Eco-Brooklyn just finished isolating the old lead tainted soil in our backyard redesigning our garden, and making it into a safe space for children and adults alike. We decided to test our soil because we love spending time in the garden, and wanted to share the experience with our toddler. After testing the soil in our backyard we discovered that lead levels were quite high. The levels were probably not abnormal for Brooklyn backyards with many years of lead paint and pipes, but dangerous to our toddler nonetheless. When we looked around for a company with experience in dealing with lead in the garden we drew a blank until we discovered Eco-Brooklyn. In fact, it was so clear that Eco-Brooklyn knew what it was doing in comparison to other companies that we chose Eco-Brooklyn over another company, a nursery, that gave us a lower estimate. The team at Eco-Brooklyn dismantled our raised bed and took the soil and spread it around the garden. They took apart our rock garden and put the components aside. They removed and put aside plants that we wanted to keep and carefully trimmed the trees in the garden. They increased the area in our garden by taking down a fence and trimming a bush that had reduced our space by about 40 square feet They then put down a root barrier over the old soil and covered that with six inches of untainted soil, carefully working around existing trees. They the rebuilt and refilled the raised bed, reconstructed the rock garden and subtly redesigned the whole garden giving us more space and a reclaimed hardwood deck in the far right corner. The result was beautiful! We look forward to playing in the garden, planting vegetables and flowers with our child and entertaining friends for years to come. Eco-Brooklyn's employees were astoundingly careful, moving hundreds of square feet of soil through our house with hardly any mess, cleaning up every day. They took strict measures to keep the contaminated soil isolated and out of our house. Gennaro Brooks-Church, the owner of Eco-Brooklyn was fabulous to work with. He was attentive to our vision and budget and at the same time full of ideas and enthusiasm, coming up with creative and attractive ways to achieve our goals. Gennaro is passionate about ecologically sensitive gardening and design. It is clear he truly loves what he does and that excellent workmanship and service are a point of pride. He was very generous with his time, extremely responsive to calls and emails. He wanted us to be delighted, not just pleased. We are! read more

I hired Eco Brooklyn to do a renovation on my Park Slope brownstone. I will admit it was not an easy job nor was I particularly an easy client. And my apologies to Eco Brooklyn for being so demanding. This post is my attempt to show that despite it all I am very grateful for the work that was done. I have to say they handled the job expertly. I was particularly impressed by their dedication to green building. That is why I went with them over other contractors and I wasn't disappointed. From the start Eco Brooklyn showed a command of green building that was far more advanced than any other contractor I could find. As the job progressed I saw just how far they walk the talk of green building. Boy are they dedicated! When they say they salvage I had no idea to what extent they meant it. At one point I saw them using salvaged screws. It is really a commendable effort and I felt that not only was I getting a beautiful home but I was helping the environment. I have a lot of allergies from growing up in 1950's homes full of chemicals and I imposed a lot of rules in terms of what products they could use on the job. But the funny thing is that their standards were even more stringent than mine! After a lifetime of educating myself I figured I was going to be doing the teaching but I learned from them. They have an outstanding grasp of natural techniques like clay walls and oils for sealing wood. I wouldn't recommend Eco Brooklyn to just anyone though. They have an experimental process because they are often trying new techniques, working with salvaged materials or using hand mixed products. There is less certainty on the outcome than if you buy something off the shelf. I like that because it makes each job unique. And their craft is so high that the outcome was always very high quality. But it is not for somebody who isn't willing to be a little flexible in terms of timing, paint color or type of wood used. Eco Brooklyn puts ecology above client perfection so if ecology isn't important to you then there could be a conflict. I do encourage anyone to at least look into Eco Brooklyn. They are honest and will discuss openly their strengths and weaknesses. In my case I couldn't be happier with the job. Any faults I could find in them is more than made up for in their unique and refreshing attempt to turn NY building into a tool for ecology. read more

I found Eco Brooklyn by spotting some reclaimed wood shelves in a store that looked almost exactly like what I was trying to find for my living room. I called Gennaro Brooks-Church, and in no time, he came to see the place and designed a beautiful shelving set for the living room. He spent a great deal of time discussing every aspect of the shelves (thickness, color, degree of wear on the wood) to make sure that I would be happy with the final product. I was having some doubts about the color finish and he helped me think it through and come up with a fantastic finish that matched the character of the room and the wall colors. He took little time to fabricate the shelves and in no time, was ready to have them installed. His installation folks did a great job on the installation, and spent hours fitting the shelves in (even working through a piping tube that they had to carve holes around) and the result is magnificent. The shelves look like they always belonged there, and they truly add a lot of character to the living room. They are simply gorgeous! I highly recommend Gennaro and his team. He is friendly, resourceful and has excellent taste, while being very reasonable on pricing. Overall a great experience! read more

I originally consulted Gennaro Brooks at Eco Brooklyn about the installation of a roof deck and garden as well as some repairs to our staircase and an old floor. Gennaro was very knowledgeable about old houses and I was impressed by his dedication to preserving the original features of the house and using ecologically sound practices. He was very willing to do the work we needed done in stages (as our budget permitted); we first tackled the repairs on our internal Brownstone stairs. Gennaro and his carpenters were amazing. I was concerned that the staircase was sinking and might need to be totally replaced, but they salvaged the original stairway, repairing treads that were sinking and cracked so they are now sturdy, level and give no hint of sinking. Gennaro found salvaged balusters to replace those that were missing. The work was done with our convenience in mind and completed in a few days, ahead of schedule so they did a few other small jobs in the remaining time that they had allotted. Not only did they clean up at the end of each day, but brought their own vacuum. We will definitely put our house in their hands again, to continue with other projects that are on our list. Many thanks, Gennaro and team. read more

Gennaro Brooks-Church is the premier living wall installer dedicated to offering a wide array of living wall design and installation services at a price that'll fit right into your budget. Backed by state-of-the-art technology and a team of highly-skilled and seasoned professionals, we offer the full range of services for living walls, from consulting and design to installation. With a mission to offer concept-to-build solutions engineered to deliver a return on your investment while improving quality of life, we deliver stunning indoor and outdoor living wall systems that breathe new life into your space. Whether you want to improve air quality in your home by installing a living wall or simply enhance a space aesthetically, make sure you visit our website at brookschurch.com. You can also call us at 347 244 3016 or email us at gennarobc@gmail.com read more

We hired Eco Brooklyn to completely tear up and replace our outdoor patio tiling, which was a huge/tedious job, since our tenants' bedroom is directly beneath it. Gennaro and Chris were awesome from start to finish... they did incredible, meticulous work, to the point that we hired them to take care of a couple other issues that we'd been meaning to address while they were here. They arrived on time every single day with the same great crew, until the job was done. Really can't speak highly enough of their work, and work ethic. It's so hard finding dependable, honest contractors in NYC, but these guys do fantastic work, and we'll certainly be hiring them for everything we need in the future... and you should do the same! Thank you guys! read more

If you're looking for an excellent contractor that is has great ideas and an eco-friendly building philosophy, I highly recommend Gennaro and his team Very professional, honest and talented. We trusted them to create a roof top shade structure and built-in planter boxes using all reclaimed wood for our home in Brooklyn. He brought a vision and made recommendations that were smart and well executed, like the passive irrigation system hooked into the gutters (no watering!). Everyone on the team was great and patient with all the questions we had about the process and materials. We've been through a number of renovations and have worked with lots of contractors over the years and Gennaro is definitely one of the best. read more

Gennaro Brooks-Church helped to restore the backyard of our apartment. The soil was heavily polluted w lead and other heavy metals, was unplantable and not safe for our son. Gennaro and his team we were able to execute a beautiful and sustainable hardscape and planting bed using salvaged bricks, reclaimed blue stone and organic top soil. He worked within the landlords budget and was able to adjust the design to reflect our needs while keeping it "green" - and it looks like it has been part of the property for years. His team was helpful and kept the apartment clean and safe during the work process and they completed the job in a timely manner just in time for summer! read more

Eco Brooklyn delivers. Excellent design that is unique and well suited to the customer is what I experienced with Eco Brooklyn. The sheer amount of effort, on the part of Eco Brooklyn, that went into creating a beautiful space using highest grade materials with a significant reduction in environmental impact--compared to the other options-- was remarkable. I felt pride in going with Eco Brooklyn. Their mission is one I can easily support. Eco Brooklyn is an authentic small business of integrity with admirable passion and intention behind what they do. Even in the grayest corners of our concrete jungle Genaro brings life into the spaces he creates. read more

We have a pond and waterfall in our backyard that was done over 30 years ago. It no longer held water and was quite unsightly. Gennero completely redid the pond. It no longer leaks and looks great. He had a lot of good suggestions and listened to our thoughts. He landscaped the pond and built a maze in it to protect the fish. He supplied a motor for the waterfall and several other items. He did the plantings and supplied the fish. Everything looks great. It was a pleasure to work with him. He was open to suggestions and had some great ideas as to what should be done. We're very happy with what he did and would love to work with him again. read more

If you're looking to have your garden landscaped I would highly recommend Eco Brooklyn. We've been renovating our brownstone working with general contractors and subcontractors over the period of about 2 years, Gennaro Brooks-Church and his team have by far been the most reliable and efficient we have worked with so far. Thanks to Gennaro we now have a beautiful garden made entirely from low embodied energy raw materials and found materials. Working with Gennaro is an education in of itself, if your interested in having a sustainable house or garden without compromising on design, timing or budget then eco brooklyn is definitely the right choice. read more

Gennaro and his team performed repairs and renovations on my house in Brooklyn. They were incredibly professional and I am very happy with the results. He was always very responsible and responsive to emails and calls, including the numerous questions I had. The work revolved around 30 different smaller projects, and on the rare occasion when I wasn't 100% thrilled with an outcome of how a project looked when it was finished, he made sure to immediately change it to the way I wanted, hassle and cost-free. His only priority was making sure that I was happy with the results. I would absolutely use him again and am very happy with the outcome! read more

Eco Brooklyn were recommended to me as I searched for specialist movers to transport my large and extremely heavy single-piece concrete dining table top from my 4th floor downtown Manhattan apartment down the stairs to the removal truck outside for international shipping. Most mainstream moving companies were simply unable to provide this service or were charging exorbitant rates. Gennaro and his team of six men successfully negotiated this difficult (and awkward) task at short notice and with much effort on their part. Although not cheap, this service was certainly appreciated by me. read more

From start to finish we really enjoyed our experience working with Eco Brooklyn. Gennaro and his team were incredibly knowledgeable, professional and always on time. We were looking for someone who experience in sustainable gardening. Our yard was a mess with old rubble and decayed tree stumps. Gennaro used most of these items in the new garden which avoided landfill etc. and reduced costs. All his ideas were great and they really work!! We would absolutely use Gennaro and his team again. We can highly recommend them. read more

Last year Ecobrooklyn did repair on my deck. The work was beautiful at the time and very professionally completed. When i asked for touch up this year with a reenforcement Gennaro had a master carpenter come in to help me at no charge. I cannot emphasize enough how much I appreciated his follow through. Few companies now a days are responsive and back up their work. Ecobrooklyn is a class act!! I will use Ecobrooklyn with no trservation again read more

Chris was the onsite contractor. I was having air, moisture, and thermal leakage through an uninsulated ground level brick wall. He placed 2inch foam against the wall, reframed the studs with electrical interior to this foam, put R13 insulation between the studs, and silicone water sealant on the outside. He did an excellent job and the wall is performing quite satisfactorily. I recommend him highly for insulation jobs. read more

We had an enormous invasive weed in our "jungle" back yard of our Brooklyn house. What seemed like a daunting task was handled well by Eco. The weed was removed and discarded. After that we had a drainage issue in that same yard, with water coming into the back of the house. Eco responded quickly and built a French drain system combined with a large dry well, which works really well. Since then yard and house are dry! read more

We started out hiring Gennaro for a shade structure for our roof and have wound up using him for so many other projects at our house - an outdoor shower, planters, a pergola, and plan to use him for many others. His crew is super respectful, efficient and easy to work with. Gennaro always responds to our requests quickly and offers insightful answers to our questions. We definitely plan to use him again. read more

Well done Mr. Gennaro Brooks-Church, Your work appears to be environmental sound and ecologically balanced. Having many exchanges regarding matters of building "greener", I can say you covered all bases in your chosen field of making this world a little more earth friendly. Thx Douglas E Lamb design technics Sustainable Facilities Design, Planning & Programing Columbus, Ohio 43235 read more