Sergio's Renovations

Excellent! It came out beautifully. Sergio came over for the estimate and gave us great advice (we were selling the house) to make the house more appealing to the buyer. We set up a time for the workers and they came promptly every day. They were respectful and hard-working men. They finished on time and did a great job. Sergio was right about the renovations - it was an important piece in selling the house.

Once we found Sergio, we haven't had the need to look for another contractor. Sergio has done at least a half dozen major renovations to our two-family house over the last several years. He did an excellent job on every one. We cannot imagine a contractor being better than he is. I recommend Sergio without reservation for any construction project. He has always done an excellent job in a timely manner. The most recent and most comprehensive project was a complete kitchen renovation (down to the original studs and beams from 1925 when the house was built). It was a challenging job and took eight weeks. The work was done in January and February, which made it more difficult because of all the snow, ice, and cold weather. (For example, his crew shoveled snow to widen our street when the appliance delivery truck arrived at the same time as the trash pickup truck.) Our property is small so there was not much room for outside work or collection of debris, but they managed it well by removing debris as they created it. In addition to doing good work, Sergio and his crew are considerate, pleasant to work with, and flexible in meeting changing requirements. As with any old house there were problems that were not discovered until the ceiling, walls, and floors were laid bare. Sergio took care of all the problems cheerfully and efficiently. The cost was within the original estimate and completed on time. The crew cleaned up each day before they left. I was especially pleased with the fact that Sergio was willing and able to go the extra mile in salvaging and restoring the original floor, which was of heart pine and would have been difficult to part with.

The workmanship of the renovation is outstanding. The bathroom looks absolutely gorgeous. Joints fit, finishes are perfect, and the tilework, especially, is almost a work of art. Sergio was polite, professional, helpful, informative, and responded immediately and effectively anytime a problem arose. Every one of his workers was professional, corteous, considerate and very good at what they do. Sergio was not the cheapest or the priciest estimate. But I can't imagine anyone else could have done the work any better. The job took longer than anticipated. In part due to our special ordering several materials which may have thrown off his scheduling of jobs, although we thought a couple things could have proceeded while we awaited the materials., hence the C for punctuality. But that stands as minor considering how happy we are with the final product and the overall professionalism. And we would definitely us them again.

We asked Sergio to provide an estimate based on the positive reviews on Angie's List. He came over and was pleasant, but immediately after surveying the house, he said he didn't have time to take on the project and that he recommended that we use Antonio Hipolito of ACH Construction. Sergio vouched for Antonio, claiming that his work was just as good and detailed-oriented as his, and that he would highly recommend that we use him. We did end up using him and were disappointed; workmanship was shoddy (we have higher standards than Sergio, apparently), financial interactions were shady, and now we know that not even the basic structural supports were added in places where walls were taken out on the first floor. The ceiling above the area has been sagging ever since and now that the floor to the second floor is opened up for another renovation (with another contractor), we can see what was done and that it requires thousands of dollars worth of fixing. ACH Construction is not on Angie's List to review, but the fact that Sergio vouched for him speaks to his standards and judgment.

Would you use this provider in the future? - There should be a "maybe" option as that is what I would select. Of all the contractor's my wife and I discussed this job with, we liked Sergio the best. He is very personable and straightforward and it was clear he cared about doing quality work. We had friends who used him to remodel their kitchen and they were very pleased with the experience and we saw how nicely their kitchen turned out. However, there are some important things to keep in mind when if you are considering working with Sergio. First, he doesn't put anything in writing estimate-wise. He quotes you a labor price and you pay for the materials as you go. He was good on his word for the labor, it only changed once when the design changed due to a zoning limitation and this was completely reasonable. This was a bit unnerving and it also meant I had to draw up a contract for the job when Sergio got to the town office and realized he needed it to pull a permit (I had to quickly write something up and fax it to the office). This also means you will be responsible for reviewing all of the receipts for the job to make sure they are correct (I insisted on this and was glad I did). We paid for some things as we went, but then Sergio handed me a folder full of receipts at the end. It turned out there were receipts for other people's jobs and ones we had already paid for directly but that his crew had picked up so they had an invoice. This was close to $2K in incorrect charges. It was clear when I talked to Sergio about it that this was an error, he is just very badly organized and stretched too thin. And this is the biggest issue in working with Sergio in general. He admitted to me that he was juggling 10 other jobs simultaneously while they were working on our job. This meant that there were many days they crew didn't show at all or they would come for like 3 hours at the end of the day. The day they were supposed to start work on September 9th 2013, they didn't show up and Sergio didn't answer his phone. My wife and I had arranged to go into work late so we could talk through initial details so we were frustrated to wait around for nothing. We gave up after an hour or so and they did show up to start the next day. This happened a number of other days and most of the time they would spend about 4 hours at our house since they were running around to other jobs. As you can imagine this was an inefficient way to work because they would unload and set up all their tools and then clean up each day (which meant about 3 hours of actual work). A job that likely could have been done in 2 weeks worth of 8 hour days, ended up taking 6.5 weeks (Work wasn't done until October 23rd). This was a long time to have our yard be a construction site and was very stressful and frustrating. I know Sergio was unhappy with how high his labor costs were at the end and tried to charge an extra $2K at the end when we handed him a final check for materials. I was pretty annoyed at this suggestion after all the frustration we had been through, how long the job had taken, and the fact that the materials came in about $6K higher than his initial estimate. We were already stretched way beyond where we thought we would be. This was by far the most expensive project we have ever done on our house. And, if his crew had come every day and gotten the work done in 1 shot, they wouldn't have wasted so much time. Plus he told me many times that his word was good and that we didn't need anything in writing because his price would not change unless there was a major design change. To his credit he backed down immediately when I told him this and that frankly the money was all gone anyway. All that said, the work came out very well and we are happy with the end result. His lead carpenter Ilio is very good and was also very pleasant to work with. He had a lot of good problem solving skills and really cared about the details. We've been enjoying the back porch now that the weather is warmer and we were able to repair the back yard over the course of May. All in all, Sergio is a well meaning guy and has good people on his crew, but he really needs to change the way he does business. He needs to take on fewer jobs or hire more people and definitely hire someone to properly take care of his books and scheduling.

I called and texted Sergio multiple times after the consultation with absolutely no response, I haven't heard anything from him ever since the day of consultation. No explanation and no returned calls. This company is not reliable and I strongly suggest to stay away from it.

Sergio is great. It was a big job that went well. We trusted him and his employees who were regularly in the house alone. Sergio was honest and responded to minor expected issues along the way. His estimates are competitive if not lower than others and he sticks to it. We particularly thought the electrician, carpenter and painter were great.

I reached out to Sergio's Renovations several times over the course of almost two months: I called twice, emailed directly twice, and even sent a message via Angie's List based on his strong rating and reviews, but never heard back.

Sergio and his crew have done it again! Another A+ job, their 4th in 3 years for me. This latest work, like Sergio?s three other jobs for me, was executed with masterly skill resulting in a beautiful new bathroom. At this point, Sergio has redone just about all of my condo. Several characteristics make his work stand out. First of all, he is expert in all aspects of general contracting. What?s more, he shows up when he says he will and responds promptly when phoned during the course of a job. He is a perfectionist, as is his entire crew. Each member is a specialist who takes pride in his work. All of the men are knowledgeable, courteous, and eager to please. They follow one?s wishes, respect one?s home, clean up after themselves, and do it all with a smile. Finally, I trust Sergio?both his expertise and his sense of responsibility to the customer. It?s great to be able to say this about a contractor

I wanted to remodel a bedroom, new walls/insulation/trim. Based on other Angie's List reviews, called him and arranged for a time for him to come to the house and go over what was needed to provide estimate. He called a day before the meeting to reschedule, had some stomach bug, no big deal. On 5/5/2014 came over house (on time), seemed like a good guy that would do a good job, said he would give me an estimate later that day. And that I should call him if I didn't hear from him. Well, I didn't hear from him at all, and have called him several times since. I left voicemails that were not returned, and today when I called, his mailbox was full. Another contractor I called told me up front that he's been real busy, and was booked for the next 4 months. That's what Sergio should have done. Instead, I arranged time to be away from work, and made a bunch of calls for nothing. His unresponsiveness and unprofessional wasting of my time are the reasons for this negative review.

It seems like they did a good job and they were finished in about 4-5 hours. The one area I was slightly disappointed in was clean up. They removed all of the debris and swept the area but that didn't take care of the mud and dirt. One of them was about to mop (using a Swifter) but his colleague told him just to sweep. I mopped after they left. Most contractors do not clean up well after themselves so this would be an opportunity to differentiate themselves.

Sergio provides an outstanding service from the beginning through completion: His estimate was timely and accurate. He gave great guidance about the project in the concept stage He told us where to look for materials, who to contact, and what to consider His team took out the old bathrooms completely in a clean and professional way and were very prompt They put in one standing shower and one tub and then did the complete bathroom renovation I have no complaints. Sergio is a very good person to work with. He is responsive and takes ownership and pride in his work. A few weeks after the renovation we had a drip from one of the toilette connections. We emailed Sergio and he had someone there within the day. It turned out to be a minor issue (one connector needed to be tightened a little bit) but it showed his commitment even when the project was complete and we had made all payments.

The project was done in 2002 to our complete satisfaction 02 to our complete satisfaction

I don't think you can fully judge a large job like this until well after the work is complete. Nearly two years later, I can say Sergio did an excellent job. Our place has never looked better. He was professional, affordable, always available. With an old building like those in Beacon Hill, you can expect quirks and issues during construction, and I admit, I was intially frustrated, but Sergio dealt with them all. I highly recommend working with him and his staff.

When Sergio agreed to do the job, we immediately spent three days clearing out the space so that his crew could start demo even sooner than promised. The job went well from start to finish. As others on this site have said, you can absolutely trust that Sergio will be fair, honest, responsive, and professional. His crew and subcontractors are prompt, pleasant, very careful and neat. The quality of Sergio's work is incredible -- he does not cut corners, and his workers are meticulous in their finish work. We're going to let Sergio have a break from our house, then we're going to get back in line and ask him to take on several more projects!

Sergio and his team were really, really super. We spent a lot of time during the bid process with people who seemed good initially, but then either flaked out, were really expensive, or clearly didn't know what they were doing. Sergio was great from the start, and remained consistently wonderful to work with. His crew were equally nice and we always felt like we were in good hands. They started when they said they would, kept us up to date with what was going on, and involved us with any decisions that veered from the original plan. The one exception to this was the person who did our floors, who really did a terrible job, but Sergio came immediately when we called, checked it out, agreed that it was unacceptable and had the guy come back and do it the right way. It was a bit frustrating, but the results were great. And Sergio did the right thing rather than trying to convince us it was fine, which increased our confidence in him. We had some issues pop up after the job was finished and we had already paid him in full. When we contacted Sergio about them, he was just as responsive, and he had his team come back and fix them quickly. He even had them install a few additional cabinet doors that weren't part of the original plan for no additional cost. It was a relatively big job, so we spent ~4 months with the team, and we were really happy that we picked such a great contractor during the entire process. We would work with him again in a heart beat, and would recommend him strongly.

Sergio and his crew have done it again! Completed a project on time and with expertise. And with courtesy. They Sergio and his crew have just completed their third interior renovation for me. This job was far smaller than the previous two; nonetheless, they carried it out with the same care and attention to large and small details that has become their trademark. They performed carpentry like adding decorative molding to various parts of a room and then painting three rooms with razor-sharp edges where one color meets another. Sergio and his crew are ready with advice that brings confidence to a client?s decision making. In fact, a number of times Sergio has told me that some of my ideas, like including new slider doors to the outside, would be unnecessary;this kind of information has saved me money that Sergio could have put into his own pocket. Sergio may be difficult to reach by phone at first, but once he takes on a customer as a client he is ?true blue,? responding to calls promptly, patiently, and courteously. Sergio?s Renovations is a ?blue chip? operation.

First I met with Sergio who explained how things would go, what would be done, and the time frame for beginning to end of the job. He walked me through it, so I really had a time frame. His team was punctual , polite, hard working and clean. At the end of the work day, the guys did a fabulous clean up after themselves. I know that I found a real gem in his services. He was always available within a reasonable amount to time to get in touch with, or he would call you back. and resolve any difficulties quickly. You could not ask for a better result from a contractor. I am thrilled !

Sergio came in March to give us an estimate but, because of our travel/work schedules, we weren't able to have him come back to do the work until August. At that point I called and left a message three times to ask him to come back ... and never got a return call. Color me disappointed. I think he might have been a good contractor, but we never found out for sure. Moving on to the next painter/plasterer!

I really liked Sergio as a person; however, due to his popularity, it was just impossible to reach him. I called him several times in order to schedule an estimate. He was nice and informative when he came. However, after his visit to provide us with an estimate, he never got back to us. I tried to call him to ask for a quote. I tried over 3 days, calling several times per day. Unfortunately, he never answers his phone and his voicemail was perpetually full, so I couldn't even leave a voicemail. So I thought it would be really tough to get in touch with him if we needed to even if we were to hire him as our contractor. I'm sure Sergio will have continued success, but I just wanted to say that it'd be nice if he were more reachable as a contractor.

Left message on answering service requesting a call-back for 1st floor handicapped bathroom remodel. Never received any response even though phone, email, and address were provided. Apparenty does not want to be hired.

We join the ranks of those who cannot say enough good things about Sergio and his crew and subs. They recently finished a complete bathroom remodel for us ? demolition to the studs and rebuilding, with shoring up of joists, lots of electrical work, conversion of tub to shower, complicated tile design, installation of a pocket door, all with the extra challenges of it being a small (5? x 9?), sole bathroom in a third-floor condo in a hundred-year-old building in Brookline ? and they did a terrific job. We were very impressed by their prep work on the first day they came in and it just got better ? they took ownership of every part of the job and completed it all with great competence and craftsmanship. Their professionalism and sense of responsibility were clear in everything they did, including the clean-up both of the apartment and the common areas of the building, which was meticulous. We were away for 3 weeks while the work was going on, and completely at ease being gone. Sergio was very responsive and worked well with our schedule; whenever something really needed to happen (e.g. getting the toilet in and the shower up and running when we were expecting guests), he made it happen. In fact we were so happy with how the bathroom was going that we asked him to do quite a bit of additional work in the kitchen (electrical, fixing ceiling, glass tile backsplash), which was beautifully done and reasonably priced. We wish we had a whole house for Sergio to renovate!

The new ceilings and crown molding look great and have reduced sound considerably between my neighbor's unit and my condo bedrooms. The bathroom (last updated in 1974) looks so much brighter and modern--because 70% of the walls were already tiled, it made finding an OTC medicine cabinet impossible--Sergio's crew was able to build a solid, mirror-front cabinet for the unusual size/space--it looks good. I could not afford major rehab and renovation and Sergio was able to spruce up the three rooms very well, affordable, and in a short turn-around time. His crew also installed an energy efficient dishwasher in a 1970s kitchen (plumbing and electric needed a bit of work) without disrupting the cabinet/counter layout. Sergio and his crew were professional and neat--they took steps to keep the areas of the home that weren't being renovated as clean as possible (minimal dust for this asthma sufferer). They were a little sidetracked by another job but were able to get the job done in time for my out-of-town visitors to enjoy the bright, more modern spaces. And it was easy to reach Sergio--if I left a message, he got right back to me.

Sergio's renovations did my downstairs neighbors kitchen. One day when they were screwing in strapping on the ceiling, shaking the property, and my shelf in my kitchen fell down. The workers came upstairs to see what happened. They said they were have their "boss" Sergio come back to take a look. He was quite apologetic at the start, but then did not show up to fix the shelf. He later told me that "there was no way the work could have made the shelf fall". So basically in person Sergio was happy to fix the damage he caused, but then later on the phone accused me of lying?? Stay away!!

The provider never responding to multiple phone voice mails and one e-mail through Angie's list.