Be cautious!!
My mother has a vacant property that needed some repairs so we hired Mr. Castillo. Before he started the work, I had a talk with him and told him we were concerned he wouldn't get the work done in a timely manner (he had trouble keeping appointments). He said he knew he could be flakey, but gave me his word the work would get done well and on time. He said he'd finish in 9 days to two weeks. That turned into 2 1/2 weeks since there was some delay with finances. He wasn't done then. He said he would be totally finished by the following Monday. He wasn't. Another week went by, then another. Finally after 8 weeks my mother had to tell him to pack his things, leave, and we will get someone else to finish. We then looked at his work. It was disappointing. When he was told the adhesive material wasn't applied adequately behind the bathroom tiles, he said he could fix that. We hired him to do the work right in the first place! When he was told that he didn't even give us the eight hour days he committed to, his defense was that he brought in a guy to help him and, collectively, when they would work 4 hours days, that would equal 8 hour days. He is full of excuses and takes no responsibility for doing the work wrong and not getting it finished. The floors looked nice although he didn't install the transition strips. Tile in the bathroom is uneven, the floors are uneven. We are having to pay extra to have someone come in and do things right. In my opinion, this man took advantage of my mother. I don't suggest hiring him unless you will be there to oversee his work, constantly, and hold him accountable. Hiring him was a huge mistake for us and set us back financially and time wise. He has a very congenial personality, but he should not be doing this to people. If you are just needing floors put in, or have some other small scale job, he might be an option for you to consider. I would not recommend him myself because of my overall experience. Please consider this before hiring him to work on your home.
**UPDATE** Gabriel has recently sent an invoice and credited the labor we still owed him in full. I appreciate his attempt to make things right. I would still caution anyone from hiring him because of the low quality of work that we are left to deal with. We are still having to pay someone else to come in and do the work he did right. read more