Berkshire Carpentry

He came to the site, quoted a price but when later asked to provide a simple proof of insurance and written estimate he was no longer interested in the job. He said he has never been asked for these before - which is hard to believe in this day and age.

I was selling my house and I needed some last minute modifications. Jim stepped right in, gave me a detailed estimate and did great work. He met my short timeframe requirement.

James did really beautiful work for us. He built, painted, and installed floor-to-ceiling wood bookcases along two walls in our den. Because we have a very old house with sloping floors, it took a lot of skill and care to make sure the shelves were aligned and everything looked right. We couldn't have been happier with the results. James is great to work with, and always responds quickly to calls or emails. He understood right away what we were looking for. His attention to detail is astounding, and I can't say enough about the quality of his work.

Jim is a brilliant craftsman, very responsible, creative and client-oriented. You could not do better for any carpentry especially requiring good taste and knowledge for style and integrating with existing home decor. James is a pleasure as well. David Singer Available to provide phone reference

Was a horrible experience, when he did return my emails or calls it was days later, he never showed up when stated he would and then backed out of the job, leaving me with the less desired materials that were bought with the deposit, all because "he took on too many projects and his older customers come before his new ones" Not professional or reliable, sometimes cheaper is exactly what you get

Very meticulous and great follow through with the smallest details. Highly skilled, lots of experience and knows his stuff. Will hire again!

Always good to have James here. He understands how most everything works and enjoys the challenges of working in older homes

My table looks and feels like new. I am beyond satisfied. Mr. Hansen is a consummate professional, a master carpenter. I would most definitely use his services again and cannot recommend him highly enough. I would be happy to speak with anyone seeking a reference.

James did a great job. We're very happy!

Great. Lucky to get James who absolutely knew what he was doing. Now my wife's dream door is a reality. He came when he said he would; and called if he was going to be delayed. Very detailed oriented.

I had James do remodeling in my bathrooms last year. While he is very forgetful and unorganized the work overall went OK. The labor cost was agreed in advance and was very reasonable, in fact I even paid him more than he asked. Based on this experience I hired him to do few windows this year. Not so well this time. He ordered the windows in 1st of March. I insisted to go to Home Depot together to make sure the order would come out right as there is number of options to choose from. He went alone regardless. The order went wrong in number of ways and I ended up with windows I do not like and do not match with other new windows in the house, and on top of that, cost more money. He took no responsibility for it. The windows were ready to install in April. He kept taking other jobs one after another while I was patiently waiting. After number of phone calls and emails he finally came to do the job in August. I paid him fully when the job was ALMOST DONE in August. It took another two months and several phone calls and emails to get everything finished. The labor cost: He charged by the hour. It took him twice as long to do the work as another carpenter who had done equivalent work in other windows. His first bill was $1200 for two windows, installation only. When I was outraged he gave me “discount” and charged “only” $960 but said he will charge the normal fee in the remaining windows that needed yet to be done. I hired another well rated contractor from Angies List. The job was done promptly in timely manner, for almost half the time and cost.

Mr. Hanson came to my home in North Adams to review the work that needed to be done and to provide an estimate. I called him because he got good reviews on Angie's List. There was some confusion about when he was supposed to arrive, but I apologized for that, and he spent a half hour reviewing the work and chatting with me. All seemed to go very well, and he seemed quite professional. He said that he would email me an estimate, and after two weeks I never received it. I thought perhaps that the email address was written down incorrectly, so I called him, and he didn't return my call. I am assuming that he decided that he didn't want the job, but did not do me the courtesy of contacting me to let me know or to explain why. I am a single woman who bought my house as a dilapidated foreclosure, a beautiful old house that had been terribly neglected, and I have been working on it steadily, a little at a time, to make it beautiful once again. But getting reliable contractors to do work for me has been like pulling teeth. I work a full-time job and a part-time job and take care of the house and property on my own, so don't have a lot of time to make calls, meet with people, follow-up, etc. I joined Angie's List in hopes that it would help. I am finding myself turning to big box retailers like Sears and Home Depot because I know that they will show up and provide me with an estimate on the same day. I have been advised to check references and get multiple bids for given jobs, but in this area it seems like I am the one who has to provide a reference to the contractor. I want to help the local economy by improving my home and giving work to local people, but it seems very hard.

Beautiful job. Because of the weather it took a few days before he could come. He gave me an estimate and the job finished near estimate. Very pleased with the results.

Everything went beautifully. He really went out of his way to help us out!

James of Berkshire Carpentry did a wonderful job! Good communication, excellent work, very reasonable pricing. He even gave me good advice on how to fix a similar problem in another area of the porch by myself.

james is a great problem solver and has all the skills to implement solutions. We have a cape cod from 1940 that is very well built and James has the right level of craftsmanship to work on our home. He did an excellent job installing and painting a new frond door, including weatherstripping. He also put in a screen door in the back. James also replaced mortar and concrete in our entrance. When a leak developed one day, James identified its origin and replaced siding on a dormer. His carpentry skills are excellent. James is reliable and responsive. If there is a change in schedule, he calls. He also cleans up after each day's work very well. He is pleasant in demeanor and has been very informative in explaining what and how he does things. He has also shown me some techniques in refinishing furniture as I am learning on an old piece of furniture. We are very happy with James' work and plan to use him for other projects. We highly recommend James.

Job was done better that we could have expected

James was great. My wife and I are in Florida so I talked to him via email and phone, and my father coordinated with him locally. We gave him a key and he came and went as scheduled and got the job done quickly. The final product looks beautiful. He is very detail oriented and very experienced. That is the difference between dealing with a "window installer" and a master craftsman... A window installer will do the job quickly in order to shave a little off the price and make a larger profit... James makes beautiful furniture, which requires an eye for detail and perfection, so he installed our windows correctly. He also found us a better quality window than we would have otherwise purchased, direct from the manufacturer and at a great price. I have learned over the years that you want a true craftsman, who cares about quality and careful measurement and calculation when doing home repairs, who has all the right tools to do the job right, that way it gets done right the first time. I felt completely at ease being 1000 miles away while James worked on the house. I would highly recommend him for any home improvement project.

He was very professional and easy to work with. His work is professional and you get what you pay for. I would recommend him to anyone that needs work done. He was very pleasant to have around and stuck the his quote to the penny. It is refreshing to see that companies still treat people like people instead of just treating us as another job.

All in all, it was fantastic work with an artisan's skill. I cannot believe that anyone could have done a better job, and certainly not for the price. I've got James on speed dial for future projects for myself and all my friends. If you want a project done right no matter the obstacles thrown in the way, rely on James for professional and quality work at a very reasonable price. There are bigger contractors out there, but with James the person you talk to on the phone is one who is doing the work. That kind of one-on-one contact makes all the difference for jobs big and small.

James Hansen is the best carpenter and contractor I have ever hired. Over the ten years I've known him, he has fixed many things in my house - dry wall rot, water damage on porch roof, damage caused by dogs, and more. This past summer, we hired him to do a much bigger job - to renovate a downstairs bathroom to make it wheel-chair accessible. James had excellent ideas, was very patient when we changed our minds, and his work was impeccable. Our newly renovated bathroom, kitchen pantry and laundry room are gorgeous and stylish thanks to him. If you want to do quality home renovation work, I highly recommend James Hansen of Berkshire Carpentry. His workmanship is excellent and you will not be disappointed.

James did a great job with a new side door access on our garage. This involved cutting through a load-bearing wall, building custom reinforced framing, installing a pre-hung door, installing trim inside and out, and building a custom step for the outside. He picked up a door my wife and I selected at Home Depot and painted it to match our exterior wall. I was very impressed with his attention to detail, helpful suggestions, and ability to work around the inevitable home repair challenges (fortunately nothing major; but what would have stopped me dead in my tracks were only minor road bumps for him). He arrived on time and worked hard the whole 2 days. He had the right tools and knew how to use them. His price is reasonable, given the materials cost and amount of labor he put into the project. All in all a great experience.

It went very well. James is fastidious and he is a perfectionist. He is the only contractor that really cleans up after himself. The job was beautifully done. Any chance I have I would use James Hansen again. His work is exceptional for a fair price.

After reviewing the work, the contractor notified me that the scope of work was greater than one day. We agreed that he would send me a quote for the whole job and the timeline to start and complete. Contractor contacted me two days later via phone to let me know he couldn't do the job because it was more than one day's work he was already too much other work scheduled.

The work went well. Nice job and I would hire James again in the future. He was running late for the second day and called to let me know before I expected him which was ideal. That gave me more time to catch up on things and know when to expect him. The work itself was well done.