
SAN DIEGO MASTER CRAFTSMEN
About us
San Diego Master Craftsmen is a design/build general contracting company in the San Diego area specializing in large scale, high quality residential remodeling. We boast the best record in San Diego for accuracy in pricing and timing. We have a very unique and thorough approach to planning and development which enables us to offer the highest quality remodeling for any budget. We are purposefully a small company with very high standards. Customers deal directly with the president, Jon Hammer, from design to completion of their remodel, which ensures their satisfaction and quality customer service. Our CSLB type B license number is 869892. We offer discounts to Angie's List members on qualifying remodels. There is no charge for a visit and estimate.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Interior and exterior, architecture, complete custom home remodels, design, large scale remodels, new home construction
Amenities
Free Estimates
Yes
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Jon brought in a team of specialists, including draftsmen, engineers and other tradesmen to work on the project. These are individuals he has partnered with for many years, and who work together because of their mutual respect for professionalism and craftsmanship (these are comments made to me on more than one occasion by the sub-contractors themselves). He also secured all permits required by the city to undertake the work.
The design and renovation work was technically challenging because I own an older home built on a hillside. As such, quite a bit of the project involved structural reinforcement and support. Jon's team conducted itself in a highly professional manner, bringing both experience and expertise to all the challenges we faced during design and construction.
Before contracting Jon and San Diego Master Craftsmen, I undertook a lot of due diligence, searching on-line and following up with all the references Jon provided me. I'm glad I did. On a job of this size, I wanted to make sure that the general contractor was someone I could work with, was transparent, approachable, candid and, most importantly, actually listened to my needs (prior to contracting Jon's services, I had interviewed about six other General Contractors in the area). Uniformly, the references Jon provided me had very positive experiences to tell. Without hesitation, I can add my name to that list of positive references. Working with Jon has been a pleasure, from the very start. As with all projects of this size, there have been challenges along the way. But Jon has tackled these in a very transparent and professional manner, and has always been conscious of my budget constraints, working with me to resolve issues in the most cost-effective manner possible.
I am particularly grateful for the quality of work undertaken by Jon's team. Structurally, I feel far more secure that the house has been reinforced in an appropriate manner, and meets all current codes. Interiors have been constructed in a manner that specifically meet my objectives. And Jon has given me many good suggestions that we have incorporated into the work along the way. A simple example will illustrate. When we were laying out the split air conditioning units, Jon worked for days in figuring out locations that would work for me and at the same time would be technically feasible in my post and beam home. He and the framer, HVAC team and electrician worked together in putting together a perfect solution that would actually work at a practical level.
Not that all of Jon's work is of this large scale. Many of the references I received were of a much smaller scale. But all of the feedback was similarly positive. And all had very positive things to say about Jon personally, as do I.
I can, without reservation, give Jon and San Diego Master Craftsmen my highest recommendation. There are many horror stories floating about the internet regarding unfortunate experiences with General Contractors. I am happy to say that I have never had second thoughts about working with Jon and San Diego Master Craftsmen. It has been a pleasure.
Philip Erquiaga
We are a local non-profit organization caring for the local homeless population as well as families in low income housing in our community. This "shower & shave" facility is a very important next step for people who are struggling to regain dignity and self worth as they rejoin society and the workforce. It will help us have incredible impact in the lives of many in San Diego.
SD Master Craftsman donated this project completely and we are so very thankful!
We would highly recommend them to anyone!
Scott Laughlin
Executive Director
Project Reach World, Inc.
San Diego Master Craftsmen (SDMC), owned by President Jon Hammer (licensed General Contractor), prides itself on thorough project planning and top quality construction. Mr. Hammer is selective in the projects undertaken to assure that the client?s priorities (quality, cost, & schedule) align with SDMC priorities, with quality being priority number one. SDMC limits the number of projects undertaken at one time to assure that Mr. Hammer and his staff will have the time to be thoroughly involved with each project from start to finish. For this house renovation, the project was divided between a design phase and a construction phase, with separate contracts for each phase. The design phase contract was at no cost to the clients as long as the clients proceeded to the construction phase. For the construction phase, this project was split to accommodate the client?s wishes to live in one half of the house while construction was performed on the other half, and then vice versa. Dividing the construction into two phases extended the project schedule as it meant all trade personnel would have to do their work in two different time periods. This scheduling approach was appreciated by the clients whose priorities were quality #1, cost #2, and schedule #3.
During the design phase, SDMC worked diligently with the clients to define in great detail the project tasks and materials list. Significant effort was spent to minimize any construction surprises, even opening walls (with permission) if needed. As a method to assure quality, SDMC screened and carefully selected only subcontractors (the ?craftsmen?) that are proven, very experienced, and generally highly rated on various review sites. All of the project subcontractors visited the project site during the design phase to participate in the planning and estimating, thus helping to avoid the risk of construction surprises. This process also enabled the clients to meet and assess the personnel who would later be working on the job site; it was a positive experience. Although the clients spent considerable time and effort to describe the detailed project objectives and do preliminary designs, SDMC provided an excellent designer, Heidi, to work with the clients to refine the designs and assist in the picking of finishing details; she was very helpful and a pleasure to work with.
The construction phase was completed without any significant surprises, a tribute to the thoroughness of the design phase. There were only two change orders, both of which were initiated by the clients. The quality of the craftsmen?s work was consistently good to excellent; any call-backs were of a minor nature or touch-ups. Noteworthy outstanding work was performed by the craftsmen in the areas of cabinetry, tile setting, drywall, ceiling finishing, flooring, and stucco. A particularly challenging construction task was the alteration and finishing of the master suite to be aging-in-place friendly including a curbless walk in shower with linear drain; the finished result is both functional and beautiful, and has already served as an example to prospective SDMC clients. There were two schedule impacting problems during the project, neither of which were the fault of SDMC. The first and biggest problem was a high-end purchased front entry door set that would never close properly; SDMC & the clients teamed cooperatively in a ten week dispute with the door manufacturer who finally agreed the door set was faulty and then manufactured a new set which took another six weeks. SDMC adjusted the construction schedule to work around the problem as best as possible, but the door delay did impact project finishing by a couple months. The other problem was with a tankless water heater that sporadically would stop heating water during showers. Again, SDMC worked diligently with the manufacturer, retailer, and plumber to attain resolution for a difficult problem due to its intermittent nature. Both problems must have cost impacted SDMC but never did they balk at standing behind their contract and completing the job as expected.
All of the personnel on the project were professional, courteous, did not smoke on the job site, and never gave the clients any concerns about their presence. The clients were especially appreciative and thankful for SDMC?s on-site foreman, Rick; his attention to detail and creativeness reflected his lifetime experience in the field. At times, the clients felt the project cost may have been a little high, but acknowledge that attaining meaningful cost comparisons for a project of this scope is difficult. In the end, the clients recognize that obtaining quality work from professional & reliable trade personnel has a price tag, thus the clients feel the project cost was fair for the results attained. The clients therefore recommend SDMC be considered for any medium to large remodeling project, especially where quality has a higher priority than cost.
- SDMC owner Jon Hammer thinks creatively and has a great business sense. Because of the amount of planning prior to construction Jon was able to give us a clear,honest picture of what our project would cost,how long it would take and what to expect along the way.That attention to detail allowed us to relax and enjoy our remodel.
Last but not least,the relationships that Jon has with his sub-contractors are respectful,productive and pleasant.We live in a neighborhood where the houses are close together and having a construction project going on impacts our neighbors. All possible steps were taken to minimize the impact from maintaining a clean worksite to maintaining clean language.Each and every trade worked hard to produce a high quality result in a timely fashion.
We have a beautiful remodel,completed on time and on budget-we are customers for life!
Our lead foreman Rick and the interior designer Heidi were both awesome -- always friendly and did just about anything and everything. It was a great comfort knowing Rick would be there to meet and direct the subs for each phase of the project.
All of the subs were easy to work with and did a great job - it was awesome to see how Jon schedules his work so that the subs are constantly moving in sync with the various projects and there wasn't any down time where we were waiting for work to be finished at another location so they could work on ours.
When we had a color issue with the stain on the stairs, the team worked quickly to re-stain them to match the floors and when there were small cracks in the tile of the fireplace, they were right there to patch the stucco.
We've received tons of compliments on our remodel (we had one couple even stop by our place hoping the address for the house next door was wrong because they wanted to purchase our home after seeing the remodel) and have no doubt gotten our moneys worth with Jon and San Diego Master Craftsmen.
We definitely recommend Jon and San Diego Master Craftsmen team.
The railing work included 160 linear feet of bass and aluminum railing, including two stairs. The railing company was not local and there were few problems with the timeline, but Jon kept the pressure on the railing company. Because of the previous renovation work, the railing installation was difficult in a few places. However, the railing looks great with the new stucco and paint trim.
Overall the process was very good. I think Jon does a really great job on staying on the proposed budget and on time. I give a "B" for price because I think his prices are high compared to other contractors, however the workmanship is high quality and delivered on time.
The two best aspects of the work were speed and quality.
Once we got started (it took the City of La Mesa *forever* to approve the architect's plan) it went nice and fast. John had given us a deadline in the contract and he worked consistently and finished well before the deadline (no large gaps of many days where no work was being done.). They organized it to have the least amount of impact on our use of the house/kitchen and worked hard to keep everything clean and keep the dust away from the rest of the house.
There were no major surprises.
We are also pleased with the quality of the work. It has now been a number of months since the project was completed and we are very satisfied, nothing has broken and for the one cosmetic crack that appeared in one of the new walls 4 or 6 months out John had his team come over and repair and repaint at no charge. The cabinets are very nice and we get many compliments on how the new kitchen looks.
Two items to keep in mind though, Master Craftsmen works mainly on larger projects; I have a colleague who based on my recommendation called them for a bathroom remodel and was told that their project was too small for them to take on.
The second item to be aware of is to make sure everything you want is explicitly (and unambiguously) called out in the contract. We had thought that we were OK with 3 paint colors (plus trim) in the interior but the contract was ambiguous; it said we would chose the colors but didn't specify how many so we had to pay extra for that. Also we assumed that the exterior paint would cover the new construction out to the corner (edge) of the existing wall so that the colors would blend in nicely but because that wasn't explicitly in the contract they only painted 1/3 of the wall and because paints never match exactly it looked off. John wanted us to pay extra for painting to the edge. (When the painter who was doing the work saw how it looked after the paint had dried he agreed that it looked wrong and did the extra painting at no charge). John was very good about doing every thing that was in the contract - no complaints about that - just make sure it is clearly in the contract, don't assume anything.
Other than that we were very pleased and highly recommend them. We would definitely use them again for a project.
"This was a nice family with a fairly difficult project. And it came out great! We do projects of all sizes. At the time the client's referral called we were not taking on small projects due to our current volume. On occasion we do smaller projects, but we need our schedule to be available to accommodate the size of project. If we aren't able to help someone, I do try my best to point them in the right direction and do what I can. In response to the painting items and "extra" charges: I have never charged a client more than the contracted price unless they request extra work. In fact, we may be the only company around that has a perfect record of no extra charges (except for client requests). In this case the client was looking to cut costs anywhere they could, so the contract was very specific about what we were painting, and how many colors were included. I had quite a few discussions with the client about it prior to finalizing the contract. Any added costs on the project were requests for additional work from the client. And although the client assumed that the extra painting was done at no cost, I actually paid for it. In fact, there are quite a few things on this project (and most projects) that I choose to pay for because it would be higher quality (but I don't tell the client)."
Three years ago I purchased a "patio-type" home in a planned community. Having served as an officer in the USAF for over 25 years, I was planning on retiring and wanted to find something to move to when I finished up my last assignment. The property was built in 1973ish time frame and had little done to it over the years. A young couple purchased the property after the original owner passed away and tried to "flip it" by remodeling the kitchen and the two complete baths. They put in substandard flooring throughout the house (rang like a bell when one dropped anything on it) and attempted to redo the two bathrooms by tiling them over and installing two cheap sink cabinets. The work was so shoddy; one could even see the bar code on the edges of the tile. In my opinion, they ran out of money and were clearly in over their heads. I knew there was a lot of work to be done but I liked the layout and the location. I was living in Virginia at the time and was unfamiliar with the San Diego area; especially with the contractor community. I turned to Angie's List (now I use the List on a nearly daily bases for anything) and looked up contractors. I found three that seemed to have good references and results. San Diego Master Craftsmen was the first I contacted and when I called I reached Jon Hammer. He was polite, attentive and was willing to meet me on the three-day window while I was visiting San Diego (a short notice visit). Having been stationed in Hawaii, I grew to like the "bungalow" style homes and hotels there and I have a friends who live in Craftsman style homes, built in the 1900s and early 1920s. I wanted the interior to reflect this style but in a more modern way. I described this to Jon and he drew up the plans. The proposal was exactly what I wanted, I signed the contract and gave him the keys to the place and left to return to Virginia. The point here is that I did not even consult with the other two contractors and I trusted him to do the job without any supervision on my part (perhaps a little reckless). I was not disappointed! Everything turned out exactly as I had hoped and envisioned; it was uncanny. His work was so well done, it made the shabby work done earlier (the original "selling points") appear even worse. I could not even look at the master bath and enlisted Jon to redo it. Again, I gave Jon the keys and again he did not disappoint. SD Master Craftsmen is a little on the expensive side but for me and my situation, I could not be happier. I trusted Jon, his opinions and he delivered. I am now retired and living in beautiful surroundings; San Diego is beautiful as well! Clearly I would have Jon and San Diego Master Craftsmen back...the guest bath still needs some work. Jon was always receptive; answered calls immediately or returned calls within the day; and he was clear regarding costs. Jon is proud of his work and frank about what is required. There were few delays (in my case it did not matter) and if there were delays, they were due to the fabrication of the shutters; clearly outside of his control. I had concerns with the master bath project (the second project) because I had some furniture and carpets now in the house; not to mention new wood floors and newly painted walls. I knew that retiling and plumbing, etc. could be dusty and dirty. Jon wrapped and protected everything before starting and there was no indication that workers had been there after the project. I have been very happy with San Diego Master Craftsmen!
"On occasion we work with clients with special needs or personal issues that they are dealing with that we have no control over. We do everything we can to accommodate and help clients with special needs. As you can see from our profile, we do the best work around. We plan every step very carefully, and are incredibly thorough in making sure every product and process is planned for in the designs. We never push a client towards something that they don't want, but help them choose the right design for them...always within their budget. We are a team of the best craftsmen in San Diego, and genuinely care about our clients. Although we aren't trained in ways to help special needs clients with their problems, we can bring a ray of sunshine into their home by being polite, caring, helpful, courteous, knowledgeable, etc. with the clients. Each craftsman spent hours with this client helping her to understand and feel comfortable with what we were doing and the products that we were using (which she had chosen). They cleaned up dog poop, wiped down areas of the house that we weren't in, took her trash out, and just generally cared for her for the short time we served her. This particular client was elderly, and incredibly indecisive and forgetful...and had a household that was in complete disarray. We love to help people, and have done quite a few projects for elderly and disabled people, and are actually really good at it. Our team is very respectful and kind, and is perfect for those with special needs. The issue that arises sometimes is that we don't get the recognition of a job well done - due to the inability of the client to understand or remember why they chose a product, or the reason behind what we were doing. Her comments about the brooms and cabinets and products were not accurate. We very clearly spelled out the exact cabinets we would remove, and the exact model number of the cabinets we would be putting in. She was the one that chose all of the products, and all of the designs. She also changed the design daily...which we accommodated, and helped her with. Then that design would change again later. Once again, this was a special needs situation, and we did an excellent job holding her hand through each step of the project."
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