A-1 Mr Handyman

My wife said it best, "He was good at one thing...taking our money every week." I'll start with the fact that we were left with no way to bathe in either of our two bathrooms by the time A-1 Mr. Handyscam was finished. They destroyed their own tiling job in our master bath along with destroying the shower/tub combo and leaving us with a non-diverting tub spout, faucets that have to be turned on/off with a screwdriver and a bunch of half-removed black caulk that they thought would look nice with their botched tile work. The upstairs bathroom on the other hand, also a complete re-do left us with a shower that turned on, but drained out of a broken pipe through our kitchen ceiling onto the floor. General attention to detail and finishing capabilities just don't exist with these guys. Their idea of fixing the drain pipe that was not done to code (no trap) and damage they caused by over tightening the drain cap with washers in the wrong place? Spray some leak repair all over the pipes. That didn't work either. Finally paid another plumber over $500 to fix that, get it to code, and get the upstairs sink plumbed and running. Unfortunately we didn't want to pay extra to have the crappy tile job fixed. Nothing like seeing the bar code from tiles facing out on the wall and seeing clearly where nothing lines up to help anger me every morning I walk in. But that's only because I can't use my own bathroom that they destroyed and never repaired. Next is their inability to accurately estimate timing and costs on jobs. We gave an itemized list of changes to be quoted. That list definitely grew over time, but everything we were quoted on was about 3x more expensive and took 3x longer than originally quoted. That might be OK, except every piece of work we had done was either unfinished, poorly executed or both. There was some quality work done in some areas, but the quality disappears when the job isn't finished. The only quality work I can log was done by Tom himself, and unfortunately that work went unfinished. Today I was up a ladder tacking flashing back onto the upstairs window that was installed. They decided to remove more siding than needed to rough in the window and left it all exposed and never finished with the Tyvek that should've gone up until we could re-side. Some details on different jobs performed... Door installations: interior slab doors were not properly painted (and painted while on hinges). Maybe old rollers were used, because there are bits of roller painted onto the doors which are rough to touch, like the paint was watered down to save money - even though we bought the paint! Painted on hinges so hinges are covered and paint drips on floor where each door was painted. Front door: could've been a decent job, except off plumb and never finished staining the outside frame that was built. Back door: roughed out and left unfinished exposed plaster walls, got the door nice and stained up with dirty hands while installing, and lost the alarm sensor on the original door (thrown away) Painting: some decent work, but all done before major construction so now loads of damage to the paint and wear and tear from other work done after. Painted several hinges shut, and even a light switch. Careless. Master Bathroom: already talked about both bathroom botches. Glad to be writing this review with the ability to shower without going to our daughter's home or a hotel. Here's more details. $10/sq ft marble tiles destroyed after they turned on the tile heating pad they installed instead of letting it cure for 30 days like the installation manual instructed. Over-tightened light fixture at switch so it shorted out a couple weeks later. Put black caulk in for seams (artistic choice?) and then 1/2 stripped out when we asked for white, never finishing, and leaving the shower unsealed/not waterproof. Incorrectly plumbed the tub/shower (shower permanently on, faucets don't turn on without uncapping and using a screwdriver. Never worked but they called it finished. Now we have to demo the wall, replumb and retile from the ground up. Two new plumbers have said "I've never seen anything quite like this!" and they weren't paying a compliment. Upstairs Bathroom: Drain gaskets installed incorrectly and overtightened so leaking and had to replace broken gasket set. No trap plumbed in the drain pipe. Sink pipes were clogged from tiling buys washing grout down bathroom sink; had to be cleaned and re-installed. New sink was hung but never plumbed and connected to pipes. Tiled over outlets and cut tile wrong so can't install plates over GFI and lightswitch without re-cutting and finding an oversize plate. Some tiles on wall face outward so you see the purchase barcode. Left ceiling over shower unfinished. Wood floors: They were supposed to sand and refinish the floors. They didn't sand between coats of poly so now there's bubbling on the floors all over downstairs and they'll have to be redone again. In addition they didn't plug any holes in the floor, so I've got poly all over boxes and other items we were storing in the basement. They did manage to sand right into the co-ax cable coming out of the floor though. Bonus points for not paying attention. Upstairs kid bedroom: painted accent wall with chalkboard paint but managed to get it on the ceiling and opposing walls but never cleaned up. Installed beautiful casement window but tore out more siding than needed and left outside unfinished with galvanized flashing and original plywood exposed. Never came back to finish. Electrical work: replaced some outlets (OK), but replaced a GFI in the kitchen and drove a nail into it... caused shorting problems with back of house until an electrician came out to fix it. Wired and incorrectly installed a back stairwell 'night light' that never worked until electrician fixed. The sad thing about all this is when we met Tom we liked him and trusted him. Apparently that was our big mistake. The work HE actually did was well done, but never really completed to the point where we don't have to do something else to finish or fix it. The work his contractors did was just poorly executed. They just didn't care or don't have the skills to do things properly. As a result, almost everything they've done except install some floating click-lock flooring is having to be finished, cleaned up, or demolished and redone from the ground up. Catastrophic waste of money, and they just vanished and moved on to the next chump waiting to pay once the 1 month turned 4 month job money-pot ran out. My biggest gripe is we ended up in a hotel and spending an additional $4,000+ in room fees only to "finally" move in and have no working bathrooms and work still being done. Highly unrecommended.

I scheduled an appointment with the provider over the phone on Tuesday. The appointment was for Friday afternoon. The provider did not come for the appointment, nor did he call (although he made sure he had a good phone number for me). This is the second time I have tried to schedule with A-1 Mr Handyman and will not try again.

He's coming back out to fix the stuff that didn't hold up. They did a good job up until that point. They fixed it but it wouldn't stay up. They should have been right back here to fix it, but they haven't come back yet.

I would highly recommend him. He's very good and honest.

He did what he said he would, it was a good price, and he was knowledgeable.

What they did for us was good, but then we called back about another job, and they failed to show up twice. Their work was good and their price was good. But I don't know what the deal was there, when we tried to recontact for additional work. The quality of work they did for us was good. Contacting them may be difficult.

He took tong and groove board, that you cannot buy anymore,down and told me that it was no good when I don't think it was bad. He put it on the wrong way. My son told him that he was putting it on wrong but he didn't listen. I called him back to have him fix it. He brought his whole team and they told me that the damage was due to bug. The exterminator came out and aid that bugs could not do that much damage to it in such a short amount of time. I even had to buy the supplies which he took the extra with him. I asked him about it and he told that they were rotten.

First day was about 5 hours then around 6 hours each day till finished. Tom was there about 30 minutes first day and G all day the final day. Good Job

It took them a while to get that done. He had to go back and forth. He had to go back several times which was understandable because you got to let it dry on the ceiling and then you got to texture but the texture didn't matched up on the ceiling. Other than that we were happy with them.

They were on time and professional. The work was done by less experienced workers rather than the owner who I discussed it all with. They did an OK job but I expected the owner to do it so was a little disappointed. They seemed a little pricey to me but I needed the work done.

They did good work on rental houses. They were promptly paid. However, when called for additional work at a later date they said they were booked up for two weeks but would get right back to us after jobs were done, but did not. This happened twice. If you get them to work for you they do good work and are very congenial. Just can not figure why they failed to follow up for further work.

I wasn't pleased with the aftermath. He was good and honest and all but he left such a mess and stained up my kitchen with some kind of de clogger that stained my kitchen black. When he came back I showed him and he said "Oh I guess I did do that!" He was a nice man but I wouldn't call him back. He had such an 'A-rating' on the website. Unfortunately we were reluctant to get back on it and grade him. I was please with his personality and he even had a great crew working for him but it was just that I wasn't pleased with the outcome. The sink still gurgles but it doesn't overflow. He had to make a big hole in the yard and was going to go across the patio and my husband discussed that he go around the patio so he wouldn't have to chew it all up. He left the goop in his workplace outside and it wasn't even covered and I got out there and cleaned that up but Inside he built a brick wall than ran to the outside and filled it with foam and all the water and debris was left under the sink with all my cleaning supplies. So it was one thing after another. I had initially wrote to them about my problems. He came several time within the same time frame when I reported my plumbing issues and he came out quickly. That was last year. So he was a nice man and his crew members were very hard workers but their cleanup was poor.

He came out on an emergency status. Very skilled and Highly recommended.

I have 2 patio doors that leak after heavy rainstorms. Tom look one look and informed me that the doors had never been properly caulked and sealed. One door had moisture damage at the bottom of the trim surrounding the door. He gave me an estimate of $125 to repair the doors. He returned 3 days later after the weather had warmed up and promptly repaired the doors. His work was neat and efficient. I would hire him again.

He was very responsive. Showed up promptly to provide an estimate and did the work as soon as I said yes to the estimate. It was a fairly simple job, work intensive, so not sure how he would do on detail oriented jobs.

He was fine. He was not the most professional looking guy, but he was nice. His professionalism and communication was okay, nothing outstanding. His price was reasonable. I did not have any problems with his quality. For responsiveness it took a while after I got to him.

Contacted Tom, used him on other jobs, to help fix something that needed fixed so that we could sell out home. He never showed up or even called and said he was unable to fit in his schedule. He was supposed to "work us in" and never did

He completed the work very quickly which is what we needed done. He was very professional and very reasonable. Will definitely use him again.

He and his worker were very professional. He went beyond what I had asked him to do and tried to install a new door knob and lock. When the lock proved to be faulty he tried to make it work. Very nice guy and patient.

Everything went fine. He was good. He did a good job and was reasonably priced. There were no problems at all.

Tom Machedo (A 1 Handyman) was personable, knowledgeable, and very willing to work within our schedules and time constraints: The apartment remodeling had to be suddenly rushed because of some family needs. From quality work to clean up, absolutely what you would expect. Since my wife and both work, we needed to be comfortable having workers in our home many hours over several days with no one else there. We had no anxiety leaving access open to him. Part way through the work, he had to return to the west coast because of a death in the family. His crew carried on. Some came back the last few days and completing the general work, including the attention to detail that is often overlooked in such contracted work. The costs in labor were absolutely reasonable. In other places, we've paid much more for much less.

It completely fixed my issues. So simple! Tom is great at what he does.....which is a lot. I've had him replace a water heater, as well, and he is very knowledgeable about a great variety of things.

Fixed loose post dug hole filled with concrete, put new gate latch , put a strap on gate so it wouldn't sag anymore. Re-screwed all loose boards on my fence, and waterproofed it with a beautiful stain. I am very please with his work, him and his helper were on time, and were polite and professional. At any time I would ask questions they were very informative , and the work was finished on time, and they cleaned up after theirselves.

I can understand being off by a few days on an estimated start time, but at least have the professionalism to call and inform a client, not let the days pass without a word. We have now wasted at least 3 months waiting for this work to be done. Obviously can not attest to the quality of work, but upon looking around for a new provider price does seem to be a bit high.

He failed to perform the services he promised he would perform for the price. He came in, worked a couple of hours, replaced about six feet of pipe under the house, took the $350, and left. The clogged plumbing remained clogged. Upon calling him back, he failed to return.