From Fran Lorenzi.
Nlt Construction
This past summer (2017) I was fortunate to have used the services of NLT Construction, specifically, the owner, Dave Cedrone. My entire (3,000 sq. ft.) house was painted indoors and the wall-to-wall carpeting on 3 floors was replaced with wood flooring. Dave functioned as the head contractor overseeing the work of 3 sub-contractors (electrical, flooring, and painters). I contracted with NLT Construction for carpentry and coordination of the work of the sub-contractors. Dave had me contract individually with the subcontractors he recommended, which worked out well. I used the painter and flooring subcontractors Dave recommended but foolishly decided to go with a different electrician (who did not play well with others).
Dave coordinated and checked the quality of everyone’s work. The entire job was finished within the expected timeframe and within the estimated cost.
Here are some very specific reasons I recommend Dave without reservation:
• Responsiveness and excellent communication skills: (How many times have you heard those words used to describe a contractor?) Dave was ALWAYS reachable, frequently getting back to me within minutes of my placing a call or sending an e-mail. During the course of the project I experienced a “shelf emergency” involving old shelves installed years ago by another contractor. I realized that most of the shelves installed throughout the basement and garage (on which I planned to load a house-full of boxes) had been installed shoddily and were in danger of collapsing. I called Dave in a panic (before his work was even supposed to begin) and he had his men come that same day (and the next) to rebuild and/or reinforce the shelves.
• Problem-solving and cost saving: One of Dave’s greatest strengths is the fact that he always came up with solutions for the inevitable (and sometimes unpredictable) problems that arose along the way. For example, he had warned me that a picture window with a rotting frame may need to be replaced, but that he wouldn’t be able to tell until his men worked on it. It did need replacing, but he called one of his window contacts, got me an excellent price, which (including his people’s labor) was $6,000 less than my husband and I had been quoted years previously when we first noticed the rot beginning to form.
Along similar lines, I had been told by numerous contractors I interviewed that a (different) living room window would need to be replaced. When I asked Dave how much he would charge to replace it, he said he didn’t the entire window needed replacing – only a section of the wooden casement, which he thought Pella still made. He called his Pella contact and had him send me a replacement part that cost round $60 – instead of several thousands for window replacement. He was the only contractor who did this.
• Insistence on quality work: Dave stopped by frequently to check on the work of the subcontractors. During his visits (inspections) I noticed that he would routinely ask them why they chose to do the work in a specific way. Afterwards the supervisor of the painting crew commented that Dave is always always open to learning new ways to do things. He knows what quality work looks like and will not hesitate to ask them to redo something that is not done to his standards. Because they know this, they take special care to do things right the first time when working on his Jobs. [Worked for me!]
In addition to doing excellent work and expecting (and getting) the same from his subcontractors, Dave was also very fair with his pricing and very clear in setting up and implementing the specs of his contracts (in order to minimize misunderstandings down the line.)
I truly appreciated the care Dave took with my house. Once I fully recover from the trauma of having had to disassemble and the reassemble my entire house, I hope to renovate my kitchen and bathrooms. I wouldn’t even think of calling anyone but Dave and NLT Construction to do the work. You will not regret your decision if you hire him.
