PROFESSIONAL HANDYMAN

STAY AWAY!!! Joel comes across as a nice and knowledgeable guy, and he may be both of those thigns to a degree, but he really did a number on me. He had told me that he had just done an Ikea kitchen and I liked his calm demeanor and his very low price so I didn't even check on references or photos of past work. That was my mistake and a true learning experience. The guys he had doing the work were very slow, and this was primarily because they had never built Ikea kitchen cabinets before. He would always come and reassure me and that helped me feel confident, but it was a false confidence. The more work I let them do, the more damage that occured. Here are some of the issues: 1) When he moved a plumbing line he had the lines going over the stud and this is a huge no-no. It was obvious as it was pushing the wall out and would have created an uneven wall and a higher risk of a pipe breaking. When I first raised the issue he said it was fine and wouldn't be a problem. Later when I thought about it I was really insistent on him doing it right and to his credit he did. But the fact is I should have never had to insist and it should have been done right the first time. 2) Many of my cabinets were damaged as they were built or installed: a) They used the wrong screws on the feet causing them to be loose if they didn't drill far enough, and often times they didn't because for a few of them they drilled too far and the screws came up through the bottom of the cabinet. b) They built a tray upside down and when I fixed it I had screws holes on the side that was showing. c) They cut a $200 ikea panel when in fact it didn't need to be cut and should have been used as it was. They had no idea how to do Ikea cabinets. d) The cabinets, when they set them, were totally uneven and not flush. If they would have finished the job it would have looked awful with doors being not flush and things looking off. It takes time and effort to get things aligned and flush and they didn't spend either. e) The did a really poor job nailing the backs causing there to be gaps which would let light in. They had no system for nailing, and generally did not use enough nails. f) They built a tall cabinet upside down. g) They butchered the sink cabinet with huge holes and unsightly cuts. h) They put the backs of two of the cabinets on backwards. The reason I know now how many mistakes they made is because after Joel admitted to me that he and his worked could not finish the project is that my dad and I did it ourselves so I then realized their flaws. Joes ended up costing me a lot of time and money as I had to redo everything. His price was super low, and to his credit he did a good job removing junk and came every day. But if you can't do the job you should not say that you can. In the end we agred to part ways, but when I realized all of the extra damage he did I went back to him asking to be compensated. He agreed to but once I sent him the bill for the new cabinets he never responded. Next stop BBB. Then small claims court. Then contractor's board (he also is a contractor listed as Life Construction). Feel free to check with me and ask any other questions about his work.

He was very accommodating. He switched some materials for us at his own expense at the time and we reimbursed him later. He also gave some great advice for updating our home. He did excellent work. We will be calling him for any future handyman work. He also gave us a great recommendation for another contractor that we could use.