Alpine Green Property Services

Just before Christmas in 2014 our family had a garage fire causing my wife and two-year-old son to move out and rebuild half of our home. You may think that it was the worst thing that could happen to us, it wasn't. The worst thing that happened to us was hiring Alpine Green Property Services, Kathryn Orfino, and Robert Orfino as our contractors. The items listed here are a simple statement of fact as confirmed by the City of Los Angeles, Bank of America inspectors, licensed plumbers, contractors, and electricians. This review is not an attack on the people involved, simply an explanation of the work provided. We recently terminated our contract with Alpine Green (Kathryn Orfino, contractor, and Robert Orfino) thirteen months into a six-month project. We fired Kathryn Orfino and Robert Orfino when, after months of poor/dangerous workmanship and excuses, we discovered or still had numerous code, safety, health, and workmanship problems that Alpine Green was not capable of remedying. We offered them the opportunity to remedy numerous problems -- but these "remedies" caused new problems/code violations and dangerous/substandard work. These violations led to the City of Los Angeles revoking our Certificate of Occupancy (a nearly unprecedented action) until the violations were corrected. All of the problems caused by Alpine Green Property Services were confirmed by independent inspectors, The City of Los Angeles inspectors, and/or a Bank of America inspector, We have photographic proof of each item. Here's a very abbreviated sample list: Unlevel building (foundation and/or framing) Dangerous wiring/breakers/installation - Code Violation / Fire Hazard Rebuilt Garage has no firewall between the attic and main house. - Code Violation / Fire Hazard Mold risk due to ventilation below raised foundation. - Code Violation Unsafe kitchen ventilation and mounting - Code Violation Unsafe patio building and bracing not to plan - Earthquake Hazard Unlevel addition (Floor ~1in out of level in 8' one direction, ~1/2" in 10' the other. Max is 1/8 of an inch.) Open Gas line under home - Code / Safety Violation Poor Job Management, subcontractor management, and Planning Delays due to unpaid subcontractors Fit and Finish (40+ items, too many to list.) This is a very short list of the items. The total list is nearly 70 items long and is estimated to cost $45,000 to fix properly. (Update $55,000 and counting -- expected to exceed $60,000) Kathryn Orfino and Robert Orfino at Alpine Green Property Services, deliver a work product that is substandard in nearly every way. Their "final" product has multiple code violations (according to The City), safety and workmanship violations (identified by Bank of America inspectors), and unacceptable workmanship, code, and safety violations according to professional independent contractors, electricians, and plumbers. (We spent $1,500 for inspections after learning about other Alpine Green customer experiences that were far worse than ours.) There are two other customers of Alpine Green Property Services, that I know of, who have had similar or much worse experiences. There are amazing contractors out there. We were lucky to find a great contractor worked tirelessly to fix the mess that Kathryn Orfino and Robert Orfino left behind. Terminating Kathryn Orfino and Robert Orfino (Alpine Green Property Services), is one of the best decisions we made this year. It's a difficult choice when you are looking for someone to redesign or rebuild your home. It can be hard to know who to trust and who can't be trusted. Those of you out there going through this same thing with Alpine Green, or other companies -- you deserve better. I truly wish you the best of luck, no one deserves to go through what we did. We've learned first hand that there are worse things than losing your home in a fire. We learned that lesson the hard way. I hope this review helps you make a more informed choice.

On time and on budget! That is the best you can say about a contractor and they deliver with qualified subs that think outside of the box to create fantastic work.