OnCall Home Services

Called for a consultation/estimation, guy came out, showed him what I wanted (rails up the stairs, wife had surgery recently, and needed railings). Two short flights and a landing (5 rails total). Stairwell is one of these modern ones that has a flat surface on top and drywalled walls. Consultant they sent told me what it would cost, and what would be needed to be done. We agreed to a price, and they arranged someone to come out and work on it. Installer who arrived was personable, polite, and had a polite trainee with him. Unfortunately, the guy who wrote up the work order didn't really put a lot of thought into it, didn't give the right specs, and didn't realize what exactly the job entailed. I count on the people who I hire to know this, if I was an expert in home modification, I wouldn't hire people to do it. :) First off, the guy who spec'd the job had 2 mounting brackets for each 7 foot rail. You can't hold 7 foot rails on with 2 railing holders, not without the 7 foot rail bouncing up and down as you put weight on it. I have a disabled wife, and she needs something solid, not something that gives with each step. So the installer (who was, again, nice and seemed fairly competent) got on the phone, and they upped the price to go buy more parts. Then he had to install the rails using 300lb drywall mounts. It's been about 6-8 weeks, and the rails are already starting to shimmy as you walk up, because the drywall mounts are wriggling. I figure the rails will last about a year before I have to replace them. Looking back on it, the guy who spec'd it out, is to me, the issue. He apparently didn't know how to do rails, and gave a bad price and bad design to the installer. If I had it to do over again, I now know what I'd do. I'd put up an half-inch plank with a rounded edge up each side of the stairway, bolted to the two-by-fours in the wall wherever they are. Then I'd bolt the railing to that plank at the equal-distant points they need to be bolted in at, rather than in the drywall on drywall mounts. I'm giving the ratings I'm giving because they responded quickly, worked in a kind of remote area, and the installer seemed competent and did a good job with what he had to work with. I didn't give a better rating because the initial consultation should have pointed out to me the need for a mounting plate, and should never have spec'd a job to have a 7 foot long rail mounted on only two brackets (especially not a 1.5 inch thick hand rail). Next time, I will ask the contractor representative who specs the job what he thinks the installer will need and buy my own supplies, so I know there are enough supplies and the right type, rather than having my bill go up at the last minute due to bad design on his part.

They were all installed properly with no issues.

It went very well. Jason arrived on time and got to work. We had old weather stripping nailed to the trim. He removed it and installed the new hardware. The doors look great.

John did a fantastic job, and as soon as our new part is in, we will have him back! OnCall was easy to work with and I'll be using them a whole bunch more! thanks John!

Excellent and professional service

It went okay. The guy that we talked to gave me a lot of good ideas and unfortunately we had a big flood out here so I am trying to do repairs here so we didn't pull through after he gave us his consultation. The consultation was good, he had some good ideas and I would appreciate if that worked out. They came out at the beginning of May. He didn't charge anything more than the $49. He came to the house, looked at the kitchen and discussed with us what we were thinking about and I was pleased with him immediately. He said we would remodel with what we've already got which I appreciated very much. It was a good exchange, we threw around a lot of ideas. I would use them again in the future.

It went well. He arrived on time. He was ready, eager to help and gracious. He was not perfect, I had the work tools and he got it done. I really had trouble scheduling these guys- they were booked two weeks ahead which is a good sign when they are booked like that. If you want real fast service, better call them directly. I was trying to reschedule with them but I am waiting for an inspection on my home-my house is sold. On the contract, I am waiting for the inspection report so I can finish what we started.

Very pleasant to work with, called when on the way to give an estimated time of arrival, I had a laundry list of things I needed done, I asked him to do the electrical work first and if he could get to anything else we would do that after the electrical because I am deathly afraid of electricity. I had no idea what was involved with changing out sockets and light switches. He was very quick and managed to get all the electrical work listed above within the 4 hours.

So first off let me say that everyone we worked with was nice. While we am extremely unhappy with the results of there work and fired them for multiple quality and organizational issues, we don't think any of it was intentional just beyond there skillset ( granted having a deal to redesign and install a bathroom, you better know how to install a bathroom!).. The initial bid was good, and having had other bids we felt comfortable with.. We also liked the PM that came out to look at the work (and were under the impression he would be managing the job). After a few emails back and forth we settled on us doing the plumbing work, but that One Call would handle everything else... We even liked the PM so much that we "bough" another deal for 40 hours of general Handyman labor. Once the project started we got a different PM and while a nice guys seemed to be constantly rushing, never taking notes, and only listening enough to create a mental highlights real ( however, the devil is always in the details). Initially the handyman team worked hard and got some good demo work done and started on some of the frame-out work. There were 3 people on the team and they all worked about a total of 3 to 4 hours on the first day. They came back the next day providing another 4 or 5 hours of work with a fair number of breaks. When inspecting the work there were multiple small quality issues that we ended up addressing on our own. This pattern continued with several significant framing errors, that while looked fine would have been pretty gnarly had we not noticed them. At the end of the week they had done about 85% of the framing of one project, and about 5% of the framing on the other ( during initial conversations with the PM we had been assured they could do both 100% in the time frame).. Over that weekend my wife and I completed the frame out of both closets on our own in about 6 hours of work (2 people + baby = maybe 8 actual man hours of work).. With this we talked with One Call about the performance of the initial team, and that fail on def ears. They just didn't respond to the concerns. (though we were rather confused how we could do something in 6 hours that two people could only do 5% of in multiple days). The new guy that came out to complete the 40 hours of initial work was nice enough, though he was not given any more framing work, he hung 3 doors... In the end, OneCall was going to charge us for an extra 2 hours of work despite our concerns on performance... (often times it felt like everyone said it was someone elses decision, and they would just avoid the conflit rather than resolve it)... When it came to the bathroom, we must have gone over the project 5 times with the PM, each time it was like talking to him anew... On the final day before we fired them, he gave his crew the wrong information as to who was responsible for buying materials, did not provide them with the right measurements for installing the wonder-board (it goes about 6" to far on the wall) and finally the team did not install the wonder-board on the floor correctly by not mortaring/thin-setting it down to the plywood subfloor ( which was just gross negligence given that the instructions were printed on each board on a big green sticker that repeated over and over again AND my wife had reminded them to get thin-set before heading off for supplies). My wife and I are quite capable home improvers, we hired this team to save us time because with a baby its very hard to get this work done ourselves... However, in the end we spent just as much time double checking their work, fixing there mistakes, and managing the project that the PM was not managing well himself that we felt it would be less effort for us to complete the work ourselves. I am sure if the project is of the right size (say a day or two of work) that this team would be great.. However, a bathroom remodel and the frame out and drywalling of two closets was a bridge too far for this team.. Which makes me kind of sad because again, they are nice people.. I don't think any of it was malicious, just beyond there skill level.

John was great. He was early, professional, did a few extra things that I didnt list, and finished in time. Would recommend and use again.

The initial meeting to measure my kitchen went well. Then they went silent. When I called a few weeks later asking what was the status, they explained they had just moved offices and changed computers. I had fallen through the cracks and my project was not being followed up on. I re-engaged and said lets move forward. They did provide me with the contact for cabinets and the contractor was very responsive to come out, take measurements, discuss options, and leave me some literature about what cabinets they have available. Then again, silence. I finally called them after a few more weeks. They did send me the drawings and estimates. They did complete the job. But I felt I was dropped several times. So, my issues are not they they had a problem or the quality of the work. But once they knew that I had been dropped, they did not put in the little bit of extra effort to prevent it from happening again. ********************* Update - The owner did call me after my review. The fact he did call me and wanted to know what he could do to fix this caused me to raise my overall rating to a C.

John did a good job on the plaster. He had excellent advise and actually probably saved us some money- because we didn't need as much repair as we thought.

Fast, professional and tidy. I have used this provider twice since purchasing the original Deal of the Day and will use them in the future.

Great work. Would use these guys again.

Came on time, did exactly what i told him todo. No problems

Provider was early, which was good. The weather was very cold and there was no heat in the detached garage, so I brought a small portable heater and later brought hot chocolate. He worked for two hours, I paid for three. I did feel sorry for him because it was so cold. The repair job was poor. The ceiling was not repaired in all areas. Clean-up was sloppy with pieces of old dry wall still on the floor. I called the company about six weeks later ... it took so long due to personal problems in my life. I explained that I was not happy with the job and was told that I would be charged for them to come out and fix it. I have since had someone else repair the dry wall repair.

I thought this deal was too good to be true, but I purchased the Handyman for a Day coupon from OnCall Home Services and decided to give it a go. Scheduling was easy and John, the handyman, arrived on time. He did everything on my list and then some! He was friendly, efficient, and neat. We had extra time, so he even helped me start painting my closet doors! I highly recommend OnCall Home Services!

They weren't very good. I think they came out shortly after we moved in to our new house. It just seemed like they were inexperienced and young. They didn't really know what they were doing. I wish we could've gotten some of our money back because they didn't even finish what we had them there. My husband did let him finish because he didn't want them to do shoddy work. They did them but they weren't very well placed or installed. They were only working for us for four hours and so it was for us that they helped him hang the TV. Everything was just not professional and not very well done. Another thing is that the cabinets were too thick for the screws that would fit on our cabinets, for some of them, not all of them, then they said they would go to Home Depot and get the right ones. They were actually gone kind of a little bit of awhile within their four time frame. They came back and they again had the wrong screws. Then they just finished what they could. It was rushed because of the four hour time limit We didn't want to pay any extra. Now, I have to be honest, we became Angie's List members but I kind of have not ever wanting to use anybody else from Angie's List due to that experience. For the service we ended up getting, I think we paid too much. It seemed like they were young and unprofessional. They were not very communicative. They were smoking outside. They were ready to go. They were on time.

We had John Nockle (sp?) as our handyman and he was timely, professional and eager to assist in many areas - I had to work to come up with more jobs as he was so efficient and such a hard worker. I would highly recommend this company and John in particular for any handy man needs.

He brought his crew and they set to work and it appeared to be complete - replacing rotted wood on the sides of my home. When the painting crew arrived and began their work, they found a few areas that still contained rotted wood; one very large in the back, and reported that to me. I called the foreman and he responded immediately; going over the areas with the Painters, sent his crew the next day and they worked for two more days replacing rotted wood; and did not ask for any further or additional payment. I was impressed with the entire crew and felt this honesty in doing business and remediation of the missed rotted sections was very professional. I would definitely use them again and have already recommended them to my son should he have a need for these kinds of services, and will recommend them to anyone needed their services.

Good. Instructions were unclear in terms what material was needed from our hand but once we met the contractor, everything went very well

Deal must be purchased through Angie's List to be eligible for discountNot valid for cash backDeal cannot be combined with other specials or offersDeal cannot be applied to current or past jobsDeal is for residential service onlyAppointments are to be performed during normal business hoursStandard cancellation policies apply Limit two deals per householdStandard cancellation policy applies; Any scheduled appointments cancelled within 48 hours will result in a $50 cancellation fee paid to the provider Work beyond two hours will not be undertaken without homeowner approval Second story outdoor work is not included in this offerDeal is for two consecutive hours; all hours must be used in one visitAdditional time can be purchased at an additional $75/hourDeal is labor only, materials not readily available please contact provider for special requestsTime gathering materials is billable to the allotted purchase time30-Day Refund Guarantee Promotional value expires six from date of purchase; paid value does not expire

He did a pretty good job. He was right on time. He wasn't so happy in the beginning when he saw all the work he had to do, but he got it all done within the three hour work frame. I would recommend him.

Showed up on time, was very professional and did a great job!

Once he got here it was fine...he was late due to wife's car trouble...