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 A-1 Construction builds custom decks, fencing, stairs, wood retaining walls, repairs dry rot, replaces siding and trim, and installs windows and doors. We serve beautiful Marin County and Sonoma County in Northern California. A-1 Construction provides its customers with the highest quality construction services possible while maintaining the best safety record and on-time construction services anywhere.

At A-1 Construction we will commit our individual and team talents to your project. A-1 Construction is a fully equipped construction company with low rates, the highest quality and dependable service anywhere. 

So what makes projects by A-1 Construction such a great value? Owner Michael Quinlan explains, "A-1 Construction is committed to excellence and your satisfaction is guaranteed. A-1 Construction's mission is to give you the best customer service possible and to use our innovative methods to build the highest quality product at the lowest possible price while exceeding performance expectations, and to insure that our products give years of trouble free service for you and your family."

Our promise to our customers

 If in the building process or after the project is completed you have a question, concern or a problem we will be there to take care of it in a friendly and responsible manor.

A-1 Construction has been licensed in the state of California since 3/21/1987, license # 504375.  

Tips for dealing with contractors

The Contractors state license board has guides and pamphlets

Welcome to the State of California

 

 NEW Tip: I have noticed that some people think that an immigrant, that says he is a "contractor", has lower prices than a licensed contractor. Because of that misguided belief they don't get any bids from licensed contractors. Many times consumers are being overcharged by the unlicensed immigrant contractor. Just the other day I bid on a fence, for a repeat customer who was upset because she was sure her neighbor was trying to charge her to much for 25' of property line fence. The neighbor had gotten a quote from an unlicensed immigrant contractor. This guy was building a deck for her neighbor and was going to do the fence work for $2,500.00. I did the work for under $1,000.00. By the way the deck replacement he was doing was a mess. No beams, no bolts and no hardware at all. He was sticking boards in the ground and nailing the deck joists to the vertical boards in the ground and calling it good. This maybe the way they do things south of the border but it is not the correct way. This guy was no carpenter and had no idea what he was doing.

 The unlicensed immigrant "contractor" knows that consumers think they are cheaper than a licensed contractor so they are actually charging the consumer allot more and getting away with it. The thing is that the consumers are not checking to see if the price they are getting is a good one. They assume it is the best they can get. The smart thing to do is to compare bids from licensed contractors. A license contractor with a long standing account at the lumber yard can get a much better price on lumber than a person who does not have an account or a relationship with the lumber yard. There by making up for the lower cost in labor for the unlicensed immigrant contractor while maintaining the high standards that a licensed contractor has been trained to build by.

 These guys do odd jobs they are not specialist. They will never tell you that they don't no how to do the work. They don't have the correct tools or experience to do the job correctly. You should ask yourself? Are they using nails when they should be using bolts? From what I have seen the answer is yes. Do they know that today's pressure treated fir lumber will dissolve uncoated steel nails and steel bolts? The answer is no! The work may look ok on the outside when it is completed but will it last? It's what you don't see that make a project safe. With a licensed contractor you have a recourse if you have a problem, with a pretend contractor you don't. A gardener is not a carpenter he is a gardener!

***** Tip:   Today's pressure treated fir has amine copper quat  (ACQ) in it. The copper will react with steel over time and corroded it.  If the framing in your project is to use pressure treated fir then you must use either stainless steel, triple zinc or hot dipped galvanized hardware or risk the fasteners corroding until they fail. I have seen steel hardware corroded by amine copper quat there was almost nothing left this is no joke.

 Tip: Contractors can only ask for a down payment of 10 percent of the cost of the job or $ 1,000.00 whichever figure is less.

 Tip: All contractors are required to post there license number on all advertisements. Including there truck if they are advertising on it. All California state contractors license numbers have six digits. If any numbers are missing or there are extra numbers the contractor may not be what he say he is. A business license is not a contractors license. Anyone can buy a business license.

 Tip: You can tell how long a contractor has been licensed by how low his or her number is. The lower the number the longer the contractor has been in business legally. If a contractor has a number that starts in the eights or nine hundred thousands then the contractor is a newly licensed contractor.

Tips on permits and fence laws.

 Tip: A fence within the first 16' of a street or driveway. Can "legally" only be 4' high with the top 1' being 80 percent open.

 Tip: A side or back fence can only be 6' high without a permit. If you want to go up to 8' high, all building departments will require you to get a permit. If both side or back neighbors are on friendly terms and agree to the fence being above 6' in height then you probably will not have a problem if you don't get a permit. Most building departments will not red tag a fence at 7'-8' high unless someone complains about it, but it can happen.

**** A note of caution when using Home Depot pressure treated fir lumber for ground contact projects like fencing. Home depot pressure treated fir lumber is not rated for ground contact. They only carry .21 rated pressure treated fir lumber you need at least .40 P.T.F. lumber for ground contact. You can find the sticker with its rating stapled to the end of  each piece of lumber..

 Quote of the day

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

By Marcus Aurelius

 

Contact Information:

Telephone:

Marin:

(415)  516-8252

Sonoma:

(707) 588-8010

FAX:

(707) 588-8010

Mailing address:
 
P.O. Box 151454
      San Rafael, Ca. 94915-1454

Locations:

213 El Prado Ave
      San Rafael, Ca. 94903
1200 Holly Ave
      Rohnert Park, Ca. 94928

Electronic mail:

 General Information: info@a-1construction.com
 Sales: Sales@a-1construction.com     
Customer: Support: Support@a-1construction.com
Webmaster: Webmaster@a-1construction.com 

 

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