Renovations are exciting because it’s a chance to create a special place for you and your family. They’re also stressful because not only are you spending a lot of money but if you’re like myself I had to move out of my small apartment for a few months. I met Michael and his New Era team via Sweeten. I was truly fortunate to work with a consummate professional from beginning, through an eventful middle, then a wonderful end. I live in a 100+ year old building and my place was in a very desperate need of a new kitchen and bathroom. When I first met Michael, we did a walkthrough of my place with all my wants versus needs, he helped me fine tune a few areas based on my space & budget. After our initial meeting, I went to one of his job sites in Cobble Hills where New Era converted a one family brownstone into three separate condos, one being a duplex. I was able to see firsthand the attention to detail on the floors, cabinetry, fixtures, wiring, plumbing, adding another level, etc. At the same time, I was interviewing 3 other contractors but my easy rapport with Michael and seeing the condos helped me solidify working with New Era. I worked on the details of the contract with Sweeten and Michael. We went over every line to make sure I understood the costs and potential “extras” because you never know what you’ll find once the work starts. My work consisted of fixing the kitchen & bathroom. While I had an idea of the colors and look for each room, New Era has a team that designed the layouts and helped me pick the colors & materials so there is a nice continuity with each room. I have very small 5-footer bathroom. In this area, we replaced the tub with a standing shower with barn style sliding glass doors. The bathroom had a few pieces of rotted wood that we were able to easily replace before the new floor tile was installed. For lighting, I had an uneven ceiling due to multiple plaster jobs over the years, so we evened that out and replaced the old lighting fixture with recessed lighting. The kitchen was the big job, this area is almost the same size as my living room. We had to move a fuse box to another wall to open the space. And again, another room with uneven walls that we fixed for the new cabinets and he uncovered more rotted wood that we fixed before installing the tiles. Because we spoke about potential issues during the contract stage, I was prepared when Mike was on site and called to say changes needed to be made to the original work order and I was comfortable making quick decisions. During this process we hit a major bump when we uncovered more rotting wood that needed to be replaced. My project was stalled for 3 months because major repairs where needed (a building issue). To say this was stressful is an understatement but Michael was there every step of the way. When the work restarted, one of the final projects was installing very fine, small pieces of glass for the kitchen backsplash. I met with the team to go over the design and they did a wonderful job cutting the glass and laying out design. I love my new bathroom & kitchen and feel so lucky to have found a great contractor in Michael and his New Era team! Not counting the stalled period, the work was completed in 6-8 weeks. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a thorough partner. He has 30+ years of experience and knows how to get things done with quality materials. I will continue to use his services for my home. Additional Info - Kitchen materials consisted of quartz countertops, porcelain floor tiles, custom gray wood cabinets, and the glass backsplash. Bathroom materials consisted of porcelain tile on the floors & shower walls w/ marble niche in shower. Additional general work consisted of adding new molding around the floor base boards in kitchen to match the rest of the apartment, re-framing a few windows, painting the entire apartment floor to ceiling, installing ceiling fans, repairing track lighting attached to tin ceiling in entryway.
