My Home Renovation Experts — Local services in New York

Eight years have passed since my renovation and I am increasingly more disgusted. Blinded by the delight of buying my first property, and planning renovations throughout, I was not paying attention. I could kick myself now. There are serious shortcomings that grow more obvious with the passage of time. There is a project manager who is supposed to be overseeing the work. Yet there are instances of very shoddy work. The best work was done by the painters. They were absolute pros. The paint job still looks good. They knew the art of plastering and painting in a prewar building.

The people who refinished the hardwood floors also did an excellent job. It's downhill from there.

I write this now because I've had infestations of mice and this is getting worse. Come to find that there was a gaping hole left behind the living room radiator, AND a huge area left wide open behind the stove!!! All that they missed was setting out the welcome mat for the mice. What idiots leave huge unfinished swathes? Only when the super pulled out the stove did he find the unfinished stretch of wall near the floor, at least as wide as the stove. That is the most unprofessional and sloppy work. If it will not be seen, then don't finish it. I am coming to think that I will have to move the fridge and dishwasher. I may have to have the super rip out cabinets. I am livid. The more I look at the gaps left between the counter and the appliances the more, as I noted I could kick myself for being too intoxicated with my new apartment to even take note of such things. I always do scrutinize work carefully. And the responsibility should not rest on me. It is a contractor's job to oversee the work and insure it is done PROFESSIONALLY. You NEVER leave gaping holes behind appliances. NEVER.

They botched one small request for some shelving in one closet so absurdly that I was incredulous. That had to be redone. Pros do not leave even one little detail amiss. You don't let skewed switch plates go. You straighten them. The guy should not have installed it that way in the first place and the project manager should not have let it slide. These are just single examples. In and of themselves not a big deal. Cumulatively a very big deal. Maybe if someone wants a more modestly priced project they don't bother as much. Also, I notice that they post only their best reviews. AND they "bribe" you, to get a good review by offering you money to post a good review.

Beware all contractors, no matter how glitzy their websites!

When they were working, the tile guys, the stupidest of the bunch, laid the bathroom floor tiles so wobbly that they had to rip them up and do it again. In the kitchen, the uneven floor was not as obvious, and over the years kitchen tiles have broken just from being walked over, given that they are sitting on an uneven surface.

I asked for economical kitchen cabinet and such. Just because I picked the less expensive cabinets does NOT mean they should be cheap! Cheaply made. The shelves have curved down into a noticeable dip just from a normal load of household items and groceries....

I am so pleased with MyHome's work, I've already referred them to my boss (think about how risky that is) for a job twice as big as mine. We gut renovated our 2 bedroom apartment in just 11 weeks. No one believed me when I told them the timeline. Everyone said to double the project time and cost - that nothing in NYC comes in on time or on budget. I have two young children and needed to move out and pay rent/mortgage at same time, so having an accurate timeline was critical for me. Plus my budget was fixed and not flexible.

We met with 6 different contractors - including one that had done many jobs in our building. We decided to go with MyHome for several reasons. First, they have a design showroom in midtown NYC, which made it very easy to get the design planning done during the week. Two, we really liked their vertical model – you’re assigned a designer, a project manager, etc. Each team member has their specific area of expertise and they focus on moving the project along quickly. Finally, we really liked their extremely detailed cost breakdowns by both labor and materials which allowed us to focus on areas where we could cut costs or time (in some cases taking on the materials purchasing ourselves)

Friends that had done renovations told me that the beginning of the project (the demolition phase) is called the “eye candy” phase – a large team will show up to demo the apartment. You get all excited because the project is finally moving and then everything slows down – they had bad experiences where just one or two workers a day would show up for just a few hours. Not with MyHome - we had a team of 5 show up day one and then every single day for the next 11 weeks. Nikko and his team became like family – learning the children’s names, etc. There was never a time – morning or afternoon -- where we showed up randomly where there wasn’t a team of workers in there. They handled deliveries, the super, inspectors, etc.Todd Sunko, the overall project manager, was truly stellar. His demeanor, professionalism and knowledge made the experience even better.

We moved back in 11 weeks to the day later (they even had a cleaning crew come in) and finished up all the final touches over the next few weeks. I would hire them again in...

Twenty years ago, My Home was just a small store front located on Amsterdam and West 90th street. Since they were in the neighborhood, I thought, "Why not"? Never did I realize that I would continue my relationship with My Home 20 years later to have my kitchen renovated again. What I am particularly impressed by (of many things) is the level of craftmenship and attention to detail. If something is not to your liking, it is fixed. For example, I was not happy with how the base cabinets were installed. They were in fact installed properly but I wanted something different. My project manager, Robbie Goldberg (who is simply amazing) looked at me puzzled and said, "Are you sure?" I was sure. It was a reasonably big job to redo the base cabinets in the way I wanted but at no point did I feel like this would be a problem. Robbie said with his usual upbeat and positive attitude, "When you're happy, we're happy." He told his workers to make the changes and they did. I couldn't be more thrilled with my updated, spiffy new kitchen with a beautiful new floor. beautiful cabinets and a glorious paint job. I ultimately kept my vintage red countertops which was not a problem to keep and reinstall. Since you get what you pay for, My Home is not for bargain hunters. They are flexible when determining labor and materials, but you get what you pay for and for me--the second time around, I am just as happy as I was with the results now as when My Home first did work for me. Just because I know how helpful reviews are, the photos below show the excellent grout work, my steam pipe matches the walls, the beautiful bamboo floor and installation of the molding, the flawless paint job and the perfect installation of the microwave. I highly recommend My Home. They are an amazing company that operates in a way few do--with humanity, kindness and a willingness to find a solution when a problem arises. They deal with the whole customer because they know a renovation is a highly personal and stressful endeavor. Thank you My Home. Thank you Robbie and everyone on the team who helped make my renovated kitchen...