Sonoma Contracting

Sonoma

Mike finished our basement this summer and I would absolutely recommend them for future projects. The workmanship was superb and Mike (the owner) was a pleasure to deal with.

The project came in very close to budget (within 5%), and high quality.
I would recommend Sonoma for any future projects.

Highlights:
Quality of work: Outstanding. All finishes are very nice, good craftsmanship. Mike picks his trades carefully, knows exactly what they can do and their quality of work.
Very close to budget: I expected more deviation from the budget, given some of the changes that were made and extras that were needed (we had a leak in a wall that was impossible to find and turned out to be an appliance leaking), the floor needed more leveling than expected. Mike was forthright that these were extras but needed to be addressed.
Reliable: If Mike said he was coming by, he would come by and he makes sure his people come by. I've had nightmare experiences where people would tell you they would be there at 8 am, and they would arrive at 2pm, and treat you as if you were wrong. This is not the case with Mike. There were a few occasions that the time was not exact, but its to be expected with a project of this nature.
Communication: Fantastic. Mike was very good about letting us know when workman were would be here and which days someone would be in.
Flexibility: Mike would accomodate what ever changes or timing that was needed. I travel a lot for work, and Mike could always accomodate my schedule and the dates I would be away, to make sure decisions were made ahead of time to keep things moving, or to make sure I was available to verify each step.
Very fair: We had an issue with our vanity, that the supplier shipped a wrong piece and the installer tried to modify it to work. We weren't happy with the result, and Mike was more than happy to split to repair cost with the supplier to make sure we were satsified.

Things I would have done differently
Any extra work, I would treat as a separate project and evaluate each of the personnel doing those projects independently. Mike's trades are exactly what he needs to do the job he has set forth, if there are any extra jobs or items, Mike puts you in touch with the trade and tell you to negotiate on your own. Given the timing I just used the people suggested. (some worked out great, and others didn't)
we had some extra HVAC work, and Mike put us in contact with his HVAC person. They were fantastic.. one of the best experiences I've had. I would absolutely use them again.
We wanted some home theater wiring, so again we made contact with his Home Theater guy. Unfortunately, I didn't do my due diligence and I didn't have a clear idea of competitive pricing or the nature or cost of the job. The job ended up being significantly more than I expected, and didn't deliver exactly what I wanted. This is not Mike's or his trades fault, as I should have sat down, given my expectations, and gotten quotes on the pricing from a few services. This may have been a very good competitive price.. but I didn't feel I had the value for what was spent.
Planning, planning planning. I would definitely had a very detailed well defined plan up front. (possibly even hired someone to make the plan for me), Mike was great for delivering what you wanted, but unfortunately, there were times that a decision needed to be made quickly that I had not anticipated. For example, where do the light switches go, where do you want each electrical plug? Mike has great ideas and advice, but normally, when he is asking, there is an urgency for an immediate decision, and I normally want alot more time to evaluate. This again isn't Mike's fault, you are paying him to make the project happen.. so if you want time to think through all the possibilities, its during the planning stage.
I would have gotten a better breakdown of the cost estimate. Mike was great about keeping on budget, but it may have relieved some of the concern about costs, if we had a better idea of what some of the 'extra's we were asking for were going to cost. For example, Mike has a budget set aside for the bathroom, but we sourced the vanity separately and paid for it separately. During the final payments this was taken into consideration, but we didn't really know how much was originally budgeted.. similar for choosing tiles, flooring etc. We didn't know the price point that was budgeted, so we didn't know if we were very far off and it would be a significant cost or not. As it turns out, it was pretty close to budget, but for peace of mind, a better upfront breakdown would have been better.
Things to be aware of.

Timelines: Because Mike hand picks his trades, there are often gaps when people are working on your project. This may also extend timelines. But for our purposes, quality of work and maintaining costs were more important than timing, so we had no issues with this.

In summary, I would definitely use Sonoma in the future and would highly recommend Mike.