Don Waters Construction

Great job removing the part of my chimney above the roof line. The earthquake danger of falling bricks is eliminated,

We bought a house with a fair amount of dry rot and termite damage. The pest company gave us a quote for how much it would cost to fix it, and Don gave us a price that was cheaper and included things the pest company didn’t do (i.e. painting after the stucco was finished, etc). His crew was friendly and did an excellent job. Don was available to talk to while the work was being done, and he knew what was happening at our house when we asked (unlike other contractors we’ve worked with). There were also places on the interior that needed to be plastered and textured, and Don’s crew did an excellent job.

We’ve hired Don for several jobs over the last three years, and have been very pleased with the results. He has a great crew, and we’ve gotten excellent results.

Working with Don and his whole crew was a fantastic experience! We wanted to make a few changes to our house; specifically, we wanted to remove a significant part of the chimney (which was an earthquake hazard), brick up our non-​working fireplace (using bricks from the piece of chimney that was removed), install a bathroom fan and kitchen vent, and put in new doorknobs on a couple of doors.
It’s clear that both Don and his crew take pride in their work, and we’re super happy with the changes to our home! In particular, the fireplace looks really lovely (they painted the bricks to match the tile on the rest of the fireplace mantle), and the kitchen vent really helps tie the whole kitchen together. Initially, there were a couple of things that weren’t perfect after the jobs were completed, but we alerted them to the issues, and they fixed them right away (at no extra cost or fuss).
Overall, Don is communicative and helpful, and will work with you to create the best plan for the work that needs to be done (which, as we found out, might not need to be the most expensive plan). The guys working for him are friendly and respectful, and they will work efficiently, with precision and care.
We would love to work with Don again on any future projects!

I hired Don Waters Construction over a year ago to replace my existing skylights and install new ones. They are leak free! Don also repaired some roofing where it was leaking around some other skylights. They are leak free too. I’m totally happy with his work. Give him a call you’ll be happy you did.

Don Waters’ crew did a dreadful job on our bedroom. It was years ago, but we are still trying to mitigate the sloppy sheetrock seams and poorly installed windows every time we have our room repainted. They will never be really fixed. It was traumatic enough to never do any more work of that size on our house, and cost a lot more than we expected. He was defensive and it felt unnerving to work out differences, even after we hired an inspector/​architect to review his work. He came over himself to try to fix the work, but we were really worried about him. He cut some price off the job and paid for to have our clothes dry cleaned, but we were relieved to get rid of him and were uncomfortable with his demeanor. It was not a good scene, and we tried hard to be fair about it all. I had extensively checked references and looked at a couple of his jobs (although one had not been finished, so no finished and painted sheetrock to see – the owners couldn’t afford more or something). I am glad that other people have had such positive experiences with him, but was honestly surprised he was still in business.

First, let me point out that I’m not the best Unilocaler — I don’t Unilocal much and often do it long after the experience. So me Unilocaling is a good sign. I wanted to finally provide a very positive review of Don Water’s work on our addition — they completed the project a year ago. They added basically 700sqft — a 2-​story addition to the back of our one story, small Albany home. I can tell you that we have been very pleased with the work, one year in, and would recommend them highly. Very nice guys, very diligent and responsive to requests. The crew are trustworthy, honest, nice people. Don himself would take plenty of time to know our needs and really knew our jurisdiction so that saved money and time. The quality of the work is great. We didn’t want fancy, didn’t want super expensive, and they gave us very good quality work that I’m very confident in – even more confident now that we’ve had an earthquake and there’s no damage. There’s always some natural settling, and we weren’t looking for perfection, but we’ve been very, very pleased with everything. They surpassed our expectations and we get lots of compliments on our addition. We highly recommend Don Waters.

Don and his crew did a very nice remodel of our bathroom, and helped with other projects as well. We could not be more pleased with the results. We are planning to hire them again for another big remodel, once we have fewer kids in the house.
Don and his wife Kim are highly responsive, easy to work with, and very reasonable in price. The work overall was outstanding, from the drawings Don did, to getting the necessary permits, to the construction and clean up.
And the guys on the site who actually did the work, crew leader Emelio and three others, were respectful and professional at all times.

Just spoke to Don about a decking job in Alameda. He didn’t accept the job because it’s outside of his service area, but instead spent time discussing how I can repair my deck inexpensively myself. Although I would be happy to hire him for my project, his advise was very much appreciated. Thanks Don!

Don and his crew are the best. After we moved into our home, we knew we needed to make some changes to our kitchen and both bathrooms. We called in a few contractors for bids, and Don was the only one who took the time to measure things, explain where he could save us money, and write it all out in a clean, organized format — all on the spot, in less than an hour! We were very impressed and essentially hired him on the spot.
His budget and time estimates were extremely spot on, and his crew were punctual, polite and friendly. We had some trepidation about leaving our home with 6 strangers hammering away inside, but those fears were relieved quickly. All great guys and hard workers. Our 2 year old daughter even misses saying good morning to them every day!
We can’t recommend him highly enough. We’re already brainstorming ideas for new jobs!

Don and his crew recently finished a complete bathroom and a partial kitchen remodel. We knew exactly what we wanted in the bathroom, but didn’t have a clue how to handle the kitchen. Don had great, quickly-​conceived ideas for both our concrete and our vague plans. He suggested several solutions that made our (Craftsman) house look even better than we’d imagined.
His crew deserves a paragraph all their own. Jorge, David & Julio worked rapidly and considerately, and arrived exactly when expected each morning. We have a small house, and they maximized our ability to use the bathroom while it was under construction. Jorge followed up with the fixture supplier, and arranged a discount with them when one of our pieces did not come in on time. He worked efficiently with the city to keep the renovation going during the permit process. I had thought we’d have to kennel our big, protective dog, but they came up with a great solution so she could stay home. Everyone in the crew took justifiable pride in his work. And we loved the fact that they clearly have a great, longstanding relationship with Don.
I couldn’t recommend them more highly. We had to wait several months to get on Don’s schedule, but we were not in a hurry and it was well worth it.

I contacted Don on the recommendation of our real estate agent just after we purchased our house, as we had some small improvements to make and also needed some seismic work done. He helped us figure out what made sense to do and what didn’t, and realized that we might have a more serious structural problem than we thought (a soft story). He worked with our structural engineer to make sure the fix was something that would pass muster with the city, with the engineer, and would stay in our (limited) budget. He talked me down from some more extensive renovations that he thought weren’t worth doing given our constraints (and the fact that we had just moved into the house and didn’t really know how we might use the space). Our job ended up being a medium sized job: seismic retrofitting plus tiling a room and knocking down an interior wall that wasn’t needed. The work took about a week. Despite the fact that this wasn’t a big job, we were treated very well, and Don is a pleasure to work with. He kept us up to date and was available whenever we had questions. His crew was professional and always left the job site clean and safe at the end of the day (we have two toddlers). Don was also fantastic at navigating the city bureaucracy to make sure we got our permits and inspections done on time, which was a little tricky because of the nonstandard engineering plans we needed. Don Waters Construction has my highest recommendation. I’ll certainly be going back to Don if I need any more work done, big or small.

I’ve worked with Don Waters Construction since 2005. Don is intelligent, fast, and reasonably priced. He is a pro-​active communicator and problem solver, which is a huge advantage before and during construction. Don is very knowledgeable and trustworthy, and puts in the extra effort needed to make sure a homeowner is satisfied at the end of a project.

Honesty Is The Best Policy.
After reading reviews on Unilocal I decided to give Don a call to look at a remodeling project that I expected to cost $ 40 – 50,000. We made and appointment and he came over to look at my house and see the space for the room addition I was looking for. It is rare to see someone turn down a nice sized project — even rarer for someone to take the time to explain all the problems that would come from my plans. Don is very experienced, knowledgeable and professional. Trust and honesty are rare traits in today’s society, Don Waters is a man of great integrity and someone I would recommend to anyone planning on hiring a qualified contractor.

My kitchen remodel experience was wonderful! Don and his crew are high quality, hard-​working professionals. My partner Zak and I were impressed by progress each day. We experienced confidence in their abilities. The metamorphosis of my 25-​year old falling apart kitchen-​dining area to the new was like that classic birth of a butterfly. We love our new space. I recommend Don unreservedly.
We will definitely use him again on future projects. He will exceed any expectations you may have.

I bought an old house that had 2 bathrooms that needed to be renovated ASAP before I moved in. Don was one of the few contractors who answered my phone call and met with me right away. Here are the highlights of what I liked about him:
1.) Bidding process — Don literally sat in my old bathroom, did some calculations in his head, and gave me a very fair estimate right there on the spot. No nickle and diming with a bunch of line items.
2.) Design background — Don helped me design my two bathrooms and he also drew the plans that were submitted to the city for permits. I didn’t have to hire an architect or designer, which simplified things a lot. Since I have no experience doing renovations, he gave me a ton of opinions on design. That made decision making a lot easier.
3.) Don’s crew — The crew that worked on my house was awesome. They were friendly and the foreman even gave me tips on how to best renovate the other parts of my house that I was working on. Every member of Don’s crew has been with him for years so they have a lot of combined experience. Don came over every single day to check on their progress and make sure things were on schedule.
I don’t have any complaints. My bathrooms were finished on time and on budget. They look great. No wonder Don gets most of his business from repeat customers and referrals.

Don recently converted our garage into a studio and various small things. He stayed strictly within our budget and got it done in time and it came out great! He helped us navigate city policies.
He’s also a funny guy, opinionated, but his opinions are sound and informed. He’s super competent and trustworthy.

Don Waters is amazing! We had him renovate our garage into a sound-​proof music studio, and to convert our laundry room into a guest room. And boy did he do a great job — the music room gorgeous and amazingly sound-​proof, and absolutely gorgeous.
Most importantly, we felt like Don was on OUR team, talking us through various options and looking for creative ways to save us money without compromising the renovation. Yes you read that right — actually trying to find ways to save us money! His work was fantastic and my wife and I felt extremely well taken care of. Highly, highly recommended.

As a local realtor, I have personally used and have recommended Don to my clients for many years. He is my «go-​to» guy for all construction projects because he is smart, experienced and extremely trust-​worthy. My clients have used him and have raved about his work!
Don is very pro-​client — exceeding my clients needs and yet looking for ways to save them $. Now, where would you find a great contractor looking to save you $!!!
There are many contractors to choose from, but you won’t go wrong with Don!

Don Waters has done small and large jobs for us over five years: remodeling our kitchen, pantry, and bath, as well as chimney work and window re-​hanging. We are very happy with all of the jobs. Some of the first characteristics to jump out at me: punctuality, bid accuracy, and completeness with all the mess cleaned up. This crew works quickly and efficiently.
Don and Kim Waters have been professional and delightful to work with from start to finish. Don sat down with us to discuss possible layouts for the new kitchen, architectural ideas on lighting, traffic flow, color balance, busy/​high energy versus serene elements, style fit (given our craftsman style interior), and materials. The job proposal was very clear, listing materials and labor that were included in his price versus items we would need to purchase separately (light fixtures, smoke alarms, floor tiles, etc.). I appreciated this clarity so there were no surprises down the road.
IMPORTANT: Don had his crew move our fridge and stove to the basement to set up a temporary kitchen for us during the remodel. This made ALL the difference in the world.
The remodel crew started like clockwork every day at 8:00. The foreman checked with me on dozens of small decisions which I loved because I am going to live with this kitchen long-​term, and all the little adjustments make a huge difference to me and my husband. We had an issue with the spacing of one set of cabinets, but Don worked with us and had his crew re-​install them. «We need it to be perfect» was Don’s comment.
The quality of the tile work on the backsplash and floors is exceptional. I love the new wiring to a million new outlets. The seams in the quartz countertop are all but invisible. The skillful fitting of cabinets and trim into our 100-​year-​old not-​always-​square house was brilliant. Everything passed inspection first time through.
One of the things I like best: I know I can talk to Don about «what I want» and he’ll give me all the options from high-​end expensive to lower-​end adequate, and what the implications are. For example, we opted for higher-​end kitchen backsplash tiles which make a big statement (permanent), but stuck with cheaper light fixtures on the high ceiling (changeable).
Our new kitchen is gorgeous.