Schaefer Improvements

After many calls and emails, Steve was not able to get me scheduled.

A few days after buying the Big Deal ($99 for 3 hours of handyman service), I received an email thru Angie's List from Schaefer Improvements, asking me to contact them at my convenience. Shortly thereafter, I had personal issues (lost job, etc.) that delayed me getting back with them right away. By the time I needed their help, about 2 months had passed. I initially called the number listed, and got Steve Schaefer's voicemail where he promised to "return all calls within 2 business days." I have had previous experience with Big Deals, and know that they often cause issues and delays with contractors, so after one week of no response I called again and left another message. I also saw in an early 2014 Angie's member review that Schaefer had had a family issue that had caused problems with a client, so I thought that possibly might still be a factor, but I would hope that he could at least take 30 seconds to call and explain, even if he didn't want the job. Once again, no call for a week, so I called a third time. Every message I left was respectful, simply asking for him to please return my call. I never heard from him in any way, even after contacting Angie's List and getting their Big Deal Problem Solver involved who also left messages. In the end, I got a refund and contacted someone else.

I was very impressed with how quickly I was able to get on their work schedule. I also appreciated the fact that I did not have to schedule a separate appointment to get an estimate- we agreed to a price over the phone. The installer arrived on time and was friendly and professional and completed the job with perfection!

Outstanding from start to finish. This is the second time we hired Schaefer Improvements and I am sure we will hire them again someday. We had water damage on our hardwood flooring in the kitchen - our entire main level is the same flooring so insurance had to replace it all. Steve was very helpful from the start with dealing with the insurance company (we had to go back and get a little more money) - and he also had great insight into the type of flooring we should consider picking. It was great because we could go anywhere to pick out our material, he just told us a range to stay within based on what insurance gave us for the project. The most impressive part I thought was how quickly they completed the project. They pulled up all the old flooring, moved the furniture, etc, as well as laid the new floors in just 3 days! My wife and I actually laid the floors that were there before ourselves and it took 3 weeks of weekends and after work. He originally said it would be a week, which we were still impressed with - then when it was just 3 days, it was a total shock. The floors have been down for a couple months and they look great - what started with a really terrible situation of the water damage ended up being a great improvement to the house. Highly recommend Steve for any project - very knowledgable -great work - and overall just a trustworthy and nice guy to work with.

Purchased deal 2/16 to get a new storm door and faucet installed. Storm door needed to be ordered so provider said to call to schedule. I sent a follow up email asking about time required to install the door so I would know how much time left for other things. Never heard back, Then on 4/23 I developed a more urgent plumbing problem and called (after hours) and left a message. After reading his company details saw he subs out plumbing so I sent yet another email asking if I should just hire someone for my plumbing work and contact him later to install the door. Guess what still no reply.So silly me made one last attempt on 5/2 and then contacted Angies List requesting a refund so I can hire someone else to help me.

The service turned out good, I haven't used the rest of it yet. There were no additional charges over the $99 of the big deal. He was pretty honest about what he could or couldn't do, or what he wasn't comfortable doing, or what was outside of his expertise.

He did a good job. He did everything I asked him to do.

DO NOT USE this PROVIDER / Schaefer Improvements They are VERY unprofessional & FRUSTRATING to deal with. They are unable to call & set up an appointment , ( or communicate in a satisfactory way ) I THINK they are a scam to collect peoples payment & not do any WORK ! I have tried for 3 months to set up a time for them to do the work i paid for. They DO NOT CALL or RETURN MESSAGES.

I purchased the $99 for 3 hours of handyman work deal in the fall and continuously contacted him through Angie's List e-mail to schedule appointment. Each time he would respond, "call me to set up a time". Then each time I tried to call him he never wouild return the call. This went on for MONTHS. In April I contacted Angie's List and told them I want my money back. I've very frustrated with the provider and Angie's List. I have submitted my request for a refund. My husband said Angie's List called and he gave them my work number. They never called me.

On the 28th Steve and his helper tore out the old lumber. It rained that morning, but he checked with me and was able to do the work in the afternoon in two hours time.. All the old was neatly removed and the yard looked good. On the 29th they returned at the time he said they would and within 5 hours the deck was done, all clean up complete and the deck and the yard looked great. Instead of the old straight method of laying the deck, Steve edged the entire deck so lumber ends did not show. My new deck looks so much nicer than before. It was also reinforced so that that was no bounce as before. He cares about the quality of his work and the satisfaction of his clients.

Steve and Sean were great! They introduced themselves, shook my hand and took their shoes off as soon as they stepped inside the door. We discussed the work I wanted done. They divided the tasks and were done in no time at all. Made sure everything was cleaned up before they left. I'm not an easy person to please. Need a handyman? Call Steve!!

I had purchased this deal on October 29th. I had suggested some dates to have the service done. He emailed me back and requested that I call him to schedule. I originally called and didn't get a response, then the bad winter weather hit and I forgot about it. Around April 1st I called again with no response, waited a week or so and called again, still no response. When I called the third time and left a message saying let me know if you can honor the deal or not, then I finally got a response. It was at that time that we scheduled service for today, April 30th, between 9-10. It is now almost 1:30 and he has yet to show and is not responding to my phone calls.

No work has been done. I requested them to lay a laminate floor in a tiny kitchen. I was told for the $99 would not include an appointment to measure, figure out supplies and total cost. For this Great Value, they would show up. If I did not have the supplies, they would get them but that would eat into the 3 hour time. He advised to put the $99 toward what ever the floor install may cost. Price to be determined when they show up to do the work!!! I asked for painting instead. I was told the Great Value did not cover painting. Scheaffer made me feel like the $99 was such a small price, that they would do very little for the Great Value. Terrible Value.

I've used Schafer Improvement in the past, and he did a good job. He works so fast that he gives no attention to detail. His work is totally unacceptable. I had asked him how he missed something that was wrong and he just laughed. He just doesn't care about his work and I'm less than pleased. He boasted that he's not like all the other guys, but he is.

We had to call twice to initially schedule service. We scheduled a time and date, provided details on the tasks we wanted to have done, and he agreed he could do the tasks. 10 days before the service date, we called and left a message with a couple of questions and requested he call us. We did not receive a call back. Two days before the service date, we called and left a message again. No call back. The appointment date and time came and went, with no call back. We are going to ask for our money back.

I waited till late November to set up the work to have it done before Christmas. I was told by Mr. Steve Schaefer he was booked till after Christmas. We set up an appointment for December 29th. Steve called the day before and stated he needed to have some work done on his vehicle. We rescheduled for Monday January 6th the day of a big snow. I didn't expect him to come, but I did expect him to call me. After two days I called him and rescheduled for January 15th. I took off a half day from work, but Steve never came or called. I tried various times after that to reschedule, but never received a call back or my money back. I last tried to contact Steve by an Angie's list message on February 19th. I still have not heard from him or receive my money back.

The first appointment was just OK--2 handymen came over. One took down the door framing and molding and removed the pocket door for the first floor powder room The other did a few odd jobs (he did OK, not perfect but not worth complaining about). In removing the pocket door, some molding was broken but I assume that is a normal risk. When I scheduled their return to put the door back on (the door had to be refinished, so this was much later--maybe as much as 2 months), it did not go well. 2 people came over, they brought replacement trim for the piece that had broken off. The door was put back on and appeared to work--I was told there was some caulk that was still wet and to give it some time to dry. The handyman allowed me to open and close the pocket door and it worked--I did not have any complaints at that time. He left, the other had been gone for 30 in already (a little early, but it was a Saturday appt). Later that afternoon, I went into the bathroom and it was clear that the work had not been done properly. When reassembling the molding, it appears they switched the two vertical pieces; in an old house, those peices are not going to be identical. So now one side of the molding sticks out past the top piece and the other side they chisseled off the top peice so that it fit against the vertical peice. They cracked one piece of wood trying to put it back where it did not belong. The molding did not match up on the wall where it used to be, so there is a curled up edge of old wallpaper (that had been skim coated over twice) exposed. And finally, the caulk was everywhere...there are half inch gaps just filled with caulk, and it was just dripping on the woodwork like a bad icing job (although there are probably two big edges that will need to be caulked before it can be painted). After a week, I decided I should give them a chance to make it right so I contacted the owner and I sent pictures. He agreed that it was not good and he promised to come back and fix it. We tried several times to schedule something with no luck, finally in January we had a date and time and I took the afternoon off work but the guy was a no-show. I texted the owner twice about rescheduling and got no reply. To add insult to injury, the pocket door fell off the track at the beginning of March (mind you, we had been in the house 6 years before the first problem). Apparently (according to the carpenter I hired), no stops had been installed to make sure the pocket door did not go too far into the "pocket" and right off the back of the track.

They were very professional and worked fast. The installation was a couple of months ago (my dates may be a little off) and I haven't had any problems.

They installed two doors, one exterior and one interior. They also installed a garbage disposal. The technician was very helpful. I supplied the doors and garbage disposal. They were on time and everything was great, but I asked for a quote on other work and he never provided that or returned my calls.

I was VERY impressed with Schaefer Improvements in all aspects. Steve returned my phone calls in a timely manner and worked with my schedule to set up a time to meet to go over the scope of the work. I had received several prior quotes from other contractors and Steve was the ONLY one that really listened and also offered opinions and/or alternatives on the work that needed to be completed. This was very helpful for me since I had never been through a bathroom remodel and was unsure of what products were available on the market to help complete the project. Once we agreed on a price (which was also the cheapest bid due to Steve's diligence to cut out unnecessary aspectsof the project) and determined the timeframe for the work I was impressed by the amount of progress they made each day. The project took about 2.5 days and that was in line with the three day quote I was given so I was very pleased. In addition to the quality work Schaefer Improvements provided I was also very pleased with the communication that Steve provided. Anytime they ran into an unexpected issue or anything outside of the scope of work agreed upon, I was contacted and given all the information so i could decide if it was something I wanted to address and also given alternatives as well. Steve also contacted me each day to inform me of progress and how the project was going. He also went above and beyond by coming back a day after the project to correct a small problem that I had outside of the scope of work. Finally, I was also pleased with being able to find one contractor who was able to perform all aspects of my job. The other contractors I considered were up front to let me know they would be hiring sub-contractors to complete the electrical or plumbing or both. I am not opposed to sub-contractors, but it was a bonus in my mind that Steve was able to perform all aspects of my job independently. I feel it is always best to limit the number of people coming into your house when using contractors and it was very reassuring to me since I could tell early on that Steve was very trustworthy. Highly recommend!

However, because my home had to undergo some serious repairs due to water damage, it was difficult to get these contractors scheduled for smaller scale work. They were very understanding. However, I was not able to get service completed before it expired.

Steve and Charles arrived on time and began work immediately after introducing themselves. Steve checked to see if I had any special instructions or needs. The work was done in 30 minutes and they took all the trash away and vacuumed the area well for any residue or dust.

They were quite good! I probably got a little bit more than my money's worth. The two handymen that came out were very responsive and did excellent work, and I couldn't be more pleased. One did some garage organization and the other changed out some lighting fixtures and bulbs. Together, they laid a hard-wire internet connection for me, as well as moved some furniture around. They were very professional and you can't beat the cost. Highly recommended!

They went right to the task and didn’t waste any time. There were no troubles with scheduling. Two guys came to complete the work. They were very pleasant. They got a lot done in the time that they were given and cleaned up well. They were able to solve some problems that others weren’t. Everything went very well.

I purchased the special 3 hours of Handyman Service. We scheduled a day/time that worked for me and Steve and another gentleman arrived right on schedule, appx. 30 minutes after calling to indicate they were on the way.