Questions Before You Hire a Contractor?Let’s Start With Our FAQ.

Call (408) 208-0551, use the form on the contact page, or email info@avisbuildersanddesign.com, and we arrange a visit at the property. It is free, nothing has to be signed, and there is no obligation. We walk the space with you and talk about what you want changed against what the house will allow. Budget comes up at that visit, before anything is drawn or priced.

Anything that already exists on paper, such as drawings, an HOA packet, a home inspection report or a previous contractor’s scope. Also bring photos of rooms you like, the one thing that made you start looking, and a rough budget range you are willing to say out loud. A budget range is not a trap. It lets a scope be built around it.

Reach out by phone, form or email and we arrange the visit. After the walkthrough comes design and layout, then a written scope, the permit submittal and plan check, the build with staged inspections, and a final walkthrough with a written punch list. The first step is the only one with nothing attached to it.

A number produced before anyone has seen the house is either padded to be safe or wrong in your favor. Price depends on what is in the building, such as the foundation type, remaining electrical capacity, the condition of the drains, earlier framing changes, and whether any paint or glue predates 1978. None of that is visible from the driveway.

We don’t publish durations, because a schedule quoted before we see the house is a sales figure. Design and selections, plan check, material lead times, inspections and surprises behind walls all set the schedule. The one that means something is written into your scope next to your payment milestones.

Yes. We run an indoor team and an outdoor team under one licensed general contractor, so a project that spans both runs under one agreement.

Yes. We hold CSLB License #1142220, classification B, General Building, current and active. A $25,000 bond through American Contractors Indemnity and workers’ compensation coverage through the State Compensation Insurance Fund are on the record.

Search the license number on the Contractors State License Board’s public lookup. Read the status, classification, bond and workers’ compensation entries, and check that the name on the license matches the name on the contract and on the check you write.

It covers projects that need at least two unrelated building trades, which includes most remodels. It does not stand in for a specialty license on single-trade work. No C-class classification is on our license, so specialty portions of a project go to appropriately licensed subcontractors.

No. The bond is a fixed amount filed with the state as a condition of the license, and it is not insurance on your job. What protects you is a written scope, a change order process, and lien releases from subcontractors and suppliers.

In California, subcontractors and suppliers can record a claim against your property if they aren’t paid, even if you paid the general contractor in full. A lien release from each party, collected with each progress payment, is the protection. Ask for them by name in the contract.

California caps the down payment on a home improvement contract at $1,000 or ten percent of the contract price, whichever is less. That applies to every licensed contractor. Later payments should follow completed work.

The building department with jurisdiction over your address. Addresses inside city limits are permitted through that city, and each city runs its own counter, plan review and inspections. An unincorporated address goes through Santa Clara County.

Structural, plumbing, electrical and mechanical work generally needs one, such as moving a wall, relocating a kitchen or bathroom, adding circuits, or changing a window opening. Cosmetic work like paint generally doesn’t. Thresholds vary by jurisdiction, so we confirm with the correct department.

The plan set goes to the authority with jurisdiction, and comments come back. Correction comments are normal. Answering them, revising the drawings and resubmitting is our job, not something handed back to you.

It is common. Generally you either apply to legalize the existing work, which can mean opening finished surfaces for inspection, or remove and rebuild it to something permittable. We identify it at the consultation and write down what we think it involves.

For many single-family projects, plans can be prepared without a licensed architect. Once the work touches structure, plan check will usually want stamped calculations from an engineer or architect. We identify both requirements during design and state them in writing.

Neither. They are two separate approvals from two separate parties. Send us the HOA packet early, because HOA review and plan check can often run alongside each other.

What is included and what is excluded, which items are allowances, who prepares the submittal and pulls the permit, whether permit fees are in the price, a payment schedule tied to milestones, the change order process, the labor warranty terms, and the legal entity holding the license.

Compare scope line by line, then allowances, exclusions, who pulls the permit, whether engineering is carried, payment schedules and warranty terms in writing. Then check each license number and entity name. Bids far apart on price are usually far apart on those answers.

A placeholder figure for something you haven’t chosen yet, like tile, fixtures or appliances. Compare them item by item and ask what grade of product each one buys and what happens to the price when a selection comes in over or under.

Describe the change, price it, get it signed, then build it. Changes come from things discovered behind surfaces, plan check requirements, or your own decisions. An agreement to sort it out at the end is how projects end in arguments.

Financing is available through a third-party lender, so the loan agreement is between you and the finance company. Approval, rate and terms are theirs to set. The scope, permit, inspections and labor warranty are the same whether a project is financed or paid directly.

Both are applied to the written proposal. Raise it at the consultation, before a proposal is prepared. Who qualifies and what the figure comes to are settled in that document.

It covers workmanship, meaning how something was installed, flashed, waterproofed, fastened or finished. It is separate from a manufacturer’s product warranty. It doesn’t cover normal wear or work somebody else altered. The terms go in writing alongside your scope.

Drawings, usually yes, and the earlier the better. When you supply materials, responsibility for them moves to you, and a workmanship warranty covers the installation, not the product. Get the split written into the scope.

Start in the room, not a showroom. Notice what fails, such as where storage runs out or where two people collide, and write it down, because that is your brief. Photograph the room, measure it roughly, and find the electrical panel. The biggest budget question is whether the sink, range or a wall moves, since that means drains, circuits, framing and a permit.

Yes. Design services and 3D design and planning are services we offer. Whether design is included in a particular project is settled in the written scope, so raise it at the consultation and have it named in the document.

A layout resolved against what the house allows, selections made before pricing so allowances become real numbers, and decisions made on paper, where changing your mind costs a revision rather than a change order.

It depends on the scope. Where work can be phased so a working kitchen or bathroom always remains, staying is often workable. Where the only bathroom is being gutted, it usually isn’t. We settle it at the consultation, before demolition.

By containing it at the boundary with temporary barriers, plastic over openings, floor and stair protection, and sealing heating and cooling returns in the work zone. Where any painted or glued material predates 1978, the federal renovation rule governs how it is disturbed and cleaned.

We agree it before the first day and write it into the scope: where vehicles park, where material is staged and where debris collects. Tell us at the consultation about any gate, shared driveway or tight turn.

Floors and stairs along the route, finishes that are staying, cabinetry, countertops and handrails. Move anything irreplaceable out of the work zone first. If damage happens, you should hear about it from us, and it is repaired or replaced.

With a walkthrough and a written punch list. The project is complete when that list is closed out and signed. Final inspection and permit closeout are part of the same finish line. Keep the closed permit, warranty document and lien releases together.

We build decks, pergolas and gazebos from San Jose across Santa Clara County and the wider Bay Area. We are a TREX PRO certified installer, and composite is a system with published spans, gapping and fastener details.

Frequently yes. A walking surface more than thirty inches above grade brings in guard requirements and permit review, and an attached deck adds ledger and lateral connections. Setback, lot coverage and drainage rules apply even when no permit is required. Preparing the submittal and meeting the inspector is our job.

Decide how you want to use it and at what time of day. Watch where the shade falls in the late afternoon, put seating where it is usable, and size the framing and footings for any cover from the start. Plan drainage, conduit and any gas run once, not twice.

Yes. A pergola is a load on the deck, so its posts must land on framing and footings sized for them. Retrofitting a cover onto a finished deck usually means pulling boards up and often new footings. Gas and electrical work is performed by the appropriately licensed trade under the general contract.

Ask about design at the consultation. We offer 3D design and planning, and whether it is included is settled in the written scope. Insist the drawing shows height above grade, where stairs land, guard style and where posts come down, and look at physical samples in your own yard.

San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Los Gatos, Campbell, Cupertino, Saratoga, Mountain View and Los Altos, from our San Jose base. Each city runs its own permit counter. Hillside properties above Los Gatos and Saratoga can sit in a fire hazard severity zone, which narrows the decking material list.