DAVID SEROY

Pretty much the definition of a contracting nightmare, including that he walked off the job when it was nearly done, when he didn't like being asked "how can we communicate better?" At first, he was friendly and cooperative. Everything we asked for was "not a problem" and yet he didn't take any notes, didn't give us a contract, and after a while, it was apparent he hadn't listened at all to what we wanted. He estimated 7-9 weeks, with a possible additional two weeks for ceilings. The first 7 weeks we were living elsewhere. Many small mistakes later, at 15 weeks (6 weeks after his original upper estimate of time), he became enraged over the kitchen cabinets, shouted at us, and packed up all his equipment and left the job. A barrage of emails ensued, some threatening, some plaintive, along with a barrage of invoices for work he had not yet completed (each with a slightly different figure) He tried to hold us hostage over the electrical permit. Finally he took us to court, suing us for work he hadn't completed (after walking off the job). We had figured we owed him about $1600, and ended up paying him $2500 more than we owed him just to be rid of him. He was belligerent, belittling, bullying---even in the session with the mediator. He showed no hurry to finish, even when he knew we were crashing with friends and family and desperate. He showed no understanding of this, and no compassion. He had one man (and apparently only has two) working on the job for several weeks, even as we were begging him to finish the job. His assistants did great work on the walls and ceilings (that's why we've graded the work quality as D and not F) but his own work, including directives to his assistants, was shoddy: crown molding removed against our instructions and never replaced, a 2"gouge in the wood countertop, cabinets hung so there's a gap between cabinet and wall, the other countertop cut to the wrong size, fridge too close to the electrical outlet, a forgotten baseboard (which can't be fixed, due to fridge mis-placement). AND ETC. He refused to listen to where we wanted cabinets, or to what we wanted in the floor, and just went ahead and did the work as he wanted to. Most distressing, he is volatile and prone to litigate, bragging about how he's won court cases against his customers. He does win, because he is a bully. We've in the past had great experiences with other contractors; this was shocking. We're not picky; we're easy-going and easy to get along with. He was unprofessional to an extreme extent.

We live in a co-op building in NYC. We used Mr. Seroy before we moved into our co-op apartment to do some miscellaneous repairs. He was recommended by a member of the co-op board so we trusted the recommendation. We were pleased with the work, which is why when we decided to replace our outdated bathroom, we contacted him. This was the worst decision that we could have made. Two years later, we have had to re-grout the bath tub area, the paint is peeling and a towel fixture needs to be re-secured. The bathroom is tiny and the only one in the apartment. After we received his estimate, we were comfortable proceeding with a question about whether it would actually take three weeks to replace this tiny bathroom. He assured us that it would take one or two weeks maximum. Well, this is when things got ridiculous. We moved out of our apartment thinking that we could return in one week or two at tops. After one week, the tile had not been removed. By week two, the tub and toilet were finally removed. By week three, the tile was partly installed, but no tub and toilet. By week four, the tile was completed, tub, toilet and sink installed. On the last day, the fixtures were completed. We spent FOUR weeks out of our apartment. Livid doesn't describe our frustration with this man. What suckers we were. When we challenged him he was difficult, nasty and belligerent. His excuse for dragging this project along was that his plumber was oversubscribed. We had no choice but to stick with him until the job was done. Our mistake was that we didn't have the specific start and end time written into the contract and we trusted him. We will not make this mistake again. Had we proceeded with any litigation during the project he probably would have counter sued and we would have had to spend more for another contractor to complete the work along with hotel expenses and legal fees.

Mr. Seroy is very friendly and easy to communicate with. During the renovation process he was easy to work with. Nevertheless, his company's work has turned out to be below standard. Right after the work was done, it became clear that we should have done a more involved renovation, e.g. skim coating everything. Being inexperienced and having relied on Seroy's advice, I thought the repairs he was doing would be sufficient. As of this writing, one year later, every water stain has shown through, every crack has opened up again, and the window frames have started to flake. Seroy's price was more than fair but, ultimately, we would have been better served by paying more money-to someone else-to have the job done right.

I THOUGHT THAT HE WAS A LITTLE EXPENSIVE, BUT IT WAS DEFINITELY WORTH IT. THIS MAN KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING. HE IS VERY EASY GOING AND VERY NICE. HE IS ALSO VERY PROFESSIONAL. THEY DID A GREAT JOB.