My experience with Daniel was awful. I hired Daniel for a simple patch/paint job, as well as to install grout for brick that had already been installed.
When work first began, the only protection that Daniel's workers employed was the placement of thin brown paper over some of the floors. I raised concerns about this the first day, which Daniel ensured me would get resolved. I returned from work the second day to find my wood floors scratched by a worker who had dragged my couch with no help from anybody else and no protection on the floor. A worker had also thrown a paint-soaked towel over a brand new silk shirt of my fiancee's. I again voiced concern and disappointment and asked his workers be more careful. He apologized and said they would.
However, the next day, my floors were again scratched up; this time much worse by a machine Daniel used right at the entrance. It had also become evident that Daniel was cutting corners and not using qualified workers (NOTE OF CAUTION: Make sure you have Daniel spell out in the contract what experience his workers will have; I relented when he pushed back on this during the negotiation process and I now realize the reason he did that was because he cuts corners). Examples include: 1) Walls that weren't patched despite my having flagged them for his workers (think this was because his workers didn't know how); 2) Different paint colors running into each other (his workers didn't know how to use blue tape); 3) Mortar/grout being smeared across the entire face of a brick wall and then being allowed to sit for four days (this was despite my raising concerns that I had never seen mortar smeared across the face of brick as it was actually happening); 4) Refusing to correctly complete items that were very clearly agreed to in the contract because they were "more complicated than he thought" (such as installing door handles)
It all came to a head when for two weeks Daniel stalled the repair of the brick his employee had ruined. Daniel had initially said he would order new brick on a Saturday. The following Wednesday, I encountered his employee attempting to scrape off the mortar from the brick face with a metal tool (after drying for 4 days). The employee said the brick was now like new and didn't need replacement. Needless to say, the brick was far from new (scraped, chipped, discolored from a chemical he used and still full of mortar in many places). I confronted Daniel and he said that he had decided (unilaterally and without any consultation with me) that the brick could be repaired by scraping it and using chemicals and that it just needed sealer and would now be fine.
An argument of course ensued where I told him the brick was very clearly damaged and needed replacement. After I produced before and after photos (NOTE OF CAUTION: take as many "before" pictures as you can), he relented and said he would replace the brick and make it right. Unfortunately, Daniel continued to play games. The next day (Thursday), he claimed he had already ordered the brick on Monday, but was just saying he hadn't done so until I signed off on the other items in the contract (What? You were using the repair of damage you caused for something unrelated? Highly unethical). But when I called the brick distributors to see if he had placed an order, he hadn't. He had been lying about that too.
End of story, 10 days later, his workers tried to install the brick and it was a DISASTER. Daniel DOES NOT USE SKILLED WORKERS. The BRICKS were literally falling off my wall and there was an instruction manual the workers left on how to install TILE.
If you have a very simple job and don't mind very much about details, go with someone less costly. If there's anything more complicated New York Modern Interiors will damage your apartment and cause a lot of heartburn
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