Almaden Tile & Marble

I really can’t say enough good things about Lester and his crew. Lester was extremely punctual, communicative, and a stickler for the details. And as for overall value… we got an amazing amount of top-​notch work done for a very reasonable price.
We hired them for both our main bath tub tile surround, as well as our master bathroom shower and floor. The main bath project was a tub-​to-​ceiling tile surround, with penny tile in the middle as accent trim, as well as new fixtures. The master bathroom shower project was more extensive. The team took out the existing jacuzzi tub, raised the drop ceiling, and then built a walk-​in shower with floor-​to-​ceiling tile and new fixtures. The result is absolutely amazing.

We are finishing a major remodel to a 100 year old home, and along with way worked with at least 15 different subcontractors. Almaden Tile and Marble are in our top two for favorites. Juan showed up to work each day, often before my husband arrived on site. My husband is super happy because Juan made the diamond border pattern symmetrical. He is also delighted with the caulking job done around the tub (in our current house it’s a disaster). When Lester first put the self-​leveler down on the bathroom floor it didn’t level well, and he chipped it all out again and started over. They did our three bathrooms, and we’ll be calling them back for our kitchen backsplash and fireplace surround.

Lester and his team of John and Frank did a fantastic job on both of my bathrooms. Lester recommended changes in the layout that dramatically improved the results. Excellent advice & communication was great. Most important was the superb job they did. Very detailed oriented. Exceptional work! I would definitely use Lester for any future jobs.

Lester, Juan and another guys are amazing! They were recommended from the guys redoing our bathroom. I know Lester squeezed us in before his vacation time in April.
From start to finish I think it took about 3 days. The guys really took their time measuring, leveling and cutting tile, they also didn’t waste any. When it came time to grout he showed me a TON of different options for color. I didn’t even know there were so many colors.
When the tiles were being placed on the wall, we found one that we didn’t feel went with the others. Juan had no problem taking it off and replacing it. So they were accommodating
I was really impressed, I really felt like we got what we paid for.
2^nd bathroom (Oct 2014) again took 3 days. same deal. guys did a great job. worked hard. We did have an issue with the grout breaking apart in the first finished bathtub. he had no hard feelings to have it fixed.
he is very easy to talk to

Lester and team are the best bang for your buck. I received quotes from several highly rated on Unilocal companies and even a cash quote from a friend’s referral. Lester’s quote was the lowest except for the cash quote, but only a little higher. As he came highly recommended on Unilocal and the pricing was right, we pulled the trigger. Lester was great throughout the entire process and his team did exceptional work with the tile placement. We couldn’t be happier and will definitely use this team for future work.

Exceptionally professional. Did excellent job, keeps the commitment and on time service. Lester gave excellent advice on material /​suitability and he was very accommodating of last minute changes.

Leszek (or Lester he goes by) is the best title contractor in the world. He and his craftsmen are top notch. He did all the deconstruct, built the floor pan, installed all the shower and floor tile, and installed the vanity and counter top. His recommendation that I use a granite prefab saved me a ton of money. He had his guy pick the heavy slab up in San Leandro and finished it to size and installed the sink. I found his price to be very good for all the work he did compared to some of the other craftsmen. He kept his commitments as to schedule was very tidy and respectful. John with a helper did most of the actual tile install but Leszek was frequently there to check and take care of any challenges that arose. It is hard to imagine anybody better.

Leszek and John just finished tile installation in my guest bathroom and 2 storage room. They did a fantastic job! Leszek is very responsive on phone calls and email. He is honest, professional, quick and pay attention to details. Last but not least, his quote is very competitive.
I will definitely recommend him to anyone who want to do tile installation. Leszek just rocks!

Lester is extremely good at tiling. the best work we’ve seen to date. He is meticulous, and detailed oriented. He has a lot of experience and good ideas. He can tell you right away if something is going to look awkward or good. This was very important for us… as we avoided costly mistakes, and did not «re-​do» a single thing.
He is upfront, prompt, professional, and easy to work with. He does what he says, and meets/​beats his timelines. He shows up as promised, usually early (unheard of in the Bay Area !!).
Overall, we are extremely pleased with how our bathroom turned out, and the whole experience was very positive.
Great Job, Almaden Tile & Marble !!!

We used Lester to tile our remodeled kitchen floor and our new backsplash. He did an awesome job– flawless work. We had someone come in after he installed the tile to instal baseboards and the guy commented that in 25 years installing baseboards he had never seen tile so perfectly level.
He was less expensive than the other quotes we got and we feel like we totally got our monies worth. Will use again on our new house and would totally recommend!

We used Lester for two small bathroom remodels in our townhouse last summer. His price was fair and based on the excellent Unilocal reviews, we felt very confident choosing him. Our bathrooms both came out fantastic. The tile work is very precise and neat. He was able to accommodate our special requests including grout width and other tile installation preferences. We were also able to save money on tile, because he did not require quarter round pieces and instead used surface bullnose for a very clean look. He was very professional and always arrived on time. He was always very neat throughout the whole process and he always did a great job cleaning up. Our bathrooms came out great and we could not be more pleased with Lester’s work. We would not hesitate to use Almaden Tile and Marble again!

Another five stars for Lester. We hired him, based on Unilocal reviews, the fact that he was licensed and bonded, and his competitive quote.
After our last contractor took forever to finish a job, I was most concerned with Lester’s schedule and work ethic. My husband, the perfectionist, was concerned with quality. Lester made both of us happy. He said he’d come at 8 — 8:30 every morning until the job was done, and he did. He and his helper, John, did a great job tiling our kitchen floor.

We found Lester here on Unilocal.We were so impressed with his reviews that we decided to use him. So glad we did. He is installing our back splash, kitchen floor and entry way tiles. We have been very impressed with his work ethic. He and his partner show up every day, on time and are very professional. They are doing a beautiful job. I liked the fact that he took the time to lay things out and show me various options. It gave me a much better sense of how things would look. After having several friends redo their floors and end up with crooked grout lines and uneven tiles I was really nervous about redoing our floor. In my opinion Lester deserves 10 stars. Give him your business, you will not be sorry.

I couldn’t speak any higher of Lester from Almaden Tile & Marble. I recently completed a total remodel of our home and decided to do it without a general contractor. I did much of my own work and hired a few trades to complete projects I wouldn’t trust myself with. Almaden Tile & Marble was recommended to me by a very nice sales lady from a local store. Her statement was «He is a perfectionist and you would expect to pay twice what he charges for the quality.» I couldn’t agree more. Due to my profession I have eye for detail. I have always kept a close eye on my tradesmen to make sure they complete their job properly. After a couple days of Lester being on the job, I decided to let them be.
We used very challenging materials for our job. The kitchen was set with 24×24″ tiles with a 1/​8″ grout line. Our back splash was a combo of glass and porcelain tiles. We were warned by sales people that tile setters never seem to do a good job of setting tiles of different thicknesses. Lester proved them wrong. The back splash looks perfect; even around all of the kitchen outlets. The bathroom floors used 12×35″ tiles in a brick pattern. He helped me create balance in all directions by reviewing multiple layouts. His understanding of installing radiant floor heating mats also put me at ease.
I have nothing but compliments for Lester and his work. The last area that was the most helpful was the shower. He was able to get very creative with the tile and build in a custom nook to allow us to store our shampoo and soap. His attention to detail also shows in his prep work. He measured the entire shower area before starting to lay tile. This allowed us to discover that the older home was not perfectly square. The ceiling level was off by over 1 inch. Using 12×12″ tiles with some glass tile for contrast, he was able to help me create a shower space with tile from the tub to the ceiling and even I can’t tell that the ceiling was not level. Had any other tile guy done this I am sure they would have ended up with some tiny strip of tile at the top or a huge grout joint. I have seen this problem in many other homes and am thankful that Lester caught the problem before even starting the project.
I wish everyone took pride in their work like Lester and John from Almaden Tile & Marble.

We definitely recommend Lester for tile work.
We have a 240 square foot sunroom that had carpet in it that needed to be replaced with tile. Having never worked with tile before, it was quite an adventure. We went to Bullnose Tile in San Jose (based on Unilocal reviews, thanks!) and got beautiful porcelain tiles that they recommended be installed in a diagonal pattern. They were professional and helpful, given that we are very picky about quality, interior design and colors. We picked the perfect tile for our room.
Looking through Unilocal (again) we narrowed it to three tile installers. Lester came by to give an estimate and was very flexible to work within our schedule. His bid was less than the other two, and we felt confident in his abilities and expertise. We were right.
We gave Lester the job and are extremely pleased with the quality results. It was a bit complicated with that pattern we wanted but he worked with us to ensure the lines were neat and to spec. He showed up on time every day, did the work he said he would do, cleaned up after himself, was friendly, polite, and did an amazing job. We love our floor — five stars!
(we’ll call Lester when we re-​do our bathroom, for sure)

Leszek and his crew redid two of my bathrooms. They are as beautiful as any I have ever seen. Working with Leszek is the best. He is precise, friendly, offers his own ideas from much experience and always there when you need him. He is extremely professional and always personable. I will use Leszek again and again for work on my house and so highly recommend him to anyone wanting to remake anything over at their house. I have done considerable work on my house with many contractors but Leszek was the first that I am truly proud of his work and want to show others what he can do. And I have, most of my coworkers now use his services.

Lester came out and gave me a solid and competitive quote, he also had some great suggestions for laying out dots in a manner that I hadn’t thought of. Using an offset of «two tiles up, one tile over». While his quote wasn’t the cheapest, but from his website and references, I figured I was paying for quality.
He started work on my kitchen floor on Monday morning by removing the old linoleum, and was completed the job on Wednesday morning with about 2hrs of effort to grout the tile. The tiles are layed out as if he used a laser for guidance and he maintained solid communication during the project and was very tidy during the teardown, tile layout and grouting. Something that other tile guys I’ve used, have not been.

Lester from Almaden Tile & Marble is a superb tile and stone fabricator and installer. He installed approximately 300 square feet of 12″ x 24″ tile in our entry and kitchen during a kitchen remodel. He maintained great communication during the job, showed up on time and completed on time. He pays attention to detail and takes the time to lay the project out before starting resulting in a high quality install with clean, uniform and symmetric results.
I contacted 5 different tile guys and Lester’s bid was very competitive, he had excellent references, and I knew straight away that he knew what he was talking about and had many years of experience.
I’d recommend him to anyone who needs tile or stone work.