In 1996 Palo Alto, a building contractor makes about 2 to 4 times per hour as a scientist with a Ph.D. from a good university. However, this does not mean you get that much better a job; if you were able to get a Ph.D. you can get a contractor's license with less than a week's study (you do not need to be dextrous), and the coverage amount of the required bond is only $7,5000 while you get a lien on the client's house. Contractors often hire "hands" they typically pay a quarter of a scientist's salary, so the people actually doing the work are not necessarely skilled either (on top of getting bad supervision) and may not be that motivated.

To pay for a higher life style, contractors tend to do only big jobs and are reluctant to accept "small" jobs. Often the builder of a new home in Palo Alto just did an IPO and the remodeller of an existing home just got a 6-digit bonus. This attracts to this area many contractors that want to get rich fast. As everything in the U.S., price is not correlated to quality but to business accumen. If you get a bad contractor, you lose because you cannot sue (a construction lawyer charges $350 per hour and the contractor is richer than you) and the contractor has a lien on your house. On the positive side, a good contractor who is competent and likes his job is not necessarely expensive.

You cannot say a contractor is bad, because he can sue you for libel, so the most important rule to shop for contractors is to get recommendations from people you can trust. I do not know if you trust me, but here are some people who did a good job for me. My experience is that construction skills are on a logarithmic scale, i.e., people do either a good or a bad job; there is a big difference between bad and fair, while fair and good are pretty close.

We personally had very positive experiences with the following entities in the San Fancisco Bay Area and Mid-Peninsula in particular.

Check MyGoodContractor.com for quality contractors and service professionals recommended by other homeowners.