Sanco Builders

We hired Sanco Builders to do a top-​to-​bottom remodel of our mid-​peninsula condo. Built in the mid-​1960s, our place had undergone only some surface touch-​ups when we moved in 6 years ago, and we were hoping to significantly update the whole thing. Over 4 months, the Sanchez brothers (Cesar, Ishmael, and Juan) and their subs completely transformed the interior of our unit into a beautiful, contemporary space.
Overall craftsmanship and attention to detail were really outstanding. They were careful but really efficient and completed the job faster than I expected. Our walls, floors, cabinets, and lighting especially look flawless. They took extra steps to made sure that everything would look perfect when done — like moving a chandelier in a concrete ceiling without a trace of the prior fixture and installing high-​end RGB LEDs to backlight a custom bar area.
We also really appreciated that these guys were willing to work with us despite the significant headaches associated with work in a large condo building. They really seemed as invested as we were in creating a top-​notch end result. I can honestly say the finished product looks even better than I expected. And finally, on a personal level, these guys are just all around good, friendly, honest people and a pleasure to work with. Would highly recommend to anyone for a future project.

We count our lucky stars the day we met Cesar. He and his colleagues have truly transformed and revitalized our place. Even with only our modest budget, he was able to renovate our 1904 house with skilled craftsmanship. The crew does woodworking detail, tilework, structural support, painting, roofing, you name it! Our grounds are now more beautiful and functional thanks to the fencing, garden beds, and irrigation system installed My husband and I were very impressed with his professional and dedicated crew who took pride and care in their work. We appreciated the upfront honesty about costs and keeping within, for the most par, t the proposed budget (not all roof costs could be predicted until work begun, but this we were warned of). Cesar’s referrals for specialty jobs, like tree-​trimming and gutter installation were also good. Whatever your needs, Cesar will have the answer and you will be happy with the price and outcome. Cesar is big hearted too, and donated labor for a project at the school where I teach at. We met Cesar when he was doing a favor for his neighbor, which typifies his generous spirit. He cares about you and your home and it shows.

So I think they did an ok job. They were nice and largely professional, but some of the subs they employed were mediocre to just bad. I’ll concentrate on their floor guy, because he is the one you really want to avoid, but i’d watch the granite counter people (ours were put on crooked at first) and the plaster people (the tile guy had to refuse to do his work because our walls looked pregnant after the first try) closely.
Here’s what went wrong with the flooring guy (name is Manuel).
He broke our living room table when moving it for the floor installation. He then pretended to not have broken it. Cesar did reprimand him for that and gave us a discount on something to make up for it. Annoying but not a debacle.
We did a nail down installation. Nail down should not mean that you face nail (e.g., nails through the top of the board rather than hidden on the sides) the hell out of boards in different random places and that you need to go three boards into the room. We had another wood floor installer nail down the same floors throughout our bottom floor and I can literally only see one or two nail heads. Upstairs there are dozens. They aren’t consistent in terms of placement and they aren’t well patched well and it looks like crap.
He left a large scratch across two boards while installing. The scratch wouldn’t have been that noticeable (didn’t get under the stain), except someone tried to buff it out creating an off color sheen on the boards and drawing attention. When confronted on it of course the wood guy blamed someone else. When called back to fix it he said he’d have to tear out the board and face nail down another and that it would look worse. Our second flooring contractor had a different opinion that it could certainly be done without face nailing but would take a fair amount of careful work and he needed a matching board.
Basically it looks like the job was done quick and dirty. Several boards are scraped on the sides or ends or not entirely flush. This was our first wood floor installation experience so we just figured that’s how it goes, but we then had another contractor do the downstairs and we have none of those defects. The job was done quick, dirty and careless.
But worst of all, the floors started buckling less than a year later! How they could buckle with all those nails in them I couldn’t figure out, but our other floor contractor came back, ripped up the worst board and told us that there was zero expansion space left to accommodate for movement. A quick check of the internet seems to indicate that leaving expansion space is the most obvious thing you must do, especially with wide plank flooring. While the new contractor was able to fix the worst board, we are now out of matching wood to replace other areas that are showing early signs of buckling. These are prefinished floors so each lot is stained and comes out a little differently. So once again, as with so many things with this flooring contractor, we are left with the decision of bad or worse. When you pay so much money you shouldn’t be left with the decision of bad or worse. It should just be done well.

Sanco did magnificent work when we were converting our newly purchased house’s livingroom. Sanco stone tile specialists and custom floor installers were quick very accomplished and fast. And prices are highly competitive.

We hired Cesar and Ulisses (+ his team) to insulate and finish (drywall) our 2 car garage, as well as install a new side door, and redid our electrical switches and lights throughout the garage. They did a spectacular job, on budget, and on time. They truly exceeded our expectations. They painted everything, including our loft, installed drywall on our vaulted garage ceilings brilliantly (with some extra structural work), and made the garage look pristine — better than we could have expected. Cesar did not nickle & dime us at all. The estimate he gave us was the final amount, and he was a pleasure to work with. He checked regularly on the quality/​work of his team, and kept in touch with us in person. I would highly recommend Cesar and his team for similar work. I’m quite sure we’ll be calling him again soon enough for some work under the house.

We were referred to Cesar via our interior designer and we are so grateful to have found him. Before we moved into our home there was a laundry list of non-​sexy projects that we wanted to get done: remove some dry rot, remove some weird concrete slabs in backyard, refinish hardwood floors, install new lighting, paint interior, etc. We had a tight three-​week schedule and Cesar worked magic to get everything done.
There was one instance in particular that really stands out. We started with a painter recommended by a friend. As the painter started working, he kept saying that things that I was asking him to do were outside the scope of his bid (minor touch-​ups, etc.). As the hours went on things got more and more frustrating, Cesar was able to help us get a replacement painter (Moises) at the last minute. Cesar, Moises, and his team got it done in time and without any nickel and diming.
Cesar is great and he really makes you feel like you’re a priority. His team was wonderful and I couldn’t recommend them more. We probably have some more work on our house to do and we’ll definitely be calling them again.

I met Cesar Sanchez by accident — my wife and I were new to the Bay Area and doing some design work to overhaul our garage, and the designer didn’t have the capacity to do any of the construction work, so he called Cesar’s cellphone, and 15 minutes later, I met the guy who literally made our first year in the Bay Area a joy. I couldn’t believe a busy construction guy would drop whatever he was doing and get to our house in no time — and make our very small project a priority. But he did, and that’s only the beginning of what I could say about Cesar, who always seems to make us a priority, no matter how small the project. Responsiveness and attention to detail, however, is only the beginning.
Cesar has a background in design — so he brings enormous judgment to any construction project, major or minor, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of building codes, structural elements, and design features — all wrapped into a practical approach which allows him to create extremely tasteful high-​end projects in a cost-​effective and efficient manner — making design choices that allocate resources for the highest impact.
He is honest, forthright, thoughtful, considerate, conscientious, and unbelievably talented. We’ve remodeled a number of properties on the east coast, and we have never found a more enjoyable and talented partner. And just in case anyone were to think this is just about Cesar as a person — let me say a few words about the team at Sanco. Cesar has assembled a team of workers and strategic trade partners (many of them friends and family members) who are not only skilled at what they do, but also share Cesar’s passion for customer service. They show up early, stay late, do a fantastic job, finish ahead of schedule, and never leave until their customers expectations have been far exceeded. I could go on further, but I think you get the picture… Hire them. You won’t regret it.

Sanco Builders of Half Moon Bay rank among the best in San Mateo County.
Led by Cesar Sanchez, they are spot on in terms of their quality of work,
work ethic and meeting their budget and timeline goals. We could not
be happier with the results of the work they did for us. They have an outstanding
crew, all very skilled and hard working.

I hired Cesar and his team from Sanco Builders this spring to landscape our front and back yards in San Mateo, along with some living room demolition and restoration work.
As my rating suggests, we had only a so-​so experience. Here is a summary of how the job went:
Landscaping (4 stars): In the end, I was pretty happy with how the front and backyards turned out. The sub contractor who sometimes works on Cesar’s jobs (Ramon/R.L. Landscaping) is very knowledgeable and works hard. We had a couple issues with our fence installation and some plants not planted evenly spaced, but overall, I can’t complain much about the quality. The one very annoying issue I did face with Cesar was that halfway through the job, he mentioned to me that his quote did not include the section of my yard on the other side of my driveway (like 10% of my front yard!). He charged me and additional $ 450 to add sprinklers and new sod to that area (read: felt nickled and dimed).
Internal work (2 stars): The guy Cesar subcontracted this work out to was really bad. Room entry way corners not 90 degree angles, the fireplace was not symmetrical on each side, hardwood floors ruined by duct tape, etc. To make matters worse, Sanco put me in the position to argue why I thought the quality was bad. At one point, another one of Sanco’s subcontractors even mentioned to me that the company has had previous issues with the quality of the drywaller’s work. Cesar denied this when I asked him about it. Needless to say, I cannot recommend Sanco for any work inside the house that take craftsmanship.
Project Management (2 stars): This could be just me, but Cesar’s and my personalities just clashed. He worked hard to make me feel that I was lucky that he chose to take on my project. On no less than 2 occasions (for the 5 week project), Cesar threatened to leave the project uncomplete. And whenever I had to confront him about the quality of his team’s work, I felt he took it as a personal attack moved quickly to denial. Towards the end of the project, there were still many things left incomplete and done incorrectly. Cesare ended up subtracting $ 900 from my final invoice so that I could hire someone else to finish. I had mixed feeling about this, as I don’t think everything left would cost quite that much, but I do now have to hire someone else to complete the unattractive job of cleaning up someone else’s work.
Cesar presented a phenomenal sales pitch to me (one of the reasons I ultimately chose him for the job) and mentioned that 100% of his clients were totally satisfied with his work. Hopefully he alters this line slightly moving forward.
Lastly, I want to say that Sanco’s «Number 2 Guy,» Ismael, was really great. If he ran the company, I think the outcome would have been much better. When debating whether or not to give the company an overall 2 or 3 star rating, I decided to go with 3 due the the great experience working with him.
Overall, I could recommend going with the landscaping subcontractor Sanco hires (R.L. Landcaping), but I cannot recommend working with Sanco Builders.