Live Oak Structural Inc

I like the people and the fact that they sent me everything in an email so I could go over it.

They were very personable and perfect at their work. They were very friendly and did a very thorough job and explained to us item by item. I would rate them highly. We would recommend them to others. I will use them again in the future.

I called Live Oak for a quote for a complete replacement of my foundation. When scheduling the appointment for an estimate the office manager offered up a 10 am apt. I communicated that I work across the bay and my availability was before 730 am or after 530 pm. She explained that customers should CHANGE their schedule to accommodate Live Oak. If a company is not willing to work with you and has this attitude about customer service, why would I trust they would go above and beyond in hiring them?

They were very expensive. I called them based on the reviews I read online. The person who came out was kind of spacey. He knew what he was talking about, but he seemed a little scattered. They also took a long time to get the quote to me. It was a high quote. They took such a long time that I had already started on the work. They said they were going to take two weeks and they took two months. I did get other quotes. They were definitely in the high-end, but they weren?t the highest. They only made a bid to do some of the work. They didn?t make a bid for all other work that I wanted to have done. I would probably not use their services again.

This company had good reviews, and they did an excellent job for us as well. Their price was also the best of the two estimates we received. They were very prompt for all their appointments, and very responsive to our phone calls and emails. Their work was very neat, complete, and professional. We would definitely use them again and recommend them.

They were professional. They were on time, and on schedule, very prompt.

They were very professional and thorough. They have a good website. They were very quick to get back to me. I was really pleased with them. I will use them again for a quote in the future.

The person who came was very thorough. He is used by many people around here. He spent quite a bit of time doing the inspection. He came highly rated by a Realtor. The report that he gave was very detailed.

He was very prompt, professional and gave us an estimate. However, he was a bit more pricey than what we wanted to spend.

It went very well and I would recommend their services.

Overall, it was a great experience. The supervisor did a great job of organizing and talking through the options with us. There was likely a little more that needed to be done for our job than they first anticipated but they did the whole job while still holding to the estimate. The workers were punctual, professional, and cleaned up the area well. When I called about one clean up area that still needed a little attention, they came out the next day to take care of it.

I took some time to consider this review so that I could characterize the experience clearly and honestly, and I arrived at the example of a student who earns D?s and F?s throughout the semester but comes in for the final and earns a decent grade. I do want to start by saying that, ultimately, the owner of the company got involved, and she did work really hard to correct the problems that occurred on the job while providing a significant level of customer outreach. Working with her was a good experience, and she assigned a different installer/manager to the job which made a difference. Her personality and demeanor were very friendly, professional and apologetic. The problem was how poorly things were handled until she got involved. She did apologize profusely and told me this wasn?t their typical level of performance, and others here have reviewed them positively. Perhaps the job was too small for their full attention. Anyway, her involvement earned a ?B,? but this is averaged with the ?F? that the installer I was working with earned. After using them to complete a termite inspection, I approved a proposal to repair dry rot and replace a door, small window, and portions of a deck (as well as some minor additional work). Suffice it to say there were delays and problems from July until the owner?s intervention in December. Once the previous work was corrected by the new crew and the new small window came, the work was fine...a "B."

It took a little time to get the job scheduled, but once the work was begun they were efficient, professional, and punctual (almost to the minute). They kept me informed at every stage of the job and were always very patient and pleasant in dealing with my questions and concerns. A very good experience; I would definitely hire them again.

I purchased my circa 1939 home in October 2008. The seller's pest report had revealed quite extensive dry-rot under the stucco, along with a hefty price tag for the work that would be required to fix the problem. After getting a few more bids, I decided to hire Live Oak Structural. Although their estimate was not the lowest, Terri Carver and Will Linville inspired my confidence more than other companies. It was an added benefit that they could do the seismic work (shear-wall and bolting) during the process and I appreciated that they insulated using a green product made from recycled materials. The guys on the crew have been clean, organized and respectful of my new neighbors. They are just finishing the stucco on the last section, it looks amazing. I wish I had taken photos of the stages - you would never know something had been done.

I really like them. They were very professional and they answered my questions. I haven't had any work done with them yet, but they were very thorough. They were on time. I was very happy.

Overall the experience was a good one. My house needs quite a bit of structural work, but I have a limited budget to do repairs. Live Oak worked with me to limit the scope of the project to what I could afford and what would be best for my house given its needs. The work was done very well and the crew and supervisors were responsive and friendly. And my project involved a substantial modification to the original bid because it turned out that I needed significant work done on the framing, but Live Oak worked with me on the pricing of this as well. I plan to use this company again in the future, as I believe that the quality of their work is excellent and the pricing seems fair.

We employed Live Oak Structural initially to do this work. The way we did it was to: hire an engineer for the calculations; hire Live Oak Structural (LOS) for the building work; and apply to the City Of Oakland council for the permit and overseeing. It all went smoothly, and they worked very well with each other. Live Oak Structural removed the existing framing on those four walls (inside & out), replaced them with better, stronger framing, shear walls, and various braces - all according to the structural engineers plans. They took down the interior moulding, put it back up, replaced the sheet rock, and primed it so the house looked just as good as before. Although no-one will offer guarantees there is definitely a sense - having seen the difference between the old & new structures -that the house has a better chance of surviving an earthquake. Live Oak Structural took care of everything. No issues came up for us at all. They paid attention to detail, meticulously followed the plan and it was on time. It was fixed price and remained that way. We are very happy with the quality of work done, the time it took, and the cost. I've only attached four photos of one inside wall. It doesn't reflect all the work done but hopefully provides some idea of what's involved, and their work.

They did a good job with the framing, insulation, and attaching the concrete flashing to the foundation with re-bars. It was also fixed rate and remained that way despite an issue they uncovered another with the foundation. The flashing gently slopes to avoid rainwater collection. And I'm not sure how they did it, but when they replaced the stucco the textual appearance matches the old stucco perfectly. Live Oak Structural did everything, including getting the council permit for this part as well. We had no issues. The crew (3 men) were very polite, well behaved, arrived at the same time each day, knew their business, followed instructions, achieved a lot each day, and also tidied up after each day.

Live Oak Structural worked on three separate jobs at the same time. This is a report for the deck work. We moved into a new house, and two inspections highlighted damage to the deck. The supporting girder had been damaged by a fungus infection and a powderpost beetle infestation. The concrete pillars also looked a bit soft to me, and looked very unsightly. The attached photo doesn't quite capture how unsightly they were. Live Oak Structural provided a quote. They gave a little discount because they had two other jobs with us. The crew were excellent and did a sterling job, even with safety issues such as putting up a barrier to stop us walking out of the door on to the deck during the time of construction. Knocking down those re-enforced concrete posts can't have been easy but they managed it without a problem. It was fixed price, inclusive of the City Of Oakland building permit application and cost. We didn't have to do anything other than pay and be happy with the work. There were no surprises, and no issues. The other jobs done during the time were: earthquake retrofitting and foundation repair. See my other reports.

We found their work to be very good and they are dependable.