HAYES THE HANDYMAN

I hired him off a postcard mailer after interviewing him and 2 others. He is a clean cut nice guy, and had a professional detailed quote written up. also he lives in Arlington Heights. I took his time for 7 work days which I didn't mind, cause if this guy likes his work and wants to take his time better off for me. Some of the drywall taping bubble and he had to redo them, so I started to suspect he lacked skill. Then... on the 7th day around December 30th, he cut his thumb with a circular saw cutting trim in our garage, and he wrapped it up and kept working. Then he informed me that he accidentally installed 2, 5" can lights instead of 6" ones, like I already had on the other side of the room. We agreed he would do some adders for a couple hundred more and wrap that into replacing the can lights. He then said his wife was getting on him for not finishing and not collecting any money yet, so I paid him off for the original job... a mistake I know, I know. After that he didn't work for 7 to 10 days and said he was sick and had a bone chip in his thumb that had to heal and after three weeks he came for 3-4 more hours to strip the flooring he stained to dark. After days of not returning calls he said he was coming last Wednesday and texted three times he was just held up, and never came. He finally showed up for half of two more days after calling and emailing his wife again. He had a real electrician come to tell him what was wrong with what he did so far. I mopped the area he finished and it all came off. the walls needed mudding and sanding by me, he can't do wall work. He was a nice guy, then flaked out. same experience as the other comment. The lack of communication and follow though is painful. I painted 4 rooms, and installed 5 closets during his hiatus. Job took 2 months start to finish.

Clearly out of his league with the work we asked him to do. I had to repair many spots in the ceiling where he had left holes around the canned lights. While the attic stairs work fine, he slightly bent the frame of the whole unit because he did not properly measure the required distance between the two headers that he built in between the joists. He had to come back to finish the electrical work. When we finally got him back two weeks later, he was shorting out the canned lights and tripping the breaker. He could not figure this out. Therefore, he made up some story about some electrician friend and said that he would be back. Tried many times to reach him by both e-mail and phone. He does not return my calls. Polite man while he is at the job site but clearly not a professional handyman.