Brick + Timber, San Francisco CA

I've lived in this B+T building for almost a year now. It's poorly maintained and not compliant against local and state laws. The SF Housing Inspector has visited (and fined) B+T several times now. Since moving in, it has been an uphill battle just to get simple maintenance requests taken care of. There's loud construction going on M-F and there are water shutoffs that occur on a weekly basis, often with no prior notice. I've resorted to working at local coffeeshops because there is often no running water in my unit. Common areas are infested with mosquitos and fleas due to it being a pet-friendly building and you can hear dogs barking constantly, even in late hours of the night. The garbage room is filthy, with flies and maggots swarming everywhere and trash overflowing in every single bin. The smell is so horrendous that you can smell it through an n95 mask. I would not recommend living here under any circumstances.

Don't rent from Brick + Timber. They are shady and do not care about their college tenants. They do not cover water and sewer like all the other property managements. Resident Management is not responsive and do not help.

Professional organization, I have now lived in a B+T property for 1 year. Given the layers of bureaucracy, however, simple reimbursements, etc can take weeks to months. Otherwise, very nice team.

Been a renter with B+T for a little under a year now and their maintenance and support teams are great. I especially appreciate working with Kuahiwi who has assisted me with a change to my lease agreement and was very quick to respond and made sure I was taken cared of every step of the way.

Brick + Timber has one of the lowest rates of reply when it comes to resident and building concerns. Management is not responsive to email nor phone calls. In the process of calling the Department of Building Inspection.

Didn't realize I was leasing an apartment with a broken back door from the leasing agent Joan. She talked about how new she was the entire time and couldn't figure out how to let me in the apartments she was showing me. Now that I'm in the apartment I've reached out to her multiple times because the resident services portal doesn't work so I can't submit a request for a new lock for my backdoor, and Joan has completely ghosted me. Be warned.

I have had the worst experience renting with B&T. We have had pests in our unit from day one due to a hole behind our oven they left when hastily renovating the place, and we consistently deal with having no hot water for several days at a time. It is IMPOSSIBLE to talk to a real person. They will put in a "maintenance request" and simply close the ticket without ever contacting you.

While the apartments and units are nicely renovated, the service from the management team is atrocious. I'll likely update this review as I move further in the process. As a summary, I've been trying to get two answers regarding my lease for the past 2+ weeks and have 1) not gotten any response via phone 2) ignored emails even after countless follow-ups. Something needs to be done to ensure that the team is accessible to support instead of running in circles and getting told that "someone will get back to me ASAP". I'm unhappy with how things have been going.

I’m still awaiting my deposit to be returned. Put my notice in 2 months early, in March, returned keys on May 14th directly to resident manager after a clean walk through with zero damage.
If anyone else has had issues like this, how did you manage to settle?
UPDATE: Still no resolution.
-Still have not received any move out paperwork
-Still have not received my deposit
-My phone number is still hooked up to the intercom
I moved out with a clean walkthrough mid May. It's been over 60 days, THE LAW IS 21.
We've gotten nowhere with email or phone.
We've sent a formal demand letter.
We've involved BBB. They also have gotten zero response from Brick+Timber.
I've tried reaching out on their social media- they blocked me.
My Rent Cafe ledger now states that the balance is a "Q2 2022 write off"
Brick+Timber is a super shady company, BEWARE of giving your signature, your money or your time to them

This page is absolutely chalk full of fake reviews. Do not be fooled by the "Extremely satisfied with the service I received" paid bots. This management company is laughably bad at communication with its residents and should not be allowed to administer any sort of rented residence. They are constantly not replying to emails on requests, refuse to keep the shared spaces clean, lose trash/compost bins all the time somehow, overcharge on rent (based on what we get), and have a very obtuse way of paying shared utilities (water/trash/etc) that isn't based on actual usage of said utility and instead is split based on residents/occupants (which is not accurate). If you can find an actual landlord in this city that isn't just some front for an investor capital management firm, I sincerely recommend going that route. I will never live in a Brick and Timber owned building again.

Sincerely,
Cole Eckelberry

Good luck reaching a real human to talk to! It's like the don't exist! Try calling them and immediately get routed to an outsourced phone answering company. THE WORST

Still have not received any move out paperwork, still have not received my deposit. I moved out with a clean walkthrough mid May. It's been over 60 days, the law is 21.
We've gotten nowhere with email or phone.
We've sent a formal demand letter.
We've involved BBB. They also have gotten zero response from Brick+Timber. I've tried reaching out on their social media- they blocked me.
This is truly a nightmare company, super shady.

This review is for James. He is an agent for Brick and Timber. James is an absolute hustler and will get you into an apartment within a week (probably less). He knows the city extremely well and will find you something that fits your needs perfectly. I needed to move back to the city in a hurry and he found me a great apartment in the location I wanted in one day. If you are going to go with Brick and Timber, request James.

The level of service they provide the tenants is awful. They do not respond to the simplest of requests. I had to call every hour to request the battery be replaced in my smoke alarm. Imagine having to hear the beeping non stop for HOURS! I would change it myself but I don't have a ladder! In reality they do not care about you or the property! I have also asked on numerous occasions for them to clean the garage so people can utilize the laundry. Who wants to do laundry in the trash room! Disgusting.

This review is for Luis Landos. He is the resident manager for my building and an awesome one at that! He keeps the building super clean and is very responsive to resident texts. When my in unit washer broke Luis was super responsive in getting the new parts and fixed it quickly. Thank you Luis!

They take their time getting things done. They never answer the phone. It took 8 days to get a replacement toilet seat that fell off the first day, another week to fix a clogged sink in the bathroom. The elevator lobby door still is not fixed 10 days later.

You decide it's your home

Terrible service. We haven't had a fridge in 3 weeks. Our washer was broken upon arrival and took several weeks to fix. It took SEVEN hours for them to let us in when we got locked out once. Could not pay me to use Brick and Timber again.

Actually living at a BT apartment was fine, but I had to actively email them to return my security deposit a month and a half after moving out (CA law states it has to be sent within 21 days). To make matters worse they stated they'd already sent my security deposit in the mail several days prior to my email but upon receipt the envelope is postmarked on the exact day I emailed them - no chance that's a coincidence. It's pretty clear I would not have gotten my deposit back without a note - be warned.

I was able to find an apartment in 2 days with Brick and Timber thanks to Maya! She was an absolute GEM! We only had a week to find an apartment, a list of must haves and Maya managed to make it all happen. She was super accommodating and it couldn’t have been a better experience. I couldn’t recommend Maya and Brick + Timber enough!

Luis Landos, the resident manager of my building, is exceptional. I have lived in the building for 13+ years and never have we had an RM who cares so much for the building and the residents. Luis is such an asset to Brick & Timber and has truly made my experience living here exceptional. He handles any situation quickly and efficiently and is available to help day or night. He is responsive and attentive to all of the residents' needs. One morning I woke up to find a water leak from an upstairs neighbor's radiator. Within 10 minutes, Luis was on it - fixed the leak, repaired the wall and checked in with me every day to make sure the problem had been resolved. Luis has made many improvements to the building and it's not unusual to find him painting, powerwashing or upgrading things. He is worth his weight in gold and is an incredibly nice person as well. Luis is the kind of RM every building needs.