A decade ago, the contractor who first brought Jasinto Uzho to my house told me, “Everything he does, he does beautifully. And you can trust him.” I found this assessment to be 100% accurate. He is, indeed, an honest, kind, efficient, hyper-observant perfectionist; so if you want a job done right, if you want to feel this was money well-spent, he’s your guy. If you have a really overwhelming, unexpected sewage back-up destroy your finished basement’s floating bamboo flooring and lower walls, as we did, and Jasinto turns up, your nightmare is over. You will discover than earlier in his career, he worked on salvaging houses socked by Superstorm Sandy. He knows exactly how to remove the mess, prevent mold, even out the original cement floor and install mud and tiles. He knows how to cut-to-fit wallboard and skim coat it and sand everything so there are no lines. When he paints, drop cloths are strictly for show because, “No drips.” You will end up with a space so beautiful that your interior designer pal refers to it as, “your Zen basement. ”As that long project and several shorter ones done since proved, whatever the size and scope of the job, whether he does the labor himself or oversees others, Jasinto maintains the highest standards. He is imaginative, sees in 3-D, has a good color sense. He’s a stickler for details, for solving problems, for correct prep-work, done in a systematic way. No sloppiness ever. No messes afterwards. It’s a point of pride with him that when he works on larger projects that might require other workmen to follow him, they appreciate the care with which he’s done his part.

Jasinto is a pleasure to work with and he’s fair, reliable, and on time. If you want to have every step of a project explained to you, he can do that. It’s all mapped out in his mind. If you want to be able to leave him and his crew to work unsupervised by you, you can be sure that they are working non-stop and will not be walking off with your grandmother’s silver.

As an added bonus, Jasinto grew up around animals and can endear himself to a large, bouncy Labrador Retriever in under ten seconds.

In sum: hire the guy, simplify your life, and enjoy whatever project you have.