Frequently Asked Questions

You get a personal matchmaker who picks a short list of hand-vetted contractors for your project, so you’re not chasing bids on your own or sifting through contractor directories. We verify every contractor in our network before they ever meet a homeowner, covering licenses, insurance, court records, references, and job-site inspections. After your project is done, we stay involved for 36 months. If anything comes up, you have someone to call.

You tell us about your project, and your matchmaker introduces you to 3 or 4 contractors from our vetted network, usually within one business day. Those contractors visit your home, assess your space, and each submits a competitive bid. You compare the bids side by side and choose the contractor you trust most. We stay available throughout construction and for 36 months after your project is complete.

Yes, that’s what we do. Your matchmaker picks 3 or 4 contractors out of a network of about 30 active Bay Area builders and introduces you to each one by name. There’s no search box, no sorted list, and no page of profiles to work through. We evaluated 350 contractors to get to those 30, and roughly 1 in 10 passed all 10 checks. See how the matching process works.

Yes, and that conversation comes first. A personal matchmaker calls you within one business day and asks about scope, budget, timeline, and what your home is actually like, before any contractor hears about your project. Nothing goes out until the two of you agree on what you’re looking for. If what you want and what you’re planning to spend don’t line up yet, they’ll tell you that on the call.

Our service is 100% free for homeowners. Contractors pay us for the opportunity to meet you: once when they confirm the appointment, and again if you sign with them. Most of what we earn comes from that second payment, so we only do well when the match was right. There’s never a markup on your project cost, and you’ll never receive an invoice from us.

There isn’t one. No contractor can pay us more to get sent your way. We earn a fee when a contractor confirms your appointment, and most of what we make comes only if you go on to sign with them. Sending you someone you won’t hire costs us money. Matching runs on fit: project type, budget range, location, and how that contractor has performed on jobs like yours.

Renovation Bridge is free for homeowners, and Walnut Creek is one of the cities we work in most. Our office is in Pleasant Hill, about ten minutes from downtown. The screening happens before you ever meet anyone, so the contractors who walk your home have already cleared license, insurance, court record, and reference checks. See our Walnut Creek renovation page.

About $30,000, or one full bathroom. Below that we’re usually the wrong tool. Every contractor in our network is a full design-build firm, which is how we hold the quality bar, and those firms aren’t set up to price a single-room cosmetic job efficiently. For something smaller, hire direct and check the licence yourself on the CSLB site. Our guide to vetting a contractor walks through how.

Yes, and most homeowners do. It’s rare that anyone moves out. The contractors in our network plan around you living there: plastic wrap seals the work zone so dust stays in it, pets get kept to rooms away from the work, and the schedule is sequenced so daily life keeps functioning. That means a bathroom stays usable the whole time, and you always have somewhere to cook and eat.

We serve homeowners across six Bay Area counties: Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, and San Francisco. That covers cities from Walnut Creek, Oakland, and San Jose to Palo Alto, Mill Valley, and San Francisco proper. If you’re not sure whether we cover your area, start a project and your matchmaker will confirm within one business day.

Every contractor in our network clears a multi-point vetting process before they ever meet a homeowner. That includes verifying their contractor license and insurance, scanning court records for lawsuits, checking surety bonds, confirming cash flow with subcontractors, reviewing their project history, and visiting active job sites in person. We evaluated over 350 Bay Area contractors to build our current active network. Roughly 1 in 10 make it in. NBC Bay Area covered our vetting process specifically because it goes further than what most platforms do.

Both. We go to a contractor’s active job sites and ask the subcontractors whether they get paid on time and whether they enjoy working with him. That’s the single biggest tell we’ve found. A contractor who can’t pay his subs will have subs stop showing up, and your timeline collapses. We also review 20 or more completed projects with photo evidence and speak to three or more past clients.

Every contractor we introduce has already cleared all three. We check that the CSLB license is active, confirm workers comp coverage with the carrier directly rather than trusting the certificate a contractor hands us, and speak to three or more past clients before anyone is approved. That work is finished before you meet, so the walkthrough is about your project. Read all 10 vetting checks.

Your matchmaker picks 3 or 4 contractors whose specialization, project history, and availability fit your specific job. Being free that week doesn’t get a contractor onto your list. The match is based on your project type (kitchen, bath, ADU, whole-home), your budget range, your location, and how similar contractors have performed on past projects. You’re never sold to a bulk list of contractors the way Angi or Thumbtack works.

No. Your project details go to the 3 or 4 contractors your matchmaker introduces you to. There’s no bidding pool and no bulk send. If you tell your matchmaker that one of those introductions isn’t a fit, that contractor is out and your matchmaker brings you someone else from the network.

Yes. ADUs are a core project type, and detached units and garage conversions suit Walnut Creek lots, typically 7,000 to 10,000 sq ft and flat. We match on project history, so contractors introduced for an ADU have built them before. One of the 10 checks confirms recent projects pulled permits and passed final inspection. Unpermitted living space surfaces in the disclosures when you sell.

Tell us and we’ll find additional options for you. If none of the contractors we introduced feel like the right fit, your matchmaker revisits the match and brings you others from our network. We keep working with you until you have a contractor you’re confident in.

No. We don’t perform construction and we don’t warranty it. Your contractor carries their own workmanship warranty, and that’s what covers the work itself. What we provide is 36 months of project support: we stay in contact with you and your contractor for three years, and when something comes up, you call us and we help sort it out. A contractor who wants to keep getting referrals from us has a reason to pick up the phone in month 20.

Kitchen renovations, primary and guest bathrooms, whole-home renovations, room additions, and ADU construction are our core project types. The average project we handle is around $180k, with a typical range from $50k to $1M+. Not sure whether your project fits? Tell us about it. Your matchmaker will be straightforward about whether we’re the right resource.

Each contractor walks the same house and bids the same scope, which is what makes the numbers comparable in the first place. We don’t rewrite anyone’s bid into a normalized spreadsheet. What your matchmaker does is go through the bids with you and flag what’s worth asking about. Labor and material costs are roughly the same for every contractor, so a bid landing 20 to 40 percent under the others usually means something was left out of it.

Square footage, material quality, and scope of structural work are the biggest cost drivers. Kitchens and bathrooms with custom cabinetry, stone countertops, or layout changes cost significantly more than cosmetic refreshes. Local labor rates also vary across Bay Area cities. A comparable kitchen remodel typically runs higher in San Francisco than in Concord or Fremont. Your matchmaker can walk you through realistic cost ranges for your specific project and location.

Yes. Most significant renovations require permits, especially any project that involves structural changes, moving plumbing or electrical, or altering your home’s footprint. Bay Area cities each run their own permitting departments, and timelines vary. You can compare permit timelines across 33 Bay Area cities. The contractors in our network handle the permitting process as part of their work, so you don’t have to manage it yourself.

Now, whatever stage you’re at. We can help whether you’re still exploring ideas, have a rough budget in mind, or already have architectural plans in hand. Coming to us early helps because your matchmaker can talk through scope and realistic costs before you commit to anything. But if you’re further along and just need the right contractor, we can step in at that point too.

A kitchen renovation typically takes 4 to 8 weeks once construction starts. Bathroom remodels run 2 to 4 weeks for a standard scope. Whole-home renovations or additions with permitting can take several months. Those timelines don’t include the permitting phase, which varies by city. Your contractor will give you a detailed timeline during the bidding process that accounts for permit wait times, material lead times, and construction.

No, our service is 100% free for homeowners. The contractors in our network pay us a fixed fee per confirmed appointment, and only after you’ve agreed to meet one of them. You’ll never receive an invoice or fee request from us at any stage of the process, and there’s no markup on your project cost.

A personal matchmaker contacts you within one business day to learn more about your project: scope, budget, timeline, and any specifics about your home. From there, they hand-select 3 or 4 contractors from our network whose experience fits your job, and schedule walkthroughs at your home. You get competitive bids from each contractor, compare them side by side, and choose the one you trust most.

Most homeowners meet their first introduced contractor within a week of submitting their project details. After that, the start date depends on scope. Smaller projects can begin within 2 to 4 weeks of choosing a contractor. Larger or permit-required projects typically take 4 to 8 weeks before construction starts. Your matchmaker will give you a realistic picture of the timeline during your first conversation.

Yes. Your matchmaker will share each introduced contractor’s project portfolio showing past renovations similar to yours. You can also ask contractors directly for references from previous clients, and many bring photos from specific projects that match your scope. Our own project gallery at renovationbridge.com/gallery shows a selection of completed Bay Area renovations.