Monk's Home Improvements

This was the first time we used Monk's and we are very satisfied with their work. They did a high quality job at a reasonable cost. George, the estimator and Sigge, the foreman were professional and communicated well. They were on time for all appointments, kept the work area clean and were pleasant to deal with. Sigge did a great job removing a very stubborn wall-paper that was "glued" to the wall. After skim coat , priming and painting the powder room looks fresh and like new condition. After job completion, George contacted us to make sure we were satisfied with the job. Sigge came back for a few minor touch ups to make sure we were 100% satisfied. It is obvious Monk's is customer focused and want to make sure complete satisfaction. Assuming a reasonable and competitive estimate, I will use Monk's again and can recommend them without hesitation.

Courteous and obliging workmen. They are very flexible with the timetable w/ changes, especially working around contractor delays. Sometimes I have to point out something they missed or not to my satisfaction, but they always fix it willingly.

Nice work and nice workers.

Angelo from Monk's provided us with an estimate for the work and made great suggestions on what could be done to make our house look better, but also make the changes functional - he is a real pleasure to work with and seems to have a wealth of experience. The carpentry work started on time and was done to our great satisfaction, the team was very neat. We had to wait with the paint job as we had our roof done in the meantime. Once the roof was done, the painting crew under Denis came and painted all the new Azek parts. They were also very flexible as we extended the job to touching up the marks on the siding resulting from the old shingles being removed and touching up some of our shutters where the black paint was flaking off in places. As a result, our house looks great and like brand-new. Everybody we dealt with at Monk's was very responsive, highly professional, accommodating, followed trough on what was agreed and was truly interested in making us happy with the job they provided (with success).

It went well. Nice front desk. The estimator came on time. Checked everything. I got the estimate in the mail, which is clear. But 10k for the job is too expensive to me, so I decided to not go with them.

Floors turning out very nicely. Workers very professional, neat and quick. Problem: After sanding completed, I realized the floors looked too light. Asked if they could be stained (which was not in original contract). Chose stain (without asking price... my mistake!). Floors were stained, which took about 20 minutes and work was continued. Was informed next day the cost for staining was $400. Discussed this overpricing with Mr. Monk??? on phone. Took off $100. Still price for staining way too high. No, will not use Monks again.

Beautiful work. They chose the oak flooring, helped us with choosing the stain. The team of carpenters/installers were terrific, punctual. Real craftsmen.

The entire job took seven days. I am very happy with the results, and with Rich, who was my contact, and who responded to every concern I had.

I chose this contractor based on the Angie's list reviews. The foreman, Gilbert, is more responsive than the garage door contractor and the window contractor I recently picked, although all of them got A ratings by Angie's members and the "super service reward" stamp. The crew working on the floor would follow my request, choosing the better wood pieces from the boxes. However, I could not be there watching them all the time. After driving my kid to the summer camp and back in 30 minutes, or after I came back from lunch, there would be some pieces with obvious scratches or dark dots that do not look good -- but they were already nailed in the middle of somewhere therefore it would not make sense to redo, say, 100 square feet, just to take 2 pieces out. For the whole 750 square feet bedroom area, I bought more than 1200 square feet of the Bruce solid oak floor from Home Depot. At the end of the project, I was left with a lot of unused oak pieces with good quality that look much better than some pieces installed. And all the boxes were open, so I could not return them to Home Depot for any refund -- actually I do not care about the refund -- I did not ask the contractor for any discount regarding the installation price when signing the contract. At the end of the project, they told me that if I wrote the check payable to cash, then I do not have to pay the $770 sales tax -- but I declined the offer. All I want is a good looking floor because, how many times do we need to get a new solid wood floor in our lifetime? I thought I was paying for quality, but it seems that their marketing is better than the actual work they did for me -- or maybe it's just me. Also, the crew would put the heavy power stapler on the wood that is already installed, which is more convenient for them while working on the conjunct area. Whenever I saw that, I would put the cardboard underneath the stapler and remind them to do the same. They would obey the demand, but only for a while. As a result, they left quite some small holes and dents on the floor. I talked to the foreman and he put the Minwax wood putty to cover those holes. However, only at the last day of the work did I find out that on the label of the Minwax putty there is a fine print: in the state of California, such putty is known to cause cancer, etc. Since we live in New Jersey, I guess that is OK. Anyway, I told them to stop filling holes and leave them as is. Before signing the contract, they asked me if I need to paint the walls after installing the floor. I declined since the current paint looks fine. Eventually I saw why they asked. The crew used rubber head hammer to get the wood close to each other but the hammer left a lot of black marks on the walls and the wood floor. These marks are hard to clean when I used wet cloth. After talking to the foreman, it became my responsibility to find the right color paint to match the current one -- they would only use a brush to do the covering up. At this point, I just do not have enough time to repaint the whole walls and wait for the dry up. They also installed 14 stair treads and 13 risers. Again, with the help of many Minwax putty, everything looks acceptable at the end of the project. Now after 7 days, I found gaps between 3 pairs of the tread and riser, each of them about one sixteenth inch wide and range from 13 to 29 inches long. It would be interesting to see how many more such cracks will show up as time goes by.

they did a good job. would use again.

They did a great job; the painting was done very well with high quality low-VOC paint which had very little smell, and the cleanup was immaculate. The crew was very professional.

Kurt Becker did a good estimate of the cost to repair and paint the wall and ceiling. He also did an estimate on installing a ladder stairs to access the attic (2nd furnace is located). The contractor team (Wilbur or Hubiel Prado) were prompt, clean, and did a very professional job. The team was also flexible with the schedule and were practical to adjust their work when we had to use a different paint color to match the existing one for our ceiling. The only issue I had from the start were the price estimates were high and I still had to negotiate a few items to fit my budget. I decided not to use Monks for the other project (stairs for the attic) since I found another contractor who did it for me for half the price of the estimate from Monks. I recommend that Monks can be one of the contractors to consider for your projects at home. But ensure that you compare their prices with other contractors before making a decision.

Angelo, our estimator and project manager, was extremely knowledgeable and professional. He arrived as scheduled - was actually a few minutes early! Before he left, he provided a detailed quote and a timeframe and I decided to hire them on the spot. I was told when the job would begin subject to weather conditions and they started the job on time and completed it on time. There were a couple of relatively minor things I wasn't completely satisfied with (I am fussy) and Angelo was all over them and had someone back out and make some changes to my satisfaction. Angelo did not hesitate to make sure everything was exactly as I wanted, no matter how trivial. They did an excellent job of cleaning up and put everything back on the deck. Overall, it was a pleasure dealing with them and I will use them again. If you appreciate professionalism, timeliness, thoroughness and an organization that respects your time and your money, then I highly recommend Monk's.

I received this message: Good Morning, Thank you for your interest in Monk's Home Improvements but unfortunately we do not service the Elizabeth area. Have a great day !! Patti Monk's Home Improvements Really? The last time I looked at a map, Elizabeth was and still is part of Union County. Although this company didn't want this job, another one did. My deck is completed and I love it. To Monk's Home Improvements, I know people that live in towns that perhaps you do go to, but I would NEVER recommend you.

Workers worked everyday for long hours. The work was completed on time and looks great. They were very easy to work with.

We went with Monk's to have our basement renovated. It had recently been gutted and waterproofed with new French drains and sump pumps installed. Monk's did a beautiful job renovating a full-size bath for us in 2011 and after obtaining several estimates we felt most comfortable staying with Monk's for this basement project. The price we paid included all plumbing, electric, drywall, paint, most doors, and an entirely new wooden staircase. It did not include windows, flooring, bath hardware (toilet, sinks, faucets, mirrors, etc), or additional doors we requested after the start of the job (French doors, exterior doors). Most of the plumbing work is subcontracted, which can become a hassle if adjustments need to be made after initial work is done since it will cost extra to have the subcontractor come back or do extra work. Greg was our foreman and was responsive and professional throughout. To us, this is a big part of what differentiates a good contractor from a bad one. If you are like me and are not an architect or interior designer, you will find issues popping up all over the place during a project like this. Having a foreman who is easy to reach and will work with you through all the warts is invaluable. Our home is old and there were a number of things that had to be worked around, and Monk's accommodated everything that popped up along the way. I do feel some things could have been avoided (overly generous estimates on dimensions that led to me having to return a utility sink and a bathroom vanity that ended up being too large for their spaces) but that is the worst thing I can say about the whole experience. And in my eyes, that ain't bad for a project this size. To Monk's credit, they were also very flexible with several design changes that we requested after the project started. We added multiple access doors to a utility room, a medicine cabinet instead of a simple mirror, and the previously mentioned French doors and exterior doors. Any changes required to pass inspection were covered by Monk's. They also touched up all the paint at the end of the project. My wife and I are very happy with the finished product and would recommend Monk's highly based on our experiences with them. You know they care about their reputation and will "make it right" and that is important to me. We could have gone with a cheaper estimate but I have no regrets with our decision to use Monk's. Thank you Greg and the whole team for a job well done.

We are satisfied with the painting job they performed.

The service went very well. I would hire them again in a heartbeat. They did a fantastic job. A crew of about 4-5 painters came out for the interior and sometimes more for the exterior. They completed the interior in a week and the exterior in about a week as well. There was a project manager in charge and he was always on top of everything. He was very meticulous and made sure everything was perfect. The staff was clean and polite. I had no problem contacting the company or scheduling the project at all. I would highly recommend this company to others.

Extremely disappointed with Monk's and strongly advise using another service provider. A large part of the paint job they did peeled inside of a year. Their explanation"they don't make paint as well as they used to". Didn't mention that when they prior to the job or when we paid them. We had followed up with Monk's about some other carpentry work and it was a disaster. Took 4 un-returned phone calls before we called the office directly. Maria, who works out in Summit, came over with a very smug attitude. Her price was more than 40% higher than other bid proposals we received. ALL TOLD, MONK'S HAS REALLY HIT THE SKIDS--POOR ATTITUDE, POOR SERVICE, BAD PRICING. LOST A LONG TERM CUSTOMER HERE. Update: Just adding to the review my husband wrote above....Basically, the story is this: We had worked with Monk's in the past on various jobs around our house, most recently (about 18 months ago) painting of our back portico and a small bridge we have in the backyard. We had been happy with previous work and called them in this summer to give us an estimate of additional work, both some carpentry work and painting/repair inside the house. While the estimator (Maria) was here, I showed her the bridge that Monk's had painted last year. She agreed that it looked weathered and faded, even on the railings which obviously weren't walked upon, whereas the portico (which had been painted the same time and endures much more foot-traffic) was not. She took pictures and said she would "see what she could do." I sent an email to her on 8/7/14 to follow up and said we were all set to move forward on all of the work discussed (which would have been around $3000 in total), but first wanted to know what could be done about the shoddy paint job on the bridge. She wrote back on 8/8/14: "Unfortunately we don't warranty any deck/stairs/rails. The products for decks are not what they used to be." So on 8/9/14, I wrote to her that that wasn't a good answer, and if they couldn't address the issue, we would look elsewhere for the current work and all future work. To that she responded on 8/9/14: "I will schedule another visit with my manager." We waited over a week and never heard from her again. So we went ahead and hired another carpentry company (Tico's Carpentry, which I highly recommend, by the way). Then on 8/19/14, my husband wrote the above review here on Angie's List and almost immediately, on 8/20/14, I received a call from Trever Monk, asking what he could do to remedy the situation. Just goes to show the power of the Internet. To his credit, Mr. Monk did come out and gave a nice explanation of why he thinks the paint job didn't last (none of which were their fault, of course... just Mother Nature and the lack of good exterior paint products). Of course, none of that was explained to us last year when we originally hired them. Had they told us then that the paint would last less than a year, I doubt we would have paid $500 to paint it in the first place. But I digress. Ultimately, Mr. Monk did come back and re-paint the bridge, and I will say that the foreman and workers were very professional in doing so, which I appreciate. However, it is disappointing that it wasn't until the Angie's List review went up that we were able to get their attention and they finally remedied the situation.

I'm waiting to make a decision on painting the house but I probably should get a couple of other quotes. I was really satisfied with their bid. I had some termite damage on the wood so the price included removing that wood and replacing it with new wood, since it was a wood house. I chose them because they had great reviews and they are allover this area. The quality of his presentation for the exterior paint job was excellent. He is very on point. I would possibly use him but the only reason I haven't made a firm decision is his price.

George provided the quote and was thorough and fantastic to work with, really professional. They quickly fit me into the schedule, finished the work in the amount of time they planned, and made sure everything was cleaned up afterwards. Their professionalism is second to none. While the prices are a little higher than some of the competitors, I know what I'm getting and they do a GREAT job.

Replaced 2 cedar fence posts. Showed up for estimate ontime, we agreed price, Monk's scheduled and completed work within 5 days. All work done in neat and professional manner.

What a pleasure to work with this firm! Only one phone call was required arrange an estimate and the job was scheduled during that appointment. The estimator arrived as promised, the workers arrived as promised and the quality of the work, from carpentry to painting, was outstanding. The price seemed quite reasonable for the job and the carpenters and painters were professional and polite. I will be rehiring them when I next have work to do.

went great. guys were professional, and did a great job.

***Update Added Below*** We had a rep come out and give us a few quotes for various projects throughout the house, including re-grouting our shower tiles in our upstairs bathroom. We were on a tight budget so we chose to only pursue that project for the time being, and we chose Monks because they were the least expensive and we saw their overall positive reviews online. After we hired them, a different person came out to do the job and it looked really nice. He was able to scrape off the excess grout on our tiles and did a clean job with the grout. We waited the appropriate time before we used the shower again, but once we did we noticed the caulk around the base of the shower crack and pull away from the tub. We called to complain and the same person who did the job came back and used a different, silicone-based, caulk to fix it. This happened 2 more times! After a while it got really frustrating especially because we only had one bathroom and every time he came out to fix the same problem we couldn't use the shower for days while it set. It's been just over 4 months later and the problem is not only still there but has gotten worse. The grout throughout the shower (between the tiles and down the corners) has cracks and is chipping off by the faucet. Update: After I posted the above review I got a call from someone at Monk's (not the original person I dealt with). He apologized for what had happened and offered to come out and see the work. He agreed that the shower shouldn't look the way it did that soon after the job but that there was likely some underlying issue that is exacerbating the cracking. They offered to fix it at no charge. We went about 5 days before we used it and there was a little cracking by the base once again. After seeing what products they used, how many times they had to re-do it, etc. I don't think the problems are a direct result of the work Monk's did. It looks as though there is an underlining issue that is causing the problem. I was pleased that they took such quick action.