Altruistic Home Repair/Remodel

Could not have gone better!!

All details of initial contact and bid quotation were very professional. His bid was simply too high. Would go to him for bid on another occasion.

They were really good. They did a good job.

Al and his guys are the best. They showed up on time, kept to the budget and did great quality work. There were one or two issues after day one and Al made it right. THAT to me is the sign of a professional, addressing the small concerns of a client and doing the job to their satisfaction. Al and gang have a loyal customer for life!

Al is an absolute Godsend. I've been a homeowner for only a month and someone kicked in my back door on a Tuesday afternoon. I made an appointment with a 24 hour door replacement company and was under the impression they'd fix my door right away. However, when he gave an estimate the next morning he said it'd be at least a week! My door was only nailed shut with two boards and I couldn't wait that long. I found Al here on Angie's list and gave him a call. He said he could have someone out that afternoon which was AMAZING. I was also able to save money by picking up the materials myself at Home Depot. Al and I sat on the phone while looking at Lowe's and Home Depot online to make sure they had the right door in stock. He was knowledgeable without even looking at my door and told me exactly what I needed; he even knew the measurements just by knowing it was a right-handed door! Paul arrived at my house within an hour to do the work. He looked at the area and gave me a list of extra things to pick up just in case they were needed (they weren't which is great). He confirmed the type of door I needed and removed my old one while I was picking up the new one. He installed a stronger strike plate and installed 4" screws to make the door harder to kick in (that I purchased separately). Afterwards, he swept the area and helped move my wine hutch back into place. I'm VERY pleased with my door selection, installation experience, and quality of work. The estimate Al gave me was spot on when he easily could have charged an emergency fee or not trusted me to pick up the materials myself. This wasn't a situaion that I could afford to shop around and I'm so thankful I didn't need to. I highly recommend this company!

There was some damage done a home that was having some attic work done. Some sheetrock had accidentally been stepped on and caused a "spider web" type cracking. Al The Handyman answered our call and was able to come out that day. Everything went great at the beginning. The person answering the phone was great. She was prompt and respectful and a pleasure to work with. Paige, the person actually doing the repair, came out that day. She cut out the damaged part and replaced it with new. I was expecting her to have to come back another day to do the texture and painting, to allow the time for the mud to dry. Instead of 1 more visit, it became 2 more visits. We were...okay with that. The problem that we had with this company was when it came time to financially settle up. We have had numerous other sheetrock repairs done in the past, ranging anywhere from $200-$350. Al the Handyman told us that for this simple sheetrock repair that it was going to cost us....(drumroll please) $952.00!!!! The fact that I have had numerous drywall repairs done, this price made me gasp for air, or left me waiting for the punchline that never came. I had suggested to the person answering the phone know that this was extremely high for this type of work, and she agreed and let me know that she was going to speak with Al himself and get back with me. She called me the next day and said that Al had agreed to bring the price down to $750! This, obviously was still extremely high. I finally asked to speak with Al. He got on the phone, and I plead my case to him, and he agreed that it was high. He told me that he charges $70/hr, and I knew this from the beginning and was fine with it since I have had this type of work performed in the past countless times and knew that the man hours would be roughly 4-5 hours. But when he said that the drywaller took 11 hours to complete the work, that is when I knew that I was being taken advantage of. When I told him that this price is still completely outrageous, and that I will pay it but I was definitely going to be letting Angie's List aware of my experience with his company, he became belligerent and began to raise his voice at me. I was done at this point. The simple fact is that he probably has gotten away with this pricing in the past because his clients were simply in the dark on what the competitive pricing actually is. And that is why I am giving this report. I have no problem paying someone for a job well done. I actually enjoy paying a little extra when a job is done well. But to be forced to pay extra for a job that does not balance out with the cost is when I feel others should know what tricks said company is up to. My thoughts on this, and the reason I am writing this report is because I envision my parents, which are elderly and are not as informed as to when someone may be taking advantage of them. Al the Handyman is charging an extremely ridiculous amount of money for the type of work he is performing. If you are in the need for drywall repair, please shop around, and get other bids. Especially if Al the Handyman is one of those companies.

I found him through Angie’s List. It was a good price and he did a good job. He charged $55 in labor. It kind of complicated, because he had to cut into the wall. It came out really nice. I have not had problems with other animals coming in. we liked him so much for the doggie door, we had him come back and put in a commode. Carpentry is definitely his thing. I think the commode was a little bit harder. Somewhere along the way, it developed a crack and it began to leak. Then the commode had to be pulled and then shipped back to the manufacturer and then we did not see him again after that. I cannot really rate that job because he did not finish it. He did a really good job on the doggie door and I would use him again for carpentry work.

We had to call Al on the day he said he would show up to give an estimate. He had over-scheduled. But as soon as he arrived, everything went very well. His crew arrived later when he promised they would, and the work was completed efficiently and cleanly.

After a missed appointment that he apologized for, Al came out to review the work and to give me an estimate in a day or two. There was some sort of mix up and the estimate did not arrive. After a week I gave up. However, Al realized something was amiss, rectified the situation and even called to follow up to make sure the estimate was received for review. I appreciated the extra effort!

It was a good experience. He came in and took care of business, which is very clean, timely and very efficient. I would use them again.

The first set of guys he sent out where great. Unfortunately, he pulled them right away and sent a different guy. On his first day he hung a door backwards and left blood all over it. Another door he hung the same day was hung leaving about a half inch gap at the threshold, the hardware put on crooked and a gouge taken out of the door. I called Al and asked that he not send this guy anymore, that we did not want to pay for such poor attention to detail. Al offers excellent customer service and had the guy rehang the door, straighten the hardware and fill the gauge but refused to replace the guy. To this day, when we step on the threshold, it bends because it was not built up properly. Problems with this same guy continued. Other workers on site complained about him, saying he was rude and disrespectful to everyone, and spoke badly about me when I was off site. His work was also poor. Drywall work was not flush, corners were far from 90 degree angles and his application of texture was terribly inconsistent. One area of ceiling just fell down because it was applied so thick, while other areas don't have enough - you can see his spray pattern. He refused to work around anyone else's schedules, so much so that he walked into a tiny bathroom that was being tiled and blew texture even though there was a mason in there. The mason nearly walked off the job. One of our biggest issues was that Al brought in day laborers. We could have done that ourselves. We did not hire and pay top dollar for day laborers. Again, Al offers excellent customer service. In the end walked through and agreed on the problems with the work and finally sent a different guy out to fix them. The fixes were far from perfect but we were fed up and stop trying.

I tried to do this work myself, but couldn't get the old boards off. Al came out to give me an estimate. He estimated the job based on 12 feet and no painting, and then I also had him price out fixing a door jam, too, since it also was rotting. Al and I figured out a good day, scheduled it, and the guy arrived as scheduled. This was one of Al's handy people. He was super nice, and did a great job. In fact, the guy really wanted to make sure everything lasted a long time and was really nice, so he spackled the nail holes, painted the boards so they'd be more weather resistant (even though I'd told them I would paint it), he used some of the wood I happened to have to fix about 16 feet instead of the 12, and talked to me about other things I could do myself to make sure my house was in great shape. After all of that, he still stuck to the original quote. Pretty awesome!

The experience with Al The Handyman was as good as I had hoped. They were competent and very skilled and professional but what they ended up doing for the 4 hours is not what I had expected. I never get satisfied why I get from hourly deals because there is a little bit of complication in what you get for 4 hours. I wasn't sure I got our money's worth for 4 hours. I thought we were going to get more done with that amount of money, I thought they were too expensive.

Great job. Arrived when they said they would, finished the job quickly. Hauled off my old doors ! Overall excellent.

It wascompleted perfect. As promised.

Al was referred to me by AGS Granite who was installing granite counter tops in my home. I needed someone to remove and install a new back splash and AGS referred Al. Turns out Al does much more than tile work. I also needed some new appliances installed and Al was able to take care of it for me. Al was very knowledgeable and punctual. Except for a couple of minor things I am very pleased with Al's work.

The first installation was not to my satisfaction. I had to call him back in. They came in, and it was one of his crews. The first thing I told them was that because of the size of the tub we're gonna have to shim out the hardy plank, or hardy board and he didn't do that. Basically he did not follow my instructions when he first got here. He also did not think through some of the ramifications of some of the choices he made while he was installing the tub. By the time he got the tub done I ended up with a jerry rigged overflow drain and the plumbing no longer lined up with the drain. So the tub was all hooked up but the shower head was offset from the drain. The shower head and handles. I ended up calling and Al himself is fabulous. I have no doubt that Al will always make it right. The bottom line is I believe Al will do it right. It did take them coming back and spending some extra time. My overall experience was good enough.

This is more of a testament to Al's honesty and timeliness. While I was at work, a tenant at our rent house backed into one of the posts that support the car port. The tenant sent pictures of the incident to me, and I decided to wait and repair it the following day, when I would be off of work. However, my wife was overly concerned that we needed to fix the post immediately, so I called up Al and asked him to go by the house and check it out. The post just needed to be set back in place, but he could have told me it was snapped or that it needed to be repaired and I would have been none the wiser. He fixed the post and I sent him a check.

I called Al and he answered the phone and came out same day to provide a quote. I called another vendor for comparison and he would not come out to give me a quote because he said that it's not worth his time. This solidified my choice to select Al. Al sent the bid right away (later the evening on the same day he came out for the bide) and he was able to schedule the work immediately. I had them repair our fence that had fallen over, install a dimmer and repair and paint numerous drywall cracks as a result of having had foundation leveling done. His crew was on time and very professional. They called in advance to let me know that they were on their way. They were always on time. I was extremely impressed with Al's professionalism and level of service. He runs a very tight machine. I highly recommend him!

I called Al on March 6, and he came right over and gave us an estimate on the work I needed done. I had two doors replaced (one interior, one exterior), and had a sliding glass patio door replaced with French doors. All the work was done over a two-day period. Everything looks great, and they did all the clean-up and hauled off the old doors. I couldn't be happier with Al and his crew. Top notch service, very professional and easy to work with. I'll definitely be calling Al for future home improvement projects.

Overall went very well. Al is a man of his word and addressed all of my concerns effectively.

i live in Dallas and this project was for my son and daughter-in-law's home in Austin. They were expecting their first child and wanted to prepare a nursery. They explained to me what they wanted. I contacted Al and explained to him over the phone what I wanted done and that I would not be there but my son would if he should have any questions. All contacted them and showed up on time and assessed the project and gave me a price. Al showed up a couple of days later and completed the chair rail part of the project but wasn't happy with the door and wanted to return to his shop and make some adjustments. Al returned the following week and installed the door. My son commented on how easy Al was to work with and that he was very happy with the results of the project and that it was better than they had visioned. I think it speaks volumes about Al and his professionalism that I could communicate a project over the phone and he preformed the work that exceeded expectations.

Went well. Easy to schedule and payment processing, etc.

It was a good experience. Absolutely no complaints. Reasonably priced and professional.

Superior work. I can be a little picky, but I think the guys doing the work were even moreso. I was so happy with it all.