Ned Clyde Construction

John from Ned Clyde came out to me home in the Berkeley Hills. This home is right next to the Hayward Fault, it has several 5′+ retaining walls that have failed and are leaning out by a lot. The foundation is old old old. The house is 100 years old. Stuff is just screwy. I’m nervous.
Several home inspectors and engineers have tried to scare me senseless but John came in and was very reasoned and experienced and was super helpful. He saved me $ 10,000s!
For example, one engineer said that a retaining wall needed to be replaced entirely. John said it may have moved out 30 years ago so I should get a level and measure it now and check again in 6 months. If it’s moving then call him back. If it’s not moving then just water my bougainvillea and hide the wall a bit. My kind of recommendation!
I’m planning to work with them for some minor foundation repairs now. The small fee for an initial assessment is the best money I’ve spent on my home.

Ned Clyde Construction was hired to look at a crack in a foundation at a house that was in escrow. He came out and said that the foundation was sound and the house was level and then looked at a picture of the crack and did a complete turnaround. He didn’t even look at the crack or crawl under the house. He told the potential buyer that this would follow the house around forever and that it couldn’t be patched. He said the entire front of the house needed to be dug out and a new foundation poured. All of this without even looking at the foundation!!! We hired another contractor to do an inspection. He actually crawled under the house, drilled the foundation and found that the cracks were not serious and that the foundation was sound. His repair is $ 900. I would be careful when hiring this company.

These guys helped me check a foundation for a house I was thinking of buying. They were there on time and were very pro.

Ned Clyde repaired the creek bank three years ago on a house we owned in Martinez. The repair job ran into complications with environmental agencies, the Army Corp of Engineers, the city of Martinez and a and a very difficult neighbor. it took about eight months to work through all the bureaucracies. Myron even showed up at a Martinez city council meeting to help get the final approval on the job. They did a great job repairing the creek and everything is holding up fine. I think any other company would have dropped us like a hot rock before going through all this trouble. ALSO, they stood by the price of the original estimate. They also did earthquake retrofitting on the same house some years earlier and did a great job. A very high integrity company.

Ned Clyde installed drainage on my property ALMOST 10 YEARS AGO. A couple of questions about the installation came up for me recently, and it is almost hard to believe how quick and helpful a response I got. Their receptionist was warm and patient, having to look up very old records, and their engineer John managed a visit to look at the problem the same day I called. Though I did need some explanations and advice, I had been mistaken about a problem I thought existed. In spite of that, John looked at the installation carefully, gave me advice, and didn’t express any exasperation, as he might well have, having added a rushed stop to his schedule for
a nonexistent problem.
In spite of the many years since the company did my work, they responded as if it had been a job done yesterday.

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I just had Paul Brown, one of Ned Clyde Construction’s engineers, do an inspection of our home. We had been told by another company that our house needed to have some pretty significant underpinning work done to firm up our bouncy subfloors, to the tune of $ 8000.
Paul came over, measured the whole house (and I mean the whole house) to see how out of level various places were, and determined, after about 20 minutes of taking measurements, that our home was fine. The subfloor was supposed to have a little bounce in it, and structurally we were safe/​fine! He said, «Although I’d love to tell you that you need a $ 25k foundation lift, or even an underpin pier installed, you don’t. You don’t need any work done.» He took another 20 minutes to explain why we DIDN’T need the work done, then waived the fee for the appt. So Paul charged us nothing for an hour’s worth of work and explanation that we paid absolutely nothing for, when we thought we needed to pay thousands for the job!
Needless to say, my wife and I are huge fans of this company. They won’t try to sell you work you don’t need, and in my mind, that’s the biggest sign of integrity a business can possess.
His last line: «Take my card and give it to someone who actually needs the work done, and we’ll take care of them.»
Love these guys, and we never even had to use them!

We had a French Drain installed at our home in El Sobrante. Myron Hagen, the president of Ned Clyde Construction and a structural engineer, came out to give us the bid, which was exactly what was charged (i.e., no «unforeseen» expenses).
I have about two minute’s worth of experience with construction, but I’m also little bit, uh, controlling and so I wanted to do a drawing that specified exactly where the surface drains would be as well as pipe diameter, etc. Myron was really kind and patient about talking to me and answering my emails (I do know how to take advice) so I’m pretty sure that what I drew was what they were going to do anyway.
Anyhow, the crew did exactly what I wanted, better than I expected and left the place looking fantastic when the job was completed. I highly recommend them.

We have a hillside home in Belmont that was falling down the hill.
We spoke with about a dozen different companies; only three or four of them seemed capable of actually doing the work. Based on our research and gut, we went with Ned Clyde Construction.
We were not disappointed. Their core team of workers was here every day for six months. They weren’t disruptive, they did excellent work, they cleaned up every day, and we didn’t have to move out of the house.
We were warned by friends that some shadier companies start with a low price and keep hitting you with change orders. The handful of change orders were clearly new work, reasonable, and were agreed upon before they started.
If you have a challenging project, I highly recommend Ned Clyde.

We did some major reconstruction on our house and used Ned Clyde for a large concrete retaining wall. They installed an amazing wall but our problem was in the drainage pipe that they also did as part of the wall. The pipe collapsed and does not function. When we contacted Ned Clyde after spending $ 30,000 on this project they pretty much blew us off and did not want to be bothered. Perhaps it was the individual I spoke with but from this experience I would definitely not use them again and do not recommend them. Now we have to spend another fortune on someone else fixing their mess.

We have nothing but good things to say about this company. They will bend over backwards making everything right for you.
We just used this company to repair our foundation (underpinning/​leveling). We were very nervous about this undertaking because this is our home and we want everything to be perfect. Jon Hagen is 100% responsive to every concern. He answered all of our questions along the way and never hesitated to come right over whenever we called. He provided solutions for multiple issues that we needed to address (the foundation is really just the beginning with this old house). The foreman and crew are easy to talk to and were very respectful of our home and the fact that our young children are there all day (picked up trash, watched their language, etc.)
I would recommend them to anyone needing any type of structural work on their house.

My house is on a hill and gravity wins! A new foundation would have been very costly but the Ned Clyde crew underpinned the foundation for a fraction of the cost. The engineering was free with the job, they handled all the permits, the crew was polite skillful, hardworking, and always left the jobsite super clean. This company really stands behind their work, I recommend them unconditionally.

These people are very good at what they do.

These guys are clean, don’t leave a mess behind and did a wonderful job on our new staircase and retaining walls. They look stunning. They also did some foundation work — we live on a hill and they certainly know their field. You can reach the office at any time during the week for questions. Highly recommended

We were doing inspections for a home purchase in San Francisco, and were concerned the home might need a new foundation, as it was brick, and the brick did not appear to be in good condition. Paul Brown, a licensed civil engineer from Ned Clyde Construction, did a Foundation Evaluation and provided a written cost estimate. He was very professional, on time for the inspection, and provided the estimate in a very timely manner. The estimate was thorough and provided a dollar amount for negotiating the price lower. If your house has foundation problems, I highly recommend getting a Foundation Evaluation from Ned Clyde Construction. This could be very effective in proving a case for a price reduction in a home, so that you can spend the money to get the foundation replaced. You don’t want to live in a home that could easily collapse when the earth starts shaking, just because you can’t afford the foundation work.
We were very happy with the foundation evaluation provided.

Ned Clyde is as good as it gets for structural/​foundation work — especially if you live on a hillside or unusual terrain. They did a fantastic job on my foundation/​underpinning and made it through the city inspections with no hang-​ups. I’d use them again in a heartbeat. Nice people from the field to the accounting department.

Did my foundation. These guys know foundations (and drainage systems and retaining walls…)
The «salesman» is actually a structural engineer. You will feel very confident about the scope of work they will do and you’ll feel even more confident when the building inspector passes you with flying colors.
They don’t do bathrooms, carpentry, roofs, or anything else other than structural concrete. Highly recommended.