EcoArtisan Builders

Mark and his crew at EcoArtisan Builders did an excellent job remodeling our bathroom and making several other updates to our new home. Both the quality of their work and their professionalism were outstanding, and they even finished ahead of schedule (and we had a tight schedule!). The moment we met Mark (his was our third bid) we knew we would work with him, and we are very glad we did. He truly cares about his costumers and is very honest and communicative. We worked with several other contractors in the past and this has been by far the best experience we had.

We recently completed a condo bathroom renovation with Mark and his team at EcoArtisan and were very impressed with their skill and professionalism. We highly recommend them! If anyone has ever attempted to do a remodel in a condo building, you can appreciate the complexities and potential pitfalls. Prior to finding Mark, we met with 5 local 'top line' companies, all of whom sent salesmen, and after taking a lot of our time, promising interest as well as great things, disappeared without a word, or insisted that a difficult drain reroute into another unit in the complex would be required. Mark was the only one with actual contracting experience willing to follow through. Even better, he and his team devised a super simple code-compliant solution to what had been presented by the others as a huge and difficult task. Mark's customer service skills were excellent. He remained very focused on our project from start to finish and inspected each day's work very thoroughly, catching small things we would have missed. His attention to detail was highly appreciated! He takes full responsibility for the work and made the whole project much less stressful for us. He and his team were creative when issues came up, and understood our vision for the project so when questions arose they were able to offer suggestions on details that made the overall outcome that much nicer. Everyone took great care of us and our condo throughout the process. We were living in the condo during the work, so we really appreciated Ecoartisan's strict adherence to COVID safety precautions. All dust and floor protection schemes were well designed and implemented, and every day the workspace was left clean and safe. Mark has gathered together some truly gifted subcontractors. The tile work and cabinetry were far better than any other work we have seen on other projects. We had chosen some beautiful but difficult to work with tile, and Damon did an amazing job making it work in our design. Ramon did an amazing job building and finishing the cabinets - they were exactly what we wanted and finished to perfection. Overall, we can't say enough how great they all were and we highly recommend Mark and his team at EcoArtisan Builders for any home renovation you may be considering.

Our project was a kitchen, bath, and laundry area remodel, including adding a sauna. Our architect recommended Eco Artisan Builders. In short, we are thrilled with the result. Mark’s care for, and professional pride in the project was evident every day. He gave us a schedule for all the work, and communicated frequently on the status. He handled all decisions of construction minutia, and consulted us on things he judged (correctly) that we’d care about. Then he provided us great input based on his decades of experience. Living in the house during the remodel, we could observe the work in progress. Mark was there most every day. If something didn’t meet his standards, he saw to it that the work was corrected. Mark’s carpenter and the subs on his team shared the same level of craftsmanship and care for the finished product. In the end, our project passed final inspection on exact date scheduled! Each work day, there was at least one crew at the house. In the few exceptions, it was because one crew had completed their part early, and the next crew could not come earlier than scheduled. There were some unexpected obstacles along the way, of course, but Mark did a fantastic job of managing all the moving parts to keep the project on track. It really was a pleasure working with Mark. His care for the final product and for our satisfaction was very evident throughout. Thanks to his work and care, we have a project done right, and a house we absolutely love.

Mark was the contractor who remodeled our kitchen and half bathroom. We are very pleased with him. He was attentive to our wishes and worked with us to come up with the best solutions for our 65 year-old house. During the planning and all through the job he responded to our concerns quickly and made sure all the sub-contractors followed through correctly. He made a schedule and easily adapted to any changes since he was managing a number of sub-contractors. He kept us informed of schedule changes. He was happy to deal with any details even after the completion. We would definitely hire him again.

Mark added a second story to our home. Since we started this whole project, I've talked remodel shop with a lot of people doing the same thing. We knew Mark was good when we hired him; he completely transformed my neighbor's home, and we had a good experience during our remodel. The TLDR is, I've talked to a lot of people who are not nearly as happy with their remodel experience as we are. It took only seven months for Mark to turn 1785 ft2 into 2821 ft2, plus an unconditioned second story storage room connected to the garage with a custom 30”x30” hatch. We're happy with the attention to detail, the quality of the build, the amount of time we spent with the details, and the choices made along the way. Our project started in January 2015 with a bottle of wine and "so...what do you think about adding a second story...?". Mark had been working on our neighbors' home and my 3yo and I wandered over to watch “real construction workers!”. Mark chatted with us, showed us around the safe areas where highly active little boy could look, and I remember how his crew was friendly and seemed to enjoy their work. Our neighbors were also really happy. A few months after the bottle of wine, I dug up Mark's card and pinged him for the architect's name and details. We also talked to Mark about the idea. We started working with David Underwood, whose design for our neighbor’s home had so impressed us, in July 2015. We had meetings and iterations with David every so often or so for the next year, getting the design just right, and we finally applied for permits in June 2016. Mark was involved at some point during the design process, at a time that made sense, and also so we could get on his calendar. Permits took about two months, and we moved to an apartment in August 2016. Once our solar panels were down, the skilled destruction crew took off the top of the left side of the house. That was the most emotionally difficult part; it felt like a disaster, even though my brain said it was fine, it was hard to watch. But then it got going and Mark kept it going. We made adjustments along the way, we had to get a design change from the engineer for the footings to save the patio, and the great holiday shipping fiasco of 2016 lost my shower base. Mark found a local supplier for a similar base that would work and picked it up himself to keep everything on schedule. He cracked the proverbial whip to get the roof on before the winter rains came. One Sunday we saw it start to rain and we swung by to see if the house would be ok, and sure enough Mark was already there, adding tarps and making sure everything was battened down. Considering it was the wettest winter in recent memory, we did very well. While the whole project was going on, we kept an iCloud photo stream that included photos of the schedule as well as project photos over the course. It really helped with seeing progress and remembering where things are behind the walls. We still use those photos when we're figuring out where the electrical is, etc. Mark is highly attentive to detail and tries to choose subcontractors who meet his high standards. I chatted with the electricians and Mark is their only customer who makes them place outlet boxes with a laser level. His longtime framer retired and he was using a new framer for our job, and while he was generally happy with the outcome, he was very attentive to everything they did and didn’t get right. His plumber, Atta Plumbing, has worked with him for years, and Jamie was extremely responsive in helping us get our new tankless water heater installed temporarily when our 1994 tank started to leak two weeks before we moved out. Mark likes to work with subs (and architects) who get emotionally invested in a job and do the right thing. He himself is proud of his houses and the work his people do. You're fortunate when you find someone who takes pride in their work, who insists on your involvement so you can help him give you what you want, and do as much planning and good design ahead of time as is humanly possible. We love our new home.

Mark was fantastic. Honored his commitments and communicated regularly with us. He cared about our project and making sure we were happy with the results. We did a major renovation and have since recommended him to a number of our friends.

Mark did a great job remodeling our sleek new kitchen, stairway and living room! We really appreciated his honesty, organization, foresight, craftsmanship and his ability to provide creative solutions. His attention to detail and ability to work together with us and our architect was crucial to the great outcome. Mark focused on our job and got it done quickly, organizing all the trades efficiently and provided the supervision and guidance to attain a fantastic result. We would certainly recommend EcoArtisan Builders and would hire them again.

I have hired Mark Letizia 2 times in the past several years for my remodeling projects. This latest one presented many unanticipated challenges but Mark and his crew met each challenge with a can-do attitude. More importantly, I just love the results and thoroughly enjoyed working with Mark.

I purchased an rental property that had more deferred maintenance issues than anticipated. Mark and his team were great to work with to address all the issues as they were identified. He provided excellent workmanship at reasonable cost. The end results were amazing. I would and have used Mark for additional projects.

I worked with Mark last year on a complete remodel of our home in Normal Heights. We went from an 800 SF 2 bedroom, one bath home to a 1200 SF 3 bedroom, 2 bath. It was very important to me that the remodel keep the original 1940s cottage feel yet be functional and modern, something I thought might be impossible to do. Mark recommended David Underwood as the architect for the project and I was very happy with the plans David came up with. In addition, Mark and David worked well with each other, keeping in contact throughout the project to make sure any changes fit into the overall vision. Mark took incredible care in getting multiple bids from subcontractors for every aspect of the project. This minimized the "surprise" costs that accompany any large construction project. In addition, Mark's careful preparation meant that once the remodel started, there were absolutely NO delays. Mark gave me a schedule at the beginning of the project and he was pretty much on that schedule throughout. There were people working at the house every weekday with no gaps because product was ordered on time and subcontractors were scheduled properly. As someone who has been through several construction projects, this was incredible to me-many people still don't believe me when I tell them how smoothly things went! From demo to final punch list was four months which is fantastic for a project that moved walls and took the whole house down to the studs. Mark dealt wonderfully with the city inspectors who, as would be expected, presented several ridiculous obstacles. I was also very happy with how clean Mark and his crew left the site each day. We were not living in the house during the remodel but even so, the site was neat and available for me to walk through and see the progress each day. In addition to being organized and attentive to detail, Mark is just a good person in general. I asked if my teenage sons could help with some of the demo so they felt a part of the project and Mark was great about finding some projects for them to do. The subcontractors that Mark worked with were great as well and we all got along even though my boys and I were underfoot throughout the project. I felt that Mark kept me up to date on what was going on and was open to a couple of changes that I wanted to make part way through. I ended the project feeling that I got not only a beautifully remodeled, functional, 1940s cottage feeling home, but a friend in Mark as well. One note to anyone considering a large construction project: making sure that you are a good client is just as important to a successful project as a great contractor. Be realistic about the cost of construction in San Diego-it is higher that we all wish it were. Communicate with your contractor so he is clear on what you really want. Don't change things part way through the project and expect it to stay on budget and on time. If you do these things, you are halfway to having a great experience. In conclusion, I could not recommend Mark and EcoArtisan more highly. He exceeded all of my expectations as a contractor and I finished up this large project relaxed, excited and pleased with the results. In fact, Mark is now working on my mother's house to remodel her kitchen...if that isn't a satisfied customer, I don't know what is!

We have had the pleasure of working with Mark on two projects: construction of a small home office and a deck/sauna/outdoor shower project. We loved working with him and would highly recommend him for any project – big or small. Mark involved us as much or as little as we wanted to be in every step, which I really appreciated as a woman. He was honest, forthcoming, and clear – there were no surprises in budget, cost, or finished product. He has an incredible attention to detail. For example, the interior window trim and trim over my office door (on two different walls) was not going to be at exactly the same height, so Mark built an additional level of trim himself so that all trim would be even and have the same design. He also went above and beyond his duties by advising us on several other small projects and enabling us to do some work ourselves by letting us borrow his tools. My kids and dog love him too!

I have worked with EcoArtisan Builders on several projects, including full house renovations and additions, and have found Mark Letizia to be a valuable asset in achieving successful projects. He is in tune with the client’s budget requirements while keeping on track with executing the project as it was designed. When options presented themselves during construction, Mark responded appropriately and involved the design professionals in the decision process. Collectively, solutions were achieved that maintained the original design aesthetic. When clients see the craftsmanship of EcoArtisan Builders and meet their former clients, it becomes apparent that Mark Letizia brings the extra care and passion to his projects that truly makes a difference.