Phalan Construction & The Handyman

Did a great job!

Perfection!!!

It didn’t no response from vendor

Bob sis a great job as always.

We are more than satisfied with Bob Phalan's performance. Even though Bob did quite a lot of work for a very reasonable cost, the quality of his work was superior throughout. Bob is an extremely hard worker, but because he is so experienced, he is also very fast while not being careless at all. His communication was excellent as well. From his fast response to my first inquiry to his dealing with us as we tried to figure out our priorities and our budget, Bob was always straight and honest and helpful. And he's a really nice guy to boot. Bob's knowledge is invaluable to us. We have been looking for someone who would have a great general understanding of our home, which was built in 1920, and can give us advice on maintenance of an older home. He has proven his extensive knowledge, his integrity, his work ethic, and his tremendous skill. We will be working with Bob on many small and large projects for years to come, no doubt at all.

Overall, the experience was great but the cost was just over the top. He gave me an estimate and stuck to the time allotted. He was clean and always picked up after he was done for the day.

Robert gave me an estimate prior to the start of each job and the final costs were spot on. I appreciated that he always kept my budget in mind and looked for ways to contain costs without sacrificing quality. I found Robert to be professional, prompt and an excellent craftsman. I have more projects planned for 2013 and look forward to working with Robert again.

I left a message for Bob for getting an estimate for finishing my basement. He returned my phone call after 2 messages. When he did, he asked me to go to his website and send me an email describing what needs to be done and send me pictures of the basement and told me that he will then come up with an estimate. I asked him if he could come over and take a look. He politely told me that he would prefer to do it it without coming over and would charge me for a written estimate. I have contacted several contractors and each one of them gave me a quote after looking at the basement and discussing my needs. So did not work out for me.

Bob Phalan is what I would describe as a super handyman. I was attracted to him because of his construction experience, particularly in challenging jobs my house needed tending to--mainly roofing, carpentry, and painting. I wanted to avoid having to bring in specialists in each area. Bob wasn't especially easy to make contact with initially. He asks for email requests and job info details rather than trying to hook up by phone, which I was fine with, actually appreciated, since it eliminated phone tag. I gave him my list of tasks, and he responded that he could handle. The problem was he was sluggish in responding, especially on getting started, to such an extent I almost gave up on him. But he had such good reviews, I waited longer than I normally would have for his responses on setting a start date. I was glad I did wait, because he was as good as advertised. He's seen pretty much every kind of construction/repair situation, and can quickly scope out what needs to be done. Once he was working, he was very responsive in communication, answering Qs I might have after he left via texting, email or phone. He called any morning if he was going to be later than expected. He works diligently, not a lot of chit-chat. Which is great, because his charges are very much on the high side--$850/day (plus materials). He provides estimates on particular projects, and they are pretty accurate. Plus, he is very neat, cleaning up well after himself at the end of each day. My main complaint, aside from the difficulty in hooking up initially, were in actually paying him. He wanted payment each day, and since he had about three weeks of work, that sometimes became a hassle, especially if I wasn't around at the end of each day. There was some confusion when I issued checks on the bank bill-pay service, and he didn't receive them within two or three days. A weekly pay system would have been preferable. And like nearly every construction person I've ever dealt with, his eye near the end of my project was on the next project, so things got stretched out a little at the end. But he was responsive when I insisted on finishing by a particular date because of my upcoming vacation. In all, I'd highly recommend Bob. He does an excellent job, and is easy to work with. I expect I'll be using him again.

Bob is very thorough in his work and does an excellent job. He makes sure when he leaves your home that you are a satisfied customer. I highly recommend him if you want quality work done.

leaking ceiling the night before. I used a snow rake to get off what I could that night from the ground, but could not move the ice. I started calling around the next morning. Robert was the only one who could come on short notice (30 minutes was considerably less than a couple of weeks). If I had half a brain, I would have called earlier in the week.

Very good job. Professional and competent.

He was neat, detailed, timely, and the results are just what I wanted. He gave me some tips on caulking areas I had not thought to caulk, and offered his services for other jobs should I decide to tackle them.

Excellent and friendly service. Good value, would use again.

I called Mr. Phalan because he had an ad in the Angie's List monthly publication and he had good reviews here online. And because he is nearby. I called and left a message saying I just needed a hinge repaired on a heavy medicine chest door, that it was a straightforward fix. I left my name & contact info. He did not return my call. I called again the next day and specifically asked him to at the very least call me back and tell me if he was unavailable for the job, or if the job was too small, just so I wouldn't be waiting for a response. I am very polite and professional on the phone. I never heard from him. I wish handymen/contractors would just pick up the phone and call you back and let you know their status: too busy, or it will be next week, or whatever. My time is just as valuable as theirs.

Bob Phalan directly has show his abilities to give the customer what they want and in the case that the customer doesn't know what they want, Bob Phalan offers his expert advice in all aspects of the building trade.

Robert was very pleasant to deal with, explained the problems and options for fixing them. He showed up on time, and evrything looks very nice.

We are very happy with our experience with Bob at Phalan Construction. He was very responsive, fit us into his schedule on a timely basis, and had good suggestions for our project. This was important to us as we live in a very old house where nothing is square or level and our job required more custom fitting than most. Bob was polite, did great work and was willing to work late to get the job done. My husband who typically dislikes contractors thought Bob was great. We'll definitely have him back when we have another big job and would recommend him to others.

The work went very well. Bob restored the vertical members at the corner of the house and buttoned it up nicely. His initial estimate of about a day and a half's work for this job would have run to about $1500, but he was able to nearly complete it in a single day, which allowed me to hire him for the additional work on the porch deck and fascia. He formed bevel joints in the fascia boards instead of just butting them up, which made for a better looking and tighter joint, and installed louver vents for the necessary ventilation. As we discussed the work, he gave me some helpful recommendations of things I could do myself (caulking etc.) to avoid future problems. He also included a written estimate for another job (replacing a basement window) that we had discussed as a possibility for spring '09. The extra step of sending me pictures of the work in progress helped to reassure me that he had assessed the problem correctly and was on track toward a correct repair. In addition, Bob was very pleasant to talk with and compare notes about home ownership and projects in general. I would not hesitate to use his services again.

Everything went very well. He was quite responsive, he did all the work himself, which I thought was very impressive. He took the time to do the job right and did not do anything that was unnecessary, but made sure we would not have to address this problem again. It took longer than expected, but the job was done very well. I was a little annoyed that he took two jobs from my neighbors and that delayed the completion of my job. Cost included labor and materials.

He has done a lot of work for me. I keep using him because he's very good at what he does. He is very neat, he always cleans up after himself. When he says he's going to be there, he's there. The other thing I like about him is if I have an idea, he will make suggestions that save me money. I will continue to use him in the future.

We have had at least 4 separate "carpenters" do some spot trim repairs with very little success. In several cases, Rob was forced to spend quite a bit of time dealing with their shoddy work. The most significant quality of note in his work was his attention to detail. He was extremely methodical and systematic in his approach to this job. He started on one side and worked around the house. One day pulling out each sill or piece of trim and labeling it. The next day he worked around the house again, cutting each piece, labeling it, and placing it below the spot on the house where it would ultimately be placed. The following day, he worked around the house again, repairing each piece with tremendous attention to detail. He clearly takes quite a bit of pride in his work and in his reputation. He had to leave early one day and made sure to let us know in advance. He was back early the next day and his itemized bill reflected the exact hours worked. He worked for almost 4 days and will be coming back to install some casement windows for us when they are delivered. He communicated well and treated our home, our dogs, and their humans with respect. He worked alone and, given his attention to detail, I wouldn't imagine finding a fellow contractor with similar perfectionist tendencies would be an easy task. We are very familiar with independent contractors and feel that the price was, without question, fair for the quality of work we received. We wouldn't hesitate to call Rob again should we need a craftsman or a handyman. We will recommend him to friends, neighbors, and you: Give him a call!

Anything I asked him to do, he was able to do around my home. He is very nice helpful, and goes the extra mile. He is very neat, clean, and does great work. I will definitely use him again.

Asked about the work in our phone call, reached his conclusions, and gave estimate of perhaps $1500, but would not come to look at the work required, even after two requests. He assured me that he can do this well, but without looking, I had no confidence he even knew what I wanted done.

Bob is a wonder. His bid was significantly lower than two others we received, and his work is efficient and high-quality. His manner is polite and very easy to do business with.