Mrakovcich Construction Inc.

I truly believe Families should be warned about the unethical practices of Michael Mrakovcich and his Construction Company.  He is the definition of a "Wolf in Sheeps Clothing".  
We hired Michael Mrakovcich for an expansion and remodel of our family home.  Specifically involving the majority of the 1st floor, which encompasses our entire kitchen, family room, dining room, mud room.  Within a few days of the project significant concerns began to arise around Mr. Mrakovcich's ethical practices.  We were SHOCKED at the unknowledgeable, evasive, and often aggressive way he would deal with us as homeowners when we would bring up questions or concerns about how the project was not progressing.  We are homeowners who are somewhat experienced in prior home remodels and whom have dealt with local contractors, architects, and building inspectors.  Mike Mrakovcich was particularly aggressive and dismissive when a Woman would address his performance in regard to the work and building progress on our home.   I honestly on a personal level, have never seen anything like this type of male dismissiveness and degradation in the year 2015 from a contractor in this area.  Mike Mrakovicich would actually refuse to speak to me and ask my husband to walk around the corner so he could speak with "the man of the house"  instead of a "female".   Our concerns were justified.  
We specifically asked the following:   1.)  Why were only 1 or 2 people of his crew working on any given day and sometimes no one showed up at all.    2.)  Why he told us we were not allowed to get price quotes for windows or doors outside of what he quoted us in the contract (he was charging us $800.00 for 1 solid core interior door...that's insane!)   3.)  Why he constantly gave us costly "Change Orders" for items that even the city building inspector and architect deemed unnecessary.   4.)  Why he promised to fix the damage he did to our second story interior during demolition but never actually fixed the damage.   5.)  Why he had our architectural/engineering plans to review for months and had already demo'd the majority of our home's entire 1st floor (with all the walls and ceilings open for months), but only after nearly 2 months into the project said  "I kinda have questions on how this would be built."    It was clear Mr. Mrakovivch was way over his head in terms of the skill level necessary to execute this project.
 
Less then 2 months into our home remodel/expansion, Mr. Mrakovcich Abandoned the Project.  When I say "abandoned" he and his crew just stopped showing up for work.  He never told us why he had stopped showing up to work.  Our home at this point is completely demolished with no walls or ceilings, and construction materials (large wood beams, 2x4's, etc.) are littered all over our backyard.  We are sequestered to living upstairs because the majority of our home has been completely exposed to the elements for months. It has already rained and caused significant damage to all materials.  With 2 young kids at home, one of whom has special needs, this kind of damage that Mr. Mrakovcich has caused to our family is not only negligible but reprehensible.  He took our $90,000 for completion of "phase 1" and essentially 'took the money and ran'.  He never completed phase 1.  This has left my children, our entire family, and our property in a complete mess.

For weeks we tried contacting Mr. Mrakovcich by calling, going to his office, e-mailing, texting, and sending certified letters asking him to please finish the work we have paid him for, and at the very least, be human and give us walls and a roof given that fall/winter is upon us and our family is completely exposed .  He never called back or contacted us as to why he abandoned the porject.   I contacted the city building inspector asking if he had heard from Mr. Mrakovcich in regard to our project and he said he had called Mike Mrakovcich 3 weeks ago to notify him of a meeting at our home regarding the continuation of our build project, and Mike Mrakovcich never called back him back.
 
Upon a Pleasanton City Officials recommendation, we have filed a claim with the Contractors State Licensing Board against Michael Mrakovcich.  

It may seem silly, or even pedantic, but "Shame on you Mike Mrakovcich!  Shame on you!"

Over the last three years he has remodeled our kitchen, bathroom, and some other work. He has also done duct work underneath the house. He has installed some chandeliers in a room with a 25ft high ceiling. He is very good, very reliable. He is very fair, honest, his prices are reasonable, he is a perfectionist, wants it done right, his guys are timely and neat. They do a good clean up job at the end. He does a good job.