Zume Builders

During the pandemic, we purchased a home in Hillsborough and undertook a major renovation that took the house to the studs. We interviewed half a dozen GCs and were very lucky that we choose Jimmy Cai at Zume Builders to quarterback our project. Jimmy and Zume Builders were highly recommended to us by two of my colleagues who used Zume as GCs, one major renovation, one new build. He didn’t come with all the fancy marketing, but he was exactly who I was looking for: responsive, flexible, experienced, and most importantly, trustworthy. We started off the process with a fairly modest scope, but as we went through the process, we expanded the scope significantly that we took the house completely to studs and built a new one. Throughout the project, Jimmy was always available to explain the pros and cons, help us with timely revisions, and also proactive in communicating upcoming work. We undertook this whole project right in the middle the pandemic when everybody in America seemed to be building a home yet Jimmy somehow managed to arrange all of the subcontractors to work on the house at the right time. There really wasn’t a time that there isn’t a crew or two making progress on the house, which in retrospect, was amazing. One of the main requirements I had was to finish as soon as practical. I have young kids and a big reason to move was to give them more space as they grow. I wanted to avoid at all cost that we get sucked into all the minute details of a perfect house but spend years building it, while the kids grew up without it. Jimmy understood this acutely and from the day we met him to the day we moved in: 18 months, in the middle of a pandemic, for a large home taken down to the studs! Jimmy is a trustworthy person, and I cannot stress enough how important that is in our case, as we expanded scope significantly. We’ve heard really bad stories from close friends that they chose GCs (that came with excellent reviews) who underbid the job and when the owners either encounter the unexpected or decide to expand the scope, that’s when they jack up the price, knowing it’s very difficult to change GC mid-way through a project. With Jimmy, we never had to worry – he’s always fair and transparent about pricing. We have now lived in our home for over a year, and we couldn’t be happier. Any minor issues (not many) we encountered were promptly addressed by Jimmy. If you are looking for a GC who you can trust, understands your need, and always available, be sure to reach out to Jimmy and the Zume Builder team. I highly recommend!

Michael did a great job renovating our house in Los Altos. For us, Michael was not only a general contractor, but also a designer and consultant. We had no experience in renovating houses, but Michael guided us through the whole process. He took the time to understand our needs and make great recommendations. For example, Michael designed our kitchen skylight which was dated, and it turned out amazing. We love the modern look and the auto open/close feature recommended by Michael. We had a designer for our master bathroom in the beginning but decided we didn’t need one for the rest of the house because Michael was like one. We loved all of his ideas and he also let us know when we had terrible ideas. Michael was also great at helping us manage the budget. Our house was a fixer upper, but not everything needed to be redone. For example, we didn’t like the windows and were considering replacing them. But Michael recommended a fresh paint instead, which saved us a lot of money. Even after the house was done and we paid in full, Michael was still very responsible and came back a few times to make sure everything was perfect. We highly recommend Michael for your renovation projects. If you’re looking for a general contractor who does amazing work and requires minimal supervision, Michael is the one!

We hired Zume builders in the middle of our project because our previous contractor bailed after doing a terrible job, and Zume build absolutely rescued us from a nightmare situation. Their sales manager Alan did a very thorough job crafting a quote and walked us through each line item by item. He was very patient and perfectly willing to work with us to modify the contract to our requirement. Because they took over another contractor's shoddy work, there was a lot of extra work on Zume's side to crafted the correct scope of work. We've gotten quotes from 10 contractors, but no one else came close to Alan's level of attention to details on his paperwork. Jimmy is our GC/project manager. He has decades of experience in the industry. We love the fact he's bilingual and fluent in Mandarine/Cantonese, which makes it easier for our parents to communicate with him. He is very hard working and visit our job site daily, and alert us immediately on any issues or if he has any questions. When a new sub needs to start work, that's usually communicated out days in advance so we know what is and will happen on the. When a decision is required, he always lay out all the available options, explains all the pros and cons, and let us make the final decision. He will come in to inspect all the details in each phase, and even do addition work himself when he finds things not up to his standard. He tracks our job's progress very closely and always know which subs will show up to do what work. Then his sub team will show up on time and on schedule. We had a few other indepedant contractors that worked on single items (roof, backyard) that was hired before Zume, and Jimmy worked closely with them on scheduling without additional charge. Jimmy will also give us recommendation on material purchase, let us know the important criteria to picking equipment and materials, and give us recommendations on stores to visit for purchasing. Over all, our job finished on time and on budget with minor additional change order, mostly because we wanted to add more things. All inspections were passed first time. We took our house down to studs and Jimmy's team were able to repair all the crappy work left by the previous contractor before proceeding to rebuild our home. We are now moved in and can't be happier with our brand new home. This house use to be the out-dated with mis-matching style and a long list of structure issues, and now it looks like one of those million dollar homes shown on TV completely with new hardwood floor, modern kitchen, and wall-to-wall tiled bathrooms. This remodel turned out even better than I imagined and my family couldn't be happier. Zume isn't the cheapest contractor in our search, nor the more expensive, but they definitely deliver out-standing result at reasonable price.

Generally speaking, home remodels are stressful. Layer on a pandemic smack dab in the middle of your project and it can be outright disastrous. Luckily, Zume Builders was our GC with Jimmy as our project manager and our project was only delayed by the amount of time where our county did not allow residential construction during SIP. Jimmy is extremely detail-oriented and client-oriented. He is proactive in communicating what upcoming decisions he needs from us with advanced notice. No last minute rush, which I really can appreciate. Jimmy also thinks ahead to either anticipate or mitigate any issues that could come up down the line. And when we did have snags in the road (any project will no matter how well you plan!), he presented practical and cost effective solutions. Jimmy also responds to questions quickly and in a timely manner - and trust me, as novices to the construction world, we had many, many questions. Lastly, our neighbors complimented that his crew was considerate, pleasant and tidy. I highly recommend Zume Builders and would not hesitate to hire them again for another project.

Jimmy and his team from MSJ did an excellent job modernizing our home. There were a lot of changes to be made within a tight timeline but Jimmy made it all happen. We were constantly updated on the progress through the BuilderTrend App and notified if any schedule changes were needed. Jimmy was always readily available to answer any questions throughout the process and resourceful in finding solutions to any issues that came up along the way. Their flexibility and willingness to make sure everything was done to our satisfaction was greatly appreciated. Our new home looks wonderful! I highly recommend Zume Builders for any remodeling needed.

Jimmy and his team were wonderful to work with. He was prompt and timely when addressing our questions and concerns. Jimmy was mindful of our tight budget, offering additional ways to cut costs that still aligned with what we wanted in the end. He was very diligent with the daily logs on the BuilderTrend app, providing us pictures on the project's progress and keeping us updated on any schedule impacts. Our neighbors appreciated Zume Builders' mindfulness of their construction work and checked in with them as needed.

I am normally hesitant to recommend a contractor, but I have no hesitation with Zume. These guys are the real deal. Michael is a hands-on owner and PM, but he knows how to partner and delegate to great people. This enables the company to get things done quickly without sacrificing attention to detail. Alan is a complete straight shooter. He is phenomenal at making sure the project is a good fit for a client’s goals and budget. If it’s not, he will tell you with no equivocation. I have been in the industry for over 20 years and have almost never seen this level of skill at their craft coupled with this level of transparency.

We hired Michael to rebuild our home and it has been a great decision. Rebuilding a home takes a team effort and in our case we worked very closely with Michael even before we broke ground. He played an instrumental role in our building permitting process, which I think is unusual and exceptional. During the build process, there are a million things to think about and make decisions on. Michael has made that process relatively painless because he has deep relationship with a lot of quality vendors and he is in constant communication with us. So we are aware of the project's process. Time and time again his team has proven to be flexible and resourceful in solving issues that come up. And to add to all of that, he is a certified green rater for the city of Palo Alto, so he can add value for you there as well. So overall, I would highly recommend Zume Builder and in particular for Michael to be your project manager.

Zume Builders hit the nail on the head on my top three requirements for a builder: quality, trustworthiness and on-budget. They were quite accommodating with the unique requirements of our major remodel and did their utmost to make sure that everything got done to our satisfaction. Being an engineer myself, I rarely give a five star on a review, but Zume Builders have earned my stars.

MSJ Construction is truly one of the top tier builders in Bay Area, and their quality and attention to details are what separates them from the rest. From the top of the organization to the bottom they are geared towards high-end construction and meeting the most demanding customer’s needs. There are few contractors that have the ability to execute projects of the size and scope that they routinely perform and this is due to their team's size, depth of experience and knowledge built up over decades."

Michael Chau from MSJ Construction is our general contractor. We are in the foundation stage of our new construction project in Palo Alto, CA. Michael submitted a detailed, competitive bid and had solid references. We loved his prior experience as a builder for his own state of the art mixed-use property and his contemporary design sensibilities. Most importantly, Michael was prompt in communication and easy to interact with. Those were reasons why we signed him for our project. It certainly helps to have a contractor who is an engineer by trade with prior technology industry experience. Michael uses the latest technology available to builders to share construction progress reports. Communicating with him has been like communicating with colleagues in the office - easy and efficient. He also seems to enjoy the trust and support of material vendors and sub-contractors he works with. Michael joined me on vendor calls / visits, and provided useful input to help make the right trade-offs at our first few decision points so far - e.g. selecting folding doors and radiant heating system. He attends seminars on new building technologies and is open to constant learning. He is also flexible and willing to try new materials and methods to help us realize our architect's and our vision. For e.g. Michael is currently looking for ways to support us on our desire to use the Tesla solar-roof for our project, despite the uncertainty surrounding its first availability. He is creatively thinking ahead to provide schedule flexibility for the Tesla solar-roof via an economical interim roofing option so other project tasks won't be held-up due to lack of weatherproofing. Based on our experience so far, I am happy to recommend MSJ Construction Inc.