The House Doctors

I purchased three certificates for six hours of work from the company through Angie's List deals. (I thought I had purchased only two certificates.) I wasn't sure what work we wanted to have done but spoke with the owner, who said he would honor all the certificates, and finally settled on the two main projects. He said I could either purchase the materials myself or they would buy them for us. Since I didn't know exactly what was needed, I had them do the buying. They first did the carpentry work at the back door, then did the painting jobs. The work took much longer than I anticipated -- a total of twelve hours. Most of the time was spent painting the garage walls and ceiling. While he did not use a primer on the unfinished surfaces, the service representative did an excellent job (he missed only one spot and tsaid it was a shadow when I pointed it out to him). (I don't know if the primer would have made the work go faster or not.) He did an excellent job cleaning up after he finished. We had just had a new floor put in and were concerned about spots on it. It was not a problem. The owner was cooperative in setting up the times for the work and his employee showed up on time both days. He was courteous, friendly, and professional. There was an error on the bill which was corrected as soon as I mentioned it. My only complaint was that it took so long but the hourly rate ($60) seemed to be reasonable. I would recommend them.

Mike from the house doctor was very amenable to changing the dates and working within my schedule. He also had no problem discussing pros and cons of different approaches and ideas. Overall it was a very positive experience.

Water was leaking into my bedroom from the ceiling. I call the House Doctors and Spoke to Bob. The first dry day we had, his technicians came to my home and did the above mentioned repairs. As ususal with the House Docotrs every thing went great. The next rain we had, no water leaked into my bedroom.

My call for a quote was returned on the same day. I was under the impression that someone would come by to assess the work that needed to be done (all outside work) and leave the estimate in my mailbox. I never received an estimate.

I emailed, then phoned House Doctors. It took a while for them to get back to us, but then two workers came out in mid-August and surveyed the job and took some notes. We didn't set any specific times for them to work; they pretty much just showed up when they could. Eventually, I heard back from the company with a price, which we thought was pretty good. We never got a written receipt, but accepted the estimate on the phone, and we were eventually charged that amount. The two workers came out in the afternoon about mid-September and finished it within 2 days. After the first day of work, the steps were very very springy, perhaps because they did not put a third central support in and they did not use thicker wood for the treads (they used one-inch board instead of two-inch board. They said it was because the wood was wet and would dry up and be less springy; in the meantime, they would also put extra board under the treads. That was an improvement, and the paint job was nice, and matched the rest of the house. My reservations are that the treads are still a bit springy, although not as bad as before. One thing my husband and I thought was odd was that they kept running out of boards and paint--they didn't bring enough both days. So we liked the price, the guys were friendly and the work, once started, was completed quickly and neatly. But I'm still not totally convinced that the quality of the stairs are that good, and I hope they last as long as the other ones did.

I had used the House Doctors before and had been impressed by the work and the reasonable cost. This time, however, was a nightmare. I contacted the House Doctors a month before the work needed to be complete, gave them the list of violations, and was promised that the work would be completed on-time. Three weeks later the work had still not been started. I contacted Bob, the owner, and his son Mike, and was assured that the work would be done in time for my City reinspection. Throughout the week pieces of the work were (allegedly) performed by various workers. In addition, I was told that I had a problem with some roof vents so I agreed to have them repaired, even though they were not on the violation list. On the day of my inspection, two days before the closing date on my house, the City inspector told me that the electrical work had not been performed and I failed the reinspection. When I reported the problem to Mike he said he didn't understand how that could be since the electrician had "been there". Mike offered to have the work done, but I declined, so he told me to reduce the cost of the work by $400 (the alleged cost of the electrical work). I hired another electrician on an emergency basis to complete the work, which cost about $250. Also, the violation report I provided included one requirement to confirm that my existing smoke detectors were photoelectric and that one additional detector would be installed. I told the House Doctors that these tasks would be handled by my security company and not the House Doctors. I arrived home one day to find that one of the workers installed four new smoke detectors six inches from each of my existing (photoelectric) smoke detectors, and the ones they installed were not photoelectric! Unbelievable. I am so disappointed that a once good company performed so poorly, but I will not be giving them another chance.

Rob, The House Doctor's electrician, came to the house to determine why our light over the garage, which is on a motion sensor, was not coming on. He decided to replace the fixture and give us a new one. As always, he was punctual, professional and corrected the problem.

He did a great job. They were not great at getting back to me when I called, but when they finally did the job they were great. They were very professional and efficient.

Our gutters were overflowing in certain spots during significant rain -and tearing up the landscaping below. (the roof and gutters had just been replaced three years ago). We called House Doctors to clean the gutters and they promptly came out within a few days. They said we didn't need to be home, they would do the work and mail us a bill. They came while we were at work, our college-age daughter was home at the time. They did the work, cleaned up after themselves and we are very satisfied.

I wasn't sure when they were coming to do the work. I asked them to call me the night before they came so I wouldn't wake up to the sound of footsteps on my roof. I didn't receive a call and I did wake up to footsteps on the roof. They did a good job and didn't leave a mess behind them. He said that he would send me a bill, have I not received the bill after about a week.

A secure plexiglass window was custom built to fit above the vertical a.c. window units. Two vertical a.c. units were installed on first and second floor.

This Big Deal from the House Doctors was a rip off and i would never use this company for any type of service because of how poorly they communicate with each other and the customer, not to mention only average service. Was to receive 2 hours of pressure washing. Jason only powerwashed my house for one hour and left and did only an average job. He also blew off the elbow vent from the radon pipe vent, said he would put it back on but did not and left it in my yard. I did it myself. Had he spent the second hour that I had paid for, the house would have been much cleaner. Now, to get in to how screwed up this company is: Upon my inquiry to set up appointments, I spoke to Bob the owner telling him I had 2 separate Big Deals on Angies list, one for Pressure Washing and another for Handyman. After describing what I wanted done for the handyman, he said he could Not send Jason who does pressure washing for the Handyman Big Deal because he lacked carpentry skills and My #1 priority for that coupon required such. First of all my pressure washing coupon was good for 6 months. Two months in to it I was receiving almost weekly calls from Jason asking if he could come out and pressurewash. After returning several calls to say "not yet", the calls continued and became annoying. Finally left an appointment message to Jason's direct number as asked, to make an appt. He left a return message saying that he would also do the Handyman at the same time. I then spoke to Jason telling him that Bob the owner told me someone else had to do the handyman, Jason said he understood as he had also talked to Bob. As mentioned prior, Jason came, only worked one of the two hours and left before a good quality job was done. His last words to a visiting family member was he would be back in two days to do the handy man Big Deal. I finally decided to call the owner again asking him to please set jason straight as I thought I originally had, and explained again that the most important thing to address on my Handyman coupon was the carpentry issue of my three things to do and Jason keeps saying he is coming back even though he lacked the needed skills. Regardless, Jason shows up the next day anyway and after speaking with him stated "nobody tells him anything". He then left after speaking to the owners son. In speaking to Bob the day after Jasons pressure washing, I explained how Jason only pressure washed for one hour and not two. Bob said "well, if the job only takes an hour he isn't going to stay for two just because the coupon says two, the job is done. I have never had any complaints about the guy". To which i replied that the quality of the work was only average, why wouldn't the guy stay the 2nd hour that i paid for and do a good job instead of one that is not all that great. My home is 2,300 square feet and I have to ask can you really say you couldnt get it any cleaner if you had worked the one more hour that I paid for? The quality of work was a C but because of all the hassle it took because of their disorganization I am giving them a D.

Referred by our excellent window washers, and knowing the company generally has excellent Angie's List ratings, we were incredibly disappointed. The only reason our grades above were not "F" relates to the main supervisor one reaches on the phone, but not the crew that did the job or the supervisor of that crew. Except for "Mike" who always responded and came out to check the lousy crew's work, this crew batted 1.000 on never once coming when they said they would and only once (after we'd complained) calling to say they were running late (hours). The rest of the time, they simply no-showed. They improperly installed the gutters and downspouts, missing the storm drain pipes by 17 inches in one place and 14 in another. We won't describe what happened in the storm that occurred before they corrected this error by having to completely replace the gutter into which they cut incorrect holes. Some gutters were not completely attached to the house, and rain poured between the roof and the gutter, not into the gutter. Once, when the crew "corrected" the downspout problem, they failed to secure their work and kicked some of our mulch over their non-fix, perhaps thinking we wouldn't notice it. Their original written list of services they would perform included "installing" heating cables. I guess their definition of this and ours could be considered a major communication problem. They did put the cables up, but left them unconnected to any electrical source. When we did a final walk through on the gutter part of the job, we agreed their electrician would finish the job, though we would expect to pay an additional charge. We could have lived with this, though with some doubts it would be a great job, but agreed that Mike, who alone of our contacts was professional, would have the electrician call and review the job and then "give us a break" on the price to try to make up for everything that happened. Eventually, the electrician phoned, scheduled a "Friday afternoon" appointment to look at the job, and then he no-showed and did not phone. Enough being enough, we have now had a different electrician look at the job and unless his estimate is crazy, we will use him. Finally, this evening, we discovered one of the downspouts they installed was leaking at its connection to the storm drain pipe. I think we'll fix it ourselves. We paid the House Doctors invoice in full, but we trust ourselves more than we'll ever trust them to get the job right. Sorry, Mike. You were fine, but you weren't the guy doing the job, and the guys doing it....well, did they ever do a gutter job before? We can't recall having to write a poor review before, and it's a sad event. Just glad we're not school teachers who would have a heck of a time giving a child anything other than a great grade.

Electrician (Rod) made two visits- to determine needed repairs and parts and returned to complete job.

I did not hire them because they never called me back. Apparently they are not looking for new business.

I called twice over a period of 3 days. I left messages, but no one returned my calls.

They did a very thorough job and I was extremely satisfied with the work they did. If I need someone again to clean, I will be calling them.

I selected the House Doctors through the purchase of a Angie's List 'Big Deal'. I found them to very responsive. I had several small jobs that were indidually not worthy of calling for help. But I couldn't and hadn't done them. They calculated a rate based on time, it was very fair. When they were quoting the job I had intended to use the coupon for I mentioned a few other projects that my husband and I had talked about. My husband wanted to have a desk torn out, so they did that, repaired and painted the wall. They replaced 2 juvenile ceiling fans in our teen boys rooms and installed one in an additional room. They also installed these really great lights inside and outside of our 2 long hallway closets. Allowing us to have a lot of light in the closet and uniformity of color. The quote was on Thursday, they showed up on Tuesday and sent one man back to finish up on Thursday. I was very pleased.

They were amazing! Not only did they do a deep cleaning, but the organized each room, putting away toys and cleaning up any clutter. Theyvwere kind, thoughtful, cheerful and, above all, very excellent at cleaning.

I emailed the company to get an estimate. I rec'd an email from them asking me to call them. I called and left a message, but never heard back from them. I called a second time a week later and was able to schedule a time for them to come out to do the work. They didn't provide me with an estimate. The handymen were supposed to arrive between noon and 1:30pm. I called at 10am to reschedule due to a scheduling conflict. I left a voice mail, but got no response. At 10:30am, two men showed up at my house. Since they were already there, I showed them what work needed to be done. They installed a bifold door, but I asked them not to install the knob. Not only did they install the knob, but they installed it in the wrong location. Now the door won't open. They were supposed to install a window A/C unit, two cornice boxes, and a wall coat rack as well. They left after being at the house for less than an hour, and said they would call me to let me know when they would be back to finish the work. I never heard back from them or the company until almost two weeks later when I received a bill in the mail for ALL OF THE WORK that they didn't do. Resolving the bill was a little complicated since the owner didn't know anything about the invoice when I called. Another person called me back, and the bill was amicably resolved. Based on their poor communication and less than stellar work, I will not do business with them again. They were friendly, but not professional.

On Sunday August 21,2011, I searched a few roofing companies before deciding to call The House Doctors. Mr. Bob Vecchio returned my call the very same day infact in a matter of hours. We discussed the proplem i had was assured by Bob that someone would call if not Sunday the 21 then on Monday the 22nd. I left my sister's phone number with Bob no phone call as of yet. Bob was very professional on the phone only problem that doesn't solve the leak in our roof. I made another phone call to the company on Tuesday 23,2011, left a message still no response. Back to the list to find another roofer. Mrs. Debra Abercrumbie

The workman were on-time, courteous and professional. They completed the job as planned and the new garage door looks excellent. I would definitely use them again!

The House Doctor responded quickly to my report that the pilot light on my water heater had gone out and I couldn't get it relit. It was a very quick fix -- he cleaned the underneath of the water heater with a special brush and got it to fire right up. I just can't seem to get the knack of relighting the pilot light. Then, about 10 days later, it blew out again. Although I tried again and again, I could not get it relit. I called The House Doctor again, and he sent the repairman back -- turned out there was a little more dust under the furnace. I never got a bill for the second visit. Which I was expecting. So I think that was very kind of them.

From the time I first called to request an estimate, it took roughly about 2 weeks for me to receive a phone call back. This was after I called 2 additional times and left messages. I do understand this may have been a busy time for repairs. I spoke with Mike who was very friendly and we discussed the work I wanted done. He had someone come out to do any estimate of the work we requested, some of which they were not able to do, nonetheless, a quote was received on the work they were willing to do. Some while afterwards, I received the quote in the mail asking for 1/3 down to begin the work. I mailed in payment and they began work shortly after we returned from vacation, around July 8. Pete came out dropped of the materials and came back a few days later to begin and complete the work. Roofing, repair siding and replace garage window. They did the work but I found that is wasn't done as best as it could be done and I spoke with Mike about it. About 7-10 days later, I met with Mike to discuss what I wanted corrected. They did a poor job on the replacement of the window in the garage, the window had broken glass which I thought replacing the glass would have been the easiest, but instead, they replaced the window with a much smaller window than was originally installed - I probably could have lived with that, but the quality of the work was unacceptable (see pictures) I've got gaps in the siding around the frame where water can get in, a big brown nail in the siding which was only nailed there because they replaced my larger window with a smaller window and had to construct a frame - not sure why they didn't just install the same size window or just replace the glass, however, Mike assured me he would come back and take care of cleaning up the window and do a better job with the make shift framing by "making it right". We then went into the garage where I proceeded to show him the big hole in the newly repaired garage where new wood should have been installed but was not, so instead, you see clear through to the metal material on the roof (see pictures), again, Mike assured me, he'd "make it right" and take care of that, because, it should have been taken care of from start - that was one of the items on the list of repairs. Then we moved on to the siding that was still flapping in the wind on both sides where it was secured, yet again, Mike assured me he'd have it taken care of. So on Mike's word and good faith, I paid the balance of what was owed and on the promise that Mike would "make it right" - I even had him give me a quote me on some other work, but insisted, my goal was to get what he started complete and to satisfaction. That was a Thursday 7/28; Mike said I'd hear from him on Monday 8/1. Be that as it may, Monday came and went - at this point, I've reached the end of my patience. I made several calls to all of the numbers listed and left messages and finally about 5 days later, Mike calls me back on a Sunday around 5 p.m. with apologies that he was out of town and he told Bob, the owner; if I called to let me know he'd be in touch, etc. - that didn't go as planned. At this point, I really just want the House Doctors to finish the work they started and that I've paid for. After I spoke with Mike, later that evening on Sunday 8/7, Pete calls and tells me he'll be out on Friday 8/12 to fix the siding around 4:30 closer to 5:30 p.m. at 7:30 p.m. there's no heads or tails of Pete, no phone call, no nothing. I immediately call Mike to let him know he needs to call me when he gets the message I left him because he's really trying my patience and taking my kindness for weakness. I have yet to hear back from him. At this point, all I wanted was for The House Doctors to refund the amount that it would take to have someone else come in to complete the job they were paid to do and just be done with this nightmare. I suspect if I had withheld payment until the work was complete to my satisfaction, the work may be have expedited much faster. Well they finally returned, there was no call to inform me they were coming. One person came out on Monday 8/15 and one on Tuesday. They repaired the siding on the roof again. They added the wood in the garage so I no longer see the metal part of the garage roof. The added some more caulking to the garage window that now today I discover, only stays up because when you lift it it's crooked, but as long as you lift it straight up, it falls straight back down. There was no adjustment made to the opening around the outside of the window that allows for rain and snow to potentially cause damage down the line. I now have to pay someone else to come in and install the right size window correctly. I would like a refund for the charge for improperly installing the window in my garage as the quality of the installation is unacceptable. I considered not submitting a report but felt my experience should be shared with others. While my experience may not be your experience, it happened nonetheless. UPDATE as of 9/10/11: Shortly after my original post, Mike Vechicco contacted me to discuss my concerns. He agreed he would come out and measure my garage window the following Monday, order a new customized window and contact me again in a few weeks when the window was delivered. Mike contacted me on Thursday 9/8 to let me know the window was in and he'd like to install on Friday. Mike and his team arrived in the afternoon and spent a great deal of time making certain the window was installed correctly. The results of the installation met my satisfaction - Mike showed me the finished window, raising, lowering, removing screen, etc. Mike honored his word, returned and closely monitored and labored to do a great job on the window. While I can't update the overall experience grade to an A or B, I can say this contractor acknowledged there was a problem and worked to correct and resolve the problem to the customer's satisfaction. Additionally, the hole in the garage roof was repaired as promised and ruste nails on one side of the how was replaced with galvinized screws. Pictures are attached of the finished window and work in the garage.

I tried to contact The House Doctors to repair my deck and complete some other handyman work. I first left a phone message on August 2, 2011, waited 48 hours, and then followed up with an email message through Angie's List on August 4. It is now August 9, and I have yet to hear from them. After reading such great reviews, I was looking forward to working with this company, and am very disappointed by their non-response. UPDATE: Once Bob V. replied to my initial report, I re-contacted The House Doctors on August 15. Bob quickly responded, and his son, Mike, called me on August 18 with a quote to replace the decking and sister a couple of the joists (I don't know how many). The initial quote was for $3800. This was much higher than I had expected, and I asked Mike to provide a quote taking out the cost of materials and the cost of pulling out the old deck boards. The second quote was for $2600, also much higher than I had expected. I opted not to go with The House Doctors. I received a quote from another company to replace the decking boards and re-bolt the joists and rails for $1700--materials included.