Alpha Handyman

He showed up to my home with no tools. So I had to give him my own tools to use. I gave him non-power tools and he damaged some drywall in a cupboard. Unfortunately I didn't see that until afterwards and he may not have even realized he did it.

Excellent service from the get. Fred was responsive, personable, and very professional. He returned my initial call within 1hr, and set up an estimate visit right away. Our original problem had to do with gaining access to the crawlspace under an addition done by a previous owner -- we have subterranean termites in the floor of the addition that we could not treat until access was established. When Fred came to do the estimate, he very rightly told us that our back deck was unsafe, and offered to combine the two jobs for a reasonable fee. He discussed all the options with us at length, even scheduling special meetings and conference calls so that he could speak with both me and my wife about work and costs. His crew started the project on time,showed up for work every morning, continued working through every day, cleaned the site each evening before they left, and finished way ahead of schedule. They were very good-natured and polite, and their work was of excellent quality. I did not like how the cover for the pergola turned out, so they came back immediately and changed it to my liking without a fuss. Fred regularly checked in with us about the work, and came to the site to see for himself several times. The only very small fly in the ointment was a larger cost for lumber than we had anticipated, but that only ran us about $300 more than the original estimate. Overall a fantastic experience of Fred and his crew. Our old house will need much work in the future, and I will happily call Alpha Handyman -- I have Fred on speed-dial :)

Mr. Pratt contacted me quickly and I was able to set an appointment within a very few days. None of what I needed was an emergency. His employee arrived on time and worked 4 hours straight to get everything taken care of. The screen door on the front door turned out to be difficult, yet he just kept at it until it worked. The $300 price included $40 to haul away the old,screen door and other generated trash. Since I don't have a vehicle big enough to do it myself, that was helpful, but a bit pricey. NOTE: the company doesn't except credit cards, despite what it says on the Angie's List listing. Mr. Pratt told me he has been trying to get Angie's List to remove that information, to no avail.

Great. Got a good estimate. They were actually early and got right to work. Completed everything in 1 day. Very professional and quick. Took care of everything.

Fred Pratt and his crew did a marvelous job. Their workmanship was superb and they followed up with my every request for additional safeguards to make the remodeled arbor even better. The work performed was better than I had expected it to be. My wife and I were so impressed with the job Fred did, we decided to use him to replace our broken down 20 year old fence ! Superb job, I am very happy and satisfied with the work.

Outstanding from start to finish. While I shopped around for someone to do the work, Fred was the only one who wanted to see the areas to be fixed before giving me an estimate. Most of the other companies responded with "We do those all the time. No need to come out to the house". He was polite, detail oriented, and he actually listend to me. The work was done skillfully and without a mess. I asked Fred to reduce the collateral dirt as much as possible since the cleaners were there the day prior and he honored my request. The new door jam was replaced with such care that I didn't even have to touch up the walls with paint. I was very impressed and have begun giving people his name and number.

Wanted to do some upgrades to bring apt up to date. Fred was very helpful in suggesting looks and materials based on our likes and budget. We ended up opening up the kitchen to living room by knocking down a wall separating the rooms as well as updating counters with tile and staining cabinets. We put in new lighting in kitchen too, out with flourescent tubes and in with recessed lights. In the bathrooms we took out the 80's look counter and sink and replaced it with new bathroom cabinets and framed mirror. We also added tile to floors that were carpet before. Also painted the whole apt. Overall I was very happy with the work. The only thing that could have been better was attention to detail when it came to painting. I pointed out a couple of issues to Fred which was remedied but I later found that a few nails had been left in the wall and simply painted over and a few other places where it could have used some filler to close some holes and unevenness. Another thing we appreciated was Fred's attitude and willingness to make things happen. Not the usual, not calling back, I'm too good for this job kind of attitude we experienced from other vendors. Overall a job well done.

Fred was very responsive. He came to my house and gave me an estimate in a timely manner. I was very pleased with the results. Pedro spent two days completing the repairs. The door and wall look like new. He left the areas clean and tidy. I highly recommend Alpha Handyman and will hire again in the near future.

Fred's price quote initially came in high. I'd received a much lower quote from another contractor but he wouldn't be available until the following week. When I informed Fred about it, he matched that quote. Even better, he honored his 10 percent off coupon for Angie's List members and sent his team over the next morning. They completed the repairs to the drywall, installed a new baseboard and retextured the wall so I could paint it myself. Work lasted roughly an hour and the price was very competitive. I have another drywall repair job pending and plan to contact Fred for a quote. All-in-all, very positive experience and I would recommend Fred Pratt and Alpha Handyman to others.

Peter showed up at 8:10 (between 8 and 8:30), and within half an hour had installed a portable A/C unit in our library (when he installed the window stop, he didn't leave a gap to back the window off in the winter to remove the insert that the hot air exhaust uses, but that's a minor detail). He then went to Home Depot to pick up the larger one (unfortunately, Home Depot had resold it, and it took almost an hour to get the mess resolved, refunds made, etc. He then brought back the replacement, installed it in our master bedroom, again within half an hour. Peter cleaned up all the litter, including most of the styrofoam that fell off in the unpacking. We were very pleased overall.

It is now April of 2014 and my health has still not allowed me to have Alpha Handyman over to do the work from the 2 Big Deal purchases from Feb of 2013. Fred still said he would honor them even though they were expired. After this amount of time, I chose to just get a refund, and when my health improves You better believe I will be calling Fred at Alpha Handyman to come do my misc jobs. Thanks again Fred. I will hopefully be calling you soon!!!!!!!

Fred and his team tore down the 1980s bathroom and completely renovated with era appropriate subway and hexagon tile, dual flush toilet and a lovely kohler wall mount sink, painted the entire interior of the home and put electrical up to code in one bedroom. They then went on change all light fixtures and some smaller jobs. They also care for a rental that I have and have completed jobs with great care and constant communication throughout the process. Alpha will start the kitchen remodel phase within the next month. Although I am new to the San Diego area, I have worked with several contractors in my home region of Los Angeles and it took me many an interview in the San Diego area to find Alpha Handyman but after meeting with Fred a couple of times, I knew this would be a good match - a good meeting of the minds. Its what one wants with their contractor, right? There was a little downtime at the beginning of the job because of a previous job commitment but I am so delighted that I waited for this team - they are conscientious, good with animals, very considerate to the neighbors, and most importantly are honest. I would recommend them without hesitation.

The job took 2 full days and 2 half days. The local contracted handyman (Eleazar Smith) was very professional as was his 30+ year veteran tiler. The floors are a striking black and white octagon/black diamond pattern against a backdrop of the existing white laminate cabinetry and standard tub, jetted tub and shower, all finished with black and white standard Daltile throughout. Both baths had separate water closets. The lineup of the mosaic pattern as well as the grout job are perfect! Note: I had already painted the new exterior door and installed a pet door in it. I purchased all materials, prepped the sheet vinyl, sealed the new floors with 511 Impregnator and finished them with a gloss coating myself. I also removed, sanded, repainted (black gloss) and reinstalled the bathroom baseboards. These tasks were done both before and after Smith and his crew did their work. They offered to seal the new floors for me but I wanted to do it myself. I'm very happy with both jobs. With new black and white rugs and shower curtains, my bathrooms are now completely transformed and I will use this provider again soon!

Fred Pratt (owner) arrived right on time. Called him Friday 12-20 and he set it up today (in A.M.) 12-23-13 - only took about an hour - was very very nice and takes pride in his work.

To my dismay, one of my sons accidentally pushed his foot through the wall just a week before a planned event in our new home! I was in a bit of a panic when I started making calls to see who could fix it. Fred answered courteously and was able to squeeze me in the schedule that same day between jobs. I believe it was Pedro who came, he assessed the damage and got to work very quickly without pause. The result was beautiful...looked like nothing ever happened! Thank you, Fred and Pedro!

Fred and his crew were top notch from estimate to completion. Performed all work to expectations. Crew was a pleasure to have in my home. Always punctual and informative. Cleaned up any and all mess. Was a little pricey but worth it.

Our experience with Fred and his crew was first rate. We had a variety of "deferred maintenance" issues to be dealt with. Fred is an excellent listener, and very experienced in all trades. He wrote up a detailed contract and was very professional about negotiating details with us, explaining how he works, and the progress of the work as we went along. "Along" was very short, however. His workers are multi-skilled people who can go from one task to another, and our whole job took less than a week. Changes we asked for were easily and immediately accommodated. Our water heater is now correctly installed, as the old one was not. The visual impact of the fence and deck is wonderful, and some safety hazards spotted by the crew were repaired with no extra charge. Thank goodness the electrical problem was not as catastrophic as we had feared, and Fred actually did not charge us for the inspection or work: we just paid for a couple of new outlets - a total of $3. The property was left completely clean, no mess indoors or out. When we hire workers, price is only one consideration, and not necessarily the most important one. It is crucial to work with someone who is a good listener and communicator, and to feel that both we and our property are in good hands. Fred Pratt exemplifies the best of those qualities, and we hope to hire him for the remaining items on our list of home-improvement needs.

His service was perfect. His worker came, was totaly professional, did the job, clean up all of the dust and then left. Was punctual and professional.

Fred came in to give an estimate. Now, his estimate was a bit higher than the other handyman I had come in for an estimate, but Fred explained the process and immediately I knew that he is not going to cut corners and that at the end of the day, Alpha was going to get the job done well. An unforeseeable problem came up that pushed the work deadline back a couple of days, but Alpha pushed through the work and honored the agreed-upon price. These guys do great work. Our kitchen looks brand new. I love that Alpha honored the agreed-upon price even with added difficulty. They did a thorough job and we couldn't be happier.

Prior to the service call my door to my garage/hallway was rubbing at the top of the doorjam, at the frame. It was tough to get the doors to lock as well, had this problem for about four months. Called Fred and he sent Daniel out to service the door. After completion the door no longer sticks and the door locks just fine, good job Daniel. Will update on this work in about three months or so.

This was tricky work as we have a California A frame house and the ceilings are as high as 25 feet. Old 70s style track lighting was removed from the ceiling in the kitchen and in the family room. Ceiling was repaired left in ready to paint condition. Electrical wiring was done to accommodate new lighting and ceiling fan. The work is gorgeous. Absolutely perfect. Professional proposal in writing consistent with final billing. The guys were prompt courteous and extremely professional. I have several new projects for this company and would not think of using a different contractor for any future remodeling, refurbishing etc.

Fred Pratt has been extremely helpful. He explains what he's going to do in detail, makes sure it's what we want, then does it. He always communicates with us before he starts working. He is friendly and polite and very professional. He always makes helpful suggestions and gives us options so we can make the final decision. We plan to continue hiring Alpha Handyman as needed.

He did a beautiful job. They are nice people to come into your home.

went well, I called and talked to Pedro I think and Fred installed or vice versa...? anyways, they were great. I needed some fans put in. they came on time. Called me on the way to my house +++ and he was fast if you ask me. I thought it would have been an all day event, but it only took a couple of hours.

Pedro did an excellent job as usual. Very experienced and professional. Very courteous and helpful.