OCC Construction, Inc.

To be VERY CLEAR - this project has been going on for OVER 2 YEARS. Most importantly, one of the homeowners, my husband, is a retired drywall Master Journeyman contractor who built large jobs for the biggest, most well respected companies from San Francisco to Sacramento - both residential and commercial. Recently he was asked by arguably the largest contractor in the Bay Area to come back and manage a large crew building new condos and apartments. They offered twice the union wage, triple overtime and a place to stay. Clearly, they respected him and his work that much to make such an offer to lead a large important project. But, because the contractor we had here was so bad, he had to say no because of our current remodel. My husband has built homes for several famous people, in charge of the Chase Center suites, remodels of Google, Twitter, ABC7, etc. He's been in the business for over 40 years and knows good work from bad! He also had a contractor's license and has studied contracting for years working with some of the VERY BEST Journeyman tradesmen in the Bay Area. We are not "thinking" we are contractors; but with 40+ years in the business, we DO KNOW how we want OUR HOME to be finished and it wasn't with substandard work! He allowed work on a hillside to be started without a permit which caused our job to be shut down for 6 months and then had poor framers who did not know what they were doing and their work had to be replaced delaying us another 2 months. Plumbers installed pipes in the wrong places and he tried to bill us for moving them. After being told a purchased vanity is 48", project manager never checked or verified the framing leaving it too small for the vanity. He billed us for to change and adjust the framing. His project managers are inexperienced and he does not follow up on their work claims or that of the subs. We had purchased 84"H doors we were told world work except the framing was then done wrong and never checked so other doors 80"H had to be ordered and we could not return the ones purchased. His project managers could not use a basic tape measure even after being told and shown where closets and fireplaces were located. We hired our OWN plumber with this GC's full knowledge, saving him $2,000 for one of HIS many errors - he never had the courtesy to reimburse us for OUR plumber who repaired his sub's POOR WORK! He also never reimbursed US for the fee he charged to fix framing to fit an already purchased vanity. The work on the eaves is SO BAD that the Hardie board contractor (a real contractor) has to make numerous repairs before installing our siding and boxing in the eaves hiding the bad workmanship by this GC's sub and "project manager". Inspectors berated the project managers for not checking plans before calling for inspections - twice. There were several over charges and he made every excuse expecting us to fall for his lack of truthfulness. We were accused of "micro managing" and being "opinionated" as we saw such bad work and had the nerve to speak up! We had to fire both of the project managers as their performance was so poor we had to be on the job every day to be sure work was done appropriately. Admittedly, we are not your average homeowner who likely wouldn't know good work from poor work, who would not know when something said is incorrect. However, when it is pointed out, not being accountable but trying to make it the fault somehow of the homeowner is not ok. What this GC could have learned from my husband is staggering! Instead, he let his ego dictate the excuses and poor work as his standard. Thank God this GC left before more problems needing repairs were created by his subs. Accepting and charging for poor work from persons who did work under your "management" in any business is not acceptable no matter how many reasons are dreamt up. There is no shame in admitting to mistakes and errors; there is shame in not owning up to them, making excuses and not making corrections without expecting more money. I just reread the GC's remark in response to another review and I can't stop shaking my head!! Today, at the permit office to change the permit to owner builder as this GC has gratefully and summarily been let go, I asked about his remark he put here about "compliments from inspectors". The inspector did everything he could to keep from saying what he really wanted to say out loud. His rolling eyes and expressions said it for him. All he could say to us was that this comment is far from truth. A few weeks ago, the geosciences professional asked if the project manager was still there and said he was one of the worst he'd seen. He also had little to compliment with anything for OCCC. So this is just one of many, many untruthful remarks made by this GC over and over! Do yourself, your sanity and your wallet a favor and just say, "heck NO" to this guy. There are plenty of actually good honest contractors out there!