If you're hiring a contractor from outside of the five boroughs, you must make sure that they are licensed in New York City, even if they have a license from the county, in which they are located. Similarly, if you live in one of the suburbs and are hiring a New York City contractor, you must make sure that they are licensed in your county.

The minimum amount of total coverage, which most contractors carry, is $1 million. If your contractor is not fully covered, it may expose you to great risk as a homeowner. You can be held liable for everything the contractor's insurance doesn't cover. That's why you should try to find a contractor that carries at least $3 million in total insurance coverage. Ask to see the contractor's insurance declaration page. That document will give you all the information you need. If they're not willing to share it with you, it is a major red flag.

Belonging to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is not required for home improvement contractors. It is a completely voluntary membership. To belong, you must agree to abide by the strict business practices that BBB requires of all of its members. And, you must agree to resolve any complaints brought to the BBB against you quickly and fairly.

You should ask your contractor if he belongs to the BBB. Or, you can check online at www.bbb.org or by calling the local BBB office. Make sure, however, you ask your contractor under what other names he did or does business. Many contractors make a habit of going out of business when too many problems arise, then re-opening under a different name! You'll want to check out all the names he operated under.

If your contractor is not a member, or no longer a member of the BBB, ask the reason why. If he is a member, you need to check whether any complaints have been recorded against him. If so, you can find out whether the problems were resolved. You don't have to cross a contractor off your list just because they have one or two complaints against them. Instead, ask the contractor about the complaints and get an explanation. If you are not satisfied with the response, then you shouldn't do business with him.

DBF Studio's Approach: We are certified members of NARI and NKBA. We are also proud members of the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), which provides us with vast resources for these specialized areas. We use our purchasing power to buy appliances and materials directly from manufacturers at vastly discounted prices. This enables us to pass savings onto our clients.

DBF Studio's Approach: We take before, during and after pictures of all of our projects to show our new clients. We maintain a book of referral letters and testimonials so you can read what people have written about us. We also provide the names and contact information of clients we have done work for in your area. Upon request, most of our clients are very willing to open their homes to show the quality of our work to one of our new clients.

DBF Studio's Approach: Our Project Manager personally knows and meets with all the trades' people who will be working in your place. We manage and inspect all work done by them. Because they are not physically doing the labor themselves, they can typically manage up to four projects at a time; in this way you know you will still receive personalized attention. The Project Manager is either present everyday for part of the day while the project is ongoing or is in contact with the trades' people everyday to insure the project is running smoothly.

DBF Studio's Approach: We give all our clients a full two-year warranty on all of the labor we do. Also, we only deal with manufacturers who give a warranty on their products, so anything we purchase for you will be covered.

DBF Studio's Approach: We are located at 895 Broadway, 5th floor, New York, NY 10003. Our phone number is (917) 681 - 4821. Of course, since every project has a Project Manager, you will be able to contact your Project Manager anytime you like because you will have his cell phone number and email address in addition to our general contact information.

DBF Studio's Approach: We are right there by your side every step of the way to counsel you as much - or as little - as needed. Not only will we advise you on what will look good; more importantly, they will advise you on what will work well in your space. Once all the materials are selected, we have one employee whose sole responsibility is to make sure all products are ordered properly and tracked so they are received when expected.

DBF Studio's Approach: Meeting with you and our trades' people to review the entire job before starting. When the materials come in, the construction begins.

Look carefully at any guarantees on the time it takes to complete a project. Read the fine print to make sure the guarantee has any teeth to it. Many contractors will base their guarantee, if any, on substantial completion. This means that all the major parts of the job are done. But, that won't help you if you're not able to use the room or it is still a mess. Also, you should speak to a client who actually had the guarantee honored. If the contractor tells you he never had to honor the guarantee, be very suspicious. We have been in this business for over three years and we have never heard of any contractor who completes his jobs 100% on or before the estimated completion date 100% of the time. If someone tells you he does, he is being less than honest with you.

DBF Studio's Approach: Ethically, we cannot guarantee a specific date when a project will be finished. We've been doing this long enough to know that many unforeseen events can occur that are completely out of our hands (or your hands for that matter), which may delay a project and change the completion time. These can include factory delays, delivery of damaged or incorrect items, and other unknown conditions. We are committed, however, to providing you with a realistic time frame for your project, updating you regularly on the status of your project, and working diligently to maintain the project schedule as closely as possible. We've even worked 24-hour shifts at times to get the job done when time was of the essence.

We do everything possible to make your project run smoothly and timely. We even take the responsibility of dealing with building management and filing permit applications off your shoulders. There are two authorities that have to be dealt with during your project. The first is building management, which needs to be addressed on a daily basis; they ask for paperwork, insurance, licensing, scope of work, alterations, the agreement between you and your remodeler, sketches, drawings, and specs. The other authority is the New York City Building Department. If you're relocating plumbing or electricity, you will need their approval. This is a major process, requiring drawings and sketches reviewed and signed by a licensed architect. Those documents must then go to an expediter who completes the application process. DBF Studio takes care of all this for you. We have a dedicated employee who is responsible for overseeing the application process for every project so she is an expert on what is needed to obtain all building permits for you.

All of these things must be considered when providing a timeline for your project, so if anyone guarantees the timeframe, make sure everything is included.

DBF Studio's Approach: After we finish a project, but before you sign off on the final walk-through, your Project Manager will use the DBF Studio Touch-Up Spec Sheet and look for things that need touching up. We will send the right trades' people over to make any necessary touch ups, or if appropriate, we have a dedicated team of Touch-Up Professionals on call. It's all done at the end of the job before you write the final check.

And, in the unlikely event that the laborers did not clean your place to our satisfaction, or yours, the Project Manager will hire a professional cleaning service, at our cost, to clean up after the job.

With respect to change orders, it is reasonable for you to pay more if you choose to change aspects of the project. For example, you may decide that you like different fixtures or tiles once you see them in your office. The contractor has the right to charge you for the change, if there is a difference in cost, but make sure his policy is to put all change orders in writing and detail the price differential so you avoid being overcharged for work you already agreed to.

DBF Studio's Approach: Simply put, we have a fixed price policy. When we spec out the project and estimate the price for you, it is set. We don't believe in charging a client for unforeseen circumstances that may arise on the job. It is our duty to know exactly what the job will entail and to detail the costs for you in advance. If we make a mistake in the estimation, we eat it meaning we won't charge you for the difference. In all our years doing business, it's only happened to us twice, so we're pretty good at getting the price right the first time.

Any changes to the project that you decide on once the project has started will be detailed for you in a change order with all price differentials.

DBF Studio's Approach: Our first step is to have an appointment with you, at your office preferably. Our Consultant will walk around your entire office with you to see how things look from different angles and perspectives. We want to make sure that the rooms will flow nicely with each other when they are complete. We use our Design Consideration Checklist to help us fully understand your specific needs. This includes a thorough review of issues, which may include what you like and don't like about your current rooms, if there are any special requirements to accommodate children or someone with disabilities, more storage space needed in certain work areas, and whether there are other activities in the room that need to be considered in the overall layout. We want to know YOUR ideas of what YOU want YOUR vision coming into the project, and then we'll add our expertise to make sure you understand all your options so you can make the best-informed decision for your needs. At this first meeting, our Consultant will take measurements. And we do this all for FREE, whether we spend 20 minutes or even 3 hours with you “unlike our competitors who charge anywhere from $500 to $2,500 just to speak with you. Even Home Depot won't give you the time of day unless you drop a non-refundable deposit of $100.

After this first meeting, our Consultant will recommend that you visit our office and look at design magazines to get style ideas. While you're coming up with your ideas, the he will be back at our office hard at work creating a design.
Once we have a good idea of the design that you like, our Consultant will walk you through the options for your new finishes, appliances, fixtures, countertops, flooring, lighting, electrical, and plumbing. You'll find the latest products, designs and innovations at our library because we personally meet with our vendors on a bi-weekly basis and study the newest industry trends by attending various different tradeshows across the country, reading magazines and journals, and conducting daily Internet research. And if that's not enough, we carry catalogs for plumbing, lighting, hardware, and accessories demonstrating thousands of products from all over the world. We either have, or have access to, every type of building material that you could want. We've never had a request from a client for a product that we couldn't fulfill.

In helping you choose your materials, our expert takes into consideration your current configuration, along with recommended efficiency improvements that will make good ideas great ones. We will make sure all the products will work with the layout. For example, we've heard horror stories where contractors will order a faucet that's too big for the sink or fail to consider which direction cabinets need to open to avoid hitting other objects.

Once we're ready to go and everything's finalized, you will get all the detailed quotations for materials and specific contractor services. We supervise every aspect of the project, making sure that materials are delivered on time, that the trades' people perform to our expectations and that the job is completed on time and with excellent workmanship.

You see, by breaking down your project in various parts, assigned to different professionals, we're able to have individuals who've mastered their specific tasks do what they do best.