These guys are absolutely amazing. Hands down the best experience I have ever had with any kind of contractor, anywhere, and I've used lots of them over the years. The service and professionalism and communication and attention they provide are the kind you'd expect from the guy you know in a small town; I was so pleasantly surprised (shocked, actually) to find someone like this in Manhattan. If you ever need plumbing work done, do yourself a favor and call these guys! Seriously!
We found out that our shower was apparently leaking and causing some issues in the unit below us, so we needed a fix. Since we hated our bathroom, we decided to gut the thing and start anew rather than trying to patch things up. We spoke to an unbelievable number of contractors. Many would make appointments to evaluate and give an estimate and never show up. Those that did show up would give astronomical quotes. I mean, this is New York, but come on, renovating a bathroom shouldn't eat up 25% of my take-home salary.
We saw an ad on TV for a site called HomeAdvisor, and Star Cities was one of the places they referred us to. We emailed Star Cities and got a very prompt reply. They set up an appointment and kept it. They showed up on time (a few minutes early, actually) and took the time to explain what needed to be done clearly, assuring us that it was not as bad of a job as we thought. We loved Robert, and waited for their quote. The quote came quite quickly -- much more quickly than we expected -- and we were pleasantly surprised at how reasonable it was. Robert was the best plumber we'd met, and gave us a good and fair price. Needless to say, we booked him to do the work.
They started the work just when they said they would (a few minutes early, actually). Over the course of a couple of weeks (we did this around Thanksgiving), they completely changed our bathroom. They tore out the tub, the walls around the tub, the toilet, and the floor, and installed a new tub (which was very hard to do I'm sure because we have a very weird and VERY tight space), a new shower body, new floors, painted the walls, installed a new toilet, and everything. They even installed a new shower door. The shower door wasn't part of the work order, but when we found one we liked, be bought it and brought it to the apartment. We asked them to install it and told them we'd pay for the installation; they installed it and didn't charge us. It was not an easy door to install (a weird Kohler barn door thing).
We were actually so impressed with the work they were doing, we decided to ask them to demolish an old closet and build a new one, as well as hang crown moulding around our entire apartment. They gave us a good quote and worked with our budget. The closet and the crown moulding are absolutely gorgeous. We'd thought about using the handyman at the hardware store next door for that work, but he never gave us a quote, despite our constant reminders. Robert, however, gave us a quote quickly, and did an amazing, amazing job. I'm so glad we didn't go with someone else on the closet, because they gave us exactly what we wanted. It looks so much better than we imagined.
After they finished the bathroom, we noticed a problem with the hot water (not enough water pressure). I sent Robert a very panicked text late at night. He promptly replied, showed up the next day, and fixed the issue. Apparently some detritus got in a pipe. I was very pleased with his follow-through. Even though the job was done and he'd been paid, he made sure to promptly address the issue.
When it came time to get the final invoice there were no surprises. The deal was we pay a 75% deposit. The balance of the invoice was the other 25%. No sneaking things in, no saying things got complicated, no nothing. Straight up what we expected: we owed the last 25% that we didn't put down in the deposit. Star Cities is honest, does quality work, and does the work for what they say they will (and on time).
These guys were such a pleasure to work with. I hope I don't have any more plumbing issues that need fixing, but if I do, I know where I'll go. If you need plumbing work done, call them! You'll be thankful you did. read more