Earthquake Safety By Greg Sylvis

We had some flooding in the basement after the rains and thought perhaps there was an issue with the foundation. Called on Greg and he was here within the same day. He took at look at our perimeter, basement and looked into our crawl space. I also showed him some recent cracks in our walls. In the end, he said there was no foundation issue and it was simply a drainage issue with our landscaping. The cracks in the walls were probably from recent earthquakes. No charge. Very honest guy and I appreciated his time and input on our water issue.

Greg is the go-​to guy for the EBB program. Quick and efficient, he does all the work himself with flair. Not to mention a good sense of humor. He explained the process and showed the tools he uses to get the job done. No inflated quote, no nonsense. Highly recommended.

I found Greg Sylvis while looking up for earthquake retrofit contractors on the state website. Greg is honest and hardworking. Everything went great, from beginning to end. I thought that I would never say that about a contractor, but there you go…

I found Greg Sylvis on the Earthquake Brace and Bolt website for licensed contractors who have been state approved for retrofitting. I found him to be honest and undramatic. I’m very happy with the excellent work and commitment from Greg. He is incredibly knowledgeable, upbeat and energetic. I could not have asked for a nicer person. The bracing and bolting on my house is superb. He worked tirelessly was able to complete the work in one day. He is a true pro. I highly recommend his skills.

I spoke with Greg about my floor sinking. We made an appointment for him to come out. He arrived promptly at 7AM. He came in and was super friendly with all my dogs. He walked around the sinking area, checked walls, floors, and ceilings. Walked the perimeter and then went under the house… not a nice job. After several minutes he emerged and told me while there was a small dip, it was nothing to be concerned about. No Charge. What a great guy… and honest. Someone else might have told me to make repairs. Friendly, honest, and prompt. Folks, this is my kinda person! A real winner.

I remember this guy: very money-​hungry. He will «find» problems for you so that he can get more work. I would suggest another (if not a third) opinion/​quote before you settle with him like we did, otherwise you’re likely to get ripped off blind.
In short, he completely contradicted the contractor who came before him, and as I see no reason why the other one would have lied when complimenting the solid structure of the house he was going to fix and make money on, Greg smells of a scam artist who preys on the ignorant.

I had Greg come over to give me an estimate for earthquake retrofitting as part of the Brace+Bolt program. Unbeknownst to me, my home had already had the work done before I moved in. I of course would never have gone underneath the house to have seen that.
Even though the work had already been done, Greg was funny and good natured about it. I thought that Greg exhibited great professionalism where others might have gotten upset. I would definitely hire Greg in the future if I ever needed his services again.

FIRSTLY, Unilocal why aren’t Greg Sylvis’ other reviews included on his main page? It says he has only 8 reviews, but if you go into the area for Greg called «not currently recommended» he has TONS of AMAZING reviews. Unilocal needs to re-​examine these non-​recommended reviews AND put them in the recommended area. Something is wrong here.
Greg is outstanding. My wife and I received 5 estimates from foundation/​retrofit companies to fix/​replace our piers and posts and retro-​fit our home. Some of them were regarded as the ‘most reputable’ in Los Angeles. All the estimates differed so we opted to pay for a consult from an independent structural engineer. He agreed with Greg’s assessment of the foundation and scope of work. Greg was extremely reasonable, finished the job in 5 days (by himself!), was always on-​time and gave us constant updates on his progress. He was considerate, trustworthy and cleaned-​up every day. I would recommend Greg to anyone looking for an honest craftsman who knows his stuff and doesn’t cut corners. Plus, he’s a pretty funny guy.

Greg did a GREAT job at our house this past week. He was contracted to bolt our house. He was professional, hard working, knowledgeable and polite. My husband met Greg after he started working on our house and was extremely impressed with his work ethic, explanation of his work and his positive attitude. We also liked that it’s obvious Greg truly enjoys his work.

Greg Sylvis has completed numerous projects for us. His quotes are square, his workmanship is impeccable, and we trust him completely with our aging craftsman home.
Greg gets more done in a day working by himself than many other multi-​man teams I’ve seen. He puts in long days, cleans up the workspace, and has always been polite, forthright and patient with making explanations of the work to us.
The man loves his job, takes pride in being thorough, and has an active sense of curiosity and humor – always a plus.
We have come to rely on his expertise and advice – I never hesitate to recommend Greg Sylvis!

Extremely rude, unprofessional and an absolute horrible person to do business with. You’ll be sorry, STAY AWAY, STAY FAR AWAY!

We got several quotes before we were lucky enough to find Greg in 2012. Barbara M. missed out on a great, fast, efficient, hard-​working, knowledgable, trustworthy and reasonably priced contractor. He is well worth the $ 100 she mentioned. I agree with James D. — Greg is the best! My home was built in 1930. I am confident it will now last another 100 years. Thank you Greg. We need more contractors like you.

Company: Greg Sylvis General Contractor Inc
Review Date: 5÷9÷2012
Category: Earthquake Retrofitting
Was Work Done?:
Yes
Hire Again?: Yes
Approx. Cost: $ 4,100.00
Work Description: Earthquake retrofit per code. Bolting and cripple wall shearing etc… Inspected and approved
Greg is your man. No nonsense. Happy go lucky. Came out right away… Crawled around. Gave me a price. Price much lower than Foundation Works and other «brand name» shops because his overhead is just him.
I did a lot of research and understand enough about construction to get myself in trouble. So the sell that some companies like FW try on customers just won’t work with me. And don’t forget… There’s always a sell. And often what they’re selling you don’t need… Just some bells and whistles.
Greg gave a reasonable price, and with that still made himself a grand a day. I checked his work myself. Crawled around. And my crawlspace is tiiiiiight. Asked him questions about where I thought he’d made a mistake on spacing. Nope. The mistake was mine. I like to be proven wrong by someone who knows what the hell he’s doing.
Honest. Professional. Reasonably priced. Punctual. And a bit of a clown… But only if you clown back.
NOTE: Check out the rest of his reviews. There are dozens here on the hidden pages. 44 filtered right below the last review on this page. Don’t know why Unilocal does that.

Greg just completed work on my 103 year old house that was built on river rock. From the time I first met him til the time he finished the job, Greg has always been professional, enthusiastic, and always eager to explain what he was doing step by step. He’s also one of the nicest people I’ve ever met! I’m so happy with what Greg accomplished on my house. He’s hardworking and knows his stuff. I would highly recommend Greg Sylvis if you need a contractor for any foundation work on your home. Thanks Greg for a job well done!

Greg was punctual, did what he said he was going to do, and did it with professionalism. His work was detailed and clean. He left the job site in better shape than he found it and always asked if i was satisfied. He has his own brand of humor, but it never gets in the way of his work, he just has fun while he does an A++++ job. Also, Greg went above and beyond when dealing with another subcontractor so i didn’t have to worry about it. Would hire him again in a heartbeat.

Do you ever wonder what you want to be when you grow up, even if you’re already grown up? Some people are so tirelessly passionate and extremely good at what they do that asking them such a question is a complete time waster. Greg is one of these people. He knows what he does. He loves what he does. His work alone is golden evidence, but fortunately he’s also a great guy and knows how to work well around people (we put him through the unhappy tenant test and he came out unscathed, miraculous given the circumstances). And to confirm the rumors, they’re true, he does EVERYTHING HIMSELF.
We met Greg after wasting loads of time getting bids from other contractors. Greg’s price was as solid as his reputation. He was hired to replace one wall of our foundation, to bolt the new and pre-​existing foundation, add seismic bracing and to adjust support beams to straighten out the curvy floors in our 1920s bungalow. He tackled each phase with diligence, great attention to detail and went beyond what was necessary. He was also done at 3pm on the day he said he would finish, inspection in hand.
Even though my family works in the construction trade I was a bit clueless about foundation work. Greg knew I was curious and made sure I understood exactly what he was doing. He even encouraged scrutiny, begging for the opportunity to show me step-​by-​step how and why his work is better and stronger than everyone else’s. Just seeing Greg’s joy while working almost convinced me to swap in my career for his. Then it hit me, some guy had made me enthusiastic about something as boring and tedious as foundation work!
If Greg is booked in advance he might be worth the wait. His work is A-​plus-​plus, his price is right and he goes beyond what is expected. I rarely see this kind of all around quality anywhere these days.

After many years of avoiding the fact that a house built on a hill in LA during the 1930’s should really be attached to its foundation, I turned to Unilocal to find a house bolting contractor. As it turns out, Greg really is as good as his reviewers say he is.
When I called he was very friendly and came out the same day to look at my house. He started working on my house soon after. I needed to go out of town for a few days and he said that was no problem. So, off I went and when I came back it was all finished, inspected and approved. Everything was cleaned-​up and tidy, too. He was also able to fix a broken beam on my back porch with out much trouble at all. He got along great with the dog and alerted me to a plumbing problem under the house that I was not aware of. Oh, and the price was very reasonable.
Within a week from when I first called the entire job was finished. If you have been putting off bolting your house’s foundation, don’t. Working with Greg is very easy and his work is very professional. Highly recommended.

I just had Greg do a seismic retrofit to my recently purchased 1924 Spanish style home. Greg is the contractor you wish you had for every job. He does great work, is well priced and is very timely. He was a great source of information for other foundation questions/​issues I had. Best of all he’s very personable and a great guy!

After reading the amazing reviews of the people who have used Greg, I jumped for the phone to call him. He answered and after spending a few minutes with his Thomas Guide figuring out where my property was… about a half hour drive for Greg… he said he could come out immediately if I paid him $ 100. I guess Mike M. was just down the street so that is why he didn’t charge you! He is no different than the guys you called Mike. He said I was «just outside of his service area»… actually he was WAY OUTSIDE mine. Three other companies are coming out to give me a FREE inspection and Quote. I’ll come back and let you know what I thought of them… as for Greg… I guess if you live in Pasadena he might come inspect your place for free. Since he was SO AVAILABLE he probably should have come to my place for free too… he might have gotten a job!

My wife and I recently had Greg do the foundation bolting and then some to our 1920’s Bungalow. Not only was Greg’s work, pricing and timeliness professional, but having Greg around the house was also a pleasure. While he was working on our house, we had other contractors working on some other things and Greg took the time to lend a second set of eyes on their work which was great. Also, like other reviewers mention, it’s hard nowadays to find a solid and reliable contractor these days. I highly recommend him.