Recommendation for Handyman + / Artist
I have a friend who has renovated 3 homes virtually by himself. His name is Yong Cui and he’s an artist/handyman in Greenpoint. His most recent endeavor has been to renovate his 3-family Brooklyn home. He reminds me of the pioneers – fearless in tackling the giant task of homebuilding – except Yong has style!…
I have a friend who has renovated 3 homes virtually by himself. His name is Yong Cui and he’s an artist/handyman in Greenpoint. His most recent endeavor has been to renovate his 3-family Brooklyn home. He reminds me of the pioneers – fearless in tackling the giant task of homebuilding – except Yong has style!
He’s literally a jack of all trades. Although he has never trained as an architect, he has drawn up extensive plans for all of his renovations. His most recent plan included removing walls, developing a new floor plan, maximizing available space, enlarging windows, installing a skylight, relocating basement mechanicals to a new area dug out from beneath the basement, creating an extension, and building a deck. Using these plans, he is able to create stunning living spaces – lofty, airy, bright, and functional. The handyman part of him can do carpentry and nearly everything except for electrical work. He does all of this on a budget and often incorporates customized IKEA pieces into his work. For example, the cabinetry in his bathroom is made of pieces of IKEA cabinetry from the leftover’s section, but they look like HenryBuilt cabinets. The artist part of him is a stickler for details. He will not stop until the work is perfect!
Fortunately for us, he has decided to start sharing his passion and talent to help others. My partner and I will be hiring him to build buit-ins and shelves sometime in April. Perhaps he can fit you in, too. If you’re interested in having Yong help you design your dream home, build it, or both, please contact his wife, Nicole at 917.528.1066. If you need a reference you can contact me at jasminajn@yahoo.com. Better yet, ask Nicole to send you pictures and then go visit his lovely home.
There is room in the world for both architects and artisans. There are clients out there who may demand the advanced degrees of an architect and their are other clients who would prefer a more affordable alternative. Understanding the anatomy of a brownstone is not rocket science. One of the most important qualities in any line of work, is passion, and if you have some smarts on top of that I don’t believe it makes that much difference, when it comes to renovating brownstones, whether you have spent three years and $100,000 to get your MArch. I know plenty of dim architects and plenty that are dazzlingly smart. But I would hire a smart passionate, bright artisan any day over an overworked, stresses out, stupid architect (of which there are many to choose from) Of course nobody who has sweat through three sleepless years in an MArch program wants to hear this. And certainly, neither does the DOB.
Right. Architects have nothing to do with finished product. You just made it very clear how little you understand about the real building world – and I’m not talking about your piddly little wannabe trading-spaces diy disposable junk,
I’ll keep building things that will be around in 50 years, and you can keep doing garbage that the next owner hates and has to demo to bring up to par.
Do you also go to Chinatown instead of the doctor when you get an infection? Because advanced degrees are totally over rated.
Dear sarcastic architect, rather, Sarchastitect,
Don’t think you’re better than everyone because you you’ve got advanced degrees. Not all of us can tag an extra 100K onto our renovation costs just to have you fcukheads sell us high-cost finishes that we can’t afford and pontificate about Ann Sachs tile that costs $50 a foot. This guy has vision AND know how. AND he’s an artisan. If you freaking architects actually had to contruct the absurdly expensive things that you envision, then you might have a little more respect for economy and artisanship. So go back to your books and blue prints and keep pretending that you have anything to do with the finished product which is more often shaped by the skill of the artisans and workers and the nature of the building itself.
What a great reference to have!
He has no architectural training but can draw up plans? Count me in! Most masters degrees are overrated, anyway. 3 projects’ worth of experience is plenty to make structural decisions.
That’s pretty funny about the ikea to henry built comparison. Those fake Louis bags on canal street kinda look like the real thing, too.
What a great reference to have!
He has no architectural training but can draw up plans? Count me in! Most masters degrees are overrated, anyway. 3 projects’ worth of experience is plenty to make structural decisions.
That’s pretty funny about the ikea to henry built comparison. Those fake Louis bags on canal street kinda look like the real thing, too.
what does he cost? is he real slow? thanks.
what does he cost? is he real slow? thanks.
I don’t think that anything would prevent him from doing commercial work. IMHO, I think he could do something interesting in a boutique or a cafe or an office of people who do creative things.
does he do commercial work?