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Dear Marc:

I write to thank you for the frankly superb work on your house on Lombard Street. As you know over the years we have worked with a variety of contractors in a variety of settings and I can say without hesitation that you and your group were the unchallenged champions. From the very beginning you were honest and accurate in your estimates of time and expense. You kept us informed as the project went along. You showed up invited or not to our meetings with the architect and interior decorator, just to be sure that things we were plotting along those fronts were feasible. You kept your own counsel and yet were will to offer opinions on both esthetic and practical matters when asked. To essentially all of our requests major and minor you always replied "we can take care of that" and then did so. I would note especially that on a few occasions you said, "we can take care of that, here is what it will cost, are you sure it is worth it to you?" which was equally helpful.

I appreciate the care that you took with your subcontractors, both in maximizing what we could get for every dollar we spent and for the excellent quality of their workmanship. They also carried forward your service ethic in every detail, cleaning up after themselves, locking doors, leaving us as much privacy as humanly possible while we were camped out in the living room. I overheard more than one conversation between them about how demanding you are, and they seemed to admire and appreciate it as well. I must comment especially on Paul the Painter, who just could not have been kinder or more helpful. He didn't even scowl when my mom put her hand on a freshly painted wall, and on more than one occasion he spent the last 20 minutes of the day playing basketball with my young sons after his work was done.

On a human note, your gruff kindness was very much appreciated. You knew how important the Thanksgiving holiday was to my family, and you and your group absolutely made it possible, creating a temporarily inviting home out of a construction site so that our extended family could get together. It was like sleight of hand -- on Monday we were back to the work site and moving right along!

As the project has wound down you have maintained your level of attention, which must be hard when I am sure you are engaged in new jobs. You have responded to my questions and made all the minor adjustments we have requested. I know from past bitter experience that that almost never occurs with contractors, and I am very glad that you have stuck around to make the last minute details perfect.

We recommend you regularly whether people ask or not! We would use your group again in a second. Thank you for our new home, which we really love, and best of luck to you in yours. We would be happy to serve as a reference if any potential new clients need confirmation of your superb work.

Sincerely,
Jo Buyske and Joseph Friedberg