Homefront Build

Yes, their website has beautiful hi-res photos of their projects – enough to get you to at least call them. But if you don’t have a printing press in your basement to roll out sheets of money, don’t even bother with this outfit. They should change their name from “Home Front Build” to “Highway Robbery Build.” Re-tile a bathroom? $50,000. Need a door replaced? $6,000 – $10,000. Need to refinish a floor, plaster a room, move an interior door, move a non-load bearing well? $100,000. Need some simple handyman services including ceiling fans, changing out light fixtures, electrical plugs, removing an old cable satellite dish? $30,000. This is no joke – this is what they proposed. Moreover, it took them nearly a month to get some numbers to me only after repeated requests and follow-ups. While their prices are astronomical, their customer service, communication, promptness were mediocre. Yet another example that paying astronomical prices doesn’t guarantee quality results.

His estimate and level of detail was excellent and the quality if the work he has performed is clearly top-notch. I ended up not doing the work to my house.

Steve and his team did a very tasteful and extremely high quality renovation of our Mid-Century house in Los Angeles. We bought a house in the hills of Mount Washington from house flippers. Steve and his team including a very talented architect Nancy who is on staff fixed the poor choices and repaired the substandard work with permitted and code following construction. Then their true ability came to the forefront. Steve is both a Craftsman and an Artist who took what my wife and I asked for and made it a place to live that is at once cozy and looks like it could be featured in Architectural Digest. My one caution is to keep an eye on your own budget. Once you see what they can do you'll start adding onto your project. And trust me, you'll want to. We were lucky to have found them. A+!

My experience with Home Front and Steve Pallrand have been dramatically positive and I unconditionally recommend this company to anyone looking for quality work delivered on budget by expert craftspeople who are pleasant to have around. They specialize in historic homes (like ours) but are by no means limited to old houses -- their real specialization is in customizing the work to fit the house no matter its age or style. Unlike most licensed contractors who approach construction and home restoration from a builder’s perspective alone, Steve is a licensed contractor, was a production designer for Hollywood, and comes from an art-and-architecture background. He holds degrees in the History of Art and Architecture as well as being awarded scholarships for study in architectural history and preservation. In other words, Steve is a skilled and talented builder, an experienced designer, and an architectural historian who genuinely appreciates the historic nature of our homes. Steve founded his company, Home Front Build as a design-and-build firm over a dozen years ago (in 2001). His staff of twenty-five skilled craftspeople and one architect can address most any need: from stone masonry to design, from window rehabilitation to exterior hardscape, from plaster to paint. For most builders, this would be a very large crew indeed and a huge array of skills, but Steve is committed to each member of his crew—from the most highly skilled finish carpenter to the most affordable laborer. By assuring his crew employment they remain committed to Home Front Build as well, and Steve is assured of continued quality of craftspersonship from each member of his crew. At every point, Steve and his crew understood the value of historic materials used when our home was new—whether that’s redwood shingles, interior and exterior finishes or lathe and plaster—and were prepared to work with those materials, fabricating on site what was not commercially available. This assured that make sure that any addition, remodel or repair done would be compatible with what is already there so the final product was seamless and not a modern intrusion. Significantly, Steve worked with us to match our desires for an to restore our house (which needed truly significant work!) to the realities of our budget. Before construction started Steve planned the project budget carefully with us, and then searched for genuine cost savings that he passed along to us so that we could achieve more with less expenditure. At each stage of the process (and each week as construction on our house progressed) Steve presented progress reports that detailed where we stood in the process, noting exactly how much had been spent, how much had been budgeted, and what percentage of the work had been completed. Perhaps most important, because Steve’s budget was so carefully planned, our project did not go over budget: he stayed on or under the budget agreed to. This may sound radical, and it is: Steve sees himself as a “money manager” who is there to make sure that his client can complete the job on or under budget (not get as much money out of a client as possible); when you work with Steve as we did, design and budget go hand-in-hand—you’ll have no check-book surprises that leave you with a house unfinished; instead he’ll deliver a completed project on budget, as agreed upon in advance. In addition to counting on Steve for accurate budgeting, you can count on him and his whole crew not only just for their excellent craftspersonship and genuine skills, but also for their thoughtfulness, care, and personability. They’re cheerful and always appropriate, friendly and never intrusive—the kinds of men you feel comfortable having on your property and inside your home (and I say this as a woman often home alone). They clean up the job site (your home!) at the end of every day—they genuinely care about your experiences with your home while they’re restoring it, and they take care to make sure you’re happy with their work, and happy having them around. Check out his work on PBS’s “This Old House” (where he restored a Spanish Colonial Revival home) or drive by some of the homes he’s restored—Victorian, Craftsman, Spanish Colonial Revival, mid-century modern—Steve is experienced with southern California’s built landscape and musters his background in art-and-architectural history combined with his experience as a journeyman and contractor to make your home magnificent, on budget. If you've taken the time to read to the bottom of this long review, let me say again that I recommend Home Front most highly and with absolutely no reservations to anyone considering doing work on their (historic) home.

It was great -- Steve was very knowledgeable. I will definitely hire him when i do want to fix the foundation!

Our home is a spanish revival from 1932. In Los Angeles that is pretty old given our city's pension for tearing down and building new. Considering the age and character of our home we were interested in a company that was involved in restoration and not simply remodeling. We were also interested in a company that has experience with older homes and dealing with the challenges/obstacles that may arise - for example how to treat a crumbling section of original foundation from years of water intrusion without tearing everything up. While HomeFront was not the cheapest company we talked to they had the knowledge and experience we were looking for when considering work on our home. Steve Pallrand came out to our home and we discussed what we wanted to do - earthquake retrofitting of the foundation and an enlarged access point to a difficult to use closet. He was patient and explained what the steps would be to complete each job. When discussing the foundation he even suggested that given the small size of our cripple walls it would not be required or urgent to brace them. (After doing research on retrofitting - I agreed with him on this matter and appreciated his honesty) He also gave us options for what we could do in the closet. He was extrememly open to reusing hardware and doors that were residing in the garage. Within a week we had a quote and even though we changed our minds on some details he was always accommodating with a new quote. His foreman Alfonso even came out to verify the work and materials needed. And although the service contract was lengthy I appreciated that one existed in case of any issues. Once we decided to use Homefront getting on the schedule was a bit difficult and we ended up waiting a few weeks. However we knew that could be a challenge when using any contractor. Thankfully after some back and forth they got us on the schedule and stayed true to the timeline. Then the work began. The men working on the foundation arrived every morning at 7:30 am and cleaned up each day they finished. Anthony and Alfonso were always available to answer any questions or concerns we had about the progress of the work. In fact they left the crawlspace under the house so clean it might even be a place I would venture into. A few weeks after the foundation work the closet work began with a different crew. They were also quick and while scheduling was sometimes difficult given the need for a hardware specialist and plaster work. Alfonso was easy to talk to and coordinate with. Dan the hardware guy even game me great tips for removing paint from hardware and what screws should be traditionally used. We appreciated the care the Homefront crew took with our home. Everyone from the crew was prompt, friendly and diligent. We know we were a small job but we never felt like we were. We hope we have started a relationship with a company that loves old houses as much as we love ours.

I contacted this company - Steve Pallard in particular - for a small remodel job on a spanish revival house I own. Home Front was recommended by another company I am presently using. They said that Home Front did small jobs and I should contact Mr. Pallard, as he knows spanish revival. Mr. Pallard did not immediately return my call, so I waited a few days and called again. This time Mr. Pallard answered his phone, and asked me to send him photos of what needed to be done, which I did. I then did not hear from him, so after a couple of weeks I called. He took my call, and promised that he would have an idea of the work to do and would contact me the very next day to discuss the work. It is now another 2 weeks, and still no sign of Mr. Pallard. I would say that's pretty unreliable.

Steve Pallrand is an amazing contractor. From the very beginning he had tons of ideas and was sure to tell us where we should invest our money and where it would be a waste. He's doing a whole house remodel of our 1930 spanish and has been extremely involved and thoughtful along the way. He helped me pick out every single detail of the house and has made the process stress free and way more fun than I expected. He should be a designer as well as a contractor, his eye is that good. He's been on time and budget the whole time. HIs whole crew is great, from his own team to all the subs, we've had no complaints. He's absolutely worth every penny, we can't wait to use him again

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Steve was punctual, professional and a great resource on what is means to remodel a home in an Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ).

They did a very good job. They used a high quality product and they responded very quickly to everything.

They've done many odd things for me. They reproduced and matched to a "T" some 1930 custom tile for one job. On another job they handled the restoration of a massive water intrusion from an outside pond overflowing into the house. They dealt with the demolition, mold remediation, clearances, replacing all the damaged stucco and stone. They did a very good job. Steve's specialty is historical restoration but he can do anything.

Home Front is a great company. First of all, they had such a friendly crew and I felt so safe with them here: I have kids and was actually pregnant at the time and working from home. They cleaned up immaculately at the end of every work day. Because we were living here at the time and had small children playing outside, that made a huge difference. Friends visiting couldn't believe how clean everything was kept despite the dramatic amount of work being done. It was so low impact! The job overall cost a little more than we had anticipated, but we made a lot of changes mid-project which always adds on. But working with them really made me feel good because they really got to know us and knew what we wanted out of the project. They took their time, and everything went smoothly and safely. As for the results, people walk by and think the exterior work looks outstanding: it's a total makeover. And we're very pleased that they were able to work with us on the big and small details inside too, from color consultations to coordinating the permits to helping us to choose period-appropriate hardware. They were really there for us every step of the way and I'd use them again in a heartbeat.

The workers at Home Front are excellent. They really take time to make things perfect and put forth a lot of effort. They are very knowledgeable with their work and I like that about them.

I've worked with several contractors before; Steve and his crew are hands down the best I've ever encountered. They are truly artists and craftsmen (no pun intended); Steve is passionate about restoring old houses, he understands them so well. Working with Steve you get that he's as focused on making sure everything goes right as you are. Truly every aspect of the work was done amazingly well; there wasn't one area where Steve or his crew underperformed, in fact everything they did exceeded my expectations. By the end I implicitly trusted anything that Steve and his crew undertook. The house looks amazing, truly a different house than the one we bought a year ago. I would never use another contractor again. I can't recommend Home Front highly enought. FYI: Home Front is not the cheapest contractor you'll find. But if you care about getting it done right, it's well worth the money

The experience was excellent. They were professional and great craftsmen. They paid attention to detail. They were easy to work with in terms of scheduling meetings.