CADY HANDYMAN SERVICES

He arrived promptly and the job took less than an hour to complete. Again a very pleasent experience. I have used Cady Handyman for more than 10 years. I have found both the old and the new owners to be responsive and anxious to assist with any help that I need. Thanks again Tom!

Jim came out to provide an estimate on some framing and other services I needed done around the house. He was on time, professional, and understanding to what I needed done. Due to the one off nature of my requests it was understandably hard for him to put together a full bid for me but was still able to work with me to come up with a plan. Unfortunately we didn't end up working together, but felt it necessary to write a positive review

Just ok. The worker is named Mr Nightengale. He was irresponsible in responding to my calls. Never showed up when he was scheduled to. The owner would contact him and still no response, JUST showed up on the 3rd of Oct, not sure what he was to do. In my view, this employee is not good for the business.

The painting and trim repair went smoothly. The owner contacted me the day before they wanted to start, when the weather was looking up, and we met the next morning. This was about a week after I gave the go ahead on the proposal. The painters were out for three days, with thee the first day, two the second, and one the third to finish up. I received an email update from the owner the second day to update me on progress and made it home early on the second and third days to check in. All went smoothly from my perspective. There was a bit of trade off on prep work for the front entrance area (going to remove next year so skimp on prep) and trim repair which worked out well and kept the project at cost. I spoke with the painter on site who'd managed the team at some length about the work and future options on the last day when work was wrapped up. Note on price: I didn't have a chance to get additional bids before I wanted to go ahead so I don't have a basis for comparison, but the price seemed fair for the work and friends with similar experience concurred.

We described what our concerns were and since we had previously had Tom and Andy as handymen we felt confident that they would do what needed to be done to give our deck and porch a fresh look. We have no complaints with the guys nor the work they did. We'd recommend these guys along with Cady Handyman Services to family and friends.

They arrived on time every day and were very friendly and open to hearing my questions and suggestions. They kept me informed of their daily plans and timetable and were diligent about getting alot done each day. They kept everything in a neat pile and made sure to clean up at the end of each day. I added a few extra things to the job and they were very accommodating. We are very pleased with the finished project - it looks great.

From the time I called Cady Handyman Services I was met with a welcome and the owner was quite pleasant as he took an account of the things I needed care with. I was given an agreeable date and name of the Handyman who would provide the service. Tom, the Handyman, called ahead of time to inform me when he and another man would arrive. They arrived on time and quickly went to work after checking the list and informing us as to what the jobs would entail. They were friendly, professional and knowledgeable plus they were extremely neat and very careful as they moved through our home. They cleaned up after themselves. Before leaving they, with us, rechecked each job to make sure the work was complete and acceptable.\ We feel we got fine service and a reasonable price. We definitely will call Cady Handyman in the future and will request Tom or Andy' services.

Follow up to report dated 9/25/2011. Given past experience, we should have been prepared for the new owner's response when we submitted the previous report. We underestimated him. In the course of 1 day, we received three separate bizarre and hostile emails from the new owner. Here they are, repeated verbatim: "I hope you get your anger out some day soon. extreme caution is pretty funny;" "a hobby might help you out;" and our favorite (in which he put a "y" at the end of one of our names to make it sound childish) "your decision to trash our company was a bad one and it was unwarranted. i cannot help but wonder what makes someone like you act the way you do... have fun hiding behind the screen. it makes me wonder how you function in the real world..." Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised. If you look at his response to other negative reports, there is a consistent theme -- it is never the company's fault, and it is always the customer's fault. This from a self professed expert in the art of customer service! What makes these hostile emails even more bizarre is that the company had someone show up today to inspect the shower. Remember that when we asked for someone to come inspect the shower, the new owner accused us of trying to manufacture a problem. His worker found that there was something blocking the ability of the water flow adjustment mechanism to rotate behind the tile. They fixed it, but suggested this mechanical issue " might" have been there before they did their work. Impossible - the hot water worked properly before they did their work and not after. And did they really not bother to test the shower after their original work to see if it was working properly? Once again, it is never their fault, and they always try to blame someone else. Update to Provider Response: The response includes a number of inaccurate and irresponsible statements. With respect to the master bathroom, the original work on the shower was done by a relative. We asked the company to secure the shower fixtures to wall studs so they fit flush with the tile. We did not (and would not) have said that we would never hire our relative again due to the quality of his work. The new owner is simply not being truthful. The new owner states without any factual support or explanation that "the hot water problem in the master bedroom [sic] was in no way related to work we completed." But he does not dispute that the hot water worked before they worked on the shower fixture and did not work after, nor does he suggest they tested it after finishing their work -- draw your own conclusion. The new owner suggests that they subsequently fixed the shower even though the warranty period had expired. What warranty? The fixtures were already there and working when they did there work so the factory warranty on the hardware was never at issue. We were never provided with a "warranty" on the workmanship of the services they provided and the company's website does not reference a warranty. Is he making this up too? The shower head at issue is a second shower head in the shower stall which had not been used before we discovered the problem. With respect to the screen door, the new owner describes our complaint as "15 year old screen door did not slide in the opening to his satisfaction." Actually, the screen door would not slide more than a couple of inches and could not be closed - they repaired the hole in screen and then left the door on the tracks without comment hoping we would not notice it didn't work. And why would the new owner agree to correct this problem as part of a fixed price job if it couldn't be done? Why would he later deny that this was part of the project? Compare his 4/25/11 email: "I have carefully reviewed the list of items on the original work proposal and we are completing the remaining three items . . . screen replacement," with his 5/17/11 email: "We did not include any of the screen door work in our final base proposal to you." The new owner states: "it was our assumption that the customer was being reasonable when he was releasing us from any further repairs on the screen door." The communication he is referring to actually says, "[w]e are willing to waive completion of the screen door project in order to be done with you." The new owner states: "Our goal is 100% customer satisfaction." A good goal, but they must be sadly lacking in the ability to execute since 48% of the Angie's List reports in the last year grade this company at a D or F. There are a number of other inaccurate statements and implied statements in the Provider Response, including the notion that the company was awarded an additional $20,000 in work because they were so good (everything was discussed up front, but the original proposal left the price on some big items tbd) and the suggestion that our selection of appliances was the cause for delay (we spent the last month trying to get this company to do the things they had agreed to do - nothing to do with our selections). If your project is simple and nothing goes wrong, you may well have a pleasant experience with this company. If your project requires the subcontractor coordinating skills of the new owner or if not all goes according to plan, you may well meet the "other Jim." Honesty and integrity matter. In the end, if you are thinking about hiring this company, we suggest that you ask the new owner what happened to his prior contracting company -- the one with a name that included his name and was built on his personal reputation and ability to deliver on customer service. For some reason, that company no longer seems to be in business.

Buyer Beware! We have hired roofers, house painters, carpet cleaners and landscapers based on Angie's List reports and had excellent experiences with all of them. Not so with Cady Handymen. We will not hire this company again and recommend that others considering them proceed with extreme caution. The company has been operated by a new owner for approximately a year. If you look at the reports submitted for this company within the past year, 41% of the "handymen" category and 40% of the "all categories" reports for this company are D or F (once this report is submitted, 44% of the reports in the past year will be D or F). In contrast, if you look back over the last three years, only 18% of the reports are D or F (and this percentage still includes those many bad reports from the past year with the new owner). Obviously, the company has taken a significant turn for the worse in customer service. When I pointed out these numbers to the new owner, he complained about customers who "hide behind their keyboards." The numbers speak for themselves. Nearly half the reports from people who have dealt with the new owner have given him a D or F overall grade. The "recent reports" grade posted by Angie's List is misleading in this situation because it looks at reports from the last three years, while the current owner has only been there about a year. Ours was a relatively large project (about $30,000), and most of the work was done well. The primary handyman (Dave) did good work and was very easy to work with. The subcontractors likewise did good work and we are pleased with the results. Our complaints are mainly focused on the owner, his coordinating work as general contractor, his lack of professionalism, and his bizarre personality. 1) The work started in early February and went on forever -- workers would show up one day, work for a few hours and complete a few things, and then we wouldn't see or hear from anyone for several days. The entire project took well over three months to complete because the new owner did a poor job of scheduling and coordinating his workers and the subcontractors. By the time we got close to the end, the owner was repeatedly pushing us for final payment even though we were still pointing out many things that had not been completed. We ended up paying several of the subcontractors directly to avoid any issues with liens. When we pushed back on final payment because there were uncompleted work still to be done, the new owner confessed that he was having cash flow issues with his business. 2) One of the handyman repairs we asked to have done was the repair of a screen door that had a hole in it and was constantly coming off track. We pointed out both issues in our initial meeting. Toward the end of the project, we came home to find that the hole in the screen door had been repaired, but that it would not slide in its track (was he hoping we wouldn't notice since it was still too cold to use a screen door?). When we pressed the owner on this detail, he couldn't keep his story straight. First, he claimed that fixing the screen door was not part of the original proposal. Simply not true-we had an earlier email from him confirming that fixing the screen door was part of the original work proposal: "I have carefully reviewed the list of items on the original work proposal and we are completing the remaining three items : a. slides on the firewood drawer. b. outlet for garage. c. scribe (wood adjacent the dishwasher). d. screen replacement." (4/25/11 email from J. Carpenter) Then he claimed that he decided to repair the hole in the screen because he remembered us mentioning it, but took the position that if we wanted it installed in working order, this would require additional work and payment because the door frame was warped. So apparently in his mind, we hired him to fix the door, but not have it installed or usable evan though we told him at our first meeting that it kept coming off track. Then he told us that he was going the extra mile by not charging us for fixing the hole in the screen door, but he ignored the fact that (at his suggestion) this part of the contract was for an agreed upon fixed cost. The new owner is willing to accept the upside of fixed cost agreements when things go well, but not absorb any additional cost when things don't go according to plan or cost more than he anticipated. In the end, we just wanted to be done with the guy and since he was telling us about the cash flow problems with his business, we thought we were not likely to get the job done right. In the larger scheme of a $30,000 project, an unusable screen door shouldn't be that big an issue. But the weaseling behavior on the part of the new owner and his refusal to step up and complete the job and make good on what he agreed to do really left a bad impression. 3) We recently tried for the first time one of the shower heads they had worked on and discovered that there was no hot water flow. Since it had hot water flow before their work but not after, our first thought was that something happened as a result of their work. Our first email to the new owner was ignored. We received a response from him to our follow up email stating that they were very busy but would be in touch. When we wrote back stating that we expected to hear from someone within a week, this generated a bizarre stream of condescending emails from the new owner criticizing our and other customers' "negativity," accusing us of trying to "manufacture" a problem, and offering us personal "advice" on how to view their customer service. At this point, we still don't even know if the hot water issue is related to their work or not (they finally agreed to send someone next week to take a look), but what should have been a simple request, response, and information exchange (i.e., customer service) has confirmed that this is not a company we would recommend or use again.

They seemed unreasonably high in price. And during the estimate they quoted $500 for labor, $500 electrical, and $500 for plumbing. I found it hard to believe that all aspects of the job would cost the same.

Sent an email requesting a quote for gutter cleaning. Left email address, home phone, work phone - no response.

A couple weeks ago we noticed the railing was falling down, secured in with three screws but no plastic anchors. We called Cady Handyman, after several messages, one emai we finally got a return visit for that same contractor. He added the anchors and fixed the railing, when I approached him about other work around the house he informed me that this visit was the payment for the railing, he said we damaged the rails, that the first time he came he screwed the rail into a stud. If that was so it would have not come down, this is easy to prove, no stud where he hung the rail. I was so upset I asked him to leave my house and return my horse collar. I will never us Cady Handyman again.

Cady completed the first part of the work (adjusting the dishwasher) but they never came back to fix the windows. They called me to be reminded why they were supposed to return and promised follow up with me. They never called back. I left two messages and they never returned the call. I thing Cady over promises and under delivers. Extremely unprofessional to not complete a job or even call back. Don't recommend them if you are looking for a reliable service. ========================================================================== Update: I take great offense with Cady's comments especially since the reply was written without full investigation and are completely inaccurate. I NEVER had any expectation that Cady would "drop everything and come out the minute I was available" mainly because Cady called me back once to let me know that they found a note with my name and information on it (for follow up) in between the seats of their truck (yes...this is what the gentleman told me when he first called me back a month later). After patiently providing him with exactly what I was looking for in terms of work, I was told I would get another call, which never happened. I did, however, receive a text message (after posting the message above) apologizing for not following up and asking if they could come finish the job regarding the door. So, it is quite impossible to expect Cady to cater to my timetable when I never got a call back to complete the work in the first place. Get your facts straight and, instead of immediately becoming defensive, do a better job managing your company by taking heed to these comments!

Called Cady to get an estimate on assessment and replacement of window trim and repair of exterior faucet. We are selling our house and were on a little bit of a short timeline as it was required to address a concern identified in the buyer's inspection. Had hoped to get two estimates on the trim job as it was going to be the more expensive item and would dictate how we responded to the buyers' repair request. Jim put me on the calendar for 5:00pm; I would still need to duck out of work a little early, but I appreciated that they could schedule it this late in the day. Unfortunately, their representative did not show up. After 45 minutes had passed from our scheduled time, I called to see if he got stuck at another job and whether he was still on his way or not...no one answered so I left a message. Didn't hear back from Jim until about 3:30pm the next day. He said he was sorry with no explanation as to what happened. He offered to come out and provide estimate without charging me the price of a service call. A nice offer, but being that we're busy trying to coordinate a move and sale I didn't want to take the chance of another no-show. We elected to find another service professional. Had to go with one estimate on the window trim job which wasn't ideal. Jim seemed nice over the phone and said he could quote it with an hourly rate or by the job, which would have been helpful. Unfortunately, things didn't work out for us.

The caulking around the bathtub looked fabulous, but the workman did not clean up after himself. He must have stepped or knelt in some caulk - there were thin patches of caulk all over the tile floor. I sent the workman an email and after not receiving a response, I called his boss. The boss was eager to send the guy back to clean up, but I was not keen on the idea and said I'd rather do it myself - took 1/2 hour of smelly scrubbing. Also, when his boss talked to him, the workman called and left a message on my cell phone telling me that he heard there was a problem and I should call him back and explain. Given that I had already sent an email explaining, I found this unprofessional. The hole patch on the eaves looks rough to me, but it is 2 stories up, so it is hard to tell. It could be that that was the best that could be done or that it was already rough. I feel I overpaid for the quality of work.

Very bad, the vendor elected not to show up for the appointment or call us.

I felt that Jim Carpenter, the owner of the company understood my project and gave me a fair bid. Randy, the carpenter who did the work, was outstanding. He is an excellent craftsman. Another guy (I believe his name was Andy) worked really hard digging up some soil around one of the exterior walls of the shed to enable Randy to make a necessary siding repair. Jim Carpenter, the owner of the company, was very professional. I would consider using this company again.

Sadly, I cannot attest to the quality of work done by Cady Handyman Services, because after six days, three calls to their business and a missed return call from a Cady representative, I was unable to schedule an appointment for some light plumbing repairs in my home. Last Thursday, after a review of potential candidates on Angie's List, I made my initial call to Cady Handyman Services. The representative was very pleasant, and thanked me for my business. He explained that they were quite busy and asked if a representative could contact me the following Monday to schedule the work. I agreed, but the Monday call never came. I called back the next morning on Tuesday and spoke with the same gentleman. He apologized and assured me that their plumbing person would call me back later that same day. At 5:06 p.m. I received a voice mail message from the plumber apologizing for not calling earlier, explaining again that they were very busy and inviting me to call him back if I wished to schedule any work. Today I made one final attempt to reach Cady Handyman Services plumbing rep, but my call went to voice mail. So, I left a message indicating that there was no reason to call me back, that I'd be taking my business elsewhere.

Replacing the staircase light fixture was a difficult job requiring the use of a ladder, a step ladder and an aluminum plank to create a level workspace in order to access the light. The new pendant was lowered by 6 inches, compared to the old one, to allow easy exchange of light bulbs. The electrician was creative in solving some installation problems. He also saved me some money by advising me that some other electrical work I was considering might not be necessary.

Did a great and efficient job. Returned phone call same mourning!!

Randy arrived about 20 minutes later than expected, but went right to work. He fixed the linking under the eaves in a timely manner, and the result was excellent. I could not even tell where it had been repaired, it blended in so well. When finished, he invited me to inspect the work before I paid.

Another good Cady Handyman experience. What I thought would be an easy DIY sink trap part replacement turned out to be more involved and problematic than my expertise could handle. And, typical for our house, the original plumbing lacked shut-off valves for the water sources. Cady was able to send out Tom N. within four hours and he got a tough job done... leaks sealed and valves installed... while working in a tight under-cabinet space.

He said it was very easy. The service call was $85. He came out right away.

They were awesome. They did a great job.

I came to know about Cady Handyman Services through Angie's List. We called Cady Handyman Services and they came within a day or two. It wasn't a super emergency as we had been able to keep the door shut, but it was of a major concern to us. The door protector piece underneath the door frame had come down and it was stuck to the floor. It was quite a big process to get the door shut. Once we got the door shut, we were scared to reopen the door as we might not be able to get it shut once again. My husband had to really struggle a lot to get that door shut. The handyman was calm. He was very good and very experienced. He went out of his way to help us out with the ceiling in another area in the door frame. It was just a small thing, but he was inexpensive and he really did help insulate better and that was beyond what we called him for. We would definitely use his service in the future too for any other home repair issues. They were very respectful, very kindly, and experienced. I have a 3-year-old son and he was very friendly to my son. One of the reasons that I wanted to refer was that my son still remembered him. My son has a very good memory of the guy who came and fixed our door.