At J David Ford Construction, our relationship with our clients is the most important part of our business! We are unlike any other construction and retrofitting company out there... with us, you will get personal service each and every step of the way.
Don't take our word for it. Just hear from one of our many satisfied customers. Or, read more review on our Yelp page.
Dave Ford is by far the best contractor I have ever worked with. I hired him to do a seismic upgrade of our Oakland Hills home. Besides being very knowledgeable about what needed to be done, he was key in getting the engineer (Monty Stott) to finish the plans before the next big one hits the east bay! Dave is a real gentleman with tons of integrity, way beyond you see in most people much less in contractors. His crew is the same way...very skilled, very interested in doing the job right, very friendly and trustworthy, and just really nice people. I wish I could Dave 10 or 20 stars because 5 just does not seem like enough for Dave and his crew. They are in a league of their own. I highly recommend you hire Dave for any of your seismic upgrades, or any other contracting work that he does. You will not be disappointed.
We interviewed a few earthquake retrofitting contractors before we chose David. He was by far the most knowledgable and the best recommended of the contractors we considered. He referred us to a great engineer who was reasonably priced, professional, and prompt. David's team came and did the work as promised, on time and within budget. All of the work was reviewed with us and explained in detail. We have a complex situation with our house because there is a two car garage with two stories above (soft story). David spent extra time interacting with the engineer to make sure everything was done properly. We were very happy with the service that we received and would recommend him to anyone considering getting this type of work done.
J David Ford was a great choice for our retrofit work. We interviewed a few contractors, but easily David was the most informed and helpful. And he and his team are just great people, good to work with. I felt 100% satisfied with the work they did.
His depth of experience was clear as he walked us through the different options, and at every step of the way he was right on top of the job, what would happen next, everything. His teams were top-notch, working politely and efficiently with as little disruption as possible. They always left the site clean, and structured the work so the disruption to our living space was minimal.
David helped us anticipate what we might find inside one wall where we weren't sure what would be in there, and every step of the way he kept us up to date.
Finally, David Ford and team's knowledge of the Berkeley planning department and frequent experience with them ensured our job passed the inspections with no trouble. One inspectior thanked them for always doing it right, and making it easy.
Two thumbs up--I'd hire them again in a heartbeat.
Service with integrity: I'll second all these favorable reviews. Dave Ford is extremely experienced, hard working, and a great communicator. We did a soft story retrofit in a very tight spot (in a garage with little room to encroach onto). He was patient and able to work with the city permitting process and the engineer (Dan Szumski) through some changes required by the city. I would highly recommend him!
Superb: We highly recommend and are grateful for the excellent work David Ford did to structurally reinforce and earthquake -proof our home. Not only was the job done on time, on budget, with integrity and professionalism but communicaton was sterling. David is a pleasure to work with and he had a great working relationship with the structural engineer so that problem solving and execution were topnotch. His crew were so considerate of our family, they actually cleaned up daily -- not the case with many contractors we've worked with. David's breadth of knowledge, experience and work ethic is why he is highly sought after and recommended. Bonus: he's a fascinating fun guy too. We happily add to the list of fans.
David came out and spent a considerable amount of time helping us to understand a basement drainage issue. Other contractors had charged us to come out and look and provide little help, but David was thorough and smart and really helpful and he didn't charge us for his time which is unusual these days. I will definitely be recommending or using him in the future - he clearly has tons of experience and a great attitude!
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I, too, cannot recommend Dave Ford highly enough. He's the kind of contractor you usually only dream about: knowledgable, accountable, involved in the details, easy to reach, willing to explore multiple options and truly enjoys sharing and helping the customer through what can be some upsetting and confusing situations: drainage and foundation problems.
Dave installed a drain system around and under my house several years ago, as well as shored up some of the foundation. All along the way, he kept me in the loop. The work wasn't cheap, but nor was the workmanship, and the water problems that had been plaguing my house went away. Fast forward several years and I notice a couple of new issues, unrelated to those that Dave addressed previously. Because I am now an absentee landlord and not an occupant of the house, I wanted to be sure that the source of the problems were being correctly identified by my maintenance team. I called Dave, with whom I haven't spoken since he worked on my house, thinking I'd never connect, but lucky for me, that wasn't the case. He called right back and met the next day with my maintenance guy. Dave reviewed the problem and explained to the maintenance guy how to best alleviate the new drainage issues. He even took the time to call me to review everything he saw and what he recommended for a fix. Thanks, Dave. You're the best!!
I also can't say enough good things about Dave Ford & his crew- we just finished a retrofit on our home (split level, built in 1928 which is 1 mile from the Hayward fault) and I'm already sleeping better at night. We received numerous quotes from other well recommended contractors, but Dave came in the lowest and had the best references. He worked around our schedule and did the job quickly and left our house not only structurally in better shape, but looking better than before. Everyone on his crew was great to work with and very respectful of our home (and my family). Dave explained everything we needed to do at every step of the way. Everyone living in the bay area should retrofit their homes (the big one could happen at any minute) I really highly recommend having Dave do it for you!