HELP!
I am completely spent. I am in the fourth year of a renovation on a two-family house. I need help but I have serious trust issues based not only on personal experiences I’ve had with folks in my place but on the quality of the work I see being done on other buildings in my…
I am completely spent. I am in the fourth year of a renovation on a two-family house. I need help but I have serious trust issues based not only on personal experiences I’ve had with folks in my place but on the quality of the work I see being done on other buildings in my area. My boyfriend and I have been chipping away at it, and in the last year have found one trustworthy helper. He, of course, is spread thin and is only able to come over once or twice a week.
When I purchased the place, the income from the rental was factored into my ability to pay the mortgage. They claimed the unit was livable but I later found out from the neighbor that the women who lived upstairs just didn’t go near the downstairs because the plumbing was shot (crack in the soil stack, among other things, I was later to discover). Were things cleaned up and the inspector paid off? I have no clue. I just know that the unit could net me about $1500 a month and it pains me to think, not only of the lost income, but of the years this has taken off my life. Every spare moment is spent on the house. I just don’t have it in me anymore.
Does anybody out there have a work ethic, a conscience, and a soul? This experience has almost completely destroyed my faith in humanity. I know I might have lost several potential responders based on the last two comments but that is how I feel.
I am not cheap. I will pay for people who know what the they’re doing. I just don’t want to have to stay home from work everyday to make sure they don’t leave early or do shit quality work. I don’t care whether you are licensed or not because as everyone here knows that is definitely not an indication of your abilities. I know there are people out there who understandably don’t want to recommend somebody good until they’re done with them so they don’t have to share. So, is anyone finished with their reno, happy with the quality of the work and willing to share the email or phone number of the godsend who helped them complete it? I am really a sane person. I am just absolutely shattered. I am willing to pay at the end of each day for the work completed. There is a little bit of everything that needs doing. I have an electrician but there are things needing completion before he can finish his job. I need guidance as well expertise. Please help me. Thank you.
Hello –
Yes, i have have ethics and do work very well alone.
From painting a room, hanging shelves, electrical work, to building a platform for your room, with room for storage underneath – whatever your needs, I will make it happen. Raised in California, lived in NYC for over 15 years, so I have a very easy-going personality mixed with a Get it done right attitude.
Let me give you a price that’s fair and reasonable – I’ll do it right…and I’ll do it right now!
I’m even local: been living on 17th street for 5 years
References and pictures of work are no problem
cell: 917.207.6112 (call or text anytime for a free estimate)
Hello –
Yes, i have have ethics and do work very well alone.
From painting a room, hanging shelves, electrical work, to building a platform for your room, with room for storage underneath – whatever your needs, I will make it happen. Raised in California, lived in NYC for over 15 years, so I have a very easy-going personality mixed with a Get it done right attitude.
Let me give you a price that’s fair and reasonable – I’ll do it right…and I’ll do it right now!
I’m even local: been living on 17th street for 5 years
References and pictures of work are no problem
cell: 917.207.6112 (call or text anytime for a free estimate)
HI LUIS 646 703 1025
Wait a second–You mean that the brownstoner forum is not a renovation support group? Does this mean that i have to stop my middle of the night on the verge of a nervous breakdown, typo ridden posts–and compulsive reading of others……?
I’m sure finding architects in brooklyn that have experience and are willing to help with your project/s is difficult. Unlike other cities, most good architects (the ones who are perfectionists, stick around for the whole period, and do a good job in the construction administration phase) in nyc work for or own firms that do projects at a budget and scale bigger than those in this blog – we have to pay our rent/mortgages too!
I know this blog is for those who want the joy of designing/building their own residences, and I understand you don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for renovations that seem simple and don’t even require drawings…
However, I suggest you write a post asking for an architect to consult with you on an hourly basis. Just bring them in to advise you on parts of the process that you feel are over your head or confusing, like contracts and areas of construction.. The few hundred you will pay for a few hours of that person’s time will save you a lot of headache and will open your eyes to a lot of possibilities both in design, contacts, vendors, etc.
I bet a lot of good architects would be willing to make a few extra bucks on the weekend… i sure would! I’d just make sure they’ve either got references or work for a reputable firm.
– architect in nyc/brooklyn
Wasn’t meant to be and I do consider the stress of renovation and the financial concerns to be a real problem. Are there support groups to deal with stress? Maybe I don’t really know what a support group is or what it entails. Apologies.
Wasn’t meant to be and I do consider the stress of renovation and the financial concerns to be a real problem. Are their support groups to deal with stress? Maybe I don’t really know what a support group is or what it entails. Apologies.
“A renovation support group would be great and I’m not even joking. ”
it’s also kindof an insult to people who use support groups for real problems.
I think a Renovation support group is an awesome idea. We could have used it ourselves.
If the only solution is to always hire an architect, even if you aren’t moving or changing anything structurally, then that means nobody should be buying any house in Brooklyn at all except the very very wealthy. Which is a ridiculous statement. The people who ventured into Brownstone Brooklyn and started saving these houses in the first place, in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s before there was any gentrification in these places, they were not ultra rich yuppies. The very wealthy would not even be buying here now, were it not for middle class people with lots of passion and hard work, who moved into these neighborhoods and brought them back, then stuck in there and stayed, raising their children here.
I’m not going to hire an architect to replace a couple doors, and install a toilet, and install laundry. I hired a handyman to do that. And it turns out nearly everything we hired him to do, he did wrong. Too many contractors and handymen in Brooklyn are terrible. That’s all. Not reliable, not knowledgeable, no work ethic. When you find a good one you don’t give out his name/number because you don’t want him to get too booked up. That’s how rare they are!