage his vast resources and knowledge to deliver a superior level of service final product. I wouldn’t hesitate to use Dan again for future projects.