The Sampson Project

"We are pleased with how well the project has turned out. Notably we have been very impressed by the diligence of your employees, their sensitivity to keeping the work area orderly and, of course, the excellence shown in all of the building tasks. They also showed a sensitivity to our comments and a willingness to work through the details, with us, of any of the changes that were being made. We also liked that you submitted the invoices in a timely manner with explanatory details of the work accomplished. We would not hesitate to recommend you to anyone."

Rita & Wallace Sampson

The Lofrumento Project

"To Pete, Derrick, Nate, Lisa
& everyone else at Testorff Construction who helped—

THANK YOU!

We are so happy with the results. The house not only looks great, but it works great & feels great.

It's wonderful to be back home & we appreciate all you did you get us such great results."

Best,
Lucy Lofrumento & Myron Brody

The Russo Project

"Over the course of our project, there was never a moment of doubt about our decision to hire Testorff Construction. Pete was always approachable and worked tirelessly to keep us on time and on budget. We always felt well informed and a part of the process. There were no surprises or hidden costs throughout the course of construction.

There are several reasons why Testorff Construction ended up being the right choice for our remodel, but high on the list was the quality of the crew Pete had at our site. Pete and his staff are all skilled craftsmen who take a great deal of pride in their work. It is clear Pete has instilled a strong work ethic in his employees. From demolition to finish work; talent, efficiency, and client satisfaction were never in short supply. The same was true for sub-contractors Pete hired in terms of quality, cost and promptness.

We love cooking in our new kitchen, hanging out on the new deck, getting a better view from the living room, having an office and a pantry, walking into a closet, and having more than one bathroom sink for four people...and we only have Pete to blame.

We're still scratching our heads trying to figure out why people moan so much about their construction projects. Hire Pete of you want the same kind of confusion."

Jake Russo and Lorena Bischoff

The Byrd Project

"Pete Testorff & his crew have proven to be exceptional craftsmen as well as very pleasant & professional men to do business with.

My home, which is situated on the southerly facing cliff in Rio Del Mar, proved to have an extensive amount of dry rot. The men dealt with this, with as little inconvenience to everyone in my household as possible (I live with my 82 year-old mother & my conern is for as little discomfort for her as possible).

I was assisted on issues of colors, windows, doors as well as many other cosmetic aspects, much to my pleasure at the outcome. The advice I was given on safety & solidity of the structure was especially important to me. I now feel I have a home that will withstand a lifetime.

I have recommended Pete & his men to many of my friends & neighbors, & plan to use him when I remodel the nterior of the house.

Lastly, Pete's prices are fair & competitive & I am sure upon comparison this would be truly evident.

A special thank you to Kenny, Ramon, Nate, Derrick & to anyone else involved in this project."

Sincerely,
Leslie Byrd

The Landry/Kirk Project

"I cannot imagine a better contractor than Pete Testorff. I met him when I was new in the neighborhood, and I did not know of many local contractors. I got his name through an acquaintance's acquaintance. Now thinking of how much we lucked out... Our project was a complete home remodel, and no stone was left unturned. And it turned out to be virtually worry-free.

I quickly realized that I was dealing with a straight up and honest guy, who was truly my advocate. Pete is the strong leader of a skilled and conscientious team, so I actually had several people on my side. I was particularly impressed by Pete's ability to communicate clearly what he needed from me ahead of time, such as choices to make or actions to take. And I just left the rest up to him. That alone was good stress relief. Even though we had a creative designer on the team, Pete being a perfectionist with great taste - and sense of style - was crucial in orienting to the overall project, and markedly for specific aspects including decks and landscaping plan in the end, etc... Pete is definitely a team player and interacted with the other members of the team (designer, architect, AV, etc...) creating great synergy, but still placing the owner's interest first.

He got us good deals when he could, by shopping for several bids like for a stunning hand-made front door. Got us some outstanding elements out of poured concrete. Oh and he met his schedule... a rare feat for remodels, I am told. And as a side benefit, he was fun to work with!

I have high expectations for beauty, style and quality. My husband craves function, convenience and quality (also). Our home turned out more beautiful and perfect than we ever envisioned."

Caroline Landry, homeowner in Seacliff, Aptos

The Coffeng Project

"We selected Testorff Construction to build our home in 310 15th Ave. Santa Cruz Ca 95062 in late 2002. Demolition started in 03/03 and construction in 04/03, with the home completed in early 05/04. Our experience with Testorff Construction has been very good indeed and we would definitely go back to them in case of another project. Pete brings a lot of energy to the project, runs a disciplined crew, and has a great interest in doing a quality job. In addition, he has a good sense of aesthetics and we have been the beneficiary of same.

All in all, an excellent end-product, with-in a very acceptable time frame, and a competitive price. Please feel free to share this letter to any prospective clients."

Regards,
Hans Coffeng

The Meads Project Phase I & II

"To all potential clients of Testorff Construction:

After years of commuting, we both changed jobs and started working at home, rendering our two-bedroom, one-bath, 974-square foot house too small to accommodate two home offices. Our remodel project was challenging to us as homeowners as well as the contractors because we had to conduct our home office operations throughout the construction project. Further complicating matters, we have two indoor-only cats. Needless to say, we were apprehensive about hiring a contractor and spending months with construction workers in our home. After interviewing three contractors, we selected Testorff Construction to perform the project and are extremely happy we made that decision.

We had heard remodeling horror stories, such as the contractor bid low to get the job and then buried the client with change orders; showed up late and left early and never accounted for their hours; selected and installed materials without prior consent; underestimated the length of time to complete the project; hired unreliable subcontractors; failed to plan ahead to avoid project delays. None of these horror stories happened during our remodel.

The Testorff Construction crew always showed up on time and worked full days. It was almost disturbing to see how they continuously hustled and tried to outperform each other. They each take great pride in their work and craftsmanship. Throughout the project, everyone on the crew communicated with us and went out of their way to minimize impacts from noise and construction debris while we worked at home. Similar efforts were made to minimize disruptions to our home life. Although construction is inherently messy, the crew maintained a very clean and orderly construction site. They never let our cats escape. Throughout the project, every inspection performed by the City of Santa Cruz was approved the first time.

Our remodel was conducted in three phases to enable us to live and work at home throughout the project.

Phase I: Enclose the front porch; move the front door; build a 90-square foot winery attached to the garage.

Phase II: Build a765-square foot addition on the back of the house with an office/bedroom and master suite, and a wrap-around redwood deck.

Phase III: Remodel original house structure by removing walls, closets, and doorways to reconfigure hallway, utility room, and bedroom entries; replace existing windows; install central forced-air heating system; install 2.8-KV photovoltaic solar system; build new cabinets and counters for laundry room and pantry/bar; remove old brick fireplace and build new concrete fireplace; refloat all interior walls and ceilings; re-stucco entire exterior.

We are extremely happy with the quality of the craftsmanship throughout our house. The Testorff Construction crew is skilled not only in carpentry but also in plumbing, electrical, tile, painting, and custom concrete finishing. All of the tile work in our shower, kitchen floor, bathroom floor, hallway, and counter tops was performed by the crew with high quality. All of the plumbing installation and reconfiguring as well as the majority of the electrical work was also performed by the crew. Testorff Construction was able to save money on our project by minimizing the use of subcontractors. During the project, Peter Testorff provided numerous creative design and finish detail suggestions such as the beautiful custom concrete floors in the office/bedroom and master bathroom and the concrete fireplace.

The crew of Testorff Construction is a close-knit group as evidenced by their tenure with the company. Many of the crew who performed our remodel in 2002 still work for Testorff Construction. We wish to thank Peter Testorff and his crew: Bruce Begley, Dustin Biliske, Ken Cox, Steve Ilse, and Jeff Swain.

We highly recommend Testorff Construction to anyone for remodeling or new construction. Feel free to contact us at (831) 421-9828."

Sincerely,
George and Christine Mead

The Stockmann Project

"Before this recommendation is read we want to mention that we come from Europe and our English is unfortunately not well. Please apologize this.

When we remodeled and repaired our new bought house people felt sorry for us because they thought we were going through a very stressful time. But it wasn't stressful for us at all because we hired Pete Testorff who managed our big project and whose contractors did a great job. Once we had chosen the new materials (tiles, granite, marble, faucets, sinks, oven, vent, toilets, wall plates, wall mirrors etc) we didn't need to care about our project any more. Not stress but pleasant excitement we felt for some weeks when we went to the house in the late afternoon and saw the work which was done the hours before. Things needed to be mentioned only once and it was wonderful to see the house being repaired and remodeled step by step and not having any stress. This was only possible because of Pete's great management and the great work of his people.

We were impressed how clean the house stood during the remodeling though old tiles (on floor, on countertop, on backsplash), old hardwood floor, old appliances needed to be taken off and how fast this was done. The next step was the installation of the new materials and appliances. Pete's sub-contractors did a great job and we are very satisfied.

We appreciated very much that old damages on the house found during the remodeling were also repaired. Some siding needed to be replaced. Pete was looking for a new siding that matched the old one. This turned out to be a challenge because the company that produced the old siding doesn't exist any more. But Pete found one and the new siding matches great with the old siding. When the damaged sidings were taken off some rot was found and we appreciate that the material under the siding was also replaced by Pete's contractors though these works were not planned when we hired Pete and were not considered in Pete's plan. A big thanks to Pete!

Also not planned or considered in Pete's plan was the replacing of the old windows. When Pete was looking for a reason for the damaged sidings he noticed that some windows missed caulk. We really wanted to look carefree towards the raining season. So Pete found a way to replace the windows (recommending us good windows) though some other big projects were waiting for him. We cannot thank him enough!

If you don't want any problems or any stress with constructions on your house and if you want a fair invoice, hire Peter Testorff!"

Sincerely,
Sibylle and Heiner Stockmann

The Angelelli/Degueldre Project

"Dear Peter: This letter is to thank you and congratulate you for the wonderful work you have done to finish the remodeling of our house located in Pacific Grove . Your expertise and dedication have proven invaluable given the circumstances in which you took the job. You came in after two other contractors. As you recall, the picture was not a pretty one. You were able to accurately assess what needed to be done (and undone) in order to finish the job. We really appreciate your professionalism and diligence in every step of the way.

We also appreciate the fact that you have paid great attention to details. Being a perfectionist is a rare quality and we are sure that all your other clients, past and future, appreciate it as much as we do. We are really very pleased with the end product and have no hesitations in recommending you to any of our friends (as we just did with Caroline in Santa Cruz) or other potential clients who may be considering your company for their remodeling needs. Please do not hesitate to use our names and contact information for references.

Once again, thank you for a job well done and please transmit our gratitude and congratulations for a super job to every member of your crew. They have been very pleasant to work with and very professional as well.

Sincerely,
Claudia V. Angelelli, Ph.D.
Christian Degueldre, Professor