We wanted to redo our kitchen but we were on a budget. On the recommendation of friends, we…read moredecided to go with Ikea's system. But we needed more than installation - we wanted our floors redone, the layout (and therefore gas lines) moved, lighting redone, and a 220v line run to the apartment for the european-style in-wall oven. we got 5 bids on the job and reviewed them carefully. After a lot of questions and discussions, we decided to go with Florencio and his team, including Rolando, his main carpenter. We felt their questions and comments were thoughtful, and their price was lower than all the rest. Also, every time we spoke or met, they confirmed the meetings and called/arrived when they said they would. These were all good signs to us.
We were extremely happy with the process, their work, and our kitchen. We had a fantastic experience.
Besides being a very nice person, Florencio was very easy to talk with over plans, agreements, and misunderstands. The latter will occur in any project, but in my opinion the real mark of excellence is how you deal with things when they appear to go wrong. A couple times, before we knew each other well enough yet, I questioned Florencio about the cost/time of some work. He handled the questioning with grace and proceeded to show me pretty meticulous documentation to back everything up - in fact, once we looked, it was clear that he actually spent some time/expense without charging us.
Throughout the project, there were a number of different people with different roles in and out of the project. They appeared and did what they said they would when Florencio said he'd do it. Everyone who worked with him seemed happy and productive, and on the numerous moments when I arrived unannounced, they were always hard at work. I think this says something for his management.
Florencio arranged all the sub-contractors: plumbers, electricians, etc - and they all had papers and did clean work. He also had recommendations for me for tile, lighting, and countertop people in the city. I used his lighting person (Lendy's) and he got me a price that was half what the other shops in the bowery were charging.
Both Rolando and Florencio also possess a strong desire to do clean work the right way; Rolando could even be accused of being a perfectionist. I was reassured by this, and everything in my [now complete] kitchen is meticulously straight (despite the crooked, ancient building I live in), neat, and well put-together. Not a sloppy moment. However, there were a couple moments when I didn't want to pay for the "perfect" solution, and these conversations were easy to have with Florencio and Rolando; they understood this and helped me make smart decisions on where to spend my money.
The icing on the cake is that Florencio really understands what the customer experience is like. He was constantly concerned with our comfort while living in the apartment. In the end, he even made trips to ikea for us, and returned all our unwanted materials for me, saving us, basically a weekend of van rentals and trips to Ikea. he got rid of all the extra material hanging around, so that we could come home to a brand new kitchen with nothing left to do but move back into it.
There were also a bunch of little details in the end that needed to be cleaned up, and Florencio came in and worked through every one of them with patience and conviction. It was clear that he wasn't going to consider this project done until he made sure every tiny detail was complete (and, true, he could get paid...) - but he takes pride in his work and clearly cared that it was well-done.
There were a couple of moments where there were misunderstandings over what was included in our original contract. Though the communication could have been better up front, we were easily able to have mutually respectful conversations over these issues and arrive at solutions. Because of unforeseen circumstances (e.g., where the supportive beams for the building are, which couldn't be found until they opened the wall), our kitchen was slightly more than the original cost, but not much. And it was done quicker than the original quote. We are extremely pleased and would recommend Florencio and his team to just about anyone.