The Assessment: $2,500

Ninety minutes in the residence before you commit to it.

Manhattan, in person. Or before you commit to renovating one you already own.

You are about to spend a great deal of money on a place. An attorney is reading the offering plan, an inspector is reading the systems, and nobody at all is answering the question you actually have, which is whether this residence can become what you want and what that would take. We come and tell you.

It is the same visit for someone who has lived there for years and knows something is not working, and cannot say what.

What this residence can become, room by room, and what it would take to get there.
What is on the public record for the building, what buildings like it typically permit, and the questions to put to the board in writing before you commit to anything.
What work of that scope runs, as ranges with the assumptions stated. Not a bid, and nobody is held to it.
What is already excellent and should be left alone.
The order it would have to happen in, and what gets paid for twice if taken out of order.
A written Findings within the week, and half an hour on the phone to walk it.

Nothing here is a legal opinion, a bid, or a representation of what any board will approve. What is on the public record is cited. What is pattern is labelled as pattern. What only the building can answer is written as a question to put to them in writing.

The full $2,500 comes off The Record if you go on to it.

Request the Assessment.

We are in touch within two business days to confirm a time, and we can work around a broker’s calendar or a contract deadline. The invoice follows once the visit is set. If it is easier to talk first, call 212-920-7026.

Questions

How is this different from a contractor coming to quote?

A contractor tells you what it costs to do the thing you described. Nobody tells you whether that is the thing worth doing, or what it would cost to do the right one. The free visit is free because it is a bid for work already decided.

I have a broker. Does this get in the way?

No. A broker is paid on the transaction and does not do design feasibility, and a buyer who walks in with a plan rather than anxiety is easier to close, not harder. We are happy to coordinate access directly with them.

What is the difference between this and The Record?

This tells you what is possible and what it would take. The Record tells you what to do: the whole residence designed, up to eight rooms, in the order the work should happen, at $7,500. This is a different question, not a smaller answer, and the full fee comes off it if you go on.

Do you do the work?

Not as part of this. We run a separate design and build practice, entered only if you ask for it, and nothing said in the visit changes based on whether you do.

Do I have to own it?

No, and the visit is often most useful before you do. We can meet you and a broker at the residence during the contract period, or earlier if you are still deciding.