After riding the “emotional roller-coaster” of a remodel, Legacy Builders and Remodelers, in Mount Sinai, N.Y., is determined “to give [clients] something really good before we walk out the door,” says company president Art Donnelly. That something is the gift of several hours of a lead carpenter’s time. Common client requests include hanging drapes, installing decorative hardware, and hanging pictures and mirrors.
Donnelly prefers to send the lead carpenter from the job to perform these tasks because he has the best relationship with the homeowner. The amount of time given varies based on project size. A $100,000 job amounts to about four hours of lead carpenter time. “Once we get up over $250,000,” Donnelly says, “we give them most of the day — six to seven hours.”
Legacy Builders usually schedules the session within a week of job completion; its cost is included in Legacy’s marketing budget. Donnelly says a past client mentioned that both during the project and this extra time with the lead carpenter made her feel “very cared for.”
At first, the lead carpenters were uncomfortable about spending the day working under the clients’ direction. “Now they appreciate the value in it and understand the relationship that it continues to build,” Donnelly says. —Nina Patel