Bethanis, inc. dba Bethanis Homes

The only thing I disliked is I did not think there was enough communication with the contractors and us to let us know what exactly happening the next day. If I called them they would respond but not any proactive on theirs. I would necessarily x them out but I would say more expectation before I would hire them again.

My husband and I contracted with Bethanis Homes after a plumbing disaster forced us to gut the largest bathroom in our 1928 home in La Canada-Flintridge, CA. The owner, Mark Bethanis, is extremely knowledgeable, well priced and personable. He was patient and a calming influence always. An excellent communicator, Mark was never more than a phone call or a text message away. He worked closely with his crew and subcontractors and was on the job site often. There was the added bonus of Mark's great eye for detail and design. He suggested changes that made for a better layout, and provided us with invaluable design advice - turning what would have been a pretty period bathroom into something stunning that we absolutely love! We have had extensive work done over the years to update and preserve our historic home, but we have never had a project of this magnitude run so smoothly, or worked with such an artful and detail-oriented contractor as Mark. It was such a pleasure and privilege working with Mark and his wonderful crew who were courteous, trustworthy and incredibly neat on-site. We have decided to give our kitchen a face-lift and are looking forward to working with Mark and his team of talented tradesmen again!!

We couldn't be happier with our kitchen remodel. Mark Bethanis and his crew did an amazing job from start to finish. 
The entire kitchen was gutted down to the studs and subfloor, and the ceiling was removed. The adjacent laundry room wall was removed and the space was added into the kitchen, making the kitchen almost double in size, and the laundry was moved to a closet down the hall. A half wall separating the kitchen and dining room was also removed, making the dining room and kitchen flow into one space.  The existing exterior side door was closed up and a new opening made for french doors out to the backyard with a small landing built to step down to the back patio. The entire kitchen layout was rearranged, so the sink, stove, oven and fridge were all re-piped along with all new electrical for the kitchen and a new 200amp box for the house that was also moved to a different location. A tankless water heater was installed outside along with a whole house water filtration system. New hardwood floors were installed throughout the house (except the bedrooms) along with some repairs to the subfloor in the living room.
Throughout all this Mark and his crew were punctual, professional and kept us informed during the process. There were a few unexpected issues that came up during the remodel and Mark was straightforward with us about options and solutions available. We never felt railroaded or forced into making choices we were unhappy with.
Our house is from the 20s and has all the "character" that comes with that, both good and bad. Several people have said that this kitchen looks like what should have been there from the start and we wholeheartedly agree. We would definitely hire Mark again.

My wife and I appreciate Mark's referral to another company who could do the job we needed.  We'd made a lot of calls and had contractors come to our home but we couldn't get a recommendation or find a company that would make both cabinet and dishwasher modifications so our cabinet could be cut right and the existing hardwired dishwasher be rewired to accommodate a new dishwasher.  Mark was the first to actually recommend a company and that company turned out to specialize in that area.  So thanks Mark for your help!  We appreciate Mark's work ethic.

We have worked with Mark on projects for years. He is the rare type of contractor who really gets passionate about each challenge. He is incredibly creative and brings with him an equally creative and inspired team of workers who quite simply, wont let you down. Mark and his crew have so much experience with such a wide variety of projects and styles of homes, that he also has the rare ability to work with you as a designer-which really makes it a one stop shop. His pricing is fair, he isn't out to get you. He is extremely knowledgeable on city and building codes and how they might affect any goals you have with your project. He is awesomely smart and resourceful. He makes your project as fun and important as it should be, because it sincerely means as much to him as it does to you. If you are looking for that quality in a contractor elsewhere, good luck. This is the team you want on your side.

Our project was anything but your average home remodel.  We purchased a rather major ?fixer? home with
the dilemma being that we needed to occupy the home, along with our two elderly
mothers, within 3 weeks of the close of escrow. Not only was time of the essence, but this was to be our ?last? home and
the design and quality of work was very important to us as well.  Most contractors would steer clear of such a
project, but Mark rose to the occasion with a carefully thought out design plan and execution timeline which would be broken into two successive phases.  The first phase would get our home ready to be occupied and the second phase would be the completion of a large great room/kitchen and another bedroom and bath, hardwood floors, and lots of finish work.  This was our first project with Mark and although he came highly recommended, we were still a bit apprehensive that such a project would go according to plan, as we had no room for error.  That apprehension was gone by the end of the first day of work.  We received the keys
to our home on a Monday at 5:00 p.m. and at 7:00 a.m. Tuesday morning a full crew descended upon our home with a single mission in mind ? to complete the very challenging first phase of our remodel in less than 3 weeks.  Phase 1 included demolishing 75% of the home?s interior, enlarging and completing two new bathrooms suited for the elderly, two new closets, relocating a powder room, updating another bath, new HVAC, lighting, flooring and paint and I?m certain I?m forgetting several other details ? the project was daunting at best!!!  The crew stayed on task every working minute and each day ended with the
joy of seeing the plan unfold.  Less than 3 weeks from start we moved in and we are now nearing the completion of our
entire project.  We cannot say enough about Mark and his entire team of highly qualified craftsmen/tradesmen.  We have remodeled several homes in the past and we were accustomed to having to deal with many delays and strung out timelines as well as being our own ?quality-control? or project managers.  This is not the case with Mark.  He carefully inspects the work on a daily basis.  He is extremely responsive and proactive and knows how to keep a project moving according to plan.  He continually suggests options to save money and cut unnecessary costs.  He has an excellent eye for good design and creates beautiful rooms from dust.  Mark is a joy to work with, as is his foreman Al.   We have found the last contractor we will ever use!

Mark is a good listener, and gave me exactly what I wanted, including some unconventional extra shelving around the upper perimeter of the kitchen for displaying memorabilia.
My 1941 house was designed with a second bathroom that also served as a hall from the service porch to an office/bedroom, very tacky. He knocked out the wall between the service porch and kitchen and the wall between the service porch and the bathroom, making one very large kitchen with laundry facilities. He moved the narrow door to the office/bedroom so that none of the connecting doors banged into each other as previously. He relocated the guest bathroom to an unnecessary hall near the dining room and living room, convenient to guests.
The workmanship in the custom cabinets, painting, in fact everything, is excellent. I've never seen better.
Mark advised me where to go to look at tile, flooring, appliances, and accessories. He also warned me off impractical choices I had made, such as a sink that wasn't deep enough. In some cases, he found better products than I had, and emailed me so that I could consider further. We shopped so carefully and completely that I came in well under my allowances.
All of his workers were considerate and helpful, especially Al, his foreman.
It was a fun collaboration.

Mark did a wonderful job remodeling our kitchen.  He is a really amiable guy with great people skills, so it was always pleasant interacting with him.  He has put together a great team of workers who are conscientious, courteous and skilled.   He looked out for our interest and was always mindful of cost, without sacrificing quality and workmanship.  He came in right on budget and right on time.  This was a challenging remodel that went smoothly because of Mark and his team.  We are really pleased and will always use him for future remodels.

Mark and his team did an outstanding job on my house!  It needed a lot of work after
being rented out for a number of years and he and his team restored and repaired
my 1925 English Revival bungalow back to its charming self.  He replaced the
hardwood floors with floors as they would have been in 1925, completely
demolished and restored the main bathroom to better than its original condition
by rearranging the layout (see pictures), and completely repainted the interior,
recommending a beautiful color scheme that is perfect!  He and his team are
absolutely the BEST and I can?t wait to have them come back to remodel my
kitchen.

The contractor provided all the needed services.  His men worked well but my mother, for whom Bethanis was employed, had to speak to the workers about leaving trash out or dumping paint water on the lawn.  The good part of this company is that any thing that is brought to the attention of Mr. Bethanis is promptly addressed.  It's a reliable, good company.  Mr. Bethanis has also bought and renovated homes in the area; his work is always done in very good taste.  He has a good eye for design and can offer very good advice.

I left about three different messages and never received a call back.

I tend to be a stickler on details.  The house being remodeled had gone without maintenance for some time (inside and out) and the house really looked tired and worn out.  A realtor would call it "a fixer."  To get this job done and done right, I screened an embarrassingly large number of contractors.  Some were listed here on Angie's List and others were found elsewhere.  Mark Bethanis was the next to the last contractor I interviewed.  Mark's bid was not the lowest nor the highest but I selected Mark because his quote made more sense than the others.  Mark impressed me as a hands on guy (he is the owner) rather than just someone sent out to provide a quote (I ran into several of these).  I also felt like I could trust Mark to get the job done right, and I was right.  At the end of the job, told Mark how glad I was that I selected him.  He provided excellent quality work at a very reasonable price and always went the extra mile to ensure the job was done right.  Coordinating work and communicating with him was professional and I was always able to get in touch with Mark very quickly.  Even my neighbors commented to me how professional and hardworking Mark and his team were.
 
Refinishing the hardwood floors was impeccable.  The vents for the old HVAC system had been installed in the floors.  Since a new HVAC system would be installed, this was the perfect time to relocate all the vents to the ceiling and repair the floors.  The hardwood floors, however, were rather unusual with planks that were wider than normal.  When the floors were completed, visitors have not been able to identify the repaired sections - it just all looks and feels like the floor vents had never been installed in the first place.  The floors look new.
Restoration of the exterior of the house was similarly excellent.  The house hadn't been painted in 25 years and the exterior was of the "Bat & Board" type.  Some of the bats was come loose, most of them had unsealed gaps between the bat and the boards.  Also, the last painter had stripped away five or six layers of paint at the top of the "boards" prior to painting the whole house.  This left a clearly visible, ragged and unsightly difference in the surface hight of the paint job.  The double hung windows really looked like they might not be salvageable and might need to be replaced.  When Mark's team was finished with exterior painting, all of these defects had been corrected and the house now looks like is must have when it was new.  Mark was also able to "tune-up" the double hung windows to the point that they didn't need replacing, they work correctly and look great.  
The main bathroom remodel was also a huge success.  The window in the old bathroom bad been built too far to one side and extended into the shower area (clearly something that needed to be fixed).  A section of the bathroom was too narrow, the countertops were too narrow and the sink was too small.  By moving one wall about 11 inched (reclaiming space from a four-foot deep bedroom closet), and resizing the window, Mark and his team were able to correct each of these issues.  Before, the bath was one of the major flaws of the house.  Now, it is a highlight.  
The HVAC system - The old system included a wall/floor "gravity" furnace, a forced air heater, and a separate air conditioning system.  There were two separate sets of ventilation duct work with floor vents, old ceiling vents, newer ceiling vents, and a vent that ran on top of a flat roof section (required for the family room).  Mark removed the three separate systems and installed a single combined heat/Cool system with new ductwork and ceiling vents.  Mark was also able to remove the exterior duct and replace it with two very cleverly installed ducts that I would never have thought possible - really nice work.  Old and large circular style ceiling ducts were removed and patched.  The walls and ceilings in the house are lath and plaster and have a unique hand textured surface.  Mark's team was able to recreate the surface texture in the patched area to the extent that the repairs are not visible. 
While I haven't detailed each portion of the job here (it would take too long), each portion of the job went the same - excellent.  I hope this review adequately conveys how happy I am with Mark and the job he did for me.  I've used many contractors in the past, but none were as good as Bethanis, Inc.  I will be using Bethanis again.

no story as I didn't use this company

They were excellent.  They were very attention detailed oriented.  They were fabulous.   Our house has four bed room three and half bath, they designed and built it from the ground up.  They worked with us on colors, finishes and they were terrific.

We were very happy with them. They sanded the door for me when he had the door off for free, it was very nice. He is very nice, very neat.  We will have him back. He goes above and beyond, great guy.

Once again I have nothing but good news to report about Mark Bethanis, his sub-contractors and crew.  We needed a brand new garage to be placed on the opposite side of the house from the old garage, which was to be converted into a new master bedroom.

Mark came to our home several times to discuss possibilities for the new garage. Once we decided on a plan he made several trips to the city to get all the necessary permits in place.  He estimated the work would take 11 weeks, and he was spot on.  As soon as we were permitted, the foundation for the new garage was poured and the entire garage erected in a matter of a few weeks.  Our neighbors were astonished. They thought we would be under construction for months and really the bulk of the heavy duty construction was completed in very short order.  Now the garage looks like it was built with the rest of the house.  The roof line is completely seamless, the exterior paint matches perfectly and all the finishing touches fit beautifully with the original look of the home.

The master bedroom took less ingenuity but certainly was very well designed and executed by Mark and his sub-contractors.  Floors were put down, drywall put up, electrical elegantly wired and a new French door system arrived on time and was placed nicely into the old garage door frame. 

As always, Mark was very hands-on and always available to us for any questions or concerns that came up. His crew is the best in the business; they were on time every day, they were extremely courteous to our neighbors, and kept the site very tidy, a nice bonus for us who lived in the house during construction.

I'm not going to report that Bethanis Inc. is inexpensive, but I will say his estimates are fair, very competitive and what you get for your dollar is unsurpassed in this business.  I've said it before, but for this kind of report I think it bears repeating, I've worked with several contractors in my line of work, and I find Mark Bethanis and all of his associates to be among the very best in the business.

And yes, I will hire him again.

As mentioned in a previous report, Mr. Bethanis was very professional when we first contacted his company.  He showed up on time to present himself, review the projects we wanted to begin, and to give us ideas on how to proceed.  He then left and satated that he would send us an estimate for the work to be completed.  We never heard from him again.  Repeated calls - no response.  Very unprofessional in my opinion.

They were good, we were pretty pleased with them. They were in and out and they were pleasant. It fit well and they seemed to know what they were doing. They got right in there and got to work. These guys were in and out within a few hours.
Would definitely schedule them again.

I found Mark Bethanis and Bethanis Inc. right here on Angies list along with several other companies that I interviewed for an interior kitchen and bathroom remodel for my new home.  Mark's office staff was pleasant and clear about his availability and had him call me right away to discuss the project in detail.  Once he had a good idea of what the project entailed he met me at the new house, looked everything over and said he'd have an estimate within a few days. Which he did. The way he lays out his estimates is very clear and easy to understand.  And given his experience with subcontractors and the various other entities that come along with a renovation - he was extremely accurate as to the overall cost of the project.  The work commenced and not only did he come in on time, he came in on budget!  Furthermore, his crews are all very polite and tidy -- a big bonus!

I've renovated houses in several states and hosted my own design show on HGTV and I've worked with a ton of contractors, each of whom knows how important it is to be timely and good with a budget, yet not too many of them can actually pull it off - Mark Bethanis did.
I would and have recommended him to friends and I've hired him again to build my new garage and master bedroom. Check back here in a few months for that report.  Expect it to be glowing - I do.

Brooke Channon
HGTV's Sensible Chic

We couldn't be more pleased with the results.  Mark Bethanis was personally involved and gets as excited with the project as we do.  He has great ideas that complement our desires and is great to work with.  He has an excellent team of craftsmen that had also participated in the bathroom remodeling, so clearly he relies on them for his jobs.
There isn't anything we would change with the entire project.
The price was very reasonable and there were no surprises.  The final bill was actually less than the estimate.
We will always turn to Bethanis, inc. for any work on our home.

We interviewed three general contractors with excellent reviews on Angie’s List. Mark Bethanis was the only one who was confident that he could do what we wanted within a reasonable time frame. We found him personable, professional, and easy to work with. He impressed us with his design ideas and his “can do” attitude. For example, he suggested that we move our sink and garden window 12”,  which allowed us to gain useful prep space without adding much to the cost. His knowledge of 1920s Spanish style houses helped us make choices in keeping with the character of the rest of our house.   We hired Mark to do a total remodel of our kitchen (ceiling, walls, floor, windows, and doors, cabinets, appliances), build a deck, and install two solar tubes in the dining room. We couldn’t be happier with the process or the end result. It was clear from the beginning that Mark knew how to get the job done efficiently and with minimal inconvenience to us. He was at the jobsite daily and kept us informed about what was on the schedule for the next few days.  Mark was easygoing, patient, supportive, willing to discuss changes, and always available for phone or email consultation. He advised us on where to go to see products and even went with us on a Saturday to choose decking material. In addition, he took full responsibility for getting the city permits and for being there whenever the building inspector came.   Mark employs a highly competent crew of carpenters/ painters. Considerate, and punctual, they were quiet, respectful, and responsive to my requests. They kept the construction area walled off to keep the dirt out of the rest of the house and left the work area neat and clean when leaving for the day.   Mark’s sub-contractors are also highly skilled and have been working with him for years. Because of their good working relationships, they were always willing to come to the job whenever they were needed.    In short, Mark made our kitchen remodel an enjoyable adventure. We are delighted with our new kitchen and grateful that we chose Bethanis, Inc. to do the work. The next time we decide to do another home remodeling project, Mark Bethanis is definitely the person we will call!

We started with the hall bathroom and moved to the master bath once the first one was completed. There was big movement every single day. There was not a day that didn't have big changes happening in the room. From start to finish, including all detail work, each bathroom took 4 weeks.  Mark took care of all permits and inspections. His assistant, Al, is as terrific as Mark is. All of the contractors were respectful and cleaned up their messes. Our hardwood floors were protected at all times, our belongings covered in plastic when necessary to protect them. All of my nervous questions were answered with respect. When I needed advice, it was beneficial.

Honestly, I couldn't ask for more than what I received throughout this process. What I have now are 2 absolutely gorgeous bathrooms! Our home is much more marketable now because of this improvement. Though, how could we ever move with these beautiful rooms!

I would not bother to call this comapny again. they are too busy to come to our house to give an estimate. there are so many good companies out there to do good job

Mark has a professional team. It is apparent that there is mutual respect between him and his workers and subcontractors. When the job was started, they worked daily until it was complete. Mark was in contact almost daily, keeping me updated on the progress and what to expect the next day. This gave me a high level of confidence during the project. We are very happy with the outcome.

Well, I was dissapointed. Not so much because he did bad work -- but because I didn't even have the chance to work with him. Indeed, we spent at least an hour together at my home, as I explained the plans that had been developed. He came prepared including a list of references and photographs of several previous jobs that he had done. All impressive. He made some suggestions, that I said were wonderful but expanded the scope of the project beyond our intentions and were not within my budget, and he seemed to understand that. Further, I made it clear that I would be purchasing several items for the job, i.e., plumbing fixures and appliances, that would not be part of his bid; he seemed somewhat reluctant to embrace that concept. In any event, he did run a preliminary budget number by me, and I said that was within the range that I expected. He said that he would take the information, call me with any questions and work up a bid -- line by line -- for my review in approximately one week. Three weeks later, he called, and on voice mail left me a message that he was just too busy to take on my job. That left a bad taste in my mouth for several reasons... a. WHY WAIT 3 WEEKS TO TELL ME THAT? b. Does Bethanis only want jobs where the customer gives you carte blance (i.e., were you put off by the idea that I had specific ideas) c. While Mr. Bethanis time is valuable, so is mine: If you are going to take my time up with me explaining the job, at least tell me on the spot it's not something you want...or else prepare the bid. I'm not telling Angies List members to avoid Bethanis...indeed, the other reviews are really good...but just make sure, in a timely fashion, to get a commitment from him whether he's really interested or not. Mr. Bethanis: It's okay to say "no," it's not okay to keep people hanging.