Home-Tek Handyman LLC

Do not hire them!

GREAT!

I was quoted $7500 and it ended up being $7800 and the work was absolutely terrible. They are a very large outfit. I spent $100 in court costs because I took them to small claims court. I had about $1500 worth of tools stolen while they were here. They did not do the work with any amount of satisfaction. I won my case, but I only won $500 plus court costs. It took me 2 months of arguing and calling before they sent me the $500 without the court costs and that's where I was stuck. I took a great many pictures and documentation of the caliber of the work. The price would have been satisfactory had they done the work. I would never use them again or recommend them, I've done my best to spread the word about them.

Badly! They took MONTHS to get the work done. They would call and set up a time to come, then wouldn't show up. They finally got the garage done almost 2 months after the quote (so much for the danger of it falling down). They showed up just as we were leaving town (even though we had told them not to come that day), so we didn't see what they did. The kitchen took another month. The work quality in the kitchen was good, and I negotiated a $250 reduction because of the severe delays. I also asked them to show me exactly what was done on the garage. When they sent out the workers, they showed me that there was no rotten wood up there, and they had only replaced the frame. Everybody agreed - including the owner (Chris) - that the garage had been quoted way too high. Their answer to that was, "We've fired the estimator." When I pressed the issue with Chris, his response was that the two jobs were both on one contract with a total of $3,200, so he had no way of knowing that what I told him ($1,600 per job) was correct. He first told me that he'd lost "a lot of money" on the kitchen job, so was using the garage job to "make it up." But when I pressed him for details, he sent me a breakdown of the costs that showed he had charged somebody else's work to my job! We have used Home-Tek for several jobs, paying them over $5,000. Every job has had a little problem with it, none of which they every fixed properly. But I will NEVER use them again. They all say they'll "make it right" - until it comes right down to doing what we ask. They don't keep their schedules and they don't keep their word.

At 11:15, April 7th, a workman from Home-Tek Handyman arrives. He tells me that he is to work alone, and I verbally go over the specifics of the problems that I had previously described to the estimator. He is at the house for 15 minutes before telling me that he is going to purchase some shingles to match what is on my roof. He returns at two hours later (at 1:30). A few minutes later, I hear a crash. It's been exactly 15 minutes and now the extension ladder that was used to reach the 2 floor roof has blown down... making a direct hit on my mother's marble top table. The table is bent, and the marble top is now in 4 large pieces. I pick up the ladder and lay it so it reaches the first floor roof. I had previously told the worker that this is how I accessed the roof, so now he can get down by walking half way around the house, but there is no danger of losing the ladder. After a few minutes the worker comes down to talk to me. He explains that he cannot change the bill because of the accident (so far he hasn't done any work). He also tells me that he will have to pay me out of his pocket because the company will not cover the damage. He climbs back up the ladder, going back to work. He works for about an hour before he comes to tell me that the color of the shingles that he purchased was wrong. It takes him about an hour to get back with the new bundle of shingles, and a few minutes later he tells me that the store gave him the wrong color. Rather than go back to the store himself, this time he calls his boss (or supervisor), who shows up in 15 minutes. I saw this guy pull in my driveway so I walk back around the house. I find him crouched over the broken marble, and when I arrive he walks to the truck to examine the shingles... without saying anything about the broken table. He dives off, still not saying anything about the table, but mumbling that he would get the proper color shingles himself. It is now a little after 4:00 in the afternoon, and I will need to leave to pick up my son. I speak to the worker that is still on the roof and tell him that 1) that if he can do all of this work in 3 hours, then I think his company is charging me too much, and 2) I don't think that it is right that he be held responsible for the cost of the table. I explain that I will pay my bill as it was quoted, but I expected the company to make adjustments for the length of time worked, and the damage done. What has happened is what you would have expected. Absolutely nothing. My workman has put in his 3 hours (not including his time trying to buy shingles), and he has proceeded to destroy my mother's marble table. The company has not contacted me, has not apologized for that table, or made any attempt to adjust the price for the work that was done. That is not quite the entire story. See the attached picture... and the way that the job was left for me to deal with. I hope that the roof does not leak. I don't want these guys anywhere near my house.

After waiting for several weeks for another "handyman" to show up, we gave up and gave HomeTek a try. They responded immediately by coming to the house in less than 24 hours to look at what was required and provided an estimate. The person who did the estimate was early (something that is exceptionally unusual in the South), but he called to make sure that would be okay. The next day, they were able to start the work and the estimator (Joe) again came a few minutes early. He introduced the two trades people who would be doing the actual repairs. They completed the entire job within 7 hours. They communicated well during their work, indicating when they were leaving the job to get some parts, informing us when they returned, as well as explaining the repairs. Except for the fact that the repair is done, you can't tell that they were there. They cleaned up after themselves perfectly...not easy to do with a job like this. The only thing they asked for all day was a hair dryer so they could fast dry the drywall for a second coat. It was really quite remarkable. Below I indicate the price was higher than estimated, but this was clearly explained before the work began. About the only thing negative I could say about these guys was that their labor rate at $100/hr/person is pretty darn steep. However, the fact that they showed up and got the job done as quickly as they did easily compensated for the high price. It is EXTREMELY hard to find this kind of customer service in this area.