Re-Brownstoning Landmark Bldg
Time to re-brownstone our landmarked four-story Greek Revival townhouse. We are complete novices and are looking for any advice, warnings, and specific recommendations. I couldn’t find a lot of relevant posts on the Forum, so recommendations for specific threads are most welcome. But from the posts I did find, and from friends’ recommendations, we have…
Time to re-brownstone our landmarked four-story Greek Revival townhouse. We are complete novices and are looking for any advice, warnings, and specific recommendations. I couldn’t find a lot of relevant posts on the Forum, so recommendations for specific threads are most welcome. But from the posts I did find, and from friends’ recommendations, we have some potential contractors. Any experience with these?
Z Abedin
Edson USA
D&H Contracting
M&H Construction (or is that Contracting, a different company?)
Swiss Guild (no phone number for them)
One Capital Construction (Ted Wrzolek)
Costas (the numbers I have are not working)
Thank you in advance!
Brukkus, I’m all for permits, as well as good advice. Also for truth in advertising. I note that your Forum posts all reference the same one phone number, whether under the name AGPE or under the name Tritower. OP, whether your building itself is landmarked or simply in a historic district, make sure you check the links below and many others on the LPC website. In addition, be sure your bids include the cost of permits, filing and associated professionals: http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/html/working_with/perform_work.shtml
http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/pubs/workguide.pdf
http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/pubs/rules.pdf
Just a tenant, but from an aesthetic standpoint, z abedin did a really nice job on the stoop of our building. Easily 10x better than anything else on our (fairly crummy crown heights) block.
but, as the brukkus notes, since i’m only recommending them because they do good-looking work and were extremely pleasant to be around, I’m probably not giving the right ‘advise’.
I love the fact that everybody is trying to reccommend everybody but not giving the right advise……any of those guys above may be good but the first thing that you need to know before re-Brownstoninga 4 story landmark building is that you need 1) scaffold design,
2) shed design if necessary
3) rebrownstoning permit from Landmarks and
Dob.
4) Specific permits….
5) and most of all supervision
The majority of the times, these contractors either do not include that in their prices or recieve violations without warning the client,,,,so I say what good are they?
I used John or Phil from A.G.P.E Pllc 347-787-3338
Contractors love them but also hate them….Good Luck
The July/August 1999 issue of Traditional Building magazine had a comprehensive article on this topic. It described the “Brooklyn Method,” which we see everywhere, and also explains why the architectural conservators of Cooper Union rejected this technique, and stripped away previous failed repairs. I made a few extra photo copies if anyone wants one, I will send it snail mail, until I run out of copies. Just ask. You can also call the publisher. And, go see for yourself how Cooper Union looks ten years after.
Brownstones are a bit like tile, one of my specialties, but I work mostly on interiors, so I am not offering my service here.
What is Costas’ #?
We used Edson for a stoop rebuild. Beautiful work (including barely pitching stairs for runoff), great color match and consistency, recommend highly.
Costas did work for us and our next door neighbor as well. He came recommended by another friend in the neighborhood where the masonry work he did on that limestone house was “museum quality.” The work he did on our limestone was not quite as perfect. As in the case of utoeid, the coloring was not as consistent as we would have wanted. However, the structural integrity of the work is unassailable, the pricing quite reasonable and the crew remarkably competent, diligent and responsible. We don’t hesitate to recommend Costas. The biggest issue for potential customers will be getting on his schedule.
BTW, we had an experience with Brownstone Authority that was less than wonderful. We would not recommend them under any circumstances.
Thank you all. What should guide our choice other than cost? There are some terrible brownstoning jobs on our block, and we want a job that looks first rate.
Also, is this a tough time of year to start this process? I’m having trouble getting people to return my calls. Z Abedin wins so far because someone answered the phone, showed up to estimate, and then actually submitted a bid ($37,500), even though Mr. Abedin himself is in Bangladesh through February 15.
No experience with landmarking, but here’s another vote for Mr. Costas. Did our coop maybe 17 years ago. I’m sure it was a rotten job for him. Not really worthy of his talents. (I remember him showing me his portfolio–beautiful stuff–but we were pinching pennies.) More work than he expected. Hurt his arm in a fall one day. And one very difficult owner who was locked in a battle with the board gave him a thoroughly undeserved hard time. Throughout, Mr Costas was polite and professional throughout. Only contractor I ever had who finished on time and on budget. And if you’ve watched his work, you will have noticed that he is the neatest of the bunch.