Handyman Solutions

The guy from Handyman Solutions who finally did come did a really good job. It took awhile trying to get someone out. The first time we scheduled nobody came, nobody called, or anything at all. Then when I tried to call the office I couldn't get anybody. I left a message on the recorder. Then the owner called and found out some of the information. Then I had to call him back to get some information from him. Then we rescheduled it. I think the original guy they scheduled didn't come either and they scheduled another guy to come. It was scheduled to be done in the morning and it ended up being done in the afternoon. When I eventually got the work done it was a good job. It was just difficult to get it scheduled. I think they were having scheduling issues on their end. The last guy who came out was really really nice. The administrative part including scheduling and getting someone contracted to get out is like a C. They didn't have any idea where the guy was, he didn't call in, they don't call to make sure the guy is there, and she couldn't get a hold of him. The pricing was really good. He did a really good job with the quality. If I needed someone to come out and I could get the same I guy I would use the company again. Even when I called the overnight number he didn't have any idea what was going on. He didn't know if the secretary left. There was no one left there to check whether the guys were on site. There was no follow through to make sure the person was on site. The residential customer had to call them and tell them the person didn't not show up.

Where should I begin. First, I called the office phone # and a young lady answered. I could hardly understand what she was saying. However, I informed her I just purchased the offer and wanted to schedule some time. She placed me on hold and came back with a date. I said OK. The date came and "went"...no one showed up, called, or e-mailed. I called to find out if anyone was going to show up but no answer. Yes, you can guess where I am going with this. After several days of trying and leaving VMs, I got the owner. I asked him how come no one showed up or called, rather than own up, he blamed his workers saying "these guys, you can't count on them..." Then in the same breath, said, he has been really busy so maybe the guys got tied up. I said but I had an appointment. He promised to set up something when he gets to the office. I said, OK, please call and if you don't get me, leave a vm and I'll be there. Well, yes, you know it...he never called, I called for a couple of days and one evening, while watching TV, I decided to call at or after 8 PM in hopes someone may be working and low and behold, the owner answered. Short story, I asked him how come he didn't call me, again, very busy, etc., etc. So I said, well can you set it up now, he said he was on his way to Hillsborough to do some job but he promises to call me the next day with an appointment. I said to him, you work this late, he said, yes, anything to satisfy my customers. So you know he opened the door and I said, well, I have not been satisfied so far and if I have to fill out a survey at Angie's list, it will not be pretty. He promsies to call and I took his word. OK, so it happened again, he never called. So I called the office and got the same young lady again and I let her have it. The young lady his his daughter and I asked him, is this how you guys treat your customers, not calling, fulfilling your appointments? I spent a good 45 minutes voicing my anger. She seemed and was apologetic and said she will talk to her father but this has been happening a lot and she was going to book me for, you got it, yet another appointment. I agreed as she said, I promise someone will be there. Now, I am a small business owner managing rental properties so the longer they are vacant, the more money I loose. OK, yet again, no one showed up so I got someone else...another Angie's list business...that is another story I'll tell for that business. On with this business, I finally decided I was going to advise Angie's list about what had transpired and wasn't going to call anymore so I continued with this new company. The day that the company came by to finish the job, at about 4:30 PM, a Jeep pulled up. Two people where in there and they parked in front of the residence...I was on my way out as well. The guy walked past me, up into the property and I asked, "can I help you?" He said he was there to see me and I asked him who he was and he told me. So I said, you couldn't call, never showed up, e-mail me or anything? Now mind you, the few minutes he was with me, he was on the phone constantly and in the Jeep was his wife, also on the phone. He came in, I told him what I wanted done, he said he will have his daughter call to set up an appointment to get it done and yes, you can say it, that was the last I heard from him or saw his team. I am really angry as I paid him for services never rendered. He is a thief and does not have any work ethic. I caution anyone wanting to use this company to beware. The old adage...you get what you pay for...is true in this case. The price is good, his work may be good for those who are satisfied, but for this customer, I will never recommend or use him.

Richard came out right on schedule and gave me an estimate. Isaac did the work in just a few days. The quality of the finished surfaces, such as the drywall joints and door trim, was good enough for a custom home, even though this is just an old ranch house from the 1960s. I am especially grateful to Isaac for his help in entertaining and helping to contain my hyperactive Jack Russel Terrier, an escape artist.

Not much we can say about what needed to be done. We just felt that JT had the job well under control... taping off the windows, fireplace, etc. He covered our furnishings. He worked non-stop until the entire job was done, and left the work area like it was before he began. I only wish we could have afforded to have all of our celings done.

The guys were great. Went up on the roof to start working on wood rot issue and to my surprise it was not rot but Woodpecker damage! They did a great job repairing the damage and re-painting the board, as well as told me how to prevent further issues. (fake owl !) They also had enough time to take a look at and repair a sliding door screen I was having issues with. Over-all very pleased and will call them again in the future.

The painter(s) was to arrive at 9:00 am, so I was there at 9:00 am. He arrived at 10:30 am. He said his partner could not make it because of a family matter. The last 6' of the hallway was over a half-flight of stairs and the painter said he did not have a ladder with him to do that work. I had the following discussion with him: ? Him: I cannot reach over the steps to do the ceiling there, so I will feather it in to the existing paint. Me: Will it match that last 6' over the steps? Him: You might have to paint it. Me: No. There can be no painting. I am closing/selling the house in 48 hours. It must match. Him: Oh, sorry. It will match. The old product we used would not match, but the new product will match. He painted 24', but it took a long time because he was working alone and he ran out of paint midway through the job and had to go to Lowes to pick up more. All toll, this meant I was away from my job for 6 hours instead of 3 hours. And, the biggest thing, I would not know if the paint would match until it dried. Later that night, I was emailed by the painting company owner with the request to talk up their company on various web sites. I explained the delays I encountered, but said I would be satisfied if the whole 30' matched. He responded it should match as long as the paint was mixed properly and he was confident it was since the painter was experienced. He closed with asking him to contact him "if there is an issue with the color." I sold the house two days later and the new homeowner contacted me a couple days afterwards to say the paint did not match, so I contacted the painting company owner and they contacted the new homeowner to set up an appointment. I've been informed the new homeowner was told it would be another $200 to paint the 6'x4' remaining feet. Further, the written contract stated the color might not match without painting. My position is that if the paint might not have matched then painter should have said so. When the painter said it would match then the provider should stand behind his statement ("oral contract") instead of pointing to the written contract. If the paint might not have matched the whole 30' then the provider should have refunded my money instead of doing an incomplete job. Further, the provider has not responded to my follow-up email on the subject nor an email from the new owner. This was a negative experience for me. ===== Update on 05Nov2012 ===== The new owner has communicated to me that she sent a picture of the ceiling to the provider and the provider painted the last 6' of the ceiling that matches to her satisfaction. Accordingly, I have updated the rating. Much of the issue here seems to have miscommunication or lack of communication, and all parties played a part in that.

They did a good job. It was fine. They worked hard and were polite.

First serviceman arrived 1 1/2 hours late. He refused to go into crawl space and left without doing any work. We called Handyman Solutions. They apologized and setup another appointment. Second Serviceman did what was requsted.

If you want to use this company, I highly suggest you ask for Chris. This guy is absolutely amazing. The best handyman I have ever hired. He really knows his stuff and he works FAST. He really wants to keep costs down so he is practically racing to his truck and moving from task to task without any type of break, but he is also meticulous, careful, and thorough. He can troubleshoot just about any issue, especially electrical stuff and his solution for a problem I have hired several handymen for was better than any other company or individual I talked to and tremendously cheaper. There were issues other handymen couldn't fix that he could. Scheduling with this company is also easy. I will definitely use them again and will ask for Chris.

The deal was for 2 rooms for $299. I didn't read the fine print and it turned out my square footage went over the allotment so it ended up being $459. That was fair I believe, I should have noticed the square footage limit in the deal, but it wasn't as cheap as I originally thought, so I'm giving them a B (good, but not excellent) for the price. When I scheduled it they told me up front that I would have to remove everything from the room beforehand, including all furniture. So I did so the day before they were scheduled to arrive. Because my house is small, everything from the kitchen had to go in the living room and everything from my bedroom had to go into the master bath making those rooms unusable. On Monday I took off work and waited for them to arrive at their scheduled time of 9-10am. At 9:17am I got an email that they weren't going to come, given the late notice I think a call would have been more appropriate. I was told that they couldn't make it because the tech that was scheduled to come had to go to the ER, but he'd be able to make it at 9am the next day. I understand emergencies happen, but this was annoying since all of my stuff was rearranged and my Kitchen and Bedroom were emptied and unusable and my living room and bathroom were packed with stuff from the emptied rooms. Looking through some other reviews I see that other people have had similar situations so I feel it's worth mentioning in the review. The next day when they did show up, I showed them the work to be done and they immediately asked me if I had a sprayer. At first I didn't understand what they meant but I finally understood they wanted something to spray water on the existing texture to make it easier to remove, so I loaned them my garden pump sprayer, although I felt a little uneasy that they didn't arrive with one if they needed one. Then they said that they thought they'd brought plastic sheeting but someone must have removed it from the truck so they needed to go to Lowe's. I waited for them to get back, which seemed to take a long time, but I didn't time them. They also, apparently didn't bring their own ladder because they used mine and got popcorn texture all over it. I asked them how long it was going to take, because I wanted to go to work since I'd already missed a few hours the previous day while waiting for them to arrive, and they said it shouldn't take more them two hours. So, I decided to wait. I don't know if they didn't understand what I was asking, or if they are just that bad at estimating time, but it took 6 hours. I really wish I'd known it would take that long, I would have gone to work and come back then they were finished. Also, I think there was some miscommunication on what I wanted done, the deal was to replace popcorn with a new type of texture, either orange peel, or splatter. I had opted for splatter, instead they ended up re-popcorning. Which isn't that big of a problem for me, the main thing I wanted was to retexture because of some areas that had been patched and were missing texture. But I would have preferred what I asked for. By the time I realized that they were putting popcorn back, they were mostly done, so I let it go. After they were done re-popcorning the ceiling, one of the guys said that I might have to spray it once it dried "because sometimes they come out right and sometimes they don't". I had no idea what he was talking about, and it worried me, but the other guy said, it looks uneven now but it'll all dry white like it was before. It didn't. It dried white in some areas but in others you can see the drywall color through the texture. I don't know if they didn't use enough texture or what, but another painter I know said it shouldn't do that. When I told them about it, they said that it would need to be painted but that painting wasn't included in the deal. I'll have someone else finish the job. When they were putting back my light fixtures they broke the globe on one of them and stretched and/or lost the springs to the can light cover plates. I had to buy and install a new light fixture and buy new can light plates. I asked them to remove those from my bill, which they did, once I sent them a copy of my receipt. I'm still listing the cost as $459 even though the bill was less because that was the cost to me, including the new light fixture and plates that I had to buy. I didn't include a charge for my labor to install them, because I'm a nice guy. :-) Despite the plastic sheeting they got popcorn texture all over the place. They cleaned up a lot of it, but left the kitchen floor pretty messy. One of the guys asked if I would be mopping, and I said I supposed I would. There was also texture stuck to the walls in the bedroom which I cleaned up, and some still in the carpet, though they did vacuum up most of it. Overall it's the second worst experience I've had on Angie's List. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone based on my experience.

Initially I asked for someone to help me remove the existing carpet and wood flooring. They sent me a very experienced man who could not only remove the existing flooring but could also help me install the new flooring. The project was large (2,000 sq ft house, all flooring removed and replaced) and took many days. But the end result was wonderful. All in all, we worked with 4 different men and each was professional, polite, hardworking and good at their job. I would gladly recommend them to others. Unlike another review, I don't mind someone showing up a few minutes late as long as they know what they are doing and do it well.

The two man crew showed up late (8:45 a.m. versus the communicated 8:00 a.m.), but did a fine job of replacing the wood on our porches. The latch replacement ended up worse than it was before they started. The latch rested a couple of inches below its assembly when the work was done, so it had zero chance of engaging to keep the door closed. The guy told my wife the fence was leaning - which it was - but replacing the latch without addressing the leaning post made things worse. Why change out the hardware if it leaves us with a door that will never close? After they power washed the fence, he told us he'd stop by on Saturday to see if the wood work was dry enough to stain. My wife asked what time, so we could be present to know what was or wasn't happening. 11:00 a.m., he said. If Saturday wasn't a go, they'd be back at 8:30 Monday morning to finish. Saturday came and went with no inspection and no communication of any sort. At 9:30 a.m. Monday, with no sign of the two man crew we were told to expect at 8:30 a.m., my wife called the office. Minutes later, Jessica called back to inform my wife that they were at another job. They'd be at our house at 10:30 a.m. and if they didn't show, please call the office. This was not the level of dependability we had expected, so I called at 9:40 a.m. and left a message to cancel the rest of the job and settle up. The crew showed up at 1:05 p.m. When we called Jessica she said she had not yet picked up her voicemails. My wife saw them starting to unload their truck and went out to let them know we'd canceled. We told Handyman about the latch issue, and they said they'd send Phil - their senior guy - to have a look. We never heard from or saw Phil. Jessica ended up reducing our hourly rate to make amends. Overall Jessica was very good to deal with but the delays in service promised prompted us to use another provider to finish the job.

I received a call from the office when I was on my way to meet the handyman. He was repairing a shed that was damaged in a storm. She told me there was no way he could do what I wanted him to do in the 2 hour time, I would have to pay more. I told her then he could work the 2 hours and stop. When the handyman got there he was wonderful. He got EVERYTHING I wanted done and more. He was professional and made recomendations that I had not thought of.

The contractor was on time, where I was running a few minutes late to the appt., he called to confirm and was generous enough to wait for my arrival. Completed his work in a timely matter, great service.

The two employees arrived on time and were polite and professional. They worked quickly and skillfully and then removed all material and left the area neat and clean.

Contacted Handyman Solutions based on Angie's List reviews. Richard was very responsive by email throughout our interactions. We setup a time that worked with my schedule for him to come and provide an estimate. He arrived on time and seemed knowledgeable and professional. He emailed me the estimate the same day, which was great. The estimate came in higher than I had budgeted for this repair, which I explained in an email. He said he was willing to work with my budget, which he did. We agreed on a price and scheduled the work. The work was scheduled to begin at 9am on a weekday morning. I took the morning off so I could meet the technician and oversee the job being done. Around 9:30 no one had arrived, so I emailed Richard to confirm the appointment. He quickly responded and apparently my email alerted him that the scheduled technician was a no-show. In his email he said he would make sure someone came out that day since I had taken time off work. He came through, and a different technician arrived around 11am, took stock of the job and materials needed, headed off to Lowes, and began work. Rather than just replacing the rotting wood, he rebuilt the entire half of the porch that contained the rotting boards. He also replaced the entire 8-ft sections of brick moulding (rather than just patching the 4-6" that were rotting) with vinyl moulding so it wouldn't rot again. The technician worked efficiently and finished the entire job (including caulk and a coat of paint) by around 4:30pm. The technician that ended up coming was friendly and did good work. A minor complaint could be that he only put on one coat of paint, and the unfinished wood soaked it up, so I ended up having to put on another coat (and in a few places, a third coat) the next day. However, he left the remaining paint with me, so I didn't have to purchase extra paint. While the scheduling snafu ended up being somewhat of an inconvenience (had to take off an entire day vs half a day), Richard quickly got it worked out, and I'm pleased with the quality of the work done. Also, I'm pleased that the technician went above and beyond to do the job the "right way", rather than the minimum required to make the fix. I would recommend Handyman Solutions and would use them in the future.

The gentleman came by the house to do the job. He told me I needed to move furniture out of the room or it would cost an additional $60. It seemed as though he didn't have time to do the job and suggested we reschedule. I agreed and rescheduled for 9:30 this morning. When he didn't show up, I contacted the company and they said that he had run off with the money other customers had paid them and they couldn't reach him. They said if they could find someone else to do the work, they would contact me. I'm disappointed with how things worked out and I don't think that I will have them back do the work.

Very plesant experience. Service provider arrived right on time and the entire job was completed within the required timeframe. First 30 minutes spent reviewing and explaining work to be preformed and introduction to two of my neighbors because we needed access to their property in order to make repairs to the privacy fence. Next we went to the hardware store to get needed supplies (2 miles from my house, returned to my house upon which the service provider immediately began making repairs.

He was very efficient and completed installing all four in the three hours I purchased. Well worth the $99.

Bought an Angies list Big Deal for 3 hours. They were very responsive in scheduling an appointment (so I would give them an "A" for that), but I wasn't totally impressed with the actual work. I've used another painting company in the past year on a couple different occasions (1st Aid Painting) through a Twongo Deal -- 1st Aid amazed me with the amount of work they got done in the time allotted (they worked quickly, diligently, but with attention to quality and detail), so I think I have a pretty good basis for my expectations. Handyman Solutions simply didn't compare - the work looked fine, but I just didn't feel they worked to maximize what could get accomplished in the 3 hours. Thus, I gave them a "C" for quality - the work wasn't bad, it was just average, in my opinion.

The $59.00 Deal from 'Handyman Solutions' for 2hrs was a Great Value for me! There were two main tasks on my list for the visit today: 1. Connecting ice maker to existing valve on water line 2. Replacing ceiling fan & light kit. (we discussed other tasks to be accomplished in a later visit) First task was replacing the plastic line connecting the ice maker in the Fridge to the cold water source valve that existed under the kitchen sink. Ricky completed running the plastic water line though the cabinets connecting the existing valve on the cold water line under the kitchen sink to the Ice Maker connector on the Fridge...maybe 10 feet. (I had started to run the line but needed someone to finish it - I couldn't find the existing hole in the cabinet wall at the rear of the range/oven to insert the plastic line and couldn't physically move the range/oven to gain easy access. The connection kit for the ice maker had the plastic line and a cold water valve(if needed) but the kit didn't have all the pressure-fit collars required when replacing the connections; however, I had purchased extra pressure collars separately when I purchased the kit.). Ricky ran the line without moving the range/oven, made the connection to the cold water valve using the old nut & new insert & new pressure collar then connected the line to the Fridge with new nut, new insert & new collar. He cut the plastic line as required and installed the in-line water filter canister. He then turned on the water at the cold water valve under the sink and made sure there were no leaks at the in-line filter where it was installed and rechecked for leaks at the cold water source valve under the sink and for leaks at the fridge connector... when he finished checking for leaks there were no leaks. Ricky also made sure water came out the fridge door spigot as expected. Even though the water was clear after several quarts was collected, Ricky suggested we discard several batches of ice before using the new ice. Second task was replacing a ceiling fan and light kit in the kitchen. Removal of the existing fan/light kit and installation of the new fan/light kit was straight forward, it was time consuming. After the new fan was mounted Ricky resolved a 'tick-tick-tick' sound/noise we heard. This involved removing the light kit, fan blades and motor to check for obstructions plus checking the mounting connections and then reinstalling; the end result has no 'tick-tick-tick' sound/noise and it is Great! (My wife even says she likes her new ceiling fan - and you know if Momma is happy, I'm happy!). All in All I think I received Great Value for the 2hr Deal at $59.00 and I'm planning for another visit soon from Handyman Solutions.

I had to reschedule several times due to my crazy schedule....they were very accomodating with that. Isaac was about an hour late arriving, but he more than made up for it with his professionalism and friendly demeanor. He was a pleasure to work with and did a great job installing our bicycle hoists. He didn't even complain about the heat....LOL!

I purchased a great deal package for 3 hours. Called to make an appointment. The young lady on the phone was very helpful and accommodating. A time and date were set. Ricky was right on time. He was very polite and professional. I showed him lights I wanted installed.The one that concerned me was the installation of the kitchen hanging light. I hoped that it might be placed where there was an outdated single pot (down) light. Though I didn't know how it could be done I hoped that there might be some "work-around" to get the new light installed. Ricky approached this very creatively and was able to install the hanging light without any requirement for buying additional plates or brackets. It looks GREAT and I was so happy that he was able to figure a way to do this. He then replaced the outdated dining chandelier with the new one and he was very helpful and patient with determining the best length for the chandelier line. Lastly, he replaced the outside porch light which is motion-activated. He checked the motion-action of the light to be sure it was set properly. All in all we were very pleased with the work Ricky did and with his politeness and professionalism. He cleaned up well and completed all requests in a timely and more than satisfactory manner! Thank you Ricky and Handyman Solutions!

Phillip called to tell me when he'd be coming. He arrived and took down the existing, unreliable fixture. The new fixture was smaller and not wired exactly like the old one, but Phillip was able to move it around to cover the existing holes. Everything worked perfectly and after he cleaned up, we went to our townhouse, where Phillip repaired the kitchen cabinet molding and drove nails all around the molding so that it would be very unlikely to come loose again. He counter-sank them and told us where to get something to put in the holes to match the cabinets, although the way he repaired it, I could not see the repair at all, so I don't think the putty is necessary. After making sure the tenant and I were satisfied, Phillip cleaned up and left. Everything took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. He showed me some pictures of some really nice tile work and renovations he did. I will definitely be using the company again.

I wanted my deck stained. The gentleman who came out was very nice but said it needed to be powerwashed first, although I had had it powerwashed earlier this year. So, when I got home that night, several of my electric outlets had been blown - but nobody called me to let me know that the powerwasher had blown out the electrical outlets. If they had, I could have told them how to reset. Instead they cleaned the deck by hand and didn't have enough time to stain it. When I contacted the company, I was told that they had down their 3 hours of work, and I could pay another $175 to get the deck stained. I declined - the $99 was for the staining.