Greg Sylvis General Contractor Inc

Great. I left a message for Greg on a Saturday afternoon and he not only called right back, he came out that afternoon to give me an estimate. I was with the city inspector when he reviewed Greg's work and there were no issues.

Well. He was knowledgable and and professional.

Greg is professional, efficient, thorough and fast. It was very easy and I highly recommend him. The work was neat and clean. He does a great job.

Greg arrived on time and was very professional. He examined our basement and crawl space, checked around perimeter of the house and also checked out the cracks in our walls. In the end, he said our (flooding and walls cracking) problem was not a foundation issue, but a issue with landscape drainage and the earth moving. I thought he was very honest and I valued his opinion.

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I found Greg on the state earthquaqebolt web site.
He gave me a simple and uncomplicated estimate. 10% down, and the remaining cost paid after inspection.
Later, I asked him if he could do the work sooner than we had agreed upon. No problem. A Few days later he came out early and finished the work in a day.
He is the first contractor I've seen that cleans after himself. When he left my house, I could not tell that there was a contractor that had done any work that day.
Greg is knowledgeable and honest, and did I mention that he is a contractor? You get my point.
Here is to nice guys like Greg, "I hope you're business thrives, and someday I'll see you on the SG mountain trails" He likes to hike...

Greg Sylvis did a great job on the seismic retrofit.  He is a hard worker!  He works alone and what he originally estimated would take two days he completed in 12 hours.  He cleaned up everything including sweeping outside so that the area looked better than when he began.   When I initially called to obtain an estimate, he responded by phone immediately and was available to come out the next day late in the afternoon.  He was very thorough in his explanations of the work to be done regarding the cripple wall bracing and anchor bolting even showing me the anchors and bolts he would be using for the job. He obtained the building permit and emailed me the permit number ahead of time.  All work was performed to current building codes.   Because he works alone, he works only one job at a time from start to finish.  He was booked two months out so I did have to wait from July when I signed the contract until September when he was ready to begin my house.   He was always readily available by email to answer questions.   The city inspector said he'd done a great job and he could tell he knew what he was doing.  Everything passed inspection.

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We bought an old house that had a lot of deferred maintenance but we were keen on addressing any/all issues related to roof/exterior/foundation first. We were contemplating a report from another company that called for the reinforcement of our floor joists at the cost of $3500. I looked to Greg for a second opinion. I like Greg because he does the work himself. His appraisal of our floor support was detailed and enthusiastic, giving us the confidence to invest the money in parts of the home needing more immediate attention. He provided a cost effective alternative but assured us that it was unnecessary and that our floor support was more than satisfactory.  I'm always pleasantly surprised to meet a straightforward tradesman and Greg has earned my recommendation.

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Greg is outstanding.  My wife and I received 5 estimates from foundation/retrofit companies to fix/replace our piers and posts and retro-fit our home.  Some of them were regarded as the 'most reputable' in Los Angeles.  All the estimates differed so we opted to pay for a consult from an independent structural engineer.  He agreed with Greg's assessment of the foundation and scope of work.  Greg was extremely reasonable, finished the job in 5 days (by himself!), was always on-time  and gave us constant updates on his progress.  He was considerate, trustworthy and cleaned-up every day.  I would recommend Greg to anyone looking for an honest craftsman who knows his stuff and doesn't cut corners.  Plus, he's a pretty funny guy.

I would trust him on any project.

Greg Sylvis is a licensed general contractor with more than 28 years of experience in the greater Los Angeles area. We selected him for our house in Pasadena (built in 1926) as some of our neighbors used his services and were very pleased. We also had quotes from two other earthquake specialists and Greg Sylvis came across as the most professional and also had the most competitive price. He is very thorough, managed to squeeze through some tight spots in our basement and cleaned up thoroughly so that the basement wasn't dusty. Very trustworthy individual. The City Inspector knew him and spoke highly of him. I strongly recommend his earthquake protection services.

I saw Greg quoted as a retrofitting expert in a long 2012 article about earthquakes in Popular Mechanics. I liked his no-nonsense comments in that article. I then read reviews on Angie's List and checked his license with the state. All of that checked out, so I sent Greg an email requesting an estimate.

I liked his proposal and was impressed with his knowledge, so I gave him the go-ahead to do the work.

Greg is a no B.S., straight-shooting, independent-minded fellow who is passionate about earthquake retrofitting. He does all the work himself and is incredibly efficient and driven.

Greg insisted that the work be done by permit, which impressed me. He presented detailed plans to the city and obtained the permit.

Greg started the project by taking detailed measurements under the house. I then had to go out of town for a few weeks. Upon my return, Greg came back with all the materials in hand--heavy-duty bolting materials along with plywood carefully cut to fit between the framing. Because of all that preparation he did off site, Greg was able to knock out the job on site very quickly. The building inspector signed off on Greg's work with no questions.

If you're looking for a salesman/smooth-talking contractor who will give you a slick presentation, then go elsewhere. But if you want an honest, conscientious tradesman who will explain what needs to be done and then get the job done right, get in touch with Greg.

LOOK NO FURTHER. . . . . . If you want an honest, straight shooter who is dependable, trustworthy, with tons of knowledge and experience, many useful ideas, solutions and a sense of humor, Greg Sylvis is the one! Not only did he repair my front foundation, he repaired the cracks in the stucco, installed a catch basin and sump pump to divert rainwater from getting under the house and fixed my garage door that wouldn't close (I didn't even ask him.) Each day he left the work place clean and neat. On the final day of the project all the work areas were left cleaner than before he started the project.
I had done my homework and had gotten 5 estimates and reviewed them and their references. One of the references I called from a different company referred me to Greg Sylvis. After careful review of all the companies, Greg Sylvis was the one I choose.
A short time after he completed the front foundation project, I called him back to repair the rear foundation, again I was more than satisfied and again he did extra work that he wasn't asked to do. He is a real gem. Call him, you won't be sorry.

Greg is your man. No nonsense. Happy go lucky. Prices much lower than Foundation Works and other "brand name" shops because his overhead is just him. Go see his reviews on Yelp. He's got over 40 in the filtered reviews section.I did a lot of research and understand enough about construction to get myself in trouble. So the sell that some companies like FW try on customers just won't work with me. And don't forget... There's always a sell. Greg gave a reasonable price, and with that still made himself a grand a day. I checked his work myself. Crawled around. And my crawlspace is tiiiiiight. Asked him questions about where I thought he'd made a mistake on spacing. Nope. The mistake was mine. I like to be proven wrong by someone who knows what the h*** he's doing. Honest. Professional. Reasonably priced. Punctual. And a bit of a clown... But only if you clown back..

I wanted to get my house retrofitted and hired Greg for the job because of his many years of experience and his reputation.
He was always on time and has a pleasant attitude. He discussed the process in detail and made suggestions about
how to rectify an area of floor that had settled. After taking a good look at the area, with a sophisticated laser level, he gave us reasonable options to correct the small area of uneven floor and never tried to scare us into unnecessary and costly repairs. He explained that the floor had settled about as much as it would and that there was no structural deficiencies in that section. (This is the point where he could have really scared us about the settling and really given us some scare tactics, but he didn't) He said that if we wanted to repair the floor for aesthetic reasons he would have to jack up the foundation which would cost over a thousand to do , just for looks and said it would not make the area more or less sound. In the end I opted not to spend for it but thought that the price was not out of line for what he proposed. I never felt he was trying to take advantage of me.
In fact, he thought about alternate methods to get the floor more level and came up with a winner. Since the floor in the middle of the room appeared to be slightly bowed he proposed that he could lower the middle of the floor so that it would be more level and then that could make the uneven part less noticeable. He was right! the uneven part is a lot less noticeable and he only charged me $200 extra to do that. I was very pleased.
The price I paid included the permit. He went to the city to file it and arrange for the inspector to come out and sign off on
the job. Everything was done in less than a week! He also made recommendations about ways to prevent water from
creating problems around the house. He gave us tips on how to adjust downspouts from the gutters to redirect the flow of water.
I am a happy camper and I feel more secure that my house will be ready for the next earthquake.
I would wholeheartedly recommend Greg Sylvis.

Greg was punctual, did what he said he was going to do, and did it with professionalism. His work was detailed and clean. He left the job site in better shape than he found it and always asked if i was satisfied. He has his own brand of humor, but it never gets in the way of his work, he just has fun while he does an A++++ job. Also, Greg went above and beyond when dealing with another subcontractor so i didn't have to worry about it. Would hire him again in a heartbeat.

He is doing the work right now, I'm seeing what he has done so far and I'm happy with that. He is an honest guy. This is 1990's structure and it was never done. This work was never done before. He gave me the best price. He is very responsive and he came in right away.

I solicited five different bids for my cripple wall work from different earthquake retrofitting companies in LA, and did a lot of independent research on retrofitting recommendations and pricing. Greg was the first contractor to respond and come out and see the property, and had the most competitive bid, as well as being professional and very accessible by email with a number of questions I had before making my decision. Some of the other companies that bid, such as White Castle, were doing a lot of upsell and scare tactics about additional work I needed, but I knew the job was pretty straightforward and my foundation otherwise solid. Greg was also just a nice guy and pleasant to work with. He does all the work himself, no addiditonal crew, and I trusted him completely being at my property while I wasn't there. I highly recommend him and am ready for the next earthquake!