ACE Handyman Services of Greater Boston

The owner came after calling for an estimate and was very neat, courteous and professional. He handed me a brochure, we went over all the work. he took measurements and we left it that he would e-mail me his estimate.....I provided my e-mail for this purpose. Two weeks went by and no call or e-mail. Called and spoke to a woman who answers the phone at his office. She said that she would reach out to him and have him get back...one week later, no call or e-mail, called and spoke to same woman again this time simply asking her to have him get back that he is going to either send an estimate and/or does not want to do the work and/or provide an estimate for the work. She expressed surprise that he hadn't got back and stated to me "you want to know one way or the other right" I said exactly.....three weeks later, no call, no e-mail, no call from his office...Nothing. Was very disappointed in this lack or response, holding us up and wasting our time. A follow up phone call with a clarification would have made all the difference. Hence, the low ratings.

After ice dam damage to my home the past Winter, another company performed demolition to remove the drywall and insulation which became wet and damaged. I hired Handyman Matters to install new drywall, insulation and paint the walls and ceilings. I received an estimate of close to $4000, but this was not final, only a rough estimate of the true cost. So be careful, you pay for the actual time it takes to perform the work, regardless of the estimate. They only sent one person to do a two man job. Unfortunately, the time estimate to do the work went way past what the original estimate was. Finally, the painting was not finished and their technician left a pile of drywall for me to throw away, very unprofessional. I received a bill for $4600 which listed all the original work, including the work that was NOT DONE, despite the fact that the original estimate was for $4000. Finally, I worked with Bob to a final price of $4000, but will have to hire someone else to finish the painting. The technician was very good at installing drywall and insulation, but was not a painter.

really well. He was so fast we got through my list in half a day and I had to add more items to fill the prepaid day I had purchased.

He worked so hard and came out the same day and asked me questions and realized that I hired the wrong plumbing company. He was great. I needed to hire a carpet company and I could not find one and he bought the tool needed to lay the carpet and he came back to lay it. He went above and beyond what he needed to do. I worked with Bob.

We purchased a big deal (2 hours of labor for $109) to put in an external door that we had purchased. We were told that it would take 4 hours so they would charge us the extra two hours @ $90/hr. we thought that was fair. Randy, the handyman, showed up right on time. He was very professional and explained to us what he would do. However, upon looking at the door we had purchased, he showed us that the door was a couple of inches too tall. That was really bad news since I had measured everything carefully and gave the dimensions to the store and they gave us the wrong door! We called the store and they told us that they didn't have another in stock. Randy was sitting around on the clock waiting for us to resolve the issue. Finally, he said that he could try to open up the frame so the door would fit, but it would cost us material & another 4 hours of work. We said OK, so now this job is getting to be a lot more expensive than we had planned. But Randy worked pretty efficiently and got the job done in 7 hours and 45 mins. I went and bought some materials that he asked for, but he also went out and bought additional materials. We are very pleased with his professionalism and the quality of his work. The door looked great, and still looks great and works great 2 months later. Overall, we are very pleased with the quality of the work, but we thought that we cost may be a little on the high side compared to other handymen we had in the past. We would use them again.

Extremely unhappy with the level of customer service. It took two visits to have my storm door close properly. More importantly I just called them last week to come back and check why my door no longer closes properly, not even close to a good seal. I was told at first no problem, we will be out next week to take a look, great! That's customer service, BUT I called them back after a no-show for the appointment and was told that the owner said the door is now out of warranty (4months) and they wanted to charge me FULL price to come back; $150 JUST to look at the door....are you kidding? AND they are in the same town as me! They should simply have done a courtesy call for a former client and simply checked to see what the problem was, and then if there is a cost to fix , fine. Lousy lousy lousy customer service, STAY AWAY from this place. UPDATE: 3/19/15 I was contacted by the owner this week and he did agree to send a craftsman free of charge as a courtesy to see why the door was no longer closing properly. As of this writing, we have agreed on a possible solution with the price subject to negotiation. I applaud his actions after hearing of a customer's dissatisfaction. UPDATE; 3/20/15 Well the company did send someone and we may have found a solution, but in the end the owner wanted to charge me the same if not MORE to "fix" the door they just installed about a 16 months ago. Regardless of the reasons for it not working properly now, the company shows a distinct lack of business sense and clearly is not concerned with client retention. I am done.

They were supposed to call me the night before to run down what I needed done, so he would have the appropriate tools. He did not have the tools needed when he arrived. I had to run to the store to get a paint brush. He gave me attitude, and just did not seem interested him the work.

The only great part of the service is that he handyman came on time; everything went down hill from there. I paid for 4 hers of service, and had a number of small tasks for him to perform. 1) Recaulk the shower: He did a mediocre job at best with multiple missed areas and whole in the work. I asked the handyman to be mindful of my newly refinished floors, and by the end of the 4 hers there were white foot prints throughout my apartment. 2) Change washer hose: He attempted to change the washer hose, and spent 30-45 minutes attempting to change it. In the end he came to the assessment was that the new washer hoses were defective. 3) Hang closet rod: Initially hung it too close to the wall, so he had to re-hang it and did not do a great job of patching the holes he created. 4) Seal insulation: Satisfactory, although he left without remanding he vent cover.....! Lastly, he charged a 35% mark-up for the supplies he picked up at home depot, which I was not told about before in. When I asked when scheduling the service, whether I should pick up the supplies or whether the handyman should, I was told that if the handyman picked up supplies it would come out of my 4 hrs of service time. If I had known about the markup I would have just picked up all the supplies myself. This mark-up would make sense if he came with the supplies at the start of the job, but seems to be a double charge as I was paying by the hour for the run to home depot. Overall poor service. Would never use again

They came in and looked at what I wanted done and then said they could not do anything. They left right away. They seemed like they wanted to get out quickly. I was not happy with the experience and would not do it again.

I purchased a 2-houur "Big Deal" for $99 from Angie's list and expected to pay the full rate if his work exceeded 2 hours, which did actually take 2 extra hours. He did arrive 15 min late, but that wasn't taken off the 2 time purchased. He was very polite and accommodating as I discussed the projects to complete, but I noticed right away that he moved VERY slow, and this was the pace throughout the morning. It is fair to say that I have used the services of Handyman Matters twice in the past and had exceptional, fast and capable people doing the work, so this was a big surprise to me and disappointing compared to past experience. The bathroom grab bars were installed where I wanted them, but he did chip a tile near a corner tile and asked me if it was ok to fill it with grout which I agreed to because it is an old bathroom which needs to be remodeled sometime in the future anyway. I do think, however, that he could have been a little more careful in installing the grab bar not so close to the edge of the tile. I knew that he was aware of the work I was planning for him to do (like installing fire and smoke alarms on ceilings) so was quite surprised when he asked me if I had a ladder. It was lucky that I DID have a ladder which he used, but I would have thought that would have been one of the tools on his truck or one he would have brought since he knew what he would be doing. Smoke detectors, however, were all installed correctly and quickly I should add. I totally understood that the weather stripping on the 3 outside doors would be difficult and maybe even impossible to accomplish because I have a 130 year old house and the trim around the doors weren't of standard size. I could tell that he was trying his best to do a good job and the weather stripping was installed. The problem was that the stripping made the doors too tight making it impossible for me to open the doors. I suggested that he trim the stripping around the door knob and lock on the front which he did reluctantly, but it was the only way I could get the door open. He was about to leave after his 4 hours of work, when I thought I should try the other two doors which he worked on before he left. I soon found that I was also unable to lock and unlock my back and side door, but was very happy I discovered this before he left or I would have had to call him back to fix this. Perhaps he should have made sure I could do this especially with the problem we had with the front door. He stayed two more hours to fix the problem with the back and side door but since they were not installed correctly (so I could open the door), I asked that he not charge me for the extra 2 hours because he considered the job done and was leaving when I noticed the problem. He kindly agreed and spent the time adjusting the weather stripping so it did not obstruct the door opening and closing. All in all, I was not satisfied in this work, but need to mention again that I had two previous good experiences with Handyman Matters.

We love Handyman Matters, we've used them for many projects in the past and will reuse them in the future. They showed up on time, and installed the door for less than a major box store had quoted us.

I purchased the big deal from Handyman Matters and it was our 3rd time using them. The other two times Craig came by, this time it was Mitchell. He came the day after I called and just as Craig had been, Mitchell was punctual and professional and completed everything on my list in the 2 hours I had purchased. I would definitely recommend them and will continue to use them in the future.

They've been excellent. He came here. I had a to-do list. He did it efficiently. I couldn't believe how fast he did all the stuff. The price was fantastic. It was the best two or three hundred dollars I ever spent.

They were quick. And they did a nice job. They installed everything I needed installed.

Once the work corrected and the owner came out and sorted it all out for us, we are very happy and will continue to use Handyman Matters!!! Thank you !!

It went well, the final renovation looks great and is exactly what I wanted. Brian got to work quickly, and cut down the wall. He plastered the spots on the remaining cross wall that are now exposed. Only two concerns, which are OK -- parking was a hassle, I didn't realize I needed a visitor parking permit but it makes sense. Also, they don't handle trash removal-- it was mostly drywall planks, so I put them out on the curb for trash pickup and it was all good.

First of all Handyman Matters was responsive and quickly got back to me to schedule a time.My criticisms are of the individual workman and not necessarily Handyman Matters. The workman( I think his name was Brian) cancelled the first appointment less than 30 minutes before he was due to show up. It was difficult to schedule another time with him, and finally happened about 2 weeks later. "Grumpy husband" is the best description I can give of this guy. He seemed put upon to do anything. My understanding is that you call a handyman service so you don't have to coax someone into doing the work.(!) I had called because they had a promotion on Angie's list , and I had 5-6 small things that needed attention.I hired them for 2 hours. I let the guy go after an hour, and after he said he couldn't ( or did not want to) do several things on the list. It was easier than dealing with this guy's attitude. I am not opposed to calling Handyman Matters again as the owner seemed responsive and concerned about quality, but would find out the name of the guy who worked at my place and be sure he didn't come again.

The contractor was very professional and had amazing attention to detail. The molding that needed to be installed had some funky cut outs and he took great measure to ensure that the installation was perfect. He gave me some options as we went throughout he process. He even came with me to Home Depot to help me pick out the right size and best option for the moulding. This is not the first, or last time I would use this provider. Bob is a very responsive and honest business man. For this job, knowing my sense of urgency, he squeezed me in to get the job done ahead of a milestone for me. In a previous job, something had not gone quite right. A garbage disposal was installed by a different technician but he forgot to remove a plug or something that allowed my dishwasher to drain. I did not know that until my dishwasher repair man told me the cause of the draining issue. When I contacted Bob about the issue, he cut me a check for the cost of the dishwasher repair - no questions asked. Mistakes happen...I get that. And, am very happy with how Bob resolved the issue, which is why I will continue to use his service as needed in the future.

Took awhile to schedule after estimate--this should have been a warning. A one week--two at most-- project dragged on into months. Numerous problems with truck prevented Tom from showing up. But this doesn't excuse the week long absences. There were plenty of inexplicable no shows, when i couldn't get anyone on the phone or to respond. Every so often Bob would email and thank me for my patience, and it was fine--at first. I wasn't in a hurry. By i was told the owner was overwhelmed by a Groupon or offer and didn't have enough workers to take care of the flood of work. Everything took place in glacial time. Finally, worn down by the stress and slowness, I quit. Basement still unfinished. Low Points So demoralizing to pay almost $800 to install a sink that cost $84 at home depot. This was poorly done and looks it. While working on the wiring, Tom to cut the phone lines-took him over a week to fix it (and one still doesn't work High Point: The paint job is good-but not worth the travail. Tom did a great job of turning pipe cover into handsome bookcase--but again, not worth . . .

They emailed me and let me know that they do not service my area but they found someone else that could do the work. I was upset that I could never speak with Bob of Handyman Matters and feel that this was unprofessional.

The technician who did the work was quite good and, though the installation of the balcony door was problematic, i might hire him again if he was an independent contractor. My problems and frustrations were with the scheduling. This project was plagued with rescheduling and no-shows from beginning to end - to the point where it proved stressful to my wife and I. The job got delayed so much that some of the agreed-upon work went undone. The final bill was considerably higher than the estimated cost - though, after much back and forth with Mr. Sampson, we settled on a compromise price. With regard to providing a professional service, my experience with Handyman Matters suggests that they are in over their heads.

Randy Archibald from the company initially came to look at a leak near a window and identified that the issue was bigger than just a rotten frame as I though it was. He showed me the problem and estimated what it is going to take to fix the issue. He was very professional. He kept me updated frequently. He was organized and polite. The price is not cheap, but, definitely the quality is there. I will use this company again. I will definitely ask for Randy.

Bob Samson came out to do an estimate for window replacements for us on September 16th but, to date (11/2), has neither sent us an estimate nor attempted to phone/email us to tell us he is not interested in doing the job. Bob scheduled a handyman to come out in the summer of 2013 to replace five windows- done excellently by Mark- but this occurred only after having two scheduled appointments cancelled at the last minute due to "staff emergencies." I should have realized that Bob must have real issues in accurately planning out his company scheduling since numerous other clients, who have written reviews on Angie's List, were given this same line. I will never ask this company to do an estimate or work for me again! Too bad Mark isn't an independent handyman- I'd contact him in a minute!

I had an Angie's list big deal. Unfortunately, the work seemed jinxed with initial cancellation by designated person which was then reassigned which is fine as things can happen. However, the assigned person got very delayed and said that he had mistakenly gone to a different place because of incorrect assignment. Then he left in an hour after cleaning up the caulking around the front steps and set them in place to be cemented. He promised to return but never came back that day. I was very concerned as now it was very dangerous since the stones were in place and someone could have easily fallen not realizing that the stones were not cemented and were actually loose. I informed Bob about this and Bob was incredibly responsive then and had the person come back to cement the following day. We had gone on a brief vacation when the assigned person was sent back by Bob to do the work. To our dismay on our return we found that though the steps were fixed, major parts of the very expensive stone on the front entry door steps were covered in cement. I contacted Bob to inform him about this. He said that if it does not come out with brush and water it should with muriatic acid. It would have been very nice if they had taken care of this even if they had charged for labor. I have now been told by several people that this should never have happened and the stones should have been cleaned right away. The front entrance of the house is now very unattractive since these are front entry steps.

Job went well. Handyman was on time, efficient and explained what he was doing and why. He was able to come up with some creative solutions on the fly to some issues that arose. There seemed to be some sort of miscommunication of what the job was that he was going to be performing, but he quickly resolved the situation with a phone call. I would recommend this service. They called back quickly, worked around the weather, were on time, cleaned up after the job, explained the costs. I don't remember the exact date of service. It was in the May timeframe. The work was done over 2 days - one day needed to be rescheduled due to rain..since you can't stain a deck in the rain ;0)