I was born and raised in Southern California where I graduated from Covina High School in 1960. I then enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley to study Architecture. I soon realized that my command of the math and engineering subjects was not commensurate with graduating and I changed into a closely related field - Political Science.

Upon graduation in 1965, my new wife and I left for the Peace Corps where we taught school for two years in Tanzania, East Africa.

It was in Tanzania that I got back into my first love, carpentry and remodeling. Our first project was a kitchen remodel to our house at the boarding school outside of Iringa, Tanzania.

The objective here was to bring the kitchen from the outside porch to inside the house.

We returned to the Bay Area and I began teaching school in Pittsburg, CA. I taught there for three years, before once again my love of carpentry re-emerged. I left my secure teaching job and became an apprentice carpenter. I eventually started my own remodeling company - Howard Robbins Construction Company in 1974.

Since that time we have concentrated on high quality residential remodeling. We also built two homes after the Oakland Fire in 1991, and we have done some light commercial work when it was appropriate for our company. But our primary aim has always been the highest quality remodeling of additions, kitchens, baths, and decks.

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