USA Builders

Christopher L.

The first sales rep we worked with met with us and never followed up, which was unprofessional. We gave them a second chance and met Avi is the Sales rep/president. At first he seemed nice and appeared that he wanted to help. He was mostly a talker and not very good at executing the job properly. I felt that he was mostly out to just increase the price of the job. We were looking to build a patio. We wanted a solid roof, Spanish style patio and was set on it for 6 months. He came in and sold us on an alumawood patio. We agreed and moved forward at $9500. We put a deposit down and when his sub-contractor came (because USA builders does not have any direct employees, all we met were subs) he told us we couldn't build alumawood at my location. This was a very inexperienced move for Avi, selling me a patio he could not legally build. Needlessly to say, we were disappointed. We asked for our money back and he said he could not. He said we signed a contract and we had to stay with him. At this point, red flags went up when he said he couldn't return the deposit which was total BS, but he made my wife trust him so...we kept on going. So now, we go with a wood patio, and the price increases to $10,000 and we agreed. When we asked about color and paint, he was like, ""oh you wanted it painted, it's another $2,000."" So...we reluctantly agree. We ask him about another section of our yard and he quotes $4,000. So now our total is $16,000 and we re-sign a docusign and agree to the work and move on. When the sub contractor for the patio and another for the backyard came to scope the work, Avi was not present. He said, whatever you want tell the contractor. The sub contractor asked us questions about what we wanted and we answered his questions. In the end, we all agreed and ended on a positive note. Avi already locked us in for alumawood at $9500, then said he couldn't do it and sold us a wood patio at $12,000. Then quoted more work for the back at $4,000. So we signed for $16,000. Then he told us the job price has changed and needs to be increased another $8,000. We said no, give us our money back and he said he could not because he has to pay the office and the sub contractors who are supposed to do ""free quotes."" We tell him we have no more money and he offers financing, my wife really wants the work done so we agree. Even though we know this will stretch us too far. So the total is now $24,000. Then as we tell him we agree, he says, ""Oh yea, it doesn't include material so its another additional $2000."" So, what originally started at $9,500 is now at $26,000. At this point, I've had enough and I tell him, forget it, lets just go back to the original signed contract. $12,000 for a wood patio and $4,000 for the backyard. He quoted, we signed and gave him a deposit. But since we backed down from the $26,000 he got angry and said the patio price now changed to $15,000. I told him, no, we have a signed agreement. Just like he did to me. He locked me in and wouldn't give me my deposit, so I said, we have a signed contract for a set price so I asked him to just execute that. He responded that he would not do our job and is walking away. We spent a ton of time, resources and heart with USA builders only to be disappointed by Avi. He is not consistent with pricing already agreed and signed. He is constantly trying to get more money and adds costs to the job. In the end, the reason he stated for not continuing the contract was that we were too difficult to work with which is total BS because he just got mad we wouldn't give him more money. This kind of behavior and sales tactic of locking in a customer and tricking them into more money is predatory and I would highly recommend that you look again and don't get fooled by USA Builders. Keep looking and BE SURE to get a second opinion!

Adrian C.

A rep had left a door hanger for USA Builders at my house. Their response time was very fast and that is the only reason why they get 2 stars.

They came to my house same day I called. 1 woman showed up and I showed her around my house to let her know what I was looking for. I wanted some electrical work done. But very quickly she tried to add on thing like ""this concrete needs repair; you should redo the landscape; do you want to convert your garage to an ADU"". All of which I eventually WANT to do but she wasn't hearing me. After I showed all of her electrical work I wanted done, she said she needed to call in her colleague to confirm costs.

Weird, but okay. So I wait in my house for 30 extra minutes for her colleague to arrive and then the high pressure sales really starts.

This person gave me a flat rate of $15K for all the electrical work. He didn't even review the notes the original woman took.

He would not let me see his estimate, albeit chicken scratch he jotted down on a piece of paper.

Then he started to apply ""discounts"" if I paid a deposit right on site.

I politely asked he email me the estimate so my wife and I can review. He then said ""aren't you the decision maker?""

And that ended it for me.

This is a high pressure decision and they would not take ""no"" for an answer. Be very wary of this company.

Aquilino D.

First of all I want to thank USA builders office of managing our meeting at the time that was convenient to me unfortunately my timeline was Sunday at 6:30 AM they send Avi as a Project manager he seems to be very thorough and experience on top of that he was very honest with us from beginning and I'm really happy that i choose USA builders to do my roofing job . They start on Thursday and they finish by Saturday morning it was very quick and pleasant to work with Avi and his crew I have to mention the job was very clean all the time .
I already asked him to paint my house and install new insulation in my attic and they're going to start a kitchen job at my sister house next week I really recommend everyone to use their service.

Nick M.

So I've been working with Moti and Avi through a few jobs on my home including replacing some old gutters (a bigger job than it sounds due to how they were built-in to the structure), an issue with a leak in my garage, and now most of the way through a bathroom remodel. All this covid business started just as we started the demolition on the bathroom and they've been good about continuing the work, but trying to take any precautions to limit any exposures. Moti is very responsive and always quick to get back to me if anything comes up. Just be prepared that Moti likes to go for the hard sell on things and it is okay to dig in your heels and think things through if you need to.

Through the whole process there have been quite a few over-runs, but realistically they were all issues due to the age of the house that just needed to be addressed once it was apparent what was going on. There was one pain point when a pony wall next to our new bathtub, which has been part of the discussion from the beginning of the project, didn't make it into the initial contract so they were asking for additional money to build it. It was technically my fault for not catching it when the contract was signed, but this isn't my business and I don't know all the details that should be included in a total job and written out in a contract. I pushed back and they ended up adding it in with some other things which needed to be done for a much reduced price, but it still rankled somewhat. You don't want to feel like you need to get another contractor who knows the business to review your contract to make sure little details aren't being left out that will bite you later.

Overall, I am glad I went with Moti and Avi and they really do do high quality work. The one issue with the pony wall didn't seem to be representative of their typical habits through the process of several jobs.

Mike B.

I'll start off by saying that YES, I would highly recommend working with this company and I'd hire them again. Here were the things I think that led to some issues and things I think that need to be more clear:

1. There was 2 project managers that were no longer with the company that were assigned to my job. The first guy was the salesman that actually sold me on the job. There were things he told me that ended up not being true and told me certain things needed to be done that really didn't. I've got to believe I wasn't alone in this and perhaps the reason he was no longer by the time we broke ground. Then we were assigned another manager and at some point during the project he was let go and we finished the job with Avi overseeing everything.

This turnover led to quite a bit of miscommunication and a bit of frustration.

Avi was great and always made good on things that were told to me that ended up not being needed or true. For example, when we signed the contract, we were told a certain amount of cement needed to be jacked up and that led to an additional $7500 onto the previously agreed amount. Once we realized this was not the case, this rep was gone and Avi made good and deducted that amount from the signed contract. Kudos to him for doing the right thing since I was essentially lied to.

2. The contract- All I can say is that if there is something that you're thinking might or might not be included in the contract, make sure THAT specifically is included in plain English. A contractor's job is to bid the job tight to get the business but then if there is anything that changes, they will charge you to make up their margins. Here were a few things that came up on our job:

a: The construction team made a mistake on where the gas line needed to go. There was A LOT of finger pointing as to who made the mistake and the fix was simply to dig 2 holes and and run the gas line through a different route. All I know is that I had absolutely nothing to do with them messing up where the gas line went and they tried to charge me over $2,000 to dig 2 4 foot deep holes. I hired a local laborer for $120 and got the job done. I was later told that the price was so high because the sud ""didn't want to do it"". There is NOTHING more frustrating.

b: We removed a wall and when we were doing the plans, we didn't think to realize that the floor was different on both sides of the wall and one of the floors needed to be cut in order for make to floors match seamlessly. All that was needed was an 18"" tile cut. Avi wouldn't even tell me the price the sub wanted to charge so I bought the tool online for $60 and did it myself. Again, was told the sub ""didn't want to do it"".

c: Painting- depending on how you want to read the contract, they argued that the contract only called for them to paint 1 color inside. Now think about this- we added 2 rooms with baseboards. We had a total of 4 colors between ceilings, baseboard, walls and doors. We ended up being charged $600 for 3 additional colors to the 1 the contract supposedly called for. Still when I read the contract, I completely disagree with the way they enforced it, but in the end wasn't worth the fight.

d: Finished Items- I've known that these are not included in the cost of the bid. my problem here is the lack of communication as to exactly what I needed. For example, I was told to buy a 36"" door. I bought a 36"" door and then was told the jamb on it was incorrect and they tried to upcharge me to make it fit. I was told to buy another door and bought the door, not realizing it needed to come with a door jamb. They then said they needed to charge me extra for that. Again, I wasn't told exactly what to buy. I then was asked to buy the paint and spent nearly $800 on paint. Then after, reading the contract, I realized that the paint was supposed to be provided by USA Builders, not me. When I brought this up, I was told they would only reimburse me for 1 color since that was what the contract stated was covered.

3. I was on a VERY tight budget and a very tight timeline on this job. We refinanced for a specific amount and we had a baby due (which was just born the day they finished work). The architect I had hired early on was an old school guy and did drawings by hand and not not on CAD. I can't even count the amount of times I heard the sub complain about the quality of the drawings, despite them being approved by the city. Then at one of the inspections, the inspector mentioned something about getting an engineer to look over the job. The sub took this to mean I needed to hire an engineer to redo plans, which would have been almost 3k. We ended up hiring an engineer much later to simply approve how it had been built for $400 and the inspector was satisfied. Perhaps the job could have been done quicker had they just done it all their way with no interference from me but it would have cost me over 10k more.

These were all minor but worth mentioning.

Jacob S.

I called USA builders for a quote on some concrete for my driveway because it was cracked I had a rep by the name of Moti, he was very courteous, listened to my needs, and was right on my budget. It was lower than the other two companies I called and his team where very professional and courteous. they finished the project as they said it was on time and I will definitely use them again for any other projects I have around the house they are now my lifetime contractors thanks again USA Builders!

LA R.

Yikes, Stay away from this company! They are not honest and will hard sell you on their services during the estimate. They are very expensive and use unscrupulous tactics to lock you in...all against CSLB precautions and warnings!! The ""estimator,"" Moti, that came out became ugly and narcissistic accusing me (their potential client) of dishonesty after I requested a proper proposal including a payment schedule!!! All within the guidelines of my rights as the homeowner and consumer. He also tried to guilt me and was harassing in our communications. Avi, too was pushy and unprofessional!!! When checking their standings on the CSLB website, he's only been there a year. Moti and Avi should be fired for their terrible manner of conduct and lack of professionalism!!! They represent all that is bad in the construction industry. STAY AWAY!!!!

Chris C.

I used USA for my Kitchen Island and flooring after a water leak. They were easy to deal with, straightforward and their pricing was more than fair. Work quality was great and met every deadline they set. Communication was great and they were always available to answer my questions and address my concerns.

Joan S.

We used USA Builders to install a new roof, since our was more than 30 years old. Moti was great to deal with, very professional and thorough and he kept in contact with us through the week-long process. His team of roofers was on time every day, handled the permit and inspections, paid close attention to detail, and cleaned up every evening. We couldn't have asked for a better, or easier, experience and we would highly recommend Moti and his team.

Alvaro S.

I found USA Builders when looking for a company add a new bedroom to my house. After meeting with a couple of contractors I found them online and decided to give them a call. I ultimately chose them for the project and I will never regret my decision. Their work was awesome!

First of all, their customer service is excellent. I felt that they got me covered and understood all my requirements from the first call I had with their office when I was setting up the appointment. They paid attention to my concerns and questions and took the time to clarify anything I didn't understand. They gave me a 3D design for my new room and we were able to work on the digital design until it was perfect for us. After I approved it, they started to do the work.

Ken, the project manager, is a great person. He was always there for answering my phone call and help me throughout this process. He was the head of the project that turned out to be better than what I expected. The blueprints phase took quite a bit of time with delays from the city but I was always in the know and was kept posted on any changes or updates. Once the plans were approved, Ken had the crew ready to go and went to work right away.

Remodeling the house may be annoying but they made it really comfortable for my family and me. Their team was always on time and, before leaving, they cleaned everything. I loved how they kept the work organized and clean.

Everything was excellent when they finished. I think the most important was the great team led by Ken and the 3D design. I was able to model the perfect room for my house before even starting the physical work. I want to thank the USA Builders team because they made a great new room for my house. They have an awesome team and the best technology. I am sure I will work with them again in the future.