Vintage Home Repair

eWe needed to get our 1930s South Minneapolis Tudor ready to put on the market. Jeanne Eaton helped us get our last house ready to sell and did a lot of tile and installation work on this house seven years ago when we bought it, so we called her right away. We've known Jeanne for a long time and she's one of the few people I truly trust to be in my home when I'm away and to make sure the cats don't get outside, etc. She has meticulous attention to detail and is only happy when the job is done perfectly. Jeanne came by and gave us an estimate and was able to start work later that same week. She did a particularly amazing job with making and installing all the quarter round in the kitchen and back door hallway (we had removed the linoleum floor to sand and refinish the wood floor beneath, but now there was a gap and we needed wood thresholds to match and we couldn't do this part ourselves.) She made new quarter round where needed and new thresholds, all to match the original cabinets and complement the floor. We added in building a shelf "bar" in the kitchen when I could not find a precut shelf to match and Jeanne made one and mounted it. And as great as she is at woodworking, her specialty is tile. She regrouted the large walk-in master bath shower to look like new. Jeanne even worked on the weekend to help us get the house on the market on time. We sold our house at our asking price in five days, thanks in part to Jeanne's excellent work.

I am remodeling my 1920's kitchen and adding powder and mudrooms. Working with Jeanne is a top 10 worse experience in my life. #1. A subcontractor constructed the frame in 2 weeks the 1st part of Jan, 2010. After Jeanne disappeared for a month with no communication. *She had another job to do. #2. Jeanne decided to put the flat roof of the addition on herself. She took a CLASS to learn how. I hired a professional not someone to fund their education. At the end, I lived with plastic tarp roof for 4 months and she never did install the roof - she doesn't know how (she was sanding my hardwood kitchen floors and before the roof). #3. General Project Management - I asked for weekly status reports through email. Jeanne?s Project Management skills are amateur, at best. She doesn?t know how to use email effectively and couldn't do it. It was apparent she didn't want to. #4. My cat, near death experience. I have an indoor cat (never outside) when she started. Luckily, I still have a cat now. All the subs knew I had a cat and apparently he got out frequently because her negligence on keeping the addition doors/windows wide open and the doors to the work area closed. A majority of homeowners have animals and special care needs to be taken. The last straw: She actually locked the cat outside after the work day, I came home late from a business trip and the cat was being attacked by a dog. My cat was trying to jump into the window or door, which must have been open at one time. Only by luck did I save my cat from being lost and death. #5. She quit On Friday April 9th, she took the permit, lockbox, tools, returned my key. She didn?t leave a notice (VM/email/letter etc.). She walked off the property. Only after three days and my calls to the subs did she email me about coming back to work. #6. Problems with the building itself a. Door installed incorrectly. b. Cabinet measurements incorrect causing rework c. General Addition problems a. Missing Joint hangers in the roof b. Missing Drywall backer board. I could go on, but I hope I got my point across. She is unprofessional, sloppy, slow and not someone who should be hired!