American Handy Man

horrible workmanship. unprofessional staff. law suit pending

He was a very easy person to talk to and can gain your confidence easily with his down home "buddy" speak. He did perform services to repair all of those things. He assured me that he was securing the sub-floor down so securely that i'd never hear another creek again! And that one of his crew was a drywall tape-bedding expert! HIs crew was just as friendly. But as time went on his crew would get to the job site in a less timely manner. The job was taking longer than estimated (again being paid hourly). They nailed my daughters cat into the upstairs floor. Came home one evening and heard her cat meowing above my head. After searching for her, we realized she had been nailed into the upstairs floor space. I must say however that when I called him around 8:30 pm and explained the situation, him and another of his crew came right over and got her out. But I wonder how a cat would have hung around much less have investigated the area in the first place with all that loud hammering going on. After a week he presented me with a $6,500 detailed bill. I was taken aback by the bill and much still needed to be done. It was incongruent with what we had discussed. I paid the bill. The next day his crew sowed up late. They worked for roughly 15-20 minutes then took a coffee and smoke break. I had had enough. I called Marty and said we need to talk about how much this is costing and about his crew. That was the last I heard from Marty. I had not fired him. But he knew the jig was up. The crew disappeared and I never got copies of the detailed bill he asked me to initial. I called a few times requesting a copy. Nothing to this day. Needless to say the work was useless. The header he said was twisted, was in fact not twisted, the problem was that the foundation was sliding. I have since repaired that issue which then stopped the crackes in the first floor ceiling from getting wider. The tape bed jobs around the house began to blister/buckle shortly after they left, even on the side of the house that was not affected by the foundation slide. All of that has been repaired at additional cost. The bay window continued to leak. The problem was later determined to be the copper flashing not caulking. The other window which leaked and had rotten wood continued to have problems. Marty did replace the window casing with hardy board but did not address the leaking from improperly secured flashing or the rotten wood down by the foundation. This was all readdress properly and with more money. My floors creek in more places than just the one place I had originally wanted addressed.

The company was surveying the neighborhood for hail damage to roofs and exterior of the house. They volunteered to inspect the roof for damage. Upon inspection they informed me that the roof had extensive hail damage that was pea sized. They mentioned that pea sized hail damage is very dangerous and will collect water and over time will rot the roof and lead to internal leaks. I asked them if this was something that my Insurance company would cover above my deductible. They looked at the policy and based on that information decided to put in a claim letting me know that I should be eligible for repairs and that most likely the entire roof would need to be replaced. They volunteered to be here when the insurance surveyor came in for the inspection. On the day of the inspection I did call them but nobody showed. After the inspection was complete, the insurance surveyor he told me that the damage was purely cosmetic and the cost to fix that is lower than my deductible so the insurance company had no out of pocket. The damages were estimated at US$ 1500 whereas my deductible was US$ 2500. After which no attempt to reach the company or its personnel was answered. They never bothered to call me or get a copy of the inspectors report to dispute it. In the event of another hail, the insurer will always deduct US$ 1500 from their estimate if I do not get these "cosmetic" items repaired. The company misrepresented to me the extent of the damage and caused me an out of pocket of US$ 1500 when there was no real damage and hence no real claim. I just want other homeowners be warned of this company or other companies like them that may cause you out of pocket expenses when there is no real damage.