Junior Prates recommendation

Hey Brownstoners!

I need to add to the chorus of recommendations for Willian (Junior) Prates and his wife Aida. We’re doing a big project on an inconceivably tight budget and thought that we would never be able to afford plaster, but Junior’s price came in low enough that we were able to do it–some blueboard, some skimcoating, some 3-coat over brick plaster work. Junior’s done our entire house. His work is really beautiful–it’s the first thing people notice when they come into the house. He’s been very flexible about fixing things that were my late decisions (moving light fixtures as blueboard went up, for example), and was totally reasonable when we were confronted with a minor disaster partway through the process, requiring us to re-do some work and change our plastering plans on our brick parti walls from skimcoating to three-coat with mesh. My husband and I are also working in the house at the same time and it’s been nothing but pleasant to have him there–he’s always friendly and willing to offer advice (such as demonstrating to me a more efficient way to paint the ceiling, suggesting the most efficient order to do finish work, etc)
Aida handles most of the scheduling and billing, and is very easy to talk to. Also, their son is adorable. Oh, and Aida’s father Enrique did a lovely job tiling one of our bathrooms.

I recommend the whole family to anyone looking for someone to work in their house!