customer service — Silicon Valley Real Estate: Home Buying, Home Selling & Getting Your House Ready to Sell

A to Z Construction Contractors & Service Providers: M: Movers for the home buying process!

October 21, 2010 By Kelsey Lane 2 Comments

Recommended movers for those home buying (and anyone moving!)

When you’re home buying, home selling, or just plain moving–finding a good mover can certainly be stressful, with so many horror stories of scams & carelessness floating around the internet and through our friend circles. Just like trying to find a contractor you can trust, movers rank right up there. Our Silicon Valley Realtor team has dealt with two movers that are tried and true & we are happy to pass along the information to you either for your own use or your friends and family.

The first is All Reasons Moving and the contact there is Kim Tucker, 408-486-0663, kim@allreasonsmoving.com. All Reasons helped me to move personally when I was home buying. We have also recommended them to home buying clients who have been pleased.

The second is Silicon Valley Moving & Storage. The contacts there are Joe & Cheri Childs, 408-941-0600, svmove@aol.com. They have made many of our home buying clients happy & satisfied as well.

Both companies take great care, are personable, and have been fairly priced or in line with other bids. As with any of The Look Team’s recommendations, we do not receive any payment for these posts…just want to pass on great information about local Silicon Valley service providers and contractors–even whether or not you are home buyingor home selling. And if you ever have any problems with any recommendation of a contractor or service provider, please let us know so we can keep our lists updated & up to the minute on accuracy.

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Need to find a contractor for a remodeling construction project? Get a contractor list of recommendations from The Look Team (Silicon Valley realtor professionals) by clicking “Find a Contractor” in the top navigation.

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Filed Under: Blog, Buyers, Sellers Tagged With: buying, customer service, moving, selling, service providers

A to Z Construction Contractors & Service Providers: L: Clyde Lerner of ITM Computing

September 29, 2010 By Kelsey Lane Leave a Comment

One day I became one of “those people” that I used to make fun of…you know…the ones who “spill” something on their laptops? After four painstaking hours of working on a spreadsheet, I sat back and admired it, Peet’s Tea in hand, and voila, before I could stop it, the whole mug was crashing down onto the keyboard, with tea *everywhere*.
I tried to drain the computer & take care of it myself, to no avail. The next day I called Clyde (the right decision). He was on it immediately & made it very convenient for my schedule to get the laptop. In less than 24 hours, he had salvaged all of my data, including my beloved spreadsheet AND the computer was once again functional–no small miracle.

I can’t say enough good things. Not only did he fix it, but he went above and beyond to calm my nerves & make the whole process very easy, convenient, and best of all FAST. This was the second time that Clyde and ITM (Sunnyvale ca) have come through for our Silicon Valley realtor-business in a pinch. Recently one of our Look Team laptops died (not to be brought back to life) but Clyde was once again able to salvage the data and put it on an external hard drive for us. They have a team of folks to work on your behalf.

He is also extremely knowledgeable about social media and setting up technology and strategies for it. His blog is www.itmcomputing.com — definitely check it out. We have a contractor list and resources for service providers that we recommend regularly to our clients and online supporters. Please let us know if you ever need a referral to construction contractors or others. We are happy to help.

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Need to find a contractor for a remodeling construction project? Get a contractor list of recommendations from The Listing Look (Silicon Valley real estate blog) by clicking “Find a Contractor” in the top navigation.

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Filed Under: Blog, Buyers, Sellers Tagged With: contractors, customer service, Santa Clara County, service provider, Silicon Valley

Construction Contractors and Service Providers A to Z: K: Three K’s

August 21, 2010 By Kelsey Lane Leave a Comment

Not to be creepy here, but this is the KKK post! When I couldn’t decide on a contractor to use for ”K” in the series, I had to tell you about three interesting resources and I couldn’t cut any of them out.

1) Konkord Assembly, Inc is a company that assembles furniture for you. Think about all of that cheap furniture that you definitely do not want to have to put together! Their number is 800-600-6171 and their website is www.konkordassembly.com. I have never personally used them but it is the only business card I have run across for a company that will do this (and usually a contractor won’t do it) — so thought I’d share in case there is anyone out there who has spent 1/3 of their life, like me, putting together Ikea furniture.

2) KitchenShelves.com. This organization, at www.kitchenshelves.com has been a lifesaver for me. I have used their products in several kitchen remodeling construction projects now, to maximize the organizational space. They have blind corner “half moon” pull out shelves and almost anything you can imagine. I found their prices to be fair and they shipped on a timely basis. Some of their products require a contractor to install (unless you’re very remodeling construction savvy).

3) Knife Stalkers. This is my favorite!! This is not for the faint at heart though — because you need to drive to the “other side of the tracks” and then steel yourself (pun intended) by braving going into the store. But the end result will be razor sharp knives for hardly any money at all. They are open 8-6 Monday through Friday and 8-4 on Saturdays–located at 349 Lincoln Avenue in San Jose ca & their phone number is 408-280-1533. They also sharpen lawn mower blades, so you’ll see about a hundred lawn mowers out front. I have only used them for knives. Take your bodyguard or burliest-looking friend. Just kidding. Not really. Not really kidding that is.

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Filed Under: Blog, Buyers Tagged With: customer service, furniture, furniture assembly, kitchen, kitchen cabinets, organizers

A to Z Construction Contractors and Service Providers: F: Flooring Contractors

May 10, 2010 By Kelsey Lane Leave a Comment

F: Flooring contractors. First off, we have a contractor who does hardwood matching, refinishing, and screening that is out of this world. When he matches & patches floors, you cannot ever tell it was done. Our friend Holly told us about him & he repaired several spots at her place where dogs had ruined the hardwood floor. I ended up using him at my house for the same reason & then we’ve recommended him to several home buying & home selling clients who gave great feedback after the fact. His name is Nelson Castillo and his number is (650) 576-4125. Secondly, we have a contractor James (Jim) Watson who is phenomenal at installing hardwood and laminate flooring. What makes him unique is that he and his team truly take time to pick each piece that they lay down from a visual perspective – meaning, each piece of laminate, wood, or engineered wood is slightly different & different pieces look better together. We have observed them on more than one occasion discussing together which pieces to lay next to each other. This is a very good sign! For one job, Jim had a broken hand and was still going at it, without complaint. What a contractor gem. Jim’s number is 408-561-2491.

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Need to find a contractor for a remodeling construction project? Get a contractor list of recommendations from The Listing Look (Silicon Valley realtor professionals) by clicking “Find a Contractor” in the top navigation.

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Filed Under: Blog, Buyers, Sellers Tagged With: contractors, customer service, engineered wood, flooring, hardwood, installation, laminate, matching, patching, refinishing

A to Z Construction Contractors and Service Providers: D: Dining Furniture

April 14, 2010 By Kelsey Lane Leave a Comment

D: Dinette sets and other dining furniture. This post is not really about a contractor, but we felt it was important to include in the series nonetheless. There is a great store on Bascom near Hamilton in San Jose CA. On first look, it seems just like another run-of-the-mill barstool/dinette set shop. But we thought California Casual Dining Specialists was pretty special. First of all, their prices are decent – not rock bottom – but pretty dang good. Good variety and selection too. I bought white leather square-top barstools with espresso legs for my place there. They ordered the extra stool, since they only had one in stock originally, cut the legs to the specific height I wanted & made sure everything was ready for me within one day. They ran me about $100 a piece. Then my friend Lori bought an adorable hardwood kitchen table with traditional styling, drop down leaves, and two chairs for under $300. The very helpful staff had it delivered & assembled within two days’ time.

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