A: We completely understand that we are working in an occupied space and treat it as though our own family would be living in the house while the work is being performed. If doing drywall work or texture removal, we use vacuum sanding systems complete with HEPA filtration and fine filtration bags to minimize dust (as much as the technology will allow). While no renovation comes without some disruption to your family, we make every effort to section off that room and minimize our footprint in your home while doing the work. When doing a final walk-through at the end of the job, the most common statement we hear is, “Everything looks great and we almost didn’t even know you were here!”

A: When doing interior painting, we really enjoy working with the Benjamin Moore product lineup. The Benjamin Moore Advance works very well for trim and millwork and is a durable finish that lasts for many years. The Regal or Aura products are great for wall finishes and ceiling paint. Since the majority of the cost will be labor, why not purchase a good product to make the room look amazing both when it’s fresh and for many years to come?!

A: While it’s easy to move small pieces of furniture or small items on occasion, there are many items that are just too big or heavy to move from a room or there isn’t enough space to clear the room completely. When this happens, we will tarp the entire floor and cover all furniture with heavy moving quilts to protect it while we work. All items will remain covered until all work is completed and final cleanup has taken place.

A: Yes. We schedule our work so that once the job is started, we are there every day Monday through Friday 8 AM to 4:30 PM until the work is complete. We will give you a target start and end date the moment you confirm you would like to do the work and we provide another, updated target the week before the work is scheduled to begin. We are usually within one day of our target start day. We also try to start work that will be a disruption in your home on a Monday so that there is a very high possibility it will be done by the weekend.

A: If the work can be categorized as a capital gain improvement, where you are improving or updating a room, no sales tax is collected. We keep and take care of filing the ST-124 form that we have you sign along with the proposal. If we are in your home due to an external event, such as water damage, it is no longer a capital gain improvement. These repairs are classified differently by New York State and require us to collect and then forward sales tax to the state.

A: You do not need to be home the entire time we complete the agreed-upon work. We do prefer that we can do at least one walk-through with you as we are starting just to make sure we’re clear on any special instructions and to ensure you don’t want any additional work not in the proposal. We tend to bring our lunches with us, so it’s not necessary for us to leave mid-day and leave the house unattended. Some customers that we have worked with for many years and on numerous projects have felt comfortable giving us a key, but that is a personal decision that we completely respect.

A: From time to time, there will be small variables that come up that need to be tended to while we’re working on a job. This occasionally happens when removing wallpaper or when furniture is moved that exposes areas where small repairs might be necessary. Generally speaking, if there are only a few small repairs, we oftentimes will just take care of these as a good business measure, since no one likes surprises. However, if “a few” repairs turn into many more than that, we try to do the next best thing with an adjusted lower hourly rate to treat the customer as fairly as we possibly can. We will be communicating frequently to ensure everyone is on the same page, so hopefully, us addressing additional surprises won’t be a surprise to you.

That said, we are happy that this only occurs once or twice each year, as we’ve gotten pretty good at spotting potential problems before starting the work.