Mulhall Construction

It was tough to engage the firm in getting the meeting to walk through the property, which I hoped would be something like a pre-purchase building inspection plus a sense of what is possible and not within the existing structure to accommodate new uses of the space. I subscribed to Angie's list to find this kind of support based on your ads and my relative new-ness to the Bay Area. It was tough to get them to respond and when we were on site the very pleasant gentlemen from he company did not particularly check for rot or soundness of materials and the like or make any particular note of elements that need immediate attention. Reflecting after the fact, he did not look for or at the electrical or gas entries to the structure not the water entry or exit - not even checking under any sink. Perhaps I needed to be a more informed and directing consumer, but on the whole my experience with the firm is entirely opposite to what I read about them from other reviews on Angie's list and that likely leads me to cancel my Angie's list subscription.

First of all this review is embarrassingly overdue!! I apologize for that. The Mulhall organization was professional, courteous, and prompt from the first time I contacted them to talk about doing an estimate. Start to finish the entire team from Mr. Mulhall himself to Eamon the project manager, Paul & Kevin the crew bosses, workers and office staff kept us apprised of everything that was happening; city inspections, if there were delays why and a few unexpected things that naturally crop up with a building this old & a project this extensive. We are a small, 6 unit association in a 30+ year old building that had not been well maintained. By the time we found Mulhall Construction we had been looking for a year!! We had just received what we thought might be the last estimate and it was huge. Simultaneously, I heard about Angie's List and found Mulhall's reviews, which were stellar. So I asked our HOA to give them a chance to bid and we were all very glad when they did. Eamon came out within a week of my first contact and did a thorough walk around, making notes, asking questions. I don't remember the exact timeline, but it was quick. Eamon came out to meet with our entire HOA and go over the bid and we were very happy with him and the cost. He was up front about the possibility in a building this old and any construction project where things are being torn apart that other issues could arise and the original cost could go up. As a group our HOA decided to budget for I think 10 or 20% more than the bid in the event they were to find more work to do and, if not, we would have the entire building painted. They started within a week of getting the plans approved by the city and we were on our way. As I said earlier, everyone was very polite and the crew was extremely neat and respectful. They kept their power tools in my garage as I had the most space and they were very careful to make sure they piled things against one wall and never once did I have to move any of their things to get to anything i needed. They also had the code to my garage the entire time and I felt perfectly safe with that. Things went mostly according to schedule unless they needed additional materials due to new repairs that were uncovered. The job took a little over a month longer than they had projected but they ran into some difficulties loading the materials into our back deck area because there was so little room between the building and hedges and walls. At one point they took part of a fence apart but put it back together every night and when they left repaired it to look good as new. They also ended up having to move a gate because we had requested poles to hold up the decks rather than cantilevered beams. That meant a pole had to go in front of a gate that led to the back yard so they moved the gate further down, and, honestly it looks and works better than the old one. They followed all the engineered plans to the letter+ and all city inspections went off without a problem. Eamon came back and walked through the entire project with us explaining in detail what they had done and how we could keep things maintanined better. We asked if there were things we needed to do in the near future and he went through a few simple things that would not necessarily involve calling a construction company like his to do them. That said, if we ever do have a problem again they will likely be the only company we call, we could not have been more pleased with the work or the great people who got it done for us.

Project manager came out promptly. We toured the house making note of the lengthy list of improvements I am looking at. When it seemed obvious to Heath, the project manager, that we could cut expenses, he did not hesitate to offer suggestions. His ideas for upgrades and maintenance issues were great. He was very professional and well informed, The front end staff has been very responsive. I don't know if these are the contractors I will choose, but most certainly they are with the top runners. Excellent customer service!

Since it was an emergency they came right away. They were great, and very responsive. They even went shopping with me for a new door.

Everything went quite well. Price was fair and stayed solid. Great communication, easy to work with. The quality of the work was excellent. The office was very responsive, and Ronan (the on site contractor) was easy to work with and an excellent communicator.

We met with several general contractors in conderation of their qualifications to remodel our kitchen and bath and to convert a bonus room into a bar/library with a hidden laundry. From the first time we met Adrian Mulhall and his team, including the project supervisor, Eamon, we felt a sense of comfort in their attention to detail, the calibur of their questions and comments, and the professional approach they took in preparing a very detailed and thorough proposal. It was an easy choice to select them for our project. The Mulhall team was always professional and customer-focused in their approach. It was immediately clear that they knew their stuff and were absolutely capable to deliver with quality results. Throughout the process, their project manager told me what was coming next, what to expect, and what our "to do's" were as home owners. Probably the two things that made Mulhall Construction stand above most for us, were there Customer Focus and Planning & Organizing. We counted on Adrian and his team to do what they said they would do when they said they would do it. This was critically important because we needed to get this remodel done in time for a huge celebration for my 50th birthday! Even more impressive was Mulhall's ability to problem-solve. With complex projects like this one, it is expected that issues may come up (e.g. quirks with the original construction of a 100 year old home). We were extremely impressed with Adrian's and Eamon's ability to identify options and recommendations for resolution and to quickly get things moving forward upon adapting to whatever roadblocks may have come their way. Additionally, they worked very collaboratively with our architect. It was clear they worked as a team and we felt we had the A-team. it was a pleasure to work with these guys. We would eagerly hire them again! And ... the party was terrific. We had more than 70 guests who raved about the remodel.

Mulhall and project manager Eamon did an excellent job! Project went smoothly and with very little cost overruns. We were concerned given the size of the project and given we hadn't used Mulhall before that there would be a lot of extra costs outside of our bid. But there were very few and the few costs overruns were reasonable. Our structural engineer who had never worked with Mulhall before commented to us that they had done a very good job. Eamon and his team were very responsive to our questions and concerns and worked overtime to make sure deadlines were met. We would certainly use Mulhall again and would certainly recommend them.

They're really nice guys, did a thorough job and we are pleased with the results so far (I say "so far" as we had them to earthquake retrofitting, which fortunately has not been tested yet!)

The only category I marked down very slightly is price because they are more expensive than some other contractors out there. Despite the price grade, I would definitely use them again because you get what you pay for and these guys are highly professional. Just don't expect it to be priced cheap or at a bargain. These are legit professionals who can charge accordingly. The project was not without the usual slight hiccups but I didn't mark the review down based on that because I believe Ronan Agnew, the project manager, handled things seamlessly. Manuel, who did the carpentry work, is incredible at his job and has a fantastic attitude. I'm generally a type A perfectionist and he didn't hesitate to make sure he got things exactly right for me. We did experience issues with painting, but Ronan made sure things were corrected immediately. Overall, we're very pleased with the improvements and enjoying the upgrades we made. Thanks Mulhall Construction!

Mulhall Construction provided a very detailed proposal and followed through on the work as was discussed. They showed up on time and completed the work in a timely fashion. Upon completion they made sure that we were satisfied with the work and adjusted a couple of minor details per our request. I would recommend to friends and family and will be using them again in the future.

We found Mulhall Construction via Angie's List. Given that this was our first home -- a cute Victorian in Bernal Heights with a lot of quirks -- and also that this was our first time working with contractors, we interviewed several potential contractors. Adrian Mulhall and his team, including our project manager Ronan, were by far the obvious choice. We are both women, and found that many contractors didn't take us seriously, were sleazy or demeaning, acted as if our silly job was too small or trivial for them, or were clearly trying to rip us off assuming we hadn't done our homework or wouldn't know what questions to ask. Mulhall, on the other hand, worked with us every step of the way as we planned the remodel, got the permits, dealt with concerns or surprises that came up, and did our best to work within our limited budget. They were very present throughout the job, and excellent communicators (which is what it is all about) and such a delight to work with -- when we finished the work last week we actually miss having them around. Ronan is an excellent project manager. He always took the time to talk everything through with us, problem solve with us, explain options or offer his opinion and recommendation when it came to the finishing touches. As the job was coming to a close, Mulhall didn't hurry to get out of there and onto the next job - they made sure to finish it all as described. We are so satisfied with our home and with the job they did. We'd definitely hire them again and plan to do so once we have the money for our bigger expansion project. I'd recommend Mulhall to anyone for home construction and remodeling. In particular, if you have never worked with contractors before, these are your guys. Thank you, Mulhall!

Overall my experience with Mulhall was mixed. While the list under ?the bad? is longer, it?s mostly because it takes longer to describe ?the bad? than it does ?the good.? In the end, I would consider hiring Mulhall again. Hopefully they can read this review and take it to heart so in our future work together we don?t encounter the same bumps we did during this project. Here is a list of the highlights: The good: 1) The new deck is great. It is strong and sturdy and we are very happy with the end result. 2) The concrete slab that was put down is a great addition and the concrete work was done with the highest level of quality. It?s very smooth and even, and we are very happy with it. 3) The price was competitive. 4) The crew that came to the house to do the work was great. They were nice and pleasant to have around. 5) I could (and did) call up Eamon the project manager on a very regular basis with questions. I never got the sense that I was interrupting, and he was always available to answer my questions when they came up. He was also great to work with and the project felt like a good collaboration. The bad: 1) The new deck required a concrete pad to be poured. This meant digging up a lot of the yard to fit the new concrete pad. All of the material that was dug up was dumped in our back yard, killing what little grass we had. Even now, 3 months later, I?m still pulling sharp pieces of glass, nails, screws, and concrete out of our yard. I understand construction is messy work, but I really feel like our back yard was really damaged in a way that wasn't necessary. 2) When the concrete was poured, the footings (I?m not sure if I?m using the right word, but it?s the metal thing they screw the support column into) for the new columns were put in place. One of those footings was off by about ¾?. The solution that was chosen by Mulhall was to put a ¾? piece of plywood between the metal footing and the support column. I take woodworking and if you have ever worked with plywood you know it doesn?t stand up to water very well. If you have ever been outside, you know it has a tendency to, on occasion, rain. Therefore, this solution was not a particularly good one. After complaining, they finally removed the plywood and put in a piece of metal. The fix is fine, but it is not ideal. I also don?t appreciate having to even argue that the selection of plywood was a poor choice. They should have realized their mistake and attempted to fix it in the cleanest and most appropriate way. 3) Before the deck was built I had structural drawings made so the contractor would have clear instructions as to what to follow. In those drawings, which were given to Mulhall when they put together their estimate, the structural engineer suggestion a particular type of hanger. Eamon said the hanger was overkill and that if I wanted that one I'd have to pay around $250 extra (each) to use the ones in the drawings. In the end, we went with a different hanger after consulting with the engineer so it worked out. But there are a few issues I have with this exchange. First, the drawings were part of the estimate, therefore that estimate was based off using those (more expensive) hangers. Not only should I not have to pay extra for the hangers that were suggested, I should now get a credit since we used the less expensive hangers. Also, in my research, those $250 hangers can be purchased for around $30 at the hardware store. I understand mark up...but come on? That's a little much. 4) The City came out to check on the work and noted a few changes that had to be made to ensure the deck was to code. These were minor tweaks, but the project manager told me that I had to pay extra for them. It was not until I explained to him that the contract clearly stated that the deck was to be built to code that he ?compromised? and said I only had to pay for the new materials, but they would do the labor. Again, I repeated that the contract said it would be built to code, and he finally and reluctantly said they would supply the labor and materials to bring the deck up to code. 5) Working with the Mulhall office is really an unpleasant experience. I was actually going to hire them to do another project but after 4 emails, including 3 reminder emails, I still never heard back from them about the project. In the end, I gave up and hired someone else for my second project. I?ll be reviewing that other contractor (Aurora Builders) as well. In the end, the correspondent with Mulhall tends to feel like you?re talking into a dark cavern, where any possible response to your enquiry will never reach you. 6) Again, this is a complaint against the office staff. When I sent in my first check, I received a call from the Admin Assistant saying the check wasn?t in the envelope. This was very concerning as I don?t write checks for that amount very often and would not like it to get into the wrong hands. The Admin Assistant finally found the check after looking around for about 30 minutes. More than anything, it was stress that was not necessary had she simply paid a little more attention.

,vick and issac,saved me a lot of hassle.issac speaks spanish,so,he called an arranged work with my tenants.they take pride in their work and stand by what they do.they can do everything, and ,they use excellent sub contractors.i would't use,anyone else

I can't say enough about the quality of work from this company. There are no shortcuts or questionable work in any projects at all. They will go above and beyond to make sure the work is secure and done properly. They troubleshoot and adjust to avoid any possible future problems. Not only were the problems fixed, the asthetics and design are much improved. The team is professional, timely and take considerations for kids, guests etc. I would definitely hire this company again.

We were very happy with Mulhall Construction. When we first called this business and left a message, someone called us back shortly, asked a few questions, and then set up an appointment to meet us at the house. Adrian showed up exactly on time, was friendly and relaxed. A bid followed shortly and it was reasonable. Work began soon, and everything went very smoothly, except for an apparent miscommunication between their office and their project manager, who appeared on day one thinking we had permits, even though we only had approved plans. Aside from that glitch (which was handled well), the work went exactly as planned and we were kept informed of the progress and potential issues that might arise. The foreman seemed to genuinely care about the work. Everyone was always on time and there were no surprises. The work ended when they said it would. It was done right, exactly per the plans, and they left everything spotless. We would use them again.

It' was a real pleasure working with Mulhall Construction. They were extremely fair and accommodating and diligent in all respects and delivered a beautiful rock solid driveway and patio and balcony railing at a reasonable price. In the process, they solved a ticklish drainage problem in a cost-effective way that won my admiration and met the city's picayune requirements. I enjoyed working with them as they didn't cut any corners, were patient, thoughtful, considerate, creative, and determined to go the extra mile to deliver a first class job. They were always on time and professional and made good 100% on all promises, even when unexpected issues cropped up. For example, they carted away an extra load of debris to the dump for me and when a carpentry problem occurred in the course of the balcony work, they went beyond the letter of the contract in order to fix it. When my landscaping took some hits from the concrete work as it inevitably must, they were willing to share some of the costs to restore it.

They were extremely attentive. They were very clean. They cleaned up every day as well as at the end of the project. They were always available. The crew was very polite. They are the best contractors we have had. The price is extremely reasonable. I would not hesitate to use them again.

The project was beautifully designed and executed. The final costs were nearly identical to the estimate. Save yourself a lot of hassle and start your project with this company from the beginning.

These guys are good. From the moment I contacted them until the moment the left, they were aways available to answer my questions. Their work is absolutely beautiful. The deck is stunning. Adrian handled the business end. He bid promptly and I hope accurately. When I received another bid that made me think Adrian might have misbid, I contacted him and he immediately resolved the issue. His foreman, Eamon, is a true professional. Eamon was on the job daily and as I said, instantly contactable. When I pointed something out that was done differently than the plans, Eamon immediately corrected it, although they had to go back and redo some work already done. The entire crew was courteous, friendly and professional. I'm very pleased with the result. I definitely would hire them again.

We found Adrian on Angie's list and had him come over and do an assessment for what initially was a more modest single full bathroom remodel and a closet wall reconfiguration to unify two separate closets into a large walk-in. We had several other's come over to compare quotes. We got a good feeling from him, and he was the only one who didn't want to give us a quote on a particular wall until he'd had a chance to take off the drywall and do a more thorough inspection. So he quoted us a small amount for the sheet-rock removal and electrical inspection on it and we proceeded. Our house is a high-end Victorian and had been remodeled by the previous owners and as Adrian was engaged on the closet wall reconfiguration project he also did a full walk through on the rest of the house. We quickly discovered that the previous home-owners had likely done some of their own work on the remodelling, and some of the areas of the house quite frankly showed it when examined more closely. While I'm sure Adrian was looking for additional work by doing this, he did it in a very friendly / low pressure manner and we were appreciative. From this we expanded the scope to fixing some of the floor work and floor refinishing, as well as a variety of smaller items like wall socket reconfiguration (we had a bedroom with 14 sockets in it!) and some areas with oddly missing and/or mismatched trim. We weren't very experienced with remodeling and initially it took us some work to figure out how to communicate with Adrian regarding likely costs and timeframes (Adrian was very careful not to overpromise, which sometimes meant him just saying I don't know until I get the subs in here), but I think once we built up a bit more of a relationship this got a lot easier. We engaged Brenda Lam, his interior design person for the layout of the bathroom remodel. We iterated over several designs based on some initial proposals we had and some refinements / alternate proposals. Things felt like they lagged a bit at this stage in the project, and we felt like we had to be a bit on top of them to keep the iterations making progress (we were eager to move into our newly purchased house). But ultimately we settled on a design and the bathroom work began. This was a large project and there are bound to be unexpected encounters. We had a couple at this point. The first was that one of the bathroom proposals, because of several iterations where we ended up combining parts of two proposals had to be adjusted at the last minute because of a structural beam that wasn't properly accounted for in the new hybrid proposal. This was caught before any demolition, but set us back a week or so. The bathroom was demolished and we found some extremely significant problems with the previous construction (a wall was running between two joists, unsupported, essentially hanging from the ceiling). Adrian pointed out the problem to us, and was able to add bracing and get it passed via a proper inspection (there is no way the previous work would have passed... we had this independently verified) at several thousand dollars of additional cost. Despite the setback, this gave us a good feeling from this experience that Adrian was trustworthy, and that quality mattered a lot to him. It also turned out that the closet wall we wanted reconfigured was actually a double wall. The side that the drywall was removed from was not structural but as they went to actually do the work, the opposite side was in fact part of an addition to the house and had structural members running through it) and we had to scrap the plan to make a unified walk-in closet and revise a new plan. I do fault Adrian for missing this up front, but ultimately we were able to devise an alternate layout of making two smaller his and her walk-ins, that didn't remove that wall and actually proved far superior in hindsight, although did expand the scope of the project (we had to change a door, add a hallway door and shift a different wall around, as well as bunch of trim work). Once the design had been finalized work proceeded quickly. We made a couple minor adjustments and additions as we went and Adrian was able to accomidate quite easily. We decided to frame up a (rather awkwardly placed) door to create a more usable living room, and he added some conduit to that wall so we could wall-mount our TV. About 2/3 the way through the overall timeline for this, we decided to add a remodel to the master bathroom to our project list. This was something we had thought we'd do a couple years down the road, but seeing what a major remodel involves, we found a way to come up with the money and try to complete this before we moved in. This basically added another two months to the project, but they were able to accomidate us without issue and we were also running into a harder constraint on budget at this point. The budget side took staying on top of Brenda with a bit (she is excellent on the design/creative side, but we needed to stand extra firm on some of the item costs to keep within budget despite our laying out all this up front). Ultimately she found some awesome stuff that worked within the budget we had. The master bathroom also yielded us some unpleasant surprises in terms of the previous construction which Adrian was again able to address (similar issues of insufficient bracing in walls/flooring). Things continued to make rapid progress, and towards the end the last few details seemed to lag a bit, but ultimately after about 5 months from first email to completion we moved in. The only part of the work we did not end up using Adrian for was the interior painting. We were tight on budget at this point and they were up front with us that their preferred painter was on the higher-end rate wise. So we found a different painter and Adrian worked with him to coordinate schedules etc without issue. In hindsight, despite some of the bumps along the way *WE COULD NOT BE HAPPIER* with the end result. What we've come to appreciate having lived in the house now for 6 months is the detail and quality of the work they both did. The bathrooms are both just spectacular now. From the little details like centering the tiles and lights, the color of the grout, the placement of towel racks and hangers, the layout of the bathrooms, and just the subtle but important improvements getting some of the finishing details right make on the overall impression of a room and the house overall were well worth it. Adrian also did a lot more than I covered here (don't want to bore anyone with EVERYTHING), and we would recommend him without reservation. He is professional, easy to work with, and clearly knows is trade very well. He probably is not the least expensive contractor you can find, but is by no means exorbitant. And well. You get what you pay for. We would also recommend Brenda as well, although she may require a bit more "management" at times, the finished product the pair can achieve is excellent.

The wind sheild on my deck was quite old and no longer structurally sound. It was in part attached to the outside of the house which is three stories above the ground and in an area that gets a considerable amount of wind in the afternoons and during storms. The old wind sheild has always creaked in a strong wind and the clear plastic panels(windows) would make a variety of noises. Mr. Mulhall and his crew arrived at 8 and worked all day, until early evening, building and installing the new wind screen. The screen is in an odd space where part of the roof starts to slope up so it had to be built to fit the space. It looks great, is very strudy and no longer makes any noise even when the wind comes up. They also repaired the upper portion of railing around the deck, which had begun to pull apart and replaced and stained various pieces. I am very pleased with the quality of the work, as well as the speed in which it was accomplished. I should note that Mr. Mulhall and his people were all quite carefull when they brought equipment and materials in through the house, which was necessary and in moving things off the deck so they could work. They laid down a heavy paper so as not to cause a mess in the house and by the time they left the area in which they worked was very clean.

Overall things went very well. Adrian was willing to hire my plumber and painter as subs. The work looks beautiful and Adrian made sure if any mistakes were made, he had them fixed; for example, some cabinets were dinged by workers, the deck and steps had to be replaced in areas do to the same. Everyone went to extra mile to make sure I was happy with the results.

Booked through December 2011. Please remove from your files.

The job went well and was finished before we expected. Adrian showed up when he said he would, and was always concerned with our satisfaction. He managed the sub-contractors well, communicated issues to us in a very timely manner, and presented viable options and suggestions. I'd say the absolute best things about working with Adrian are his willingness to listen and work with his clients to make sure expectations are met.

Adrian and his team were excellent. After the house was power washed the extent of the rot damage of the trim became apparent, Adrian was a great help in finding replacement trim materials that fit our budget yet maintained the original look and feel of the house. Highly recommended.