NEW RENAISSANCE

My neighbors and I had many issues with Bolster's New Renaissance crew during the year they were working on his house. It began when the vibrations from their demolition shattered my toilet tank, flooding my basement. After tracking down one of the workers I was able to get a hold of their boss John Bolster on the phone. He wanted his crew to replace my toilet, but I insisted he compensate me to have my handyman make the repair, and Bolster complied. I also asked him to post his permits, which he eventually did. My neighbors complained to the city about the dust created by his demo work. The dust was blowing three lots over into a yard where a child was playing - not appropriate since the house was over 100 years old and they were not following lead-safe procedures. Just prior to Hurricane Irene, Bolster's crew demolished the rear of the house, leaving no rear wall. This was done outside of his permit, but after I reported the unpermitted work to the city, they allowed him to amend the permit. Anyway, Hurricane Irene came and all the water that was entering the rear of his house streamed right into my basement throughout the night. After the storm I called Bolster and asked him why he couldn't have at least tried to cover up the areas he demolished. His response: "the hurricane really snuck up on us!" At my request, he did eventually frame over / wrap the demo'd areas to prevent further water intrusion. After several months of inaction, they began building. They continued to walk on my deck, park in my driveway and my neighbor's driveway, after being asked to not trespass. They put a concrete stain on Bolster's rear patio and sprayed the stain all over my deck, concrete pad, and brick wall as well. When I confronted Bolster about this he said had inspected their work and didn't see any problems. So I walked with him and pointed out the approximately 6x18 foot area of my yard that was affected. His excuse this time: "it's hard to work on houses that are so close together." I told him I expected him to pay materials and labor to fix this issue and the prior water damage. "Well that's all I can do since you won't let me fix it," was his response, as if I was inconveniencing him. After gathering estimates and sending multiple certified letters to Mr. Bolster asking for payment, I engaged the help of a lawyer. After receiving the lawyer's letter New Renaissance paid for a portion of the damages. The house was successfully flipped and I am ever so glad to have New Renaissance gone.

They were quick, they had high quality work and did exactly what they promised to do.