Not just another remodeling contractor.
Remodels run late because of everything around the work. We removed it.
- Est. 1998
- CSLB B-2 Qualified, License Pending
- Estimates in 24 hours
- One job at a time
- Oakland & the East Bay
Why we exist
You already know what you want. You just need it installed.
Fast, cheap, good, or less work: pick two. We didn't accept the trade-off. We deliver all four.
Most of the homeowners we work with have picked their tile, found their cabinets, sometimes already have the boxes stacked in the garage. What they can't find is someone to put it in: the big contractors are booked for months, and the handyman they tried last time disappeared halfway through.
That gap isn't about skill. Plenty of people can set tile. It's about how the work is organized — who shows up, when, in what order, and what everyone else has to wait on.
So we organized it differently. Estimates from photos, not site visits. Finish work with a limited scope. Your materials, in hand when we start and never marked up. One cross-functional lead instead of a rotating crew. And a rule that we don't leave until the job is done.
The system: five moving parts
Five things hold up every remodel. We designed around each.
None of these are about craftsmanship. They're about structure, which is why they show up even when everyone on site is good at their job.
No site visit for an estimate
Weeks waiting for someone to come look, then more weeks waiting for a bid.
Send photos and a short description. You get a rough price within 24 hours.
Finish work. Limited scope.
Plans, engineering, and inspections gate every next step. The job waits on a queue nobody on site controls.
We improve what already exists. No dependencies, simple planning, and the work starts when we say it starts.
Materials in hand
A 10–20% markup on materials, then dead days mid-job waiting on a delivery.
You choose and buy the materials, with our advice, and they're on site when we start. We don't mark them up.
Cross-functional
Four subcontractors, four calendars, and a rotating cast of strangers in your home for weeks.
One cross-functional lead. The person who installs the tile floor installs the cabinets. No choreographing other contractors, or our own workers.
On site until it's done
The crew leaves mid-job for another site, and your remodel resumes whenever they come back.
One job at a time. We stay until it's finished, and most jobs are done in about a week.
A work structure built for calm
How we keep it stress-free.
Stress in a remodel comes from not knowing — who's coming, when they'll be back, what it'll cost. These rules take the guessing out.
A price in 24 hours.
Text or email photos, dimensions, and a link to your materials. You get a ballpark back within a day, confirmed once we're on site.
Work starts within a week.
Not a spot on a calendar months out. If the number works, we schedule.
One job at a time.
Your project is the project. We don't split the week between your house and someone else's.
No teams of strangers.
You know who's in your home and who's responsible for the work. Every day, the same person.
On site until it's finished.
No disappearing acts, no nine-day gaps. That's how most projects are done within a week.
We come back for the punch list.
We guarantee our work. If something isn't right, we return and fix it.
How we work
The work is a record of the mind that made it.
Stress gets built in. So does calm.
Everything about how a job is done ends up in the finished surface. Rushing, frustration, and fatigue get captured in a grout line that wanders or a miter that doesn't quite close. Calm, focused work gets captured too. So we organize every job to keep the mood right.
That's why we take one job at a time, work days of six to eight hours, and stop before fatigue starts to show in the work. It's why the workspace stays clean, uncluttered, well lit, and as dust-free as we can make it. A clean workspace makes for a clear head.
It's also why we charge as little as we can. When a job isn't about squeezing out margin, nobody on site has to think about money, and the attention goes where it belongs: into the work. We never race to the bottom. The savings come from the system, not from cutting corners.
The right tool is the difference between good work and the best work. Putty, caulk, and paint exist to hide small mistakes. The goal is to need them as little as possible.
Get the best materials you can afford, and spend where it shows. A modest tile set perfectly beats an expensive one set in a hurry.
The word comes from the Latin designare, "to mark out." A well-designed room tells everyone who walks in that someone thought about it.
Careful, handmade work reads as time, care, and abundance, from a private bath to the Taj Mahal. People feel it before they can name it.
The founder
Zack West grew up on job sites.
His stepfather was a general contractor, so Zack grew up building — and grew up watching, firsthand, the difference between a job that moves and one that stalls. Most of the difference, he noticed, had nothing to do with the work itself.
It started as a sideline in 1990 — fixing decks, staining siding, waterproofing foundations, and digging post holes. By 1998 he was taking on jobs of his own, and around 2001 he went full-time in the trade at Easton Marble in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Since 2015 he's been building in the Bay Area, full- or part-time: tile, cabinetry, flooring, and finish carpentry.
Along the way he graduated from UC Berkeley, started graduate business study at St. Mary's College of California, and built a habit of looking at every process and asking why it has to be that way. Remodel Carpenters is what came out of asking that about remodeling: take the permits, the teams, the dependencies, and the markup that slow every job down, and design a business that doesn't need them.
He's an avid entrepreneur, and it shows in how the business runs. But on your job, he's the one setting the tile.
- 1990
Raised by a builder
A sideline on his stepfather's jobs: decks, siding stain, foundation waterproofing, post holes.
- 1998
Established
Taking on his own jobs — the year on the logo.
- Around 2001
Easton Marble, Myrtle Beach, SC
Full-time in the trade, working stone and tile.
- Education
UC Berkeley
Graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.
- 2015
Building in the Bay Area
Tile, cabinetry, flooring, and finish carpentry, full- or part-time ever since.
- Business
St. Mary's College of California
Started graduate business study — and started taking processes apart.
- Today
Remodel Carpenters
A remodel business built around removing the hold-ups. Oakland and the East Bay.
The work
Recent tile work, before and after.
One lead on each job, on site until it was done.
Tap any photo to enlarge
Start here
Send photos. Get a price in 24 hours.
Text or email a few pictures, dimensions, and a link to your materials. We'll come back with a rough estimate and a start date within 24 hours.
510‑927‑6300CSLB B-2 Qualified, License Pending · Serving Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, San Francisco & the greater East Bay · Est. 1998