Steve Romanelli Wallcovering
About us
For 20+ years we have installed wallpaper in hundreds of homes and offices. We are insured with current liability insurance and workers compensation insurance. We can install pre-pasted papers, un-trimmed designer papers, un-trimmed textiles, wallpaper murals and commercial 54" vinyl. We can remove old wallpaper, wash, patch, prime and paint. We offer decorative painting and lime wash and veneer plaster for a one of a kind remarkable impression. We can install wood base, chair rail and crown molding. Moderately priced and budget friendly.
Business highlights
Amenities
Free Estimates
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 96% | ||
| 1% | ||
| 1% | ||
| 0% | ||
| 1% |
"Thanks amazing."
"Thanks again. Glad you liked it."
"I did not end up working for this customer. What she does not say is she added on to the job at the time of visiting her home and expected to get the addition at the same price. She is unhappy with the price so she complains to Angieslist members about me the dedicated professional. She sent me a lot of info by phone and e-mail about a small job. The job before coming to her house was two small walls near her front door. I guessed a price before seeing the work and the wallpaper and telephoned her with that info. She sent me a link to a wallpaper selection. After viewing the wallpaper online it appeared to have a black background. When I got to the job she showed me a small sample of that black wallpaper. She also showed me another selection/ sample that also had a black background. For these lightweight wallpapers with black color I use a black liner paper. The liner paper must be done the day before the wallpaper is installed. Two trips to the same job adds time. After viewing the sample she decided that she would also want to do a large support column under her stairs to the second floor. This wrapped on three side and was about 80” high by 100” long. Hours of additional work. So the liner paper and the column are extra/ additional work. Yes that did double the work and yes it did double the price. I soon sent after leaving an e-mail detailing the additional liner paper and mentioning the addition of one day work tine for the liner paper. She says ”refused to explain. He also could not explain why liner paper was needed “. The e-mail I sent mentions black liner for the black paper. She says “ I called him at 10am to query his reasons and he was not coherent.” She was not happy with the price. She said more then a few things very fast about the liner paper. I told her “I apologize - I can not help you”. She mentions “coherent, bizarre, erratic and a little scattered”. This is untrue and it can not be left up to how she sees things. I took time to talk to her in seven telephone conversations. I responded to 9 e-mails. I guess she is used to people “hustling” her. When someone actually takes the time to respond to her she is confused, She mentions a “a job that did not go well”. I did mention a large job that I had started in May for a previous customer that would take me to the third week of May. I mentioned this because I would not be able to help her until this job was complete - never complaining. Not only is the job going well I am ahead of the scheduled completion date."
"Thank you. I am glad you liked how the wallpaper looked - that is nice."
"Thank you sir. It was a pleasure to work for you and your family."
"Thanks! Thanks for being one of my happiest customers ever."
"Thanks for your review - yes the baseboards came out nice."
remove wallpaper and paint a small bathroom, and to repair and repaint a portion of my front door damaged by my dog’s scratching. I had previously determined that I wanted Aura paint used for the bathroom and even after I signed his proposal- which specified that Aura would be used- Steve tried to talk me out of it, claiming that he would have to buy a full gallon and that it was overly expensive. In fact he didn't buy a gallon; he only needed a quart (and I should note that he was nice enough to let me keep the leftover paint when he finished). When I asked him to explain the discrepancy he replied that “people exaggerate”. He was scheduled to commence on June 3 but on June 2 called me to advise that he had about a half a day of work to do on another project and thus couldn't start until June 4. He showed up 90 minutes late on June 4 because he hadn't previously bought the primer he needed, and because he had trouble parking. He told me that he had worked on his previous job “until 10:30” the night before just to make it to my apartment on June 4. He was also late on the last day he worked. At different times after he removed the wallpaper he told me both that the bathroom walls were in good shape and that the bathroom walls needed alot of extra work.
Steve does not work quickly or silently. He talks to himself and sings along with the radio. He raised his voice to me on two occasions- the first to complain that I was being “mean” to him for being late. I find that disrespectful conduct to be completely unacceptable, and the only reason I didn't fire him on the spot
was because he already had some of my money.
When he first appeared I offered him some soda to drink and he declined and used his own water. On his way out the door after he finished the job on the third day he advised me that he had gone into my refrigerator and drank the two bottles of iced tea that were there. I had been a few yards away the entire time and would have been happy to have given him the bottles had he asked, but he didn't bother to do that.
The only other thing Steve was quiet about was the damage he left behind. After Steve departed I saw that he had chipped a small part of the bathtub finish and that he had made some cuts in my brand new door knob. At this writing, he has not responded to my email concerning these issues.
I’ll end this review where I started; the paint job itself was excellent.
"There is a lot more the customer did not address - 15 minutes more. I went on this estimate for wallpaper removal and painting for a job to start soon/ right away. The customer told me in a telephone call that she was having trouble removing the paper and wanted someone else to finish the job. Remove wallpaper up a stairwell and a bath with a lot of cracks. Very nice residential neighborhood north of New York City. The husband greeted me warmly in his driveway and said he did not know he was getting an estimate on wallpaper removal. He led me in to their house and I was greeted warmly by his wife. The husband stayed for a couple of minutes as she started showing me the work - then he left to work outside. The wallpaper had to be at least 40 years old. She pointed out wall to wall and floor to ceiling cracks splitting the old wallpaper in several areas of failing plaster in a small bathroom and on the stairwell. I told her I can fix all that after wallpaper removal with a very strong plaster - much stronger then plaster of Paris. You never know what you will find under wallpaper unless you test remove a section: I asked her if I could do a test on the wallpaper to see the difficulty factor. She agreed and pointed out a front vestibule area that she had removed about a 7’ by 8’ foot section of wallpaper. While all traces of paper where gone there was what looked like a lot of clay based wallpaper paste left. When I used my wash cloth with water that I had brought for the test there was no removing that “paste”. I am not sure what it was but if it was clay based paste it would have washed right off leaving a clean paintable surface. OK - there is now something on the wall that is not easy to remove that is not smooth. Chances are very high that the substance is under all the wallpaper and a lot of work to get the walls smooth. I tried a section where the paper was on up the stairwell and the paper was not easy to remove and would take at least a few days to remove plaster and paint. The customer and I walked up to second floor. I noticed that there was no bannister/ or hand rail. I said “No bannister?” She replied” We removed that.” I noticed the doors and door frames look like they had not been painted in decades - old yellowing oil based paint that needed a lot of work. I said “Wow a lot of work - multiple days. Would you like us to paint the doors?” She replied ”No - just remove the wallpaper and paint those areas.” I said “So - are you do it your ‘selfers’?” She said “Yes.” We went downstairs to the front door . I asked her “How soon can we start?” She replied “The first day off I have is June 27th.” I did not understand/ was under the impression she needed help now - not a couple of weeks away. I have other work scheduled. I could not help her/ them on June 27th. I said “June 27th? Can we start earlier then that?” She said “Well - we all work during the day”. I said “Can we get here before you leave for work?” She said “I am not comfortable with that.” I told her “Not comfortable? I do not think we are a good match.” I left. I could not help the customer in or out of her comfort zone. Lesson learned - ask more questions about scheduling an estimate."
"Thank you for that - loved working for you and your family. Happy you are pleased with the results."
"Thank you. Yes fixing that old plaster and lath with "new" materials - plaster stronger then from the 1920's was fun."
"Wow thanks and your welcome. You have a beautiful apartment."
"Thanks for calling me back to help on another job. Wow - you have a beautiful home. I enjoyed your hospitality."
"Thank you sir for being professional from the first time you opened your door to the last work day. it was my pleasure to serve you and your wife."
Steve was confident the job would take 1 1/2 days, which seemed more than necessary but since he gave us a fixed price I wasn't overly concerned, figured he just worked slowly and was careful. Day one he was 1 1/2 hours late due to NYC traffic...OK, it happens. He took his time and did not rush things upon arrival, nice long lunch...etc., but he was assertive about the total time necessary and assured us he'd be finished by 5pm the following day, which was the cut-off for our building work hours.
Well, it turns out our we chose a super thin paper that was very challenging to install. He claims it was the thinnest he has ever installed. As a result, he ended up working after hours, until 8pm on a Friday night to get the job done. I appreciate that he cranked it out, but I did not appreciate the waste of time on day one when this ultimately imposed on our weekend when it absolutely didn't need to. Furthermore, his work product suffered a bit towards the end and he did not clean up as well as I would have hoped (leftover glue in the bathroom sink and a few small spots of primer on our washer/dryer closet door).
Nothing too bad in the grand scheme but it's the little details like that that I think takes an artist (which he clearly is) in their craft to the next level of professionalism.While I have some gripes as noted above, he's a very nice guy and he did a very good job with the actual work, which was challenging in several ways. I consider the price to have been reasonable as well.
Just be aware that he is a bit eccentric and works very slowly, so if this is something that is problematic for you, be prepared. Bottom line, his work product is excellent, which is what ultimately matters. I have a few minor complaints, but it's mainly because I'm incredibly anal and the smallest of details affect me.
"Although graded less than the "A" for the work thank you Sir for your kind comments. To the reader I will repeat the customers own words "he did a very good job with the actual work, which was challenging in several ways. I consider the price to have been reasonable as well." He states I was slow. No - I disagree with that. He states job went until 8 PM on a Friday night. Yes it did. Around 4:00 PM I offered to come back the next available day but he wanted me to keep going. So he saw it as slow being that I was three hours over time for a difficult paper that I had not had the liberty to see a sample or the actual paper before signing on the job. I told the customer an average paper for that room would take a day and a half of a work day to install. I asked the customer to block two work days for the job. He did."
"Madame: I loved working for you in your beautiful home. Thank you for your kind words."
I would certainly use his services again should the need arise, and I would unhesitatingly recommend his work to anyone. Craftsmanship of this quality is rare, and is to be applauded and appreciated when met with.
Steve followed up the next day with a phone call to see if there was anything that needed his attention. I'm happy to say that everything looks as fine today as it did when he installed it.
"Wow that is a nice report. Thanks for calling me a craftsman. I wish you and your wife a happy time."
"Thank you both for your kind words and pictures. It is funny how you can connect with two people so fast and we all acknowledged that several times."
"In most cases wall preparation for modern light weight wall covering is essential to at least get walls looking good. Thanks!"
"It was a pleasure working for both of you!"
"I really enjoyed working for you. Thanks!"
"That was a large mural! Thanks!"
"That was a fun creative project. It was a pleasure working for both of you and congratulations on your marriage!"
"Thanks for calling me an "artist" and your kind comments."
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