Mike the Window Man

Started window removal, including removing glazing and prepping windows the second week of June. I know this is long but you have to read it to believe it. A week after the job started, I was told that the job was seriously under bid and was asked for more money. Like the job really was a $9,000 job but yet he would only charge $4,500. How could anyone under bid a job by $3, 000? He agreed to do the work at the quoted price. I gave him the option to walk away. Progress incredibly slow. I was told the factory glazing incredibly difficult to remove, plus some windows had a layer of calk over the glazing. OK, I believed him.Slow, slow, slow. I could not figure out if his pace of work was literally that slow or there was no way I was getting 4-6 hours of work from him a day. During window removal process, not only did he let a neighborhood cat in my home and not know it, but he allowed one of my indoor cats to get out of one of the windows he was working on and didn't know it. If you're working in an area with animals, why wouldn't you immediately put the storm back on or block the window from allowing an animal out or shut the door(s) to the room you're working in? I thank GOD my neighbor saw my cat in the window sill crying to get back in. I had to tell him 4 times I did not want him to prime the window glazing because there were storms that were going to be up over the windows until we painted them next spring. AND I didn't want anything to add any more time to getting the windows completed. It took him two months to remove 13 windows and all of the glazing. Two months I've already spent with just my old fashioned storm windows on and only a latch hook for security. I thought he'd just fly with applying the glazing...not so. First day two sashes (12 panes of glass), second one very small sash (6 panes of glass), third day, one sash (6 panes of glass). These aren't consecutive days mind you, these are days that work was actually done inbetwen taking off for car trouble and personal business. I finally had to give a deadline of 8/22. He came back with a schedule of completing the glazing and drying by 8/8 on. I was holding him to it and told him so. I reminded him he had so many working days to meet his 8/8 schedule of completing the glazing. After 7/29 when he told me there was personal issues again that he had to deal with, I reminded him in an email, "I didn't care if he had to work every day, 8 hours a day until 8/8....8/8 was it. We were finished if he didn't have the glazing, drying and was ready to reinstall the windows by the date he dictated. I also asked him to please tell me now if there was no way he was going to meet his 8/8 schedule, that way I'd at least have a few days start on finding someone else. But if he insisted that the 8/8 date would be met and didn't - he would get nothing else from me. Multiple times if the 8/8 date wasn't met, that was it.I didn't hear from him until 8/1 saying he was cancelling the contract. He didn't read my email very well at all. He thought I was asking him to, "step aside so I could find another contractor" or to terminate the contract. That he'd never had someone ask that of him before. I wouldn't have asked him such a thing, I would have FIRED HIM! He had no business bidding on let alone accepting this kind of job. He had to mention top me more than once "no money in his bank account", "giving all his tools to someone to settle a debt and his special glazing tool was in with the tools", couldn't use anything else but this special glazing tool....which I found out was a bent putty knife. Excuse after excuse for lack of progress. Several last minute days off for "urgent personal business". I've never questioned the quality of his work - only the pace of it. I should have gotten a completion date and once that was missed - walked away. However now, seeing what windows he did glaze....I can glaze better than so much better than that. I told the new guys I had to hire that I glazed some of the windows and could they tell the difference between my work and this professional? They thought his glazing was the glazing I did. Some of the work was so bad they said it should be reglazed. The glazing I did they thought was done by the "professional" and I'm a novice glazer and a GIRL! The worse experience with a contractor I have ever had.

Mike got back with me very quickly and arranged to set up a time to come to my home to look at my windows.

They were very good, clean and efficient and they did a good job. They cut all of the wood in the garage and left the sawdust all over the garage. They did sweep up the floor, but it did remain on other places. They are not the least expensive but they were worth the price.

My old windows were originally installed in this house many many years ago. They were difficult if not impossible to open. I called the Window Man to rescue me! He arrived promptly, described his products thoroughly and offered to provide his services at a reasonable price. He arrived on time for the install, installed the windows, cleaned up after he was finished and hauled everything away. Now I'm able to easily open my windows, let the fresh air in and enjoy the fall scents and sounds.

Mike was on time for his 7:30pm appt. with us. He examined the two kitchen windows very thoroughly and the rest of the house. He advised us there was much rot on the kitchen bay window as well as the other kitchen window. I feel we got a course of window 101 from Mike. He advised us the reason they weren't opening due to the rot and settling of the home. I feel he was very informative and extremely honest with us! He spent about an hour of his time and wouldn't take any payment. He also gave a name of another window person that could help us get the job done.

We heard from a mutual friend that Mike was looking to start up his window restoration & repair business again. They had a good experience with him a few years back. We recently purchased an older home which is not in a historic area, but which by age is "historic". We are looking to make improvements on the exterior before starting on the interior. So we are speaking to various contractors about window, siding and roofing. We want to maintain the character of the house. We have looked at vinyl windows, which would in many ways be a good choice, but they are just not the same as the windows we have, which are original. We asked Mike to come out and look at our windows. After looking at the windows, he showed us briefly what he had found, explained his restoration process and what we could expect. He said our windows restored to "as new" condition. And, with a good warranty. We received an estimate to restore all the windows; and, a separate price to restore those most in need of work. At the moment, we are weighing our options, but Mike was knowledgeable and thorough. We will be doing something w/ him in the Spring, once we have reviewed all out options and decided on a budget.

VERY PROFESSIONAL AND KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT RESTORATION WORK. THE CRAFTSMANSHIP WAS EXCELLENT. MIKE MADE SURE WE WERE SATISFIED WITH THE WORK PERFORMED.

VERY PROFESSIONAL, DID GREAT WORK, MUCH CHEAPER THAN REPLACING THE WINDOWS. PLEASED.

MIKE WAS VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE AND PROFESSIONAL. HE TOOK LONGER TO COMPLETE THE JOB, DUE TO A BACKORDER OF PARTS, AND SOME TROUBLES WITH HIS BUSINESS PARTNER. OVERALL WE ARE VERY HAPPY WITH THE WORK COMPLETED.

VERY NICE. ON TIME. SAVED ME A LOT OF MONEY. DID NOT TRY TO SELL ME NEW WINDOWS, HE RECOMMENDED A LESS EXPENSIVE ALTERNATIVE. I THOUGHT THE PRICE WAS QUITE REASONABLE. HE AGREED TO DO THE ASSESSMENT IN THE EVENING AND THE WORK ON A SATURDAY.

HE ESTIMATED THE COST OF REPLACING ALL 25 OF OUR WINDOWS AT $25,000. HE TRIED TO SCARE US BY SAYING THAT ANY HOUSE INSPECTOR WOULD RECOGNIZE THE WINDOW TRIM AS ROTTING.

WE NEEDED SOME ROTTED WINDOWS REPAIRED AND MIKE CAME OUT IN A TIMELY MANNER TO LOOK AT WHAT WE NEEDED DONE. HE CALLED A FEW DAYS LATER TO SAY HE HAD THE ESTIMATE AND WOULD LIKE TO MEET. WE ASKED THAT HE SEND US THE ESTIMATE AND HE AGREED, BUT WE NEVER RECEIVED IT OR HEARD FROM HIM AGAIN, SO HIRED SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THE WORK.

I NEVER HEARD FROM HIM. I HAVE ARRANGED TO USE ANOTHER COMPANY.

THE INITIAL APPOINTMENT WAS PROMPT, HOWEVER THE MECHANISM WAS NEVER INSTALLED.

VERY, VERY CUSTOMER-FRIENDLY. HE REALLY KNOWS HIS WINDOWS, AND DIAGNOSED THE PROBLEM EXPERTLY. MIKE IS AN HONEST AND FAIR BUSINESSMAN.

I FEEL BADLY MAKING THIS REPORT, BUT HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED. I HAD THE COMPANY SCHEDULED TO COME MAKE AN ESTIMATE. THE COMPANY CALLED TO CANCEL BECAUSE SOMETHING CAME UP (THEY DID NOT OFFER ANY EXPLANATION) AND NEVER GOT BACK WITH ME (I SAID I WOULD WAIT FOR THEM TO CALL ME BACK). I AM SORRY BECAUSE I HAD HEARD GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE COMPANY AND WAS ANXIOUS TO SEE ABOUT THEM DOING THE WORK. I AM SORRY IF THERE WAS SOME SORT OF TRAGEDY OR UNFORTUNATE EXPERIENCE THAT CAUSED THEM TO CANCEL, BUT THEY SHOULD HAVE CALLED BACK AT SOME POINT.

HE CAME TO MY HOME TO PROVIDE AN ESTIMATE FOR THE INSTALLATION OF STORM WINDOWS. HE WAS PROVIDED WITH MY PHONE NUMBER, EMAIL ADDRESS, AND MAILING ADDRESS TO PROVIDE AN ESTIMATE. AN ESTIMATE NEVER ARRIVED. AFTER ONE WEEK I CALLED AND LEFT A MESSAGE. HE NEVER RETURNED THE CALL. I CALLED AGAIN AND SPOKE WITH HIM AND HE STATED HE WOULD PROVIDE THE ESTIMATE BY THE END OF THAT DAY. THE ESTIMATE STILL HAS NOT ARRIVED AFTER 3 WEEKS OF WAITING. OUR HOUSE WILL NEED STORM WINDOWS ON ABOUT 30 WINDOW OVER THE COURSE OF ABOUT 2 YEARS. SINCE HE DID NOT PROVIDE AN ESTIMATE IN A TIMELY MANNER WE ARE USING A DIFFERENT COMPANY. I DO NOT THINK HE IS VERY PROFESSIONAL. HIS DECISION TO NOT PROVIDE AN ESTIMATE WAS A POOR DECISION FOR HIS BUSINESS.

EXCELLENT PRESENTATION, WELL RESEARCHED. HE WAS PROMPT, COURTEOUS & VERY PROFESSIONAL. WE DECIDED AGAINST USING HIS SERVICES BECAUSE WE DECIDED TO USE A GENERAL CONTRACTOR FOR THIS & SOME ADDITIONAL WORK.

DID NOT SEND A QUOTE OR ME CALL BACK.

HE NEVER LOOKED AT THE WINDOW ON THE INSIDE. HE ONLY LOOKED AT THE OUTSIDE AND TOLD US WE NEEDED NEW SIDING. WE SPOKE WITH OTHER COMPANIES ABOUT THIS PROJECT AND IT DID NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE SIDING. WE WERE ABLE TO REPAIR THE WINDOW. ALSO, HE WAS DIFFICULT TO REACH.

MIKE WAS VERY HELPFUL AND GAVE LOTS OF ADVISE DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT WAS NOT IN MY BEST INTEREST TO GO WITH HIM FOR WOOD WINDOW RESTORATION. MY WINDOWS ARE SO FAR GONE THAT HE RECOMMENDED VINYL, DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE DOESN'T SELL THAT TYPE. EXPLANATIONS WERE VERY CLEAR AND THOROUGH. FELT HE WENT ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY. IF MY WINDOWS WERE IN SLIGHTLY BETTER SHAPE I WOULD HAVE DEFINITELY CHOSEN HIM TO DO THE WORK.

THE WORK THAT WAS PERFORMED WAS GOOD. THE ONLY PROBLEM WAS, THAT THE GLASS REPAIR ON THE PATIO DOOR TOOK LONGER TO COMPLETE. THE REPAIR WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE IN 2 WEEKS, AFTER PLACING THE ORDER, BUT I HAD TO CALL AFTER 3 1/2 WEEKS. MIKE EHMER DIDN'T REALIZE THE WORK HADN'T BEEN COMPLETED, BUT WHEN HE FOUND OUT, HE DID FINISH THE JOB PROMPTLY.

HE DETERMINED THAT IT WAS NOT THE WINDOW LEAKING, HE WAS ABLE TO REFER ME TO THE PROPER COMPANY TO DO THE JOB.

MIKE WAS EXTREMELY CAREFUL IN DETERMINING WHAT NEEDED TO BE DONE. THE OLD WINDOWS HAD ROTTED DUE TO IMPROPER INSTALLATION BY ANOTHER CONTRACTOR. HE SPENT TIME ASSESSING THE PROBLEM AND WAS CAREFUL TO SHOW ME WHAT HAD GONE WRONG. HE COMMUNICATED CLEARLY AND OFTEN THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS. I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH HIS EFFORTS AND WILL CERTAINLY CALL HIM AGAIN. I HAVE SUBSEQUENTLY CONTRACTED WITH THE SUB, WHO DID THE ACTUAL WINDOW INSTALLATION, TO REPLACE MY ROOF.

ARROGANT! FIRST PUT DOWN THE HOUSE AND THEN PROCEEDED TO GIVE AN ESTIMATE WHICH WAS RIDICULOUS. HE CONSTANTLY TALKED DOWN TO US.