House Doctor

NEVER RETURNED MY CALL

What a disappointment. I found Raj through RedBeacon, Home Depot's workman referral website. I told him that I needed a pre-hung exterior door and frame installed (which also means taking out the old door). I asked him to quote a price and he said $175 - $250. Raj is a very nice man, but that's about it. I scheduled the appointment at least a week in advance. On his way to my house Raj delayed by saying he had to stop off and take his son to drop his car off at the car repair. So I waited. When he was finally on his way, he got lost in my town for about 45 minutes. By the time he arrived at my house it was 4 p.m. He did the job, but not well. First of all, the previous door had already been taken out, so he didn't even have to do that laborious part of the job. He installed the pre-hung door and frame, but it was a little bit askew at the top and it "catches" every time you open and close it because of the friction. He had to leave in the middle of the job and go to Home Depot because he forgot to bring a tool he needed. He painted the interior part of the wall where it interfaced with the door (about an inch wide) - it was such a sloppy job, with paint on the entire length of the white trim, I could have done it much better myself! The threshold was left unfinished and exposed to the elements, the surround of the exterior door still needs caulking and the insulation was left exposed to the elements, and hardiplank siding needs to be installed above the door and painted. Raj charged me $350 for a job not well done and not completed, and a job that had already been half done when he arrived (removing the old door). I reminded him of his quote and we settled on $300. This was $50 - $125 above the quote he had given me. He said he would return to finish the job. When I called him, he didn't pick up. I called again and he answered and said he would come out the following week and would let me know. He never called. I called again and left him a voice mail saying it had been 3 weeks since he had installed the door and the insulation was exposed to the elements. He never called again. I had another handyman out to the house to finish the job. He was probably half Raj's age and corrected Raj's mistakes and did a much better job getting the door hung straight. The "catch" at the top is gone, and the project was completed by the new handyman.