dba D&DRenovations

When I contacted this Contractor I started the conversation by stating that I had found his company on Angies List .As I proceeded to explain what services I required from him ,I was bombarded with a barrage of unrelated questions to my inquiry.After a few minutes of speaking with David Houseknecht I realized he was trying to determine my ethnicity. After deciding that I was not the type of client Mr Houseknecht wanted to work with .Mr Houseknecht came up with every excuse under the sun not to come to my home.He was either very busy,he was working too late etc etc . I have encountered people like Mr Houseknecht in the past so I reconognized his mode of operation. I was not offended by Mr Houseknecht's actions, but I would suggest that his sterotypical way of thinking be mentioned in his online Angies List profile. That way anyone who doesn't fit David Houseknecht's vision of the ideal client,like me . We wouldn't waste out time and money on Angies List. I paid extra for the premium package on Angies List and I am totally disapointed and wish I could get my money back.

This was our second time using D & D for a job and the results were GREAT! Since I was planning on having my daughters birthday party at the end of the week., I needed the job completed in a limited time. They did not disappoint. They started the job early on the previous Sunday morning to accomodate my time requirements. We were hit by Hurricane Sandy and the guys still didn't stop working. Their concern was getting the job done in the timeframe that I needed. They laid the tile and everything seemed fine. When they retrurned to grout the floor, Dave was concerned about how the tile set. Since my house was very warm when they laid the tile he was concerned that the thinset dried too quickly. This could have resulted in tiles coming loose in the future. Instead of just grouting the floor to be done with it, Dave picked up all the tiles that they felt were affected by this, scraped off the dried thinset, then relaid them so they could set correctly. Talk about going above and beyond! I would have never known that there was an issue. He could have easily just grouted the tile knowing that by the time I did have an issue he would be long gone - but that's not the way Dave works. He gets the job done the right way and won't settle until he is satisfied it's good.

When we decided to finish our basement we wanted to do some of the work ourselves but decided to hire a framer that was a friend of a friend ( Not D & D) just to frame out the basement and get us started. Not knowing much about construction we were pleased with the work that they did - at the time. We later decided to hire someone to insulate and soundproof the ceiling of the basement since the rooms were directly below some bedrooms. D & D's price was very reasonable and they showed up on time. So the first impression was great and we hired them for the job. Dave from D & D was very knowledgeable and took his time to answer every question thoroughly. While they were working in the basement they noticed MANY errors that the previous framers made - things that I didn't pick up on as a layperson, but once he brought it to my attention they were OBVIOUSLY WRONG. For example , there are three windows that needed framing around them: the previous framers did not frame the rough openings to even be the same size! One window would have been framed to be one size and the window right next to it would have been much smaller and the third one different still. There were wires hanging that should have been behind the framed wall. Not to mention that some of the so called walls that the previous framer did were not even fastened to the floor and were easily kicked out of place! We couldn't believe that we paid good money for such a sloppy job. It made me sick to my stomach. Not only did Dave educate us about these deficiencies he fixed many of them without any additional charge! Some of the framing issues required more wood and a considerable amount of time so there was a small additional fee for those fixes. Yeah, we could have fought to have the first guy come back and fix his mistakes, but we didn't want that hacker coming any where near our house with a hammer again. To me, Dave was like the Mike Holmes (From Holmes on Homes on HGTV) of Connecticut! The job lasted a few days and they worked hard every minute of it. At the end of each day, they cleaned up after themselves even when they had to come right back the next day to continue working. They maintained a professional attitude the entire time and gave us an end result that we have confidence in. It is hard to get good help. I joined Angie's List specifically so more people could know about D & D Handyman. If you want the job done right at a fair price, look no further.

Dave was on time, very professional and went above and beyond what was expected of him. He cleaned up after himself every night, even when he was expected to return early the next morning.