BD Home Improvements

he came out twice and he was quick and didn't overcharge and make up other things that could be wrong. I found my new handyman. Thank you Bruce.

Bruce was on time to the appointment (early actually). He was both professional and kind, greeting my dog just as well as he greeted me. He quickly determined the root cause of the issue with my front door and went straight to work. He finished in about half an hour. Afterwards he clearly explained why the door had shifted, what work he had done and what to be aware of come winter. He insured that I tested it & was thoroughly satisfied. Bruce is exactly what the type of person I was looking for home repairs: Skilled, punctual, efficient and very professional. I plan to seek him out the next time I have another home repair project.

The desk drawer went great! He did a good job. The doorbell was not repaired at all- he mistakenly diagnosed it as an electrical problem which it was not. We later had it repaired by someone else. The ping pong table emerged with 16 small dents in the table surface such that the balls bounce funny if they hit the dents. The dents were caused by using screws that were too long on the underside of the table. He spent a lot of time on the door and offered not to charge me- which is why I rated him highly for professionalism. However he claimed to be a woodworker but somehow didn't notice that the door was 70-yr-old unfinished wood and used some kind of oil lubricant that made a small stain on the wood. Then he broke the lock mechanism while trying to fix it. I then had to call a locksmith to repair it. Turns out it is an old piece and I either had to wait 2 weeks to order it (meanwhile my door to the outside wouldn't lock!!) or drill a very large hole in the door and for it with a newer lock. The new lock looks totally out of place and set me back over $200. But I didn't have the option of leavings home unlocked for two weeks to wait for a matching lock. What a Pain!!

Job performed quickly and competently. He previously had done outside gate repairs, and in both cases responded in a timely fashion and did the work in a professional manner. I will use him in the future for all of the fix-it items which arise as part of home ownership.

Went great. The owner/handyman, Bruce, arrived on time as scheduled. We went over the things I needed done. He gave me an estimated price, explaining that he tends to estimate high, allowing for unforeseen problems but charges on actual time spent. He finished under budget. He brings all his own tools, which speeds the jobs along and helps give a better finished project , both to my benefit! He takes care to treat me home carefully, cleaning up after the project was finished. He didn't even mind when I picked his brain on a couple of other little projects I was working on myself. I am making a new list for him. It's great to have someone of his skill level to call on these project that have been on my to do list for far too long.

Since I am an early riser, Bruce agreed to be at my house at 7:30AM. Indeed, he was there on time! He has a van with all of the necessary tools inside. He also brought the doggy door. Bruce looked over the situation and got to work. It required some adjustments to the door and the door frame; the removal of the old doggie door and some work to fit the new doggy door in the place of the old one. It might sound easy, but in working with an older door that had become warped...it was not. However, he made it look easy, He removed the old door and machined it down to make the necessary adjustments. He also adjusted the door frame and put all of the parts together so that it functioned perfectly. Bruce nicely tolerated my questions as I watched him proceed! Needless to say, I am very pleased with his work and his professional style! If anyone needs a true handyman who can adjust to situations he finds and delivers an excellent result.......Bruce is the go-to-guy!

Bruce is agreeable and helpful and professional, BUT although his business card lists a CA contractor's license, the number is false, and he is not licensed or insured. He's good, but use him at your own risk.

Scheduling was somewhat problematic. I had originally talked to Bruce about a Saturday afternoon visit since that was the day I was moving in to my new house. I made it clear in our conversation that we would be there around 1pm. He called at around 10am-ish because he had finished early. I explained that we weren't there yet so we had to reschedule. I ended up staying home from home work to accommodate his schedule. First visit was cut short due to Bruce having a family emergency. He finished what he could, I paid him and he left. One of the doors was done. He damaged the lock cylinder on the door he did complete, but was honest about it happening and pointed it out for me instead of leaving it to discover later. Second visit was a bit difficult to schedule. When he did visit I was not there but my partner was. He was unable to install the second deadbolt (which was identical to the first) claiming "it wouldn't go" and he "couldn't make it work" and so he left without really explaining what the problem was. (A locksmith has since examined the deadbolt and proclaimed it to be working fine.) Bruce gets an A for effort, but the execution was rather lacking.

Bruce was able to give me an estimate on his first visit that ultimately came pretty close to the final costs (approx $1000 materials and $2000 labor) for the shed refurbishing. He was prompt and always confirmed times and dates in advance with me. At all times he was conscious that my budget was somewhat limited and he worked to provide ideas and alternatives - some that I took - others that I did not. The end result is that I now have a great waterproof shed for all seasons that I can be proud of. I unreservedly recommend Bruce for his work and I will definitely use him again in the future for other projects that I have around the house.

It took several weeks to get the replacement door. delivered. Then it took days to get it installed. The door fits worse than the original door. Big cracks allows in daylight and leaves. Provider jury riged some small pieces of wood to block some of the gaps. Looks like Sh*t&$t. I wish I had the old door back.

I will use BD Home Improvement for any handyman service I may need in the future. Bruce is a caring and concerned man who does his best for his clients. he works hard to find a solution to any problem and is very informative and detail oriented. A+ all the way! And those folks who give him a low grade are being totally unfair! I worked with Bruce over a month long period and he was nothing but honest, communicative and helpful!!

He left the doors for us. He was supposed to help us install the new French doors; we waited for him but he never showed up. He missed three appointments to put these doors in!

He was prompt, efficient,knowledgeable,professional and along with all that a very nice person.

I was lucky to contact Bruce at a time when he was in-between jobs - we spoke on Saturday and he came out first thing on Monday to gauge the scope of work and provide a quote. He was punctual (for both the estimate and the job), and is an excellent communicator, always asking and getting feedback about how we wanted the countertop installed, what he's going to do, etc. On the day of the job we realized we didn't have enough material for the entire kitchen so Bruce came back a second time, on a Sunday, to complete it, ensuring that we had a fully-functional kitchen just in time for our move (we just bought a house and have been getting work done for the past month and a half). In addition to his professionalism and reasonable rate, I also liked the quality of service we received outside the actual job - speaking to him was always a pleasure, you felt that he was anticipating potential problems and helping you solve them or giving you tips on what you could do to solve them. I'd definitely hire him again!

He was prompt and efficient He is a good problem solver He is trustworthy Only part I didn't prefer is his pricing. While $75/hour is fair, he's chatty and that takes up time he charges for + he rounds up on the hour instead of charging for a partial hour

He was very friendly and very helpful. He got up on the roof and cleaned out all my gutters and downspouts while he was here. He was friendly and competent. He got all the projects done in no time.

Bruce was incredibly easy to work with. He was responsive by phone, and in fact kept calling until we actually connected. I really appreciated that. He was also accessible by email. We set up a day where he could do all the jobs at once. Two days beforehand, he called to confirm the day and time as well as what materials he would need. (In the case of the anti-tip device on the stove, he said he had not done one before. I sent him a blog post showing step by step instructions on how it should be done, but left it up to him as to whether or not he felt comfortable doing it. ) The jobs that he could not do (reconnecting vents in crawl space, restaining our front door) he gave us referrals of people who could do them. They turned out to be just as nice and just as easy to work with! On the day of, Bruce and his helper arrived right on time. All the work went according to plan and well under his estimated time. (He likes to estimate on the conservative side so that people know the maximum cost.) He did end up feeling like he could install the anti-tip device and it went smoothly! Throughout the day, he was really pleasant to work with, keeping me updated and asking me any questions if situations arose. (For instance, in routing the dryer vent he and his helper asked me exactly where I wanted it to come out.) He seems to have a great work ethic, and a very professional and friendly demeanor.

It went quickly and well. Initially Burce had thought I might have to have the bottom weatherstripping removed and replaced with something called a door shoe. But he found that using some old carpentry tricks, some longer screws and some shims on the hinges corrected the problem at least for the time being. I wanted to avoid having the bottom of the door recut if possible and the appearance of a metal edge on the door bottom and this approach allowed that. I consider finding Bruce a lucky stroke and will call on him for other carpentry and "honey-do" list things.

Bruce responded bo my email promptly and came out the next day to see what needed to be done and give me a quote. He gave me the best and worst case scenario and it ended up being the best case scenario. We set a time and date and I had to reschedule at the last minute, but he rescheduled for two days later and arrived early and finished early. He did a very thorough job removing the old post and cleaning the area thoroughly before putting on the flashing and the new post. He also cleaned up the entire area and surprised me by fixing the latch and the anchor on the gate that didn't work. I am extremely pleased with his work and the short amount of time it took him to complete the work. I would highly recommend him to anyone that needs a good handyman that is dependable, thorough, reasonable, and knows what they are doing.

Bruce is simply amazing. A true craftsman. And in an age where everyone specializes, Bruce is still flexible in his ability and attitude towards custom jobs. Upon the birth of our second child we realized we needed to convert a drawing room into an additional bedroom. Painting the walls pink and yellow as our daughter desired was easy. But covering up the fireplace so that it would function as a piece of built in cabinetry was a challenge. We did not want to demo the fireplace because it is now a relic of a bygone era in Ca. and we would never be allowed to install an other one. So the answer was a clever cabinet that would conceal it without destroying it. Bruce to the rescue! I gave him a copy of my visio drawings that I had created to sketch out what we were thinking and he quickly analyzed them, pointed out flaws, provided some options for material and once we were settled on all that, he purchased the material and got to work. In 4 days he was done. He sub contracted The painting to his regular guy -Ed who also did superb work. Total damage including an additional job to install custom shelving system into our new kitchen pantry and paint it, was about 2200. This was not the cheapest option I could find but we wanted quality custom work. Some cabinetry companies quoted as high as 7k! He was even able to install everything and clean up to perfect condition while we were away so that when we returned our daughter would be surprised with her brand new bedroom complete with custom in-built cabinet for her doll house and books! (aka the fireplace!) I would definitely hire Bruce again in a heartbeat.

From the moment Bruce showed up to give me a free estimate, it was clear that he knew what he was doing. He instantly told me who and what to order regarding the molding which made it easy on me. He is very conscientious, professional, and efficient as well as reasonably priced. He actually showed up early and worked efficiently all day. I am hiring him to come back and finish the remaining rooms in my home as well as having him do some other handyman work for me. I highly recommend Bruce.

Called Bruce and made an appointment. He came at the scheduled time and the following week he called to set up the appointment to get the hole fixed. Very flexible as we had to move the final appointment around a little.

First time using Angie's list Needed a handyman for small job. Interior door cannot latch, also want to change lock for the door.So decided to try angie's list. Picked BD for the most and best reviews. Called and got answered quickly. After successful completion of the first job, I had him worked on another house that had a clearance problem between the front door and the floor. The clearance is not enough to put down a rug in the entry way. The problem was solved by raising the entry threshold , trim the door . He added weather stripping. Also make adjustment to another door that's not closing. All went quite well.

My husband and I decided in 2009 to replace our worn out bedroom carpets with bamboo flooring. My step-father convinced us that we could do it ourselves (I will never do this again). We managed with the exception of the transitions. None of the pre-built transition types worked. My step-father insisted that he could figure something out and get it done at a later time. Fast forward to 2012, and it still wasn't done. There was a gap between the two types of flooring in each room - an open gap of cement covered in blue underlayment. A wonderful place for dust and cat litter to collect. I gave up on my step father and started calling around to find someone who could help us. No one would - the job was too small. I came across Bruce - the Small Job Guru sounded like just what we needed! He came out to see what the job would entail, and came up with a solution fairly quickly. It wouldn't be beautiful, but it would be functional and our floors would finally be finished. We agreed to go with his solution. Bruce was up front and honest about what he could do, and he detailed what we could optionally do on our own to cut costs. We wanted him to do most of it, but agreed to pick up one of the parts ourselves. It took me awhile to do that (we had a new baby at the time), and then my husband lost his job. We had to delay. He found another, but the holidays hit. It was September of 2012 when we began talking to Bruce, and February of 2013 by the time the job got done. He was so patient and understanding - I felt terrible about it but was grateful that he stuck with us. The actual job took less than an hour once begun, and it looks great! Bruce talked us through the process, telling us exactly what he was going to do. He also let us know afterward what could go wrong, rather than just taking our money and walking away. He knew there could be potential issues because of the concrete subfloor, and made sure we knew about them. He let us know how we could fix it ourselves, but made sure we knew that we could call him to come back out. I want to comment that we ran other potential jobs by him when he came out the first time. He was frank about which ones he could potentially do and which not. He had suggestions as to who to call for the jobs he couldn't do himself, which is so helpful. I was very impressed by Bruce and would absolutely ask him to help us with other jobs.

I called Bruce to have some work done at my house. I need a microwave oven installed and a TV cable run outside my house. He didn't seem too enthusiastic about running the cable and told me he could "drill some holes in my walls" for the cable, then asked me to buy the fastener and face plates for the cable. He is scheduled to come over on Monday, so I take the day off of work. I call him at 8AM to see what time he will be there and he calls me back at 9AM and informs me he had our appointment down for Wednesday. I ask him if there is any way he could come out and at least install the microwave oven, he says no, then tells me that I there are plenty of handymen out there and I should consider calling one of them. He didn't seem very eager to do the work. I take Wednesday morning off from work. I am getting ready in the morning and am looking out the window for him to arrive while I am getting dressed. I see him walk up to the house, so I grab my shirt and put it on while I go downstairs. He is gone! I look around and 30 seconds later I see his truck drive away, so I call him. No answer. I then try calling 3 more times in the 15 minutes since the scheduled time and he doesn't answer the phone. Another 1/2 day of work wasted on this guy. I would not use this handyman. He is not motivated and does not seem customer friendly. Take the advice he gave me and call some other handyman!