Hometown Remodeling

I called Hometown Remodelling about repairing two walls in a room where wallpaper removal had damaged the drywall. Spoke with John Heansel. He came over and provided my wife an estimate for scraping the drywall, applying two skim coats and putting an orange-peel texture on the walls. He was very prompt and courteous. He estimated the start date to be 3-4 weeks out. After 3 weeks, I called and he said that it would be another 3 weeks or so. After 6 weeks, I called and he said he would begin work on Tuesday and would call on Monday to confirm. He did not call on Monday, so I called to let him know that we needed notification to arrange time off from work to let his crew in. He said that they would start at 8:00 am on Wednesday. John & his crew did arrive on Wednesday. They wore foot coverings or took off their boots in the house. I asked about how long the job would take and John said that they would be done in one day. At the end of the day, John said that the mud was not drying as fast as expected so they would need to finish on Thursday. There was a bit of mud and dust through the house when they left, but for the most part they cleaned up well. John & his crew arrived on Thursday morning. Unlike the day before, they paid little attention to keeping the house clean. They mixed mud in the front yard and carried it into the house while wearing boots. About mid-morning I mentioned to John that I was getting concerned about the mess, especially on the rugs and carpet which we had just had professionally cleaned. He said that they would do a good clean up. When the work was done they cleaned up and left. John told me that his assistant wasbringing some carpet cleaner and that his crew would clean up, and then he left. His crew finished cleaning and then they left. I had showed John some specific areas of dust and mud to be cleaned, but those areas were not done. I understand that remodeling work can be messy and time-consuming, and that smaller residential jobs may not be their favorites, but I expect professional work from professionals that I hire. While John and his crew worked hard and were courteous, I think that they could have done better. Specifically: better communication - I needed to know when the job would start and how long it would take, but had to call and leave messages to ask for this information. better work - we had agreed that the texturing would be orange-peel. Since the other walls in the room (not needing repair) had a light orange-peel texture, I assumed that the repaired wall would be the same. Instead, a heavy texture was applied that overlapped the lighter texture by about a foot. [why not make the transition at a wall edge?] - the electrical outlets were not completely taped off; I had to chip away the texturing to remount the wall plates. better cleanup - some overspray and mud marks had to be cleaned up after they left, even though I had pointed them out. - some chunks of drywall mud left in the yard. - they dumped their mud pail in the park across the street. [which was cleaned up after I called to complain] Summary: I think that Mr. Heansel seems to be a nice guy that wants to do well for his customers. Had he shown better communication and more attention to detail, I would have given him a much better rating.

Am very happy with them. The did quality work. The workers were there every day, I would recommend them for every remodeling and every roofing.

I'd give him at least a B mark. For what he did, I thought that was a little up there but I'd say it was all right. I got a piece of tile that I think that I'll have him redo and I'm sure he will so I'm pretty well satisfied with the deal. It's B all the way around. I didn't really have a like or a dislike on the guy.

I had a bookcase I had John alter to fit a big tv. He did an awesome job. You cant even tell it was ever altered. He was very professional polite on time for the job and cleaned everything up after he was done. I will definitely have him do other jobs for me in the future.

John Haensel did a great job, his workmenship is fantastic, stayed within prjected costs,finished on time and cleaned up everything. Will use his services again for sure

October, 2012--John and his crew winterized my garage and turned the rafter section into a storage area complete with drop-down steps. The work was done timely and accurately. For what they did, I felt we would have been charged more by any number of other contractors, many of whom would not have done the work nearly as well. The results were fantastic. We had a normal winter, and where water would have frozen before, I now had a workspace that was as toasty as our TV room. It made my home-based business flow much smoother. I should also mention that they worked around the mess we had in our garage with great efficiency. End of May-August, 2011--This is when we were first introduced to John. I had a roofing project started by someone else who left the roof bare except for the tar paper. 1-inch rains had been occurring about 3 times a week through May and a good storm with wind would have removed the paper and destroyed the roof (we didn't know an 18-month drought was just beginning, but that's another story). When I asked a friend, they told me about John. I called him on a Sunday and pleaded my case. He had a number of other jobs that needed to be started, but because I was in a serious predicament and it wouldn't hurt any of his current customers to have him away for a day, he came by on Monday and finished the roofing. We have never seen anything done so quickly and accurately. In one day, one man installed a beautiful roof that still looks brand new. Since the drought seems to have ended, we've had it tested by a few rains and no moisture has gotten through. In spite of the fact that he could have charged me a confiscatory rate, he actually charged me less than I thought it would have been. Later that summer, John did an excellent job at replacing the rotted board that border the roof along the side of the garage with a white plastic board that perfectly matched the paint. He then made us a set of plastic gables that will last forever for the top of our house. They look fantastic and our occasional bat and mouse visits were eliminated (mice were climbing the vines). Summer 2012--My wife is a great gardener and has always wanted window flower boxes. John fabricated some out of a plastic the likes of which he'd used on the gables, however, they were supported with some steel frames that were bolted into the brick of the house. A grown man (maybe 2) could stand on them without them falling or tearing away and more importantly, my wife and all the neighbors absolutely love them. The cost of these was about what we'd have paid for some of the nice prefabs, which are of no better quality than John's and we still would have had to install them ourselves. SUMMARY: In John, we feel we have finally found our one go-to contractor who can make or fix just about anything that can be made or fixed. Both my wife and I frequently recommend him. Joe H.

Good communication with job status. We were consulted whenever questions arose regarding our preferences. We were free to inquire at anytime day or evening with any questions we had. Work progressed according to schedule. As the job took place within our living quarters, the area was fully cleaned prior to each day's quitting time.