St. Remi Renovations

Alan R.
I hired Lewis Eklund to work on my mom’s deck in Douglaston. Queens Lewis did an excellent job, cleanup was complete and mom is happy. In addition, I hired Lewis to install a very complicated Phillip Jefferies back splash in the Superior Ink Building on West 12^th Street in Manhattan. Lewis had to work with a tight time line and many other contractors all around him. Lewis did an exemplary job, finished the work on time and on budget. I would highly recommend Lewis for his work ethic, cleanliness and concern for others.

I had hired Lewis Eklund in the past to do some renovations on my large, Upper West Side apartment and was pleased with his work which was reflected in my review at that time. Recently, I called him to inquire about how best to address two unsightly window sills… both prominently visible in my living room. He suggested that he «faux marble» them. He did an exquisite job… a job so realistic that people are surprised to find out that it is not the authentic stone. We worked together to determine the best colors and marble patterns and I could not be happier with the results.

If you hire Lewis Eklund, this is what will happen. He will give you a reference from a job he did 10 years ago with a woman he is friends with. He will seem nice and honest enough. She will give him a decent reference. He will refused to write a contract for you, saying, ‘They are useless anyway. He will complain to you why he wants to quit the business and get into nursing bc he hates all the clients he has to work with and he hates other contractors even more. And soon you will realize why. He will tell you the job will take 3 – 4 weeks. But he will show up only 3 hours a day or less. And on other days he will not show up at all. At 12 weeks he will still not be done. He will leave your home in a mess, strewn with garbage, half eaten food, cat food, debris, dust, and soda cans. He will leave concrete bits and other grit that will slowly destroy your wood floors. He will insist on working topless, leaving stained and stinking multiple t-​shirts, pants, and pairs of shoes throughout your home. He will use your refrigerator and dishware at his leisure, leaving crusted, impossible to remove, sandy, muddy fingerprints throughout your kitchen. He will not drape plastic around like he promised he would, letting bags of fine cement powder explode daily, which will take you 7 days of cleaning to get out of all the crevices it has sunk into. Each week, he will have a new excuse as to why the job is not finished yet, and not to worry, next week, the work is ‘gonna fly’. Yet the next week, there will be another round of excuses until you find that it has now taken 8 weeks longer, or 3 times as long as he said it would take. He will display poor craftsmanship, not leveling, and not planning ahead on tile layout, leaving odd slivers of tile throughout. He will tell you about how he threatens other contractors he doesnt get along with, telling them he will beat them with a lead pipe. He will say that he threw a brick through the window of a Manhattan bath retailer over an argument. If you come home early you may find an entire bag of popcorn exploded onto your floor and ground into your rug. He will clog up your brand new sink by washing all the cement, grout, and caulk chunks down the drain, even though you asked him not to. The grout he puts in will be uneven in color, completely missing in spots, and globs of excess left thoughout. And finally before the job is actually completed, he will demand the remainder of the money. He will not admit to the damage he caused to your floors, and he will leave you hysterical voicemails, and will threaten you. I have hired a variety of contractors in the past, and Lew was by far the worst nightmare that ever happened to my home and my family. I am so extremely disappointed in how it all turned out. I am now posting this to hopefully keep others from making the same mistake. Judge for yourself in reading my review and others. Proceed with caution.