DIG Cooperative

David B.

Mano Tondre and his team at DIG exceeded our expectations with the installation of our new grey water system. We had dreams of installing one of these for a long time, and we searched through many choices of potential installers before deciding to go with Mano and his team. We are so glad that we did! Mano is a really down to earth, easy to approach, and professional team leader. He showed up when he said he would, and he did everything he said he would do. We also were very impressed by the quality of his team members and by the universal positive energy and good vibes of each and every one of them. The grey water installation went smoothly and with little disruption to our lives. They had water pumping out to our drought-stricken trees on the very first day of installation! We were so impressed by the entire process that we plan to hire Mano again, this time to install a rainwater collection system. We HIGHLY praise DIG because they did a fantastic job in every aspect of the job.

Bruce M.

Tondre and his team are THE experts when it comes to designing and installing rainwater and graywater systems that will actually meet city building codes and pass inspection. They built a cadillac system for me: 220 gallons of rainwater collected and stored in 2 cisterns, plumbed indoors to flush toilets and do laundry, and then greywater system taking laundry and shower water out to the landscape. Top quality work. I only withheld one star because I had to be patient on the scheduling and sometimes I could have used more frequent and clearer communication with the construction team. Overall the project went extremely smoothly and the City of Oakland signed off on the whole thing.

Mercedes T.

Several years ago DIG Cooperative installed a greywater system at my home in Los Angeles - yes they came south where greywater contractors are few and far between. The system works beautifull and has required minimal maintainence through the years (7+ years ago).

Now in the midst of the worse drought in California history I am happier than ever that I made the investment for the system.

They were professional, thorough and a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend that you consider a greywater system and most certainly recommend DIG Cooperative for the job!

kate w.

We worked with DIG this winter and are very happy with our newly installed residential grey and rainwater systems. It was a pleasure to work with Tondre and Anya, both were very responsive and knowledgeable. I would highly recommend DIG to everyone.

Brian Z.

Tondre and Anya over at Dig were awesome to work with. They did a very quick and thorough job, making it easy for me to maintain the system. Further they have always been very quick to respond to any questions that I had post-installation, and were very helpful in that regard. In addition, they delivered this great system at a reasonable price and even explained how to add or replace irrigation components if needed.

Kent L.

I had Ingrid from DIG come over and install a rainwater retention system. I was impressed how thorough she was. She measured all roof lines to get an idea of the rainwater volume and designed a system including 2 barrels, new gutter downspout, overflow piping, and landscaping (""permaculture"") that fits my individual properties' needs to capture and store accumulated rainwater off my roof.

While my goal for the project was to avoid rainwater leaking into the basement (poured cement foundation), I accomplished a lot more for a lot less money than I would have paid for an expensive underground drain. To top it off, I get to save water and do the environment a favor. DIG are careful and do good work at a very reasonable price. Our little project took about 3 weeks between estimate and completion of work.

Also I would be remiss if I did not mention that Ingrid is just nice as can be. I recommend DIG, and Ingrid in particular, to any property owner looking to do the ""right thing"" and who is not in a great hurry to get it done (that is, they can take time to meet and discuss the project and provide input on how it should be done.)

Kat S.

Dig Cooperative is truly a full-service ecological design/build firm. They approach their work with vision and integrity. I collaborated with Dig as a partner for an entire year on the Oakland Rain Barrel Program and was impressed by their skill and commitment. Dig played a key role from start to finish, contributing to the program's strategic vision, outreach, public education and construction of rainwater harvesting systems. They also provided valuable hands-on job training to local youth in the process.

It is rare to find such a broad range of expertise in one organization. Dig was able to provide consistent ongoing partnership throughout the entire project, adjusting the focus of their staff according to the priorities at hand. Sometimes they led construction activities, other times they provided design work, and always they were a strong collaborative partner. When providing workshops to educate the public about rainwater harvesting, all of the elements of Dig came together. Their work was inspired and of the highest quality.

If you have an interest in becoming a better water steward, get in touch with Dig Cooperative. Oakland and the Bay Area are lucky to have them!

Heather R.

I found the DIG Coop when Tondre from DIG replied to an email I sent to the Ecology Center asking for guidance in finding a green contractor. Tondre and DIG sounded like they were genuinely pushing the edge of green construction to do things in a responsible way. What they actually did was to contaminate my house and garden ith lead debris. Inside the house I had to replace a good heating system because the debris had gone into the duct work. Outside I now have Planting Justice helping me with a grey water system. They have recommended that I replace the soil in the back where Tondre left debris from stucco demolition lying around because the soil tested high for lead. In the front of the house, the soil did not test as high for lead since Tondre did not leave the stucco debris around because people could see what he was doing. This is the part that bothers me the most, but there were other issues. Tondre hasn't actually passed the exam to be the qualifying individual for his license and the actual individual for the license was nowhere in sight. Maybe that helps to explain why Tondre asked me to work on getting my own permits and calling my own subcontractors. I should have been more careful about checking references, because I doubt he is capable of managing a construction project as GC. He wanted me to take on that responsibility, though I had no experience in construction at all. Though there was no qualifying individual for the license in sight, there were however various random workers who came to my house. Tondre might say that he doesn't need worker's comp for them, because they are all owners of the DIG Coop, but the CSLB cited him for that when I brought it up to them, among other things they cited him for such as working with me on a time and materials basis. AsI learned the hard way, there is a good reason that working on a time and materials basis is illegal. Tondre charged me $1000s for a lot of things, but none were ever completed and none actually did me any good-- only harm to my finances, my ability to spend time with my family including my young girl, and the health of the earth. To top it off, I let Tondre get off without trying to collect damages from the my CSLB complaint because he persuaded me that he had made honest mistakes and would do better in the future. He promised to clean up the lead contamination. When I asked him to make good on his offer, there were a string of excuses such as not being able to afford the special vaccum, and wanting to write a contract for it that would leave DIG protected from lawsuits. I no longer believe that he had any intention of cleaning up. I used wonder why more people didn't use green contractors because green must mean in it for the earth. Now I think that green contractors are just as susceptible to moral self-licensing as green consumers.