Rainer Building and Repair

Best part of renovation process

by ARaven at Citysearch

My apt looks – in a word – gorgeous. I hired Ken to do a gut renovation of the kitchen and a 95% gut renovation of the bathroom (kept the original tub due to building issues.)

I was very hesitant to hire him since the only info I could find was on CitySearch. Finding a hairdresser on CitySearch is one thing – finding someone you will give thousands of dollars and a sledgehammer to is a little different. But, I checked a number of other sites, including the BBB, and didn’t find anything bad, so I decided to take a chance.

In total, I interviewed almost a dozen contractors and from the start, Ken was awesome. He was very responsive to phone calls and emails and was polite and professional when he came for the wall-thru before developing a bid. (Another contractor I interviewed – who was very highly recommended on ApartmentTherapy -- spent the entire walk-thru touching me and creeping me out fully.) Even before I signed the contract, Ken was on the phone with the management company regarding insurance requirements and various work-arounds.

Ken was easy to work with too. He pulled together the entire board packet for me, complete with drawings of the proposed changes. He also sent me links to materials that had been used by previous clients.

Any time I had a question, he was available. I may have actually driven him somewhat nuts with all of my emails, but he never lost his cool – even when I sent him a 3-page memo of questions the week before the work started.

One of the best things about hiring Ken is that he does most of the work himself. He had a demo guy and a tile installer, but it was generally just him. I never got the runaround.

He’s also an amazing problem-solver. When we discovered that none of the walls in my building were straight, he evened things out. When an electrical socket was in the wrong place for the microwave, he fashioned a work around that only cost me $25. When my tile supplier gave me the wrong box of marble tiles, Ken spent an hour at the tile shop sorting through tiles to ensure the finished floor was perfect.

My favorite story with Ken happened at 11:30 on a Saturday night. I was staying with a friend during the renovation and my downstairs neighbor emailed to complain about a leak that was trickling down the wall in her kitchen. I texted Ken to ask about issues and he immediately called me back to say he was heading to the apartment himself. Ken jumped in a cab at 11:45 on a Saturday night to fix the problem. The leak was a valve that had loosened –and NOT his fault – but he still fixed the problem, gave my neighbor his info and didn’t charge me for the midnight house call.

When the work was done, he cleaned everything and even went so far as to wash the LR floors.

Timing: He started work a day early and finished exactly on time. Even my super was shocked that he was able to do all of the work in just 3 weeks.

Budget: Yes, Ken was went over budget -- by less than 2%. I went more over budget on my fridge than he did for all of his labor. And, the increase was entirely acceptable and understandable. The shoddy work done before in my bathroom (the tiles were falling off the wall), meant he needed to rebuild an entire wall in the bathroom. The rest of the charge was for the workaround on the microwave.

Repeat hire: Definitely. I’ve already asked him to send me a bid for redoing my wood floors. If I ever move, I may bring him in to give me bids before I put in an offer.

Overall, I feel like I completely lucked out. You hear so many horror stories (and yes, the ones about Ikea customer service are true), but having a good contractor makes a huge difference.

And, of course, the response from everyone who has seen my kitchen? “Wow!”

• Pros: very close to budget, work finished on time, affordable
• Cons: Renovating a NYC coop isn't exactly fun.

Definitely would Rainer Again!

by ccfin at Citysearch

Ken from Rainer was a great to work with, and I was very pleased with the results of his labor. From my initial phone call with him, I got a good feeling. He was asking me detailed questions about the work that needed to be done, and he informed me about the paperwork that I needed to obtain from my co-op/management company. His estimate came in slightly lower then some other contractors which helped with my budget.

We hired Ken to build a wall that would divide my living room space to create a bedroom for our daughter. The new wall he built looks like it was always part of my apartment. He replaced my old, ugly existing radiator cover in my daughter’s new room with a new design that looks fantastic! Ken painted our daughter’s new room as well as the new living room wall, in the colors I had chosen. He was very careful and did a nice job. I also had him installed new shower/tub doors in our bathroom. Ken was accessible throughout the process, either by email or phone, since I was at work and not on-site. I would describe Ken as professional, organized, conscientious and reliable. He finished the entire job in the amount of time he originally quoted to us, which was less than one week. Ken is a craftsman that does quality work and I would definitely use him again!

• Pros:  professional, organized, conscientious and reliable

Great Painters!

by ElaineAFeldman at Citysearch

Rainer painted our pre-war 3 bedroom apartment on the upper west side. His team was professional and took the time to do little finishing work that my husband and I would have never noticed, and explained everything you always wanted to know about painting but never thought to ask! Ken also helped us with color and finish selection (he's a former creative director!)—Definitely a bonus and a pleasure to work with.

• Pros: Professional. personable
• Cons: none

Highly Recommend!

by annienovak2010 at Citysearch

We had a fairly small project (new moldings, window sills, recessed lighting , some minor electrical etc.) and we met about 3 different contractors. Ken was very friendly, responsive and was a bit less expensive than the others. His work is very good, and he honestly cared about the project. He gave us some helpful advice such as a good layout for lighting, molding sizes and so on. He also did a couple extra smal projects at no charge. I was so relieved that our first contractor experience was a good one. I would highly recommend Ken!

• Pros: on time, on budget, friendly
• Cons: none

great contractor/reasonable rates and reliable work

by REK at Citysearch

Ken is true to his word, reliable and responsive; the work is beautiful, exactly what was promised, and even better. He did spectacular bookshelves for me, within the stated contract time and within the very reasonable budget; he also painted the whole apartment. He even did a few extras, out of the goodness of his heart!

One great experience working with him and his crew!

• Pros: reliable, responsive, beautiful work
• Cons: nothing really