Stairdogs
Restoration and Renovation
Thad Wiseheart, assisted for the duration fo the kitchen and
the very beginning of the upstairs by Carlos, Julio, and Rene. And
initially also by Jeff O'Neil the senior carpenter, Kevin the
junior carpenter "Right the Second Time" (Thad allowed
as how "Right the Third Time" would be more accurate),
and Ricky the sheet rocker. And for 40% of the duration by
Dennis Fuller the punch list carpenter, "Measure 14 times,
Cut 14 times". Tulio (or perhaps Toledo) was here
for some of the time. Nov 27 2004, Carlos and Julio left
for Guatemala. Rene remained and was supplemented by
his "cousin" Renaldo. And then by Jeff (again)
and Johnnie Richards, then (briefly, in June 2005) by Cesar
from Minneapolis. Late 2005 Julio had called Thad with
the possibility of returning, but as of mid-2006 hadn't. In
2007, Rene returned to his own three mansions in Guatemama.
Allen Gallant (boss), Ben Morey & Danny & Jeff, Andy,
Ben's little brother Cabel (2 days), Mark (Ben's mentor)
4C-YD Road,
Bedford MA 01730, Fax 781-862-7044
Voice: 781-862-4636 (Barbara in office - arrives
9.00 except when it rains, then 9.30) Allen's Cell: 781-844-7068 (ring twice if a dire
emergency)
Mark Pourier 781-844-7066 ("Emergency" number).
No longer with Gallant, off on his own as of 2007, Ben
was a great guy, I can not recommend him enough. He
was (if you ask me and pardon the pun) the shining light at
Gallant Electric.
Ben
Morey, Benjamin Electric Inc., 978-640-8800 or (cell) 781-953-0201,
6 Jerome Rd,Tewksbury, MA 01876 (NH Lic#11832)
The
Main Plumbers:
ER
Plumbing & Heating, Inc.
John Lennon (owner), John Landry & Chris & Richie & Robin Lennon
(office)
P.O. Box 98 - 5 Merchants Way -
Walpole MA 02081
Description of Work: Extensive plumbing and
demolition and construction work on our 100-year old carriage
house, over a period of 30 months. New kitchen,
3 new bathrooms. Replaced sink and toilet in victorian bathroom.
New water heater. Added several heating zones and reconfigured
existing zones in our gas-hot-water furnace. Installed
6 new Runtal radiators around the house. I (the homeowner)
was a full-time General Contractor on this job, so I had extensive
interactions with everyone involved. Conclusion:
Best for fixed price new-work jobs, worst for repairs and
hourly jobs.
Member Comments: For new rough & finish
work, main plumber John Landry did absolutely exquisite work. That
bears repeating. Exquisite, consistent, meticulous, careful,
considerate progress. His downside was moods, often such
a bear in the morning that no-one on the job site would dare
more than a nod until noon! By contrast, repair guy Richie
was a master at chatting up other contractors, and frankly
is not recommended except perhaps as bar-room company. I
had a tempestuous relationship with John Lennon, the owner. Sometimes
responsive, other times very not. Usually gruff. I had
problems with three of his ten bills, mainly for time he charged
me that his guys were not in evidence. Billing discrepancies
unfortunately increased over time, ranging from a couple of
hours to a full five days on his most recent bill. At
$85 an hour that adds up. I was never undercharged. Having
paid on time literally for years, I felt seriously slapped & insulted
when he insisted on payment *in-advance* of finishing my
job!
Description of Work: I was inspired to get
another plumber to come by to try to revive the old 6-ft
long soapstone sink deep in the basement.
Member Comments: Jason
from R & R Battista. Nice guy. Cleaned out the old
latex paint that had been poured down it by our previous
owners, then removed 2 second (smaller) also latexed sink
from the cellar, removed the unnecessary pipes. All this
in 2 hours, so I was more inspired and asked him to look
at the drippy tub on the first floor... He had to go to
the supply house to get washers, but it is great now. Total
of 4 hours, $360. Came on time, returned call right away.
Bruno
Visocchi - with Alessandro (on a bad day), and Nad and
Mombrini (briefly)
3 Webster Rd
Lexington MA 02421
781-861-7816
Cell 617-875-7202
Flooring
(Our floor stain was 3/4 Jacobean, 1/4 Red Mahogany):
Astro
Hardwood Floors ~ Tim Phinney
888-760-9663
781-769-2785 Cell: 781-775-5057
204 Bahama Dr, Norwood, MA 02062
Description
of Work for Angie's
List: Installing new oak flooring in 2 bedrooms
and a small hall, refinishing the remainder of the small
hall and a set of stair treads, installing a few lengths
of mahogany flooring in a cedar closet, staining the
bedroom floors, and applying a high performance 2-part
polyurethane called Traffic all over, 3 coats. Final
result very good (not excellent) but you should realize
that you need to look over it really carefully especially
around the edges and 3 feet from your end walls and be
unsettlingly assertive if you care how it looks.
Member Comments for Angie's
List: Tim Phinney, the owner, was very
pleasant and often reachable at his cell number, which
you should get from him. Instead of applying the stain
in two coats, he really wanted to sand, then wet the
floor to raise the grain so it would have more surface
area exposed to the stain and take it darker. Bad idea,
it stayed rather rough and irregular. Installation
was gorgeous. Once the first coat of poly was applied,
we could tell that the sanding was not so lovely, it
suffered from (1) Sanding Chatter marks especially
3 feet from end walls, (2) Irregular Raised Grain,
(3) Flooring at the edge of the room dove down where
they used the edger tool too aggressively, (4) Boogies
where dust or perhaps bits of their mop were stuck
inside the poly, (5) Sanding Swirls where they had
switched grit too soon from coarser to finer. Tim did
return and resand the floor, maintaining his composure,
but his worker was in a really foul mood thereafter!
The
Painter:
J.
Clarke Painting ~ Jack Clarke ~ Absolutely The Best! Fair,
meticulous, honest. Highly recommended.
33 Mayhew St.
Dorchester MA 02125 617-596-5979
Description of Work for Angie's
List: Extensive interior
and exterior painting. Faux painting. Incredible wood staining
(matching) and polyurethaning. Jack and his crew have been
working on various pieces of our ongoing construction here
in this 115-year-old carriage house for 2 years. It is the
quality of the prep that determines the quality of the final
paint job, and Jack specializes in prep. His first job here
was a full kitchen with lots of woodwork, then I called him
back for painting on extensive plaster patching downstairs.
We had severely alligatored exterior paint, and since he
had done such a superb job I invited him to spend the summer
working around the entire outside of the house.
Member Comments for Angie's
List: Jack is Absolutely The Best!
And I don't say this lightly. Fair, meticulous, honest. Highly
recommended. More than highly recommended. Jack is a fantastic
workman, able to maintain a top-grade crew. We have had all
sorts of trades at our house for the last 2+ years, and Jack
has been one of the absolute highlights. Reliable, consistent.
Good judgment. He has been able to stain different woods
that are adjacent so they look like the same species. I have
never in my life seen better prep of alligatored exterior
paint - scraping, sanding, priming, filling, sanding the
filler, then coats of paint over that. The exterior looks "like
new". Where the old interior wood was grunky, he made
faux-oak painting on pieces here and there, and I get much
amusement stumping guests who cannot guess which is the real
and which is the faux. Fair prices, Absolutely top quality
work, Primo recommendation!
Steel
Fabrication:
Ackles
Steel & Iron Co Inc (See #1 or #2 or #3)
~ Bill Ackles, his brother downstairs, and Bill's son Andrew
Iron Stairs; Rails ~ Founded 1965
12-T Sun St. ~ PO Box 363
Waltham MA 02454
781-893-6818
Fax: 781-891-6310
Structural steel (they also make wrought
iron). Pleasant people, rough accuracy - don't expect anything
better than +/- 1/4" on lengths and right angles varied
between 80 and 100 degrees.
AC
and Hood Ducting (#2 - Good News!)
A & D
Sheet Metal Inc ~ Arthur J. Dubois, "Sawzall" Frank
(Work by Frank and His Guatemalans who are cousins I think
of Thad's Guatemalans)
15-17 Farwell St
Waltham, MA 02453 781-893-5174 (Claire in the office)
Fax 781-893-5390
Emergency: 781-765-6101
No email, he says
AC
Installer (#1 - Bad news!)
LeBlanc
Mechanical - Randy & Susan Leblanc
235 School Street, Acton MA 01720
or 781-958-8034 (Page?) or 781-899-1333 (Fax)
or 1250 R Main St, Waltham, MA 01720, 781-899-3984,
978-635-0661, or 617-719-5572 (Chris and emergencies) Compressor:
Goodman Manufacturing Model CKL49-1, 4 tons, lowest efficiency
available (10 SEER, vs. 12-13-14) (Specs) S/N
0211440665 P/N P1492963 Refrigerant R22
Air
Handler: Goodman Manufacturing Model ARUF-048-00A-1
(4 tons and 1500 cfm at 0.3" pressure), (Specs) S/N
0306452351 P/N 14310-06 Refrigerant R22
Wall
Board Hanging:
Richard "Ricky" Bourgeois (assisted
by Jeff O'Neil)
98 Orange St
Waltham, MA 02453
781-899-3627
Cell 781-354-2386
Dumpster:
Mark-one in
Lexington 781-863-0002 - Fran and Amanda and Caroline (They
also do demo, they say)
Fran's Hours 8.30-4.30
Description
of Work: Replacing a 62 ft section of copper gutter
that had been damaged in construction and from 8 years
of small tree limbs falling on our 100-year old carriage
house. No downspouts replaced.
Comments
for Angie's List on JLM: Originally quoted at
$1000, and inspected thoroughly by JLM, the price somehow
inflated first by $300 due to having to add 10 feet of
fascia wood to the existing building (an hour for 2 guys)
and then by $200 due to the necessity to pull back and
reinstall the rubber roof. Need for the former could
have well been predicted by JLM, and the latter was absolutely
predictable by JLM, as a result of their prior opportunity
to inspect the site. So, the price inflated by 50%
from $1000 to $1500. I figured it would, since my other
quote (NE Gutter Kings) was $2000 – hence
I did not whine. Quality was decent but not brilliant.
Some use of steel (not copper) screws below the water
line and some dents and wonkiness in the angles. Louis
and his assistant were polite and arrived within an
hour of the scheduled time, completing the job in about
4 hours.
Comments
for Angie's List on NE Gutter
Kings: Punctual for
their quote, polite, gave me a $2000 quote on the spot.
I think they would have done a fine job, but chose
to go with JLM Gutter instead based on their quote
of $1000. The job seemed quite well defined, so I felt
it was a fair comparison. JLM's price somehow
inflated to $1500 by the time they were done, just
half-way between their respective initial quotes.
Roofers
(See separate entry for Gutter Installation):
#0,
Using: Gilbert & Becker
Co., Inc. - Attn: Alex Alpert or Howard (6.30~3.00
M~F) - Shop guy: Dan - Scheduler John Lupo Excellent work. Somewhat
difficult scheduling. Fair (they're all high!) prices. Recommended. Beware:
Excellent work, but PITIFUL WARRANTEE. They did tons
of roofing work for me, primarily new slate and copper work,
then refused to give me more than a 12-month warrantee. I
would have expected at least 5 years, if not 20.
Description
of Work: New copper
roof section, new slate work, slate repairs on existing
slate, a difficult circular ("radius") gutter, and copper
downspouts on our 115-year old carriage house. Family
business, speak to Alex.
Member
Comments: Excellent work.
Difficult scheduling. Fair (they're all high!) prices. Recommended.
Beware: Excellent work, but PITIFUL WARRANTEE. They did
tons of roofing work for me, primarily new slate and
copper work, then refused to give me more than a 12-month
warrantee. I would have expected at least 5 years, if
not 20
#1:
Twelfth Century Slate Roofing (12 Century Slate Roofing, 12th
Century Slate Roofing) - Doug Raboin (Douglas Raboin) BAD NEWS! Great
scam! Snitched our slates, then sold them back to us!
Beware! Contact me for details.
Description of Work (Dec
2003): Removed
slate to clear space around two vent holes, then re-slated
the area. This job started simply enough, with a bid for
$100 to remove the slates and $500 to reslate the area.
He added a provision for replacing broken slates, maximum
20 for $23 apiece, this part optional and some of these
slates in different parts of roof. Promised me a proposal,
twice, but I never received it. They removed the slates.
I installed the vents. A month later, when they finally
returned to slate it, they first removed the big vent totally,
then on new year's eve, with the roof now a gaping hole,
said that they would need 35 new slates, not 20. Later,
the roof partly covered up, they said, 40. Finally it came
to 47.
Member
Comments: Warning, scam artist. There
are at least 7 different Raboin brothers doing roofing
under different names. I advise avoiding them all
like the plague! (Of course that's unfair ...
)
#2: Copper & Slate
Co, Inc. - Garrett Laws, Jen, Martha BAD NEWS! Appeared
to be a nice guy, but he blew away on me and wouldn't return
calls, emails. Very pricey.
238A
Cavalry Street
Waltham MA 02453
781-893-1916
Fax: 781-893-2041
email: Glaws@hbuilders.net
#3: Rosebud
Roofing - Boss: Adam Neiman, Lead roofer: Lucien (son
of Adam's partner Natalia Muina) who was subsequently "Integrity
Construction" of 116 Robbins St, Waltham MA (Out of business
also as of Dec 2005)
BAD
NEWS! Highly
esteemed 1997~2000, but now Ghastly work. I Went
to Small Claims Court on this one! "Out
of Business" as of 12/31/04
"A
Division of Rosebud Management Corp"
tel 617-965-6006
fax 617-965-8228 Cell 617-686-5434 Home: 617-630-5606, 349 Dedham St Newton MA 02459
(The BBB gives
this address for Rosebud)
Dead email: rsbdmgt@aol.com -
dead as of 08-23-04
Shop (defunct): 36 Border St, West Newton, MA 02465
Or maybe 14 Felton Street, Waltham, Massachusetts 02453-4117
And on GY,
this possibly old contact info: 617-876-9341 55 Aberdeen
Ave Cambridge MA 02138
Google shows this 617-876-9341 phone number as 384 Dedham
St, Newton, MA 02459
Also see No Sweat
Apparel or Bienestar International, (617) 527-2551, 36
Border St, Newton, MA 02465
Report
to Angie's List:
Description
of Work: Install new (replacement) 20 oz copper
gutters on a slate roof, 31 ft of radius (curved) and 23
ft of straight sections. After 16 weeks, 20% of the job
is completed, total unsatisfactory quality. Job terminated
by homeowner.
Member
Comments: Appalling, shoddy workmanship. Sloppily
soldered joints, gutter leaked like a sieve at 8 of 13
soldered joints. Not riveted, only soldered on one side.
Copper overlaps at joints only 30% what they should be.
The metal edge was mangled in places, leaving razor-sharp
edges. Screws not cut off; an inch of screw is ready to
tear your hand should you reach in to clean the gutter.
Material supplied was 16 oz., not 20 oz., as agreed. I
paid 50% to start, schedule of 4 weeks. After 16 weeks
of calls, every week or two, he delivered the first 20%
piece. Very difficult communication. Twice he removed a
9 ft section of gutter to make the replacement. Both times,
I called him back, as the plastic temporary covering was
not even diverting rain that came out of the cut end he
had opened in the remaining gutter. After the first one
was re-done, it continued to leak during rainfalls, thus
we have been unable to repair the inside walls and ceiling
in either of the two rooms affected by the leaks.
#4
(Not Using): Daniel Fox (roofer) and Mike
Thielbar (gutter fabricator)
Daniel
Fox Roofing Co
Newton, MA 02458
617-965-1294
Mike Thielbar
Home 781-648-3046 (Googled as Patti Demont - 9 Park Ter Apt
B, Arlington, MA 02474)
Cell 781-760-7517
#5
(Not Using): Exterior Restorations (owned
by Paul Lezon)
978-276-3086
(As recommended by David Kasman): Terrific slate and copper
roof work. Paul fabricates and solders all the copper
himself. His work is excellent and he's honest, organized
and a good guy. I have no experience with him personally.
Inspectional
Services (Hours 7.00~5.00) Newton
City
Hall
1000
Commonwealth
Ave.
Newton
Centre,
MA
02459 Main
Phone:
617-796-1060
Our
Electrical
Inspector Billy
McDonald 617-796-1077
Our First Structural Inspector Charles
Lamplough "Buddy" 617-796-1069
Another Second Structural Inspector Alan
Gifford 617-796-1060 ("Life Is Good")
Another Inspector Richard
O'Regan (Senior)
Acting Commissioner and Building Inspector Gerry
Brown 617-796-1060
Shufro
Security - Richard Shufro, Anna, Esther, Cassandra, Marguerite,
Red, Pete, Russ (he started Apr 2005)
617-244-3355 or 800-974-8376
Behind Enterprise Rent-a-car and Ferrari
West Newton, MA 02465
Water-in-Basement
Engineer:
Marcia
Berger - President, ABC
Soils - excellent!
17 Green St
Waltham MA 02451
781-547-5656
Outdoor
Drain Cleaning
(Vactor
Truck and Water Jet): Podgurski Corp
8 Springdale Ave
Canton, MA, 02021
781-828-0821 or 800-286-0404
Description of Work (Nov 2003): We have a
drywell (not so dry) from which they sucked four feet of
silt, and a bunch of underground drain leaders from the house's
gutters and a little 80-year-old pool all of which they sucked
and jetted out.
Member Comments: Two
very pleasant guys, rob and john, with a big Volvo tractor
truck arrived exactly on time and finished up in an hour.
Note, their minimum charge is 4 hours at $160/hour, but it
beat using pails and shovels! Top notch professionals, they
normally do industrial jobs. I can highly recommend them
for outside jobs. I just wish the 4-hour minimum was a 2-hour
minimum!
A-1
Lock Security & Service - Tim Tseng
95 St. Mary's St - PO Box 876
Brookline MA 02446
617-469-3771 or 617-566-8628 or 617-527-1314 or 617-469-3771
or 617-576-9970
Description of Work (Sep 2003): Installed
a new cylinder on a thick door, keyed alike to others in
the house
Member Comments: He
was very efficient and the job was done once and correctly.
Excellent job, very neat, very prompt, came almost immediately,
although it was not an emergency call. Highly recommend.
Description of Work (Apr 2004): This job was
3 ornery locks in our old house that he made to work smooth
as silk. Nice guy, this was about 3 hours' work.
Member Comments: This
is the second time Tim has done lock work for us. While a
couple of hundred bucks is not chump change, he does an excellent
job, does not whine, works steadily. He came exactly as he
scheduled, the day after my call. Highly recommended.
Description of Work (Jul 2002): They cleaned
all our windows and sky lights excluding one window which
their equipment did not reach. This is ok since it is above
our line of sight and we can’t look out of it. They
also oiled and cleaned our wooden gutter and cleaned out
all our copper gutters including the gutters on the turret
which are difficult to clean.
Member Comments: They
were professional and efficient. The windows were cleaned
very well, no streaks. People have commented that our windows
are so clean that it doesn’t look like we have glass!
We had not scheduled to have all the gutters done, only the
wooden gutter. On checking the other gutters we realized
they also needed to be done. Aaa was able to do the gutters
right then. We have scheduled aaa sparkling windows and gutter
to come back in the late fall for gutter cleaning.
Description of Work (May 2004): Post-construction
window cleaning of entire first floor of our house including
some interior glass.
Member Comments: Not
cheap, but an excellent job. Nice guys, gorgeous cleaning.
I joked to my friend that they had cleaned the windows with
a hammer, then removed the shards, it was so clean. Some
of the windows were new and needed paint blading-off, which
they did, double the price on these windows. I have used
them before and the story has been the same.
Description of Work (Jun 2004): Post-construction
house cleaning, entire first floor of the house. A year's
cobweb collection. Under all furniture, around all windows,
thick, thick dust from plaster, masonry cutting, carpentry.
Extra tile floor cleaning with vinegar. Subsequently used
for full cleaning of 1000 sq ft condo, in preparation for
sale, including a really greasy kitchen.
Member Comments: These
guys did such an incredible job, I surprised them by paying
them $500 for the house work instead of the $400 we had agreed
on! It was an honor dealing with Jeff and Rosanna, as well
as their entire crew. No whines, a better job than I had
even imagined, a diligent crew and (to repeat myself) a super
job. I cannot speak too highly of them and I don't just give "good" references
to everyone! Arrived exactly as promised, answered my email
quickly, smooth communication, cheery group, just one of
those rare stellar interactions and performances! The condo
was also a wonderful experience with Jeff and Rosanna and
their crew. Jeff met me at 7 pm at the site to go over the
job, gave me a price and picked up a key. Rosanna came to
clean at 6 am two days later and once again did a magnificent
job. I found the occasional little spot which needed a bit
of touching up, and she didn't whine even once. I can't recommend
these people too highly!
Description of Work (Dec 2005): One-time post-construction
cleaning of about 2000 SF that had been thoroughly renovated
over an almost 3-year period. Before: dust everywhere. Massive
cobwebs on chandelier over a 12-foot spiral staircase. Kitchen,
dining room, stairway, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, hall were all
in various states of dust envelopment. After: Dust Gonzo!
Member Comments: This is my 3rd experience with Jeff and Rosanna – and
it was as brilliant as the first two. They continue to be
a primarily family business. Virtually everything sparkled
and they had to clean places that would normally be ignored
in a routine house cleaning, such as tops of doors, over
high woodwork, cans on kitchen shelves, contents of drawers.
Just a couple of spots they missed: one shelf in the fridge
and the top of the front door, but when I managed to find
the spots they zapped them with nary a whimper.
One bathtub had a “construction stain” that
we had been unable to remove in a year of cleanings. I suspect
it was due to some heavy-duty construction adhesive that
had been on one of the contractors’ boots (mixed with
all the other stuff you can imagine that might have been
on those boots). But Rosanna made it disappear!
New tiles had a layer of grout mixed with moisture that
had turned into a sort of thin white gruelly mud which they
had to clean three times with an abrasive pad, when they
were done these tiles also sparkled.
Once again, I cannot recommend AA too highly. As with any
contractor it behooves you to give the work a good looking
over at the end of the day to see what your eyes can find
that theirs missed. There may be a little but there won’t
be a lot. And they’ve never ever complained at getting
the last bits. AA gets an A+.
Computer
Repair (Highly recommended for hardware and software ills):
CTS
Computer in Newton - Attn: Lana
303 Watertown Street
Newton, MA 02458
Tel. 617-964-8927
Fax 617-964-9273
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9AM - 6PM
Tuesday & Thursday 9AM - 7PM
Saturday 9AM - 5PM
Portable
Toilet Rental:
(Using) Handy
House, Inc
Foxboro MA 02035
800-442-1286
508-778-6911
West
Newton Auto Service - Attn: George or Simon
617-527-9554
Icynene
Insulation
(Using): Anderson
Insulation M~F 7.00~5.00, S 7.00~12.00
(Good price, good
job, horrid communication)
706 Brockton Ave
Abington MA 02351 800-472-1717 or 781-857-1000
Tony's Cell: 781-844-4228 Fax 781-857-1054
Accts Receivable x213
Salesman:Tony Trigler x207 (call at 6.30 am)
Boss?: Scott x209
Tony's secy Holly
Eric (Icynene For the islands)
(Not Using): March & Martin
- Dave Stafford
64 Ward St
Salem MA 01970
978-745-3223
Trefler
and Sons - Attn: Christena
Reinhard, Marketing X227
29 Tower Road
Newton MA 02464
Tel: 617-965-3388
Fax: 617-969-5206
M~F 10.00~6.00, S 10.00~2.00
Pest
Control : (Very nice and the bugs didn't
return)
Aardvark
Solutions - Attn: Karla Tomlinson
PO Box 67324
Chestnut Hill MA 02467
(Or Perhaps West Roxbury MA)
617-323-8638
Description of Work: two trips, first analyzing
our situation, and second vacuuming up the debris and painting
the wood with a toxic (to bugs) solution.
Member Comments: Karla
is absolutely top notch. Friendly, professional, a great
deal, neat, clean, thorough, nice, knowledgeable, and flexible.
A joy to have dealt with. I cannot recommend her too much,
and would recommend her to anyone who asked. I would certainly
use her again, although of course I hope not to! Great company
name, too, how can you beat "aardvark"?
Top drawer, top notch. A++.
Plastering:
Johnnie
Cameron - Excellent Work! (except the part that his "helper",
Jack "Mugsy", messed up)
83 Alder St, Waltham, MA 02453
(H) 781-891-9214
Cell 617-719-8747
Description of Work: Johnnie plastered our entire
top floor - a very difficult job due to the many, many large
planes of ceiling that met each other at weird angles. Also
(it took him three tries, but he kept at it) managed to imitate
the funky textured plaster we have in several places of our
first floor room, where he had pieces of several walls to match
due to repairs and construction work that had cut holes therein.
Member Comments: He
was very pleasant and accommodating to work with. Price fair.
Arrived with 4 guys and (except for one of his guys named Mugsy
or Jack, who was sloppy) did excellent work, finishing the
upstairs job in the time promised and on the schedule promised.
Amazing! The real test of a plasterer is to see what the painter
who follows him has to say about his work. Our painter (Jack
Clarke - also excellent, see his separate listing) was impressed
and emitted all sorts of positive comments. Johnnie's other
challenge here was to imitate existing textured plaster finish
downstairs, it wasn't easy and his first two tries flopped,
but to his full credit he kept at it and the final job was
every bit as good as I could have imagined. I cannot recommend
him too highly. Honest, persistent, clean, great work
Moy
Plastering - Michael Ruane (Mick)
BAD NEWS! Lazy, Sloppy workmanship. Contact me for details. If you have the stomach for it! 8 Underwood Park
Waltham, MA 02453
(w) 781-894-3168 - (h) 617-254-5383
Comments
for Angie's List:
Description
of Work: plastered a new kitchen, pantry and a large patch
in an adjoining existing hallway.
Member Comments: The
only case of really bad, sloppy, lazy workmanship for an
entire kitchen project. I cannot speak too badly of him.
At least half the joint lines in our walls developed cracks
as they dried. They returned, at my insistence, and refused
to see the problems. I had to stand there and shine a light
on them so he would not pretend the were not there. The job
was estimated as 2 days, but around 2pm on the first day
he started to rush and got thru it in one day, bad news!
He poured his waste plaster in bushes in front of the house,
waste water down the back yard drain and got plaster all
over the grate. There are half-inch thick streaks of plaster
all down the glass door. Plaster slovenly inches out over
an adjoining brick wall and down 20% of the sides of the
oak trim and there are 2-inch holes above the baseboard.
Gross, disgusting job. I refused to pay his entire bill and
hired someone else to patch the results. All the workmen
on the job poked fun at his plastering.
Plastering
(Not Used):
Val
of Waltham Plastering Co (Yellow
pages listing)
30 Prentice St
Waltham, MA 02451
781-894-2643
Painter
(Not Used) : He did
our previous outside painting back in 1998.
Moira
Gault
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
1261 Centre Street
Newton, MA 02459
617-969-2447 - Fax 617-969-7912 - Cell 617-797-3337
Real
Estate Agent, Cambridge:
Tom
von Zabern tomvonz@aol.com Coldwell
Banker - Hunneman
1730 Mass Ave, Cambridge MA 02138
Home 617-354-1143 - Cell 617-817-4098 - Business 617-864-4430
- Fax 617-864-4883
A
Mason (Not Used):
Bostonian
Brickworks ~ Jimmy Pine
50 Staniford St, Auburndale MA 02466
Phone: 617-558-0055 - Cell: 617-571-2276
Although recommended, perhaps
he's not quite perfect, as on 7-21-05 Kathy sent me this description
of a job he had done for her:
Hey,
Jimmy Pine of Bostonian Brickworks did our big chimney
and did not do a good job. It still leaks. His workers
clogged the flu with mortar because they didn't catch it
with with a special board in there like they were supposed
to. Fortunately, the guys who came to line it came before
it was completely set and were able to bang it out of the
way.
In May
2006, he requested me to remove these words you are reading
now, I told him to contact Kathy and they were "working
out a solution with good will" ... in 3-4 weeks ...
Oct
2006: Not getting any better ... Now it's "You
know, he said he'd pay me if I took it off your website and
he never did, of course!" (Sigh!) What's an errant contractor
to do?
Jun
2007 ... Kathy reported: I did have a conversation with him
during which he agreed to pay me basicly the cost of repairing
my bathroom after the leak but no money ever appeared. (How
surprising. The mortar doesn't fall far from the crumbling
wall, does it?)
A
Nice Irish Mason (Not Used):
Peter
Maguire
5 Emerald Ct, Stoneham, MA 02180
781-435-1194 (office) or 617-365-0663 (cell)
Assistant
to The Architect – Briefly
(and without doubt a great designer in his own right)
Christopher
Spiewak (Chris
Spiewak) (cmspiewak.com)
C.M. Spiewak - Design
1100 28th Street #51
Boulder, Colorado 80303
Office: 303-304-0146
Toll Free: 1-800-Spiewak
Mobile 303-882-7953 chris@cmspiewak.com
Original
Window Replacements (1997) :
Bi-Glass
System - A window renovation system in which the single
pane glass is replaced with insulated glass while retaining
the original sash and a vinyl jambliner system replaces the
old weight and pulley or friction balance system
Healy
Construction - Chris Healy
124 Walnut Street
Natick, MA 01760
508-655-8878 (FAX) Same
e-mail: HealyConst@AOL.com
