RF Improvements Inc

It went great, looks brand new!

Excellent!!!

Excellent paint job

unknown

unknown

unknown

unknown

.

.

Very punctual, did more than expected, polite, professional.

My home was built in 1954 and has lath and plaster ceilings and walls in all areas that have not been remodeled. I had two ceiling areas which were cracked and sagging. Radek came out and looked over the job. He explained in detail that the work was within the scope of the coupon, but because the plaster needs to dry thoroughly before finish sanding, it would require a second day to do the work properly and the coupon only covered 4 consecutive hours of work on one day. This seemed reasonable to me, and I arranged to have the work done. The workman arrived promptly, was very careful to mask and protect all areas, and performed the initial repair. The next day he arrived promptly again, carefully masked and covered areas to protect them from the fine dust of the finishing sanding, primed the areas and cleaned everything thoroughly. I was very satisfied with the work and feel the price was quite fair. I would definitely use RF again and would not hesitate to recommend them to others.

We purchased the Angie's List Deal coupon for 4 hours of drywall work for $99.00. My husband called on Monday and Alex came out that afternoon to look at the job and make sure it could be done in 4 hours. He told me it was no problem. Alex was very pushy and made me very uncomfortable, as he wanted to do the job the next day (Tuesday). I told him that wasn't possible because I had to work. Friday is my day off and I asked to have it done on any Friday. He pushed and pushed for "tomorrow". He told me he had a "big job" in Chicago, and if he didn't do it tomorrow, it would probably not be until the end of the month. I told him that was fine. He called on Wednesday night and said he was "now open" to do it on Friday. He pushed for an EARLY time, asking to come at 7:00 a.m or 7:30 a.m., so we agreed to 7:30 a.m. At 8:30 a.m., no one was here and no one had called. I called Alex and he said that Henrik was stuck in his driveway in Chicago and "would be a little late." He was already an hour late! He said he "probably would arrive at 9 or 9:30. I told him I thought he should have called me, as I got up at 6 a.m., just to be ready for him. He didn't apologize. 5 minutes later he called to tell me that Henrik was "in Buffalo Grove" at Lake Cook Rd. and Arlington Heights Rd. However, he said the traffic was very bad and, "I can't tell you when he'll get there". Henrik arrived at about 9:15. He was not friendly, or professional. He asked ME for a drop cloth to protect the area that he would be sanding. When I gave him an old sheet, he didn't like that, he wanted "plastic". So, I gave him a box of plastic garbage bags. Why didn't he bring his own supplies? He came in and out of the house NUMEROUS times, which I didn't understand (why didn't he just bring everything he needed upstairs with him). He did put a drop cloth down by the front door to keep the rug and floor clean, which I appreciated. Less than one week later one of the stress cracks reappeared and we are extremely upset. When I contacted Alex about this, he said he could come out "but he would do the same thing (mesh tape) again." That was not a very reassuring response, as how would this solution be permanent if the first repair didn't even last a week? So, he said that I should contact Angie's List to get my money back, since we now have to hire someone else to do the job again. This also means, that we could not yet have our painting done. I contacted Angie's List and was told that since RF Improvements had already been paid, they can't refund our money without following a process. This report is the start of that process, and we hope we will eventually get a refund. We are, obviously, very unhappy with the work and would not recommend this company to anyone. Update 2/19/12 - We had another drywaller out on Saturday and he commented that the work that had been done previously was of very poor quality. Not only was the work done incorrectly, little "air bubbles" made the surface (created by RF Improvements) unpaintable. We are having the work redone and corrected.

I found them trustworthy and the work they did was great. They came in every day and worked very hard. They were respectful and did a great job.

Wasted my time and the service provider's.

What a great experience:) Someone came out within a week or so to look at the job, walked us through what would need to be done and offered to do some other little jobs while the patching dried! Even though they were really busy with servicing all the people who bought the same BIG DEAL. They were very accommodating to my husband and my work schedule and were willing to drive quite a distance to start our job in the afternoon. The man who came to do the job was friendly, punctual and did an amazing job. The patch is seamless and he also patched a couple other spots around the house. I would absolutely go with this company again!

Very professional. Quality work. On-budget and on-time completion. Very satisfied.

RF did a spectacular job sanding and staining a set of newly-installed wooden stairs, and painting the walls on either side of the staircase. Their attention to detail was obvious, and the quality of the work outstanding. I would definitley use this contractor again.

They were service-oriented, professional, and the end-result was flawless. We bumped up against a limit in our budget for this repair (our fault, not theirs), so their effort was necessarily limited by time. It was a few small jobs, and they accommodated us like we were a big job. Communication (accent and language) was a very slight issue, but work quality was really great.

Radek and his crew were punctual, professional, and happy to go beyond the scope of the job to get everything taken care of. Considering the unusual nature of the work, the amount of equipment required to do the work, and the necessary time-consuming and thorough preparations, the price was more than fair. We own a timber frame home that was built in 2004. At the time of construction, the frame was left exposed to the elements for quite some time before it was enclosed in insulated panels. The result was a frame that was quite dirty and dried out. Other problems with the construction of the house had put the cleaning and oiling of the frame near the bottom of the "to-do" list. The house is in fine shape now, so we looked for someone to do the beams. We hired Radek. The peak of the ceiling (sloped at 12/12, like an A-Frame cabin) is 29 feet above the floor, and the beams spread over 2500 square feet. The job required covering every inch of floor, wall, and furniture with tarps, plastic, etc. Numerous ladders and 24 feet of scaffolding had to be hauled into the house.The beams had to be wiped down, and then oiled one-by-one. Getting from one end of a beam to the other often required descending the scaffolding or ladder, moving it over, and then climbing back up again. The oil for the beams is runny, unlike today's thick paints. Though it was a messy job, there were no drips or stains anywhere. The result of Radek's and his team's efforts is a timber frame that glows with warmth. His excellent work has made our home as beautiful as we had hoped it would be when we built it. About that cat ... Early during the second (final) day of work, Radek and his crew heard the muffled sounds of a cat in distress. They looked high and low, but could not find the source of the sound. Over the next three hours, the sound became louder and more frantic. It turns out that one of our cats (who loves to traverse the beams and end her walks with a nap on top of the double oven cabinet) had been startled out of her nap by one of Radek's guys when he went into the loft to oil the beams up there. The cat had panicked and in attempt to escape had forced her way (head first and upside down) into a small slot (that has, since this incident, been sealed!) between the oven cabinet and the cabinet next to it. She struggled for three hours or more, succeeding only in wedging herself in more tightly. It was not until she managed to twist her body sideways between the cabinets that her tail became visible below the second cabinet and Radek knew what he had to do. He immediately called all work to a halt, gathered his crew, and set them to work. One person got a screw-gun, emptied the shelves, and undid the screws holding the cabinet to the wall Another held his hands under where the cat was, and the third pulled the cabinet out of its place. The dazed cat fell into the waiting hands, was put gently on the floor, staggered around a little, and then took off for the bedroom like a bolt of lightning. Radek went and found her, and having been on a farm for much of his life was able to check for injuries. There were none, as confirmed by the Vet when I took the cat in to be looked at. The cabinet and trim were reinstalled perfectly. So, add compassion, quick thinking, and leadership to Radek's list of qualifications. He really was as concerned about the cat as he was about doing a fantastic job. You don't see much of that "whole person" anymore. If you get a chance to work with Radek, TAKE IT! Jim

Everything was absolutely perfect and I have been using them, ever since I have found them on your website. I do not trust anyone else. I have used several other contractors and this company has been the best. The only thing now is that, they are getting busy day by day, so it may get harder to get work done for me. I will continue to use them in future.

Their service was exemplary. They were on time. They did the work at the price that they quoted and I was amazed with their work. I had a wonderful experience. I thought that their price was a little high.

Radek came out the day I called to give me an estimate and explained what needed to be done. We agreed on the price and he started the project the next week. He was very professional, thorough and explained in detail everything he did. I am very happy with the the end product and highly recommend him. He is very fair, knowledgeable and does great work.

The project went very well. Radek is a consummate professional and does a very, very good job. I would highly recommend RF improvements to anyone looking for carpentry, painting, remodeling, etc. He has great attention to detail and is very skilled. I will be re-modeling my bathrooms in the future and will use him. A+ job!

This was more then just a painting job. I had Radek skim coat every inch of the walls due to old wallpaper paste that gummed up the walls. He put a fresh layer everywhere, sanded, primed, sanded again and painted two coats. Radek does an outstanding job and my home looks great thanks to him. Not only does he do a great job, but he is a great person and a joy to work with. He also does remodeling and did some other work at the same time (interior doors, etc). I highly recommend RF for remodeling (he will be doing my two bathrooms), painting, carpentry, etc. Great to work with and prices are very reasonable compared with other quotes I got.

I called & Radek answered. He promptly came out that same day to estimate a paint job for our kitchen, dining room, living room. We also asked for estimates to remove wallpaper & paint a full bathroom and to paint our house exterior. He wrote up the estimates during the visit. We did not have the bathroom done at this time, but will if we continue to live here. We plan on having Radek paint the exterior after the weather warms up. While we were waiting for overdue estimates from other painters, Radek called & offered a 15% discount if he could come that week to do the work because another job had finished earlier than expected. The painter (Kazik) and Radek were always professional. They arrived on time and worked quickly and efficiently. Kazik only took a few short breaks beside lunch breaks. The job was done in 2 days and Radek came to check on things both of those days. He was very reasonable with his prices & overall we were very impressed with the quality of work that was done.