Jim Engler's Homework LLC

Excellent. Jim took time to explain what and why work needed to be performed. On a previous occasion, he performed plumbing work. Due to the quality of work and his professionalism, he was the first person I requested to do the work. Would not hesitate to call him again.

It didn't they were too busy to do the work

Be careful if hiring for gas work. Jim ran flexible gas line through the floor. A code violation. We called the gas company after smelling gas. Todd responded from East Ohio. He immediately shut the gas off. We called Jim back. He responded and reinstalled steel gas pipe. Todd from East Ohio returned and still found every gas joint behind the stove and in the basement leaking. Thankfully, Todd was able to repair all the leaks.

Jim got here about an hour later than estimated but was very friendly and cordial. Since some of the electrical repairs needed were outside he advised me that they would need to be started soon before the ground froze. I waited almost 2 weeks and did not get an estimate from him, so I called his company. His wife/receptionist said they hadn't sent me an estimate because they didn't know if I wanted to spend that much money. When I asked how would they know if they didn't ask me, she told me it could be around $5000. Since they didn't know if I wanted to spend that much, they hadn't bothered to send me an estimate. I told her I'd received previous estimates in the $4000-$4500 range, so they weren't too far out. I again asked why they wouldn't at least ask me/send me an estimate. She then got snotty and said they never promised next-day service. I told her I wasn't expecting that, but it had been 10 days-2 weeks since Jim had been out here. A week later she left me a phone message: the estimate was $10,000 by that time. By the way, I got the repairs done by another electrician for $4000.

Front faucet still leaked after the service call until I purchased a brass connection at the hardware store and fixed it myself. He fixed the back faucet and it is fine. That July service call was my first occasion to use him and he was excellent. Subsequently I have called him re: several other needed repairs, but he has not returned my calls so that would be an F. If he did not want the job, a professional response would have been to call and say he was too busy or not interested in the job . I hesitate to give him a B for responsiveness as the initial contact was very prompt, but subsequent calls for service have not been answered so customer service now would be an F. Initial report date was July 15th. This report date is October 1, 2014

Work was completed to my satisfaction while I was out of town and approved by the city inspector.

Mr. Engler arrived at the agreed time; inspected the lamps and vacuum cleaner; provided an estimate, took one lamp and the vacuum with him to work on in his home workshop and returned them in good and repaired condition in a timely manner. He repaired one lamp in our home after acquiring the necessary switch.

Due to some poor decisions by another contractor, we ran into an emergency situation with a hot water heater. Contrary to another review, the staff was incredibly responsive and put our minds at ease throughout the entire process. While it was after hours, they assessed it as a potentially dangerous situation and came out right away. It wasn't until the repair option appeared to not hold up that a replacement was discussed. It was worth the expense and I'd certainly recommend Jim Engler's Homework to others.

Porch upstairs is falling away from the house. Uprights not the right size. DO NOT USE. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. WIFE LAURA IS RUDE, UNPROFESSIONAL AND DOES NOT TAKE DETAILS OF COMPLAINT DOWN. SHE WILL TALK OVER YOU AND BASICALLY BLOW YOU OFF.

Several days ago whenever I would turn on the dimmer switch in the bathroom, it would make a crackling and popping noise. This concerned me so I contacted Jim Engler's Homework Home Improvement LLC. When I explained the situation to Mr. Engler's wife, she was very concerned. She said that it could affect the electrical line leading from the switch and could possibly cause an electrical fire. She immediately contacted Mr. Engler, who was finishing up another project, and he was at my home within a half hour. After thoroughly inspecting the area, he indicated that the switch was faulty and that there was a loose wire within the wall, causing a bad connection. Within a half hour, the situation was corrected. Afterwards, I asked him to look at the breaker box in the basement, which was quite old and not up to today's code standards. Even though he had a busy schedule, he took the time to look at it. He inspected it thoroughly and gave his recommendations as to what I should do. I plan on hiring Mr. Engler this spring to install a new breaker box.

I initiated contact with Homework before Hurricane Sandy. I think it took 2 phone calls/messages left to get the first call back from his wife in the office to set up the free estimate. Bad timing, we scheduled the free estimate on a day that the hurricane hit Cleveland. The consultation had to be pushed back 2 days until we and Homework had our power restored. Jim was friendly enough, and I was sure that we wanted to work with him. He gave a quick scan of what the project entailed and said he would prepare an estimate and get back to us. He also saw that we were going to be doing new flooring and a tile backsplash. He asked if we wanted his help with those projects too. We said "maybe" once we reexamined our budget and knew how moving the cabinets was going to go. Jim never got back to us with the estimate. I left 4 voicemails at the office and never received a return contact. I was really disappointed because I really wanted to work with him. But I couldn't spend weeks begging him to come do the work for us. I'm assuming the project was "too small" that he just didn't have time to help us in the aftermath of the storm, but that would have been nice to know at the time.

I was surprised that Jim never came back, never called with an estimate, and forgot all about me and my job. I have to hire someone else to do the work, which is too bad since I would have liked to have given him the business.

I contacted the office and had a long discussion regarding my needs. Laura made me feel very comfortable with the company and their expertise and took the time to answer all of my questions. She tried to be honest about their work ethic, scheduling and how their process worked. She was able to send Jim over to meet me to look at the job at a time that worked for myself and my tenants, although it was fairly short notice. Jim was courteous and professional and answered all of my questions to my satisfaction. I wanted to hire him for the job, but I was waiting to recieve the estimate. Laura did not commit to a time when I should expect it, but I called to check in after a week and then again a few weeks later. Hurricane Sandy had hit in between this time frame and caused issues for a lot of people including their office, and that was part of the reason attributed to the delay. Every time I called, Laura was nice but non commital and I never recived a quote or a call from the company. The job I needed done had been pending for many months and I could not wait any longer so I had to move forward with other options. I got the impression that Jim knows what he's doing and would do a quality job. I also got the impression that they do not really like to "quote" jobs because their are a lot of variables involved and Jim wants to do it the right way even if it means more than his initial assessment. I was very excited about this company after speaking with Laura and again after meeting Jim, but I was very disappointed that I was not able to get a quote or even a follow up phone call within a reasonable time frame. It was indicated that the company values their long time customers and will put them ahead of others if needed because of those long standing relationships. I think that is a great practice and would personally appreciate that kind of treatment from companies I am loyal to. For my purposes as a potential new customer however, I was disappointed at the lack of communication and a little upset about the time I lost on this job, just waiting.

I called a week a go Friday and spoke to Laura. I set up a appointment with Jim at my rental property for 815am on Monday. Laura said she would call if anything changed. I notified my tenants and showed up at 810am on Monday. Jim was a no show. I called the office twice with no response. after 45 minutes I left. I finally received a call back at noon. Laura said Jim was on another appoinment.No reason was given why no one called.

We were contemplating building a bathroom on the second floor of the house. This required building a bump up and then puttng in plumbing, electrical and finishing work. We wanted to obtain a professional opinion as to wheather the project was possible. Jim was responsive, made time in his schedule pretty quickly and provided his honest thoughts about the project. He was not trying to sell us on anyhing. He did chrge a fee for his visit if i remember correctly....

We have a table lamp that had a faulty switch in need of replacement. Not wanting to ruin the lamp, I checked online for local lamp/appliance repair shops that could do the job for us and came across Homework Home Improvement on Angie's List. I called Homework on Monday afternoon, left a message, and received a call back from them later that day. Early that same evening, Jim Engler came to our house to take a look at the lamp, give us a quote to repair the lamp, and then took the lamp with him back to his shop to repair it. I couldn't believe it, they actually make house calls, and for such a small item. More amazingly, though, Jim brought the repaired lamp back to us the next evening. (Wasn't expecting overnight repair service!) The repaired switch works great, and, obviously, we particularly grateful for the personal service we received. Since Homework does much more than just repairing appliances, we will definitely keep them in mind for future home repair or update projects.

It was a good experience. Jim was prompt (Same day as call), professional and quick. My only reservation was the price, which seemed high.

Jim had to cut the drainpipe at the sink to enable him to auger/snake the pipe. When this didn't work, he had to spend the next couple of hours working in a 4-5 foot crawl space underneath the house where he snaked the clog from there. He did a great job. I appreciated not only his professionalism but also his thoughtfulness and kindness.

This could not have been a better experience in having needed work done on our house. We were pleased with Jim's consultations prior to starting the work, his work ethic while dealing with our projects, and the finished results.

Problem solved. Wall good as new. He came on a Saturday with no notice.

Jim and his wife were very pleasant and professional, however, after receiving a quote, they never called me back. I called three times and left messages each time over the course of three weeks but they never called me back. His wife, very nice and easy to speak to, never called me back even after she told me she would. That is just poor customer service and was the final straw. I've seen some of their work and it's very good so I'm extremely disappointed that they never called me back. I ended up going with someone else and spent almost $5k. Homework missed out on a good project and a decent paycheck. I will never call them back or refer them to anyone else looking for work to be done.

Arrived same day as called. Explained what needed to be done. Had to go out for part. Said repair to pipe only temporary and that the valves would eventually need to be replaced. Everything seems to be fine at this point. No complaint about this relatively simple plumbing job except the charge seems a little steep.

The drain has held despite a lot of wear on the tub. Everything went smoothly.

Jim came out and did an initial assessment to determine how much length would need to be added. He worked well with our siding foreman to come up with a solution. The next day he came out once I was home from work and performed the job. He even stayed late into the evening to let me pick his brain on future projects I have planned. Jim indicated that he doesn't mind working hours that are outside of the traditional work day, which is very convenient when both homeowners work full time.

He was very efficient and low key. There was no pressure to buy something we didn't need. He did a good job.