New Construction

UNIQUE TILE – WOJCIECH PATKOWSKI

jjunkin New Construction, Uncategorized ,

Top rating for excellent craftsmanship and attention to detail. Worked long days to ensure job was completed. Entire crew had good communication with us about installation issues.

We had Unique Tile headed by Wojciech Patkowski (AKA Voytek) tile our front and rear porches at our house in Menlo Park in 2020. The area was around 550sf.

Although it seemed like an easy job because it was over fresh cement on new construction, it was actually quite difficult as the grade needed to ensure adequate drainage when the porches are hosed down.

Voytek and his crew showed up early each morning around 7AM and stayed almost every night until 7pm. The job stretched for a few extra days because the tiling was more difficult than expected due to the inconsistent cement base. Voytek ensured that his whole crew were there every day and he was onsite for most of the time as well.

Unique Tile did a completely professional job on the tile work. All tiles were the same level with a consistent grout line. The stair edging we used, Schluter TREP-E/EK Stair Nosing was solidly mounted and consistent.

Bottom line: if you are considering major tiling jobs Unique Tile does expert work with a great attention to detail.

I would highly recommend them. If you wish to ask for a reference feel free to contact me.

Joe Junkin

KC Paving front walk install

jjunkin Menlo Park, New Construction, Paver walkway, Uncategorized

KC Paving responded to my inquiry quickly, made a fair estimate, offered a quick start date and were fast and professional. The machinery and manpower was impressive and exceeded my expectations. The workmanship is top quality, should last for years without settling and looks great. I *highly* recommend KCPaving in the Menlo Park area.

We needed a front walk installed with a cement landing extension added to our last step – and we needed it in a hurry. I found KC Paving on the internet and received a prompt reply, quick on site meeting and an estimate the next day. A large crew showed up on the expected date with 2 large machines to facilitate the earthmoving process. The work was done continuously in about 3 days. Happy we made this choice.

 

Thanks KC Paving!

PG&E Gas Line Issues

jjunkin New Construction, PGE, Uncategorized

The gas line install was incredibly expensive – in excess of $30K. Given that menlo park is not going to allow gas in new construction – except for a stove – you may want to consider foregoing a gas hookup completely. For us, the planning and construction of the new line was extremely disruptive, expensive, time consuming and caused serious stress.

Design was more than $10K. This for a single page plan that showed the trench from the main to our new gas meter. This process took 1-2 months.

The gas line trench and install in the street took more than a month and for at least that long there were metal plates over the trench which were messy and disruptive.

Once we had the design we were ready to start. But it was months before we actually broke ground.

PG&E Gas shutoff before demo

jjunkin New Construction ,

PGE has caused major delays in our project. Some could have been much worse. If you are doing new construction in menlo park you or your contractor should be aware of these issues.

For starters, there was a 4 month lead time for the gas disconnect. The demolition could not proceed until we had the shutoff from PGE. Fortunately I had warning about this so had started the ball rolling early, but we were still behind schedule because of waiting for PGE to disconnect the gas.