We are extremely pleased with Sonoma Contracting and recommend Mike and his team to anyone doing basement renovations.
We gutted our old basement ourselves and then obtained four quotes for our project. Mike was the only contractor we did not find through a personal connection, contacting him solely based on his positive Homestars reviews. We were impressed with Mike from our very first meeting and were thrilled that our first impressions were so accurate.
Mike and his team lowered our basement floor, repoured a new floor with new drains and sump pump, replaced two old brick posts with two steel posts, moved duct work and a doorway, converted a previous cold cellar into an insulated/finished laundry room, and then finished the rest of the basement as an open concept family room with office area, closets and a 3-piece bathroom.
Mike himself is very easy to work with, works long hours on site, has great attention to detail and a good eye for design/finishing. In addition, he has a team of tradespeople that he works with consistently on his projects (Aldo, Gino, Louie, Mike, John, etc.) that may be his biggest advantage. He knows that their work is up to his high standards and they have the experience and motivation of working with Mike on an ongoing basis. As a team they are extremely hard working (dug the whole basement by hand without even a conveyor) but also added extra value to our project by proactively making suggestions regarding our design and finishings that we hadn't thought of (e.g. changing closet and pot light layouts). They are friendly, considerate and tidy when on site, taking the time to clean up at the end of each day. Our two-year old son still talks about them and roleplays as Mike and Aldo doing renovations in his basement!
Every renovation has surprises and challenges and we found Mike to be very flexible and accomodating at these times. When a particular issue arose that Mike knew we were not expecting, he went out of his way to keep the incremental cost as low as possible and give us the final result that we all agreed was best.
Mike's estimates and quotations are comprehensive and reasonable and I would be wary of anyone who is able to significantly undercut his prices.
A great experience that we would not hesitate to repeat.