Martinez Construction

We decided to go with Dave Martinez for our 1940s house clay pipe sewer lateral replacement as his price was the lowest after checking that he has been in business since the 90s, has had concurrent insurance/​bonding since then, and has no bad reports on Better Business Bureau. Overall I am very pleased with the outcome. He gave me a firm written quote that priced out the work + a fixed allowance if the Wye connecting the line to the Main in the street needed to be replaced. Despite problems only discovered after digging. He KEPT HIS PRICE and only invoiced me the quoted amount.
He thought it would be 1 – 2 days and it ended up taking 3 because of two issues: (1) When breaking out the concrete from the master bath line connection, they ended up cracking the pipe (just the way it goes sometimes, I don’t think they were being careless), so instead of just swapping out the cleanout for a 4″ line (from a 3″) for the permit, they ended up running the line trenchless from them master bath in back all the way out as the lateral and connected the previous point to it. (2) Also, the line when complete had a belly and the inspector did not approve it. His men took another day to excavate next to my driveway (instead of cutting into it) to bolster up the line. After this work, it was approved and he sent me the permit/​certificate for my records.
On the downside, the guys weren’t really good about communicating what they were doing, why it was taking longer, when it would be done, if there would be cost impacts due to the issues. I worked from home during the days so I overheard a lot of it in Spanish, but wasn’t really sure until the end how it was going to turn out.
But what they lacked in communication, they made up for in skill. Only 2 squares of sidewalk had to be demo’d and were replaced looking great. The road was well repaired. And he only charged me what he quoted. I would happily recommend Dave Martinez again.

After 52 years, our deteriorated root-​infested 85 ft. sewer lateral in Lafayette was pretty shot. I got 3 free camera inspections and 5 written bids, all higher than what we thought was reasonable. I called Dave who came over in a few hours. I told Dave that unless I got what I regarded as a reasonable bid, we would just snake the line out again and «limp along» for a couple more years.
Dave gave me a straightforward all-​inclusive bid for complete trenchless replacement for about $ 2000 less than most of «the competition.» With the holidays rapidly approaching and guests arriving in days, Dave promised to get the job done in two days, including inspections. He delivered.
The County permit fee ($ 660!) is a total rip off. Under the circumstances, it is almost a pay off to the mob. If the City of Lafayette encroachment permit is also required that’s another rake off. We narrowly escaped the latter.
In the Bay Area the county permits turn a six hour job into a two day or 3 day job with all the inspections and wasted time. It’s a shame. All homeowners pay dearly for it. But at least Dave got it all done efficiently and took care of everything.
Replacing your sewer lateral under the lawn hardly gives you bragging rights. But at least Dave mitigated the pain and delay, and we can rest assured that we will never do this job twice.
My only small misgiving was that some soil removed had to be hauled away instead of compacted in the ground due to the rains. I trust that if we wind up with a small depression on either end of the pipe due to settling of the soil, Dave will follow up as promised to bring in a bit of soil and tamp it down next year. I will follow up to this review if it doesn’t pan out as expected.

We needed to replace our sewer lateral, and Martinez Construction gave us by far the lowest of five bids. It was so low, in fact, that we were hesitant about hiring them. (We subsequently learned that at least one of the other contractors would have lowered their bid $ 2000 to match it.) Dave was extremely accommodating and was able to rearrange his schedule to squeeze us in, and the work and all inspections were done in two days. I can’t say we love our new sewer line ;), but we saved some serious money and have no complaints about the process.

Selling an old piece of property in cities such as El Cerrito, Kensington requires rebuilding a sewage lateral. After construction of the lateral, the letter of compliance from EBMUD is needed to complete the sale. The price of getting the whole package which includes permits, retrenching, repavement and inspection varies a lot among contractors. Often times, they may need a video to scope the lateral before any estimate. In reality, it is not needed since the clay pipe in most of those homes will not pass the pressure hold test even if the sewage works fine. I was fortunate to find Martinez construction. Much of our negotiation was done by phone and e mails. The owner gave me a very competitive price. He was pleasant and easy to work with. He and his crew finished the job in two days.

We just bought a house in Concord and during inspections found out the sewer had some serious root intrusion out into the street. Thus, the whole old clay system needed to be replace. Thankfully, the seller eventually did credit us for most of the work. We had ended up getting three quotes for the price to fix the whole thing. Initially Martinez Construction came tied for the highest bid, but they are a pretty solid company and are licensed and provide workman’s comp. The lower bid place did not provide that for their «independent contractors,» which I usually steer clear from. Additionally, Martinez construction was referred by my realtor, who had yet to steer us wrong, and he said they did quality work. The owner Dave was really great. He took the time to talk with us regarding our options and explained the process beautifully. In the end, the price they gave us was the one to beat. He was aware of how much the sellers gave us for the replacement and significantly dropped the price in order to work with us, so we only had to pay a little bit out of pocket. He also tried to get the work done as soon as possible, but the rain gave us a bit of a delay. He had the whole thing done in a little more than half a day, but needed to come back the next morning to finish the asphalt patch. As far as I know, they did everything right, quickly, and for a good price. The inspector signed off on it fine and everything was left in good condition. So, all in all, I would recommend this company and I have to say that Dave is a really great guy. I don’t know why they have not been reviewed on Unilocal yet, but I thought I had to do it becasue I am always using this site to find people who are not going to screw me over. Also note that as of my posting this, the website link under the buisness name on this site is not right– it apparetnly goes to a southern CA company.