apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

to be fair, i did not work with gardy so i cannot speak to his work...however, i met with him twice to obtain an estimate for a gut renovation of my apt and found him extremely opinionated (to an unprofessional degree) and pushy with his vision as if he were a designer or architect, with no regard to my taste, which he could not have had any idea of. ultimately, gardy required two meetings to provide an estimate, was late to both, and submitted a bid that was at least 3 times greater than the next highest bid i received....i thought it was his way of telling me he didn't want to work with me and thought it was ludicrous and hilarious. only he continued to call me and leave me messages to "discuss the bid and set a timeline to proceed with the work" as if accepting his bid was a forgone conclusion. ridiculous.

renovating is a difficult enough process without having to deal with someone irritating and pushy. i cannot imagine working with someone who annoys me that much.

that being said, i can only speak to his personality, and cannot comment on his actual work...since he keep his commitment to showing me an apt he worked on after raving about it and inisiting that i make the time to see it. see what i mean?

I have to agree wholeheartedly with BK. After reading the positive review of Gardy on the website, I made an appointment for him to come see my apartment and give me an estimate. He cancelled two appointments at the very last minute, and then was late to the third, arriving just before I was about to give up on him. He then was very pushy and remarked what a huge job it was, when all of the other contractors remarked how small it was! He then NEVER called me back. So i never saw his work, but when one hires a contractor, he's also hiring someone who is honest, reliable, and timely. My dealings with Gardy did not give me any confidence that Gardy was any of those things. I would never hire him after that.

I am writing to balance out the previous two reviews of Gardy’s work, or rather my experience working on an estimate with him.

My introduction to Gardy and his work occurred several months ago while he conducted renovations of my sister’s apartment. Gardy recently renovated her bathroom and is currently in the process of gutting and installing a new kitchen for her. My wife and I have been especially impressed with the quality of his work, his cleanliness, and his ability to work according to a rigorous timeline.

Consequently we decided to get and estimate for our own bathroom and kitchen renovations. The first estimate turned out to be much higher than we had expected. This estimate resembled the estimate he gave my sister’s bathroom, which needed to be completed gutted, framed, etc. Our plans were much more modest in contrast. Over an hour-and-a-half conversation, Gardy explained the specific reasons for his estimate, which he based on his experience with my sister’s apartment. I explained that we would be unable to pay for such an expensive project. Gardy was very receptive, and we are currently investigating strategies for cutting the project’s price, both in terms of the materials and the tactics. My wife and I look forward to the new estimate and to the finished product.

As for Gardy’s professionalism and personality, my whole family has been generally satisfied. I have interacted with him on multiple occasions, and he has remained professional, friendly, and has even gone out of his way on our behalf on several occasions (rushing from the Bronx to Brooklyn to drop off a spare key so I could look in on my sister’s cat, and helping us move some large appliances between my and my sister’s apartments). He certainly offers a wealth of advice, and is perfectly happy to voice his design and technical opinions. While neither my sister nor my wife and I agree with all his suggestions, we continue to appreciate his ideas and his openness. Never has Gardy come off “annoying” or “irritating.” Rather, we appreciate his honesty which is evident of his dedication to all of our projects.

While my wife and I have yet to settle on an estimate with Gardy, the process has been far from unpleasant, and the finished products that we have so far encountered impressed us and leave us excited to see his work on our apartment.

I have had a very good experience with Gardy Boyer of Can-Gard Construction Co. He recently effectuated a complicated repair of my heavily water damaged bathroom and kitchen (ceiling, walls).

Gardy is a cultured and thoughtful man, who approaches construction and design from all sides, and a client should welcome that. What others call opinionated is actually a rare trait of expressing his experienced opinion in a direct and fair way, even though you may not like what you hear.

Gardy works quickly, neatly, and with dedication. His paperwork is professional, his financial habits are excellent. He did what he said he would do at the price he quoted, and then some. I am very happy with his work and would recommend him highly to intelligent and discerning clients.

I want to respond to the previous comment which condemned Gardy for taking the iniative to make architectural or design suggestions to the client. That criticism seemed not to be based on direct exprience with Gardy. This is a free country where a client is not obligated to take the advice of the contractor. But most certainly, different professional opinions or advice are a welcome part of the decision-making process that a wise client engages in.

Gardy just finished a major kitchen renovation for me which required a significant amount of detail customization. The quality of Gardy's work cannot be overstated. His experience and creativity were great in coming up with suggestions for resolving design problems. If you want quality renovation or construction Gardy is the person you want.

Hi, first time poster here =)

How much did you guys spend on your projects if you don't mind me asking?

I'm looking to completely renovate my 1000sf 2BR/1BA 1st floor co-op (kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, walls, floors, closets), but am set with a hard budget of $40k for everything, including labor, and appliances.

I don't need high end stuff (IKEA cabinets are perfect) or a fancy bathroom, but do want granite countertops and perhaps new windows. Would something like the link below be possible with this budget? How much more would knocking down a non-loadbearing wall to create an island (like in the link) cost? Of course costs can vary greatly, but a ballpark figure would help tremendously... thanks in advance!

http://www.ikeafans.com/forums/before-afters/12840-before-after-adel-mb-1-year-later.html

I just tried to contact Gardy Boyer and message says that subscriber is not in service.

orange4012..you must have dial the wrong number because i just spoke to Gardy.We are meeting for an estimate soon.

I just recently finished a small renovation job using Gardy Boyer as my contractor (found him through AT). Job included new walls/plaster, electrical work, and retiling in the kitchen and bathroom. I found him to be easy to work with, professional, honest, and fairly priced. The work was finished the EXACT day that he promised, and he even sweet-talked our building's management company when they were giving us a hard time.