Contractor needed for full house renovation

Rob Peters Construction is finishing up our full gut renovations. All new plumbing. All new electrical, some new beams, leveled floors, set us up with a roofer because the roof had to be completely replaced, foam insulation on all exterior walls and ceiling. There have been some minor delays but mostly reasonable. Work isn’t finished yet, but so far we are please with how thorough he has been and follows our instructions but also gives advice when we ask for it. Price was very reasonable. Licensed, subcontractors licensed.

irinamikhail1

in General Discussion 1 year and 7 months ago

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xzgkssumzhyvtey | 1 year and 7 months ago

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I bought a small frame house in very poor condition. I have architect and engineering plans and am ready to get bids from contractors. It’s a major job, needs all new plumbing, moving bathroom locations, needs off-plumb back wall rebuilt, floors leveled, etc. I have one recommendation from an acquaintance and am looking for two more–people who have undertaken large jobs and did it for a reasonable price with no unreasonable delays. If you loved your contractor I’d love to hear about it!

claudia | 1 year and 7 months ago

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Secon Builders (www.seconbuilders.com) – they did our gut renovation. We have a 6-floor brownstone in Harlem and the renovation included adding a penthouse floor. They were excellent – highly recommend. (We selected them from 4 different contractors all of whom were very good).

cate | 1 year and 7 months ago

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A contractor such as this should have insurance, be licensed with the city, check their BBB ratings, been in business with the same name for years, etc. Naturally, a reputable experienced outfit like this is going to be more expensive than a fly by night contractor. Options may include a small team of highly paid people (often the owner will be a carpenter with old house experience) or an outfit with several teams whose makeup may be frequently changing. Also a bit random but check to see your rear beam is in place. Ours was missing and no one noticed for years, despite a series of engineers and inspectors. It explained a lot. 🙂 We have a wood frame.

justinromeu26 | 1 year and 7 months ago

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well said cate. i can elaborate a little more. you want to find a class of contractors who are at a certain level of professionalism and once you find them and get bids from them, you NEVER want to accept the lowest bid even if it sounds like that contractor would never make a mistake. Here is the problem with the lowest bid: it is often faulty. contractors make mistakes on quotes all the time and we hear about the results here (i hear about them on the phone and in person and marriages suffer and people break out in tears – to me as they ask me to help them get their project back on track). People come on here and admit they took the lowest bid (by like 10% or 20%; in a competitive industry like the residential market, these are huge numbers and can make the difference between success and failure of a job and/or a company) and that weeks into the job the contractor comes to them and says he made a mistake and needs more money. These instances can be deliberate (to get the job) and sold to the customer as mistakes later. in some cases on this board, the cu stomers have admitted that they would not have used that contractor in the first place had their proposal been properly written. FYI: i used to manage projects in commercial buildings and as a general rule the lowest bid was refused outright.

I am a home inspector now. i am also a contractor and used to manage projects in commercial buildings (both envelop and interior) and am now managing a roof project on a commercial building in the city (their architect found me on here). People who find me on this board have been calling me to look at their houses as they begin projects just to get another set of eyes to look things over and get another opinion and see if everything has been considered. I am not saying i know everything (and i admit to people when i do not know something but can usually get the answer fast) but i have found and pointed out some interesting things to people about their houses that other contractors have missed as projects had been done or as they are about to start. When people call me to go over their houses with them, generally we do a “long” home inspection (by long i mean 4 hours on a very small house, 7-8 on a larger house) where they follow me around as i check what i feel must be checked and they stop me to ask questions about concerns and i take the time to answer those questions as they take notes. i then furnish a report.

Reach out if you would like to talk and see if i can be of service:

steve
brownstonehomeinspection.com