2nd Life Home Remodeling

I was impressed with Tim's ability to find unique and effective means of solving my problems. I was quite satisfied with the quality of his work and the extra efforts he put in to help evaluate the products he was going to install.

Had the work done while we were out of town but had everything worked out with Tim before we left. It's our only bathroom so being gone was much better for us and gave Tim some flexibility and breathing room to get things done. Identified just a few minor issues when we returned and they were promptly addressed.

IT NEVER WENT ANYWHERE. I WANTED TO GET A QUOTE ON WOODED REPLACEMENT PORCH. LEFT 2 MESSAGES & STILL NO RESPONSE.

My husband and I wanted grab bars in our tub/shower. We have an old home with a large window above the bathtub, which required a second shower curtain behind the tub--not conducive to grab bars. We also had a vanity with a laminate top that extended above the toilet tank, making it difficult to accomplish any repairs. In essence, the bathroom had become outdated and difficult to work with. Tim came in to take a look and understood our dilemma. He gave us an estimate to completely demolish the room, replace the cast iron tub, replace the window with glass blocks, tile the tub/shower area and floor, and install the vanity, wall cabinet, linen cabinet, medicine cabinet, toilet and light fixture that we had already purchased. Because this was not an urgent project, we were willing to wait until Tim was able to fit us into his schedule. We were familiar with his work, because he remodeled our kitchen several years ago. When we started shopping for a new toilet, we discovered that the standard installation distance from the wall is 12 inches. Ours was more than 14 inches out. If we would have installed the toilet we chose, the toilet tank would have been three inches away from the wall, and the bathroom door would not close. (It's a small room!) Tim found a plumber who agreed to shorten the toilet drain by three inches. It took more than three weeks to complete, but it turned out great, and the old room is fast becoming a distant memory!

I was impressed with the professionalism and workmanship of the entire project. Tim Marek from 2nd Life measured the sinks/countertops and followed with an estimate a few days later. The estimate included everything and was reasonable. Once hired, he directed us to Midwest Tops to choose the colors and style and I have to say that the people at Midwest Tops were also extremely helpful and efficient. They sent their own person to get their own measurements, which I thought was great. I then purchased my faucets and Midwest Tops had me call them with the model numbers to make sure the faucets and sink measurements would work. Very thorough. Tim set up install dates (he came a day ahead of actual installation to do preliminary work and make sure all was ready), appeared when he said he would, and everything went without a hitch. Tim removed the old pieces, Midwest Tops showed up shortly after to deliver and install the sinks and countertops, then Tim finished with the plumbing and details. I can't say enough about how smoothly it all went. Tim is personable, organized and does excellent work.

Excellent work for an excellent price. Very reliable and trustworthy. Would highly recommend to anyone.

When I first called Angie’s List before I was actually a full time member, I talked to a wonderful lady who gave me four different names of people for the job that I was requiring and I picked his because I liked the name, 2nd Life. He told me that he would not be able to come for a while for whatever reason. He finally did get here in the snow storm and took off his shoes or boots. He was just the nicest man and did a lovely job for $120. I was very pleasantly surprised. I am very pleasantly happy and satisfied. I recommended him a lot to several people. He talks a lot but that is okay. He was very pleasant. He was not annoying or anything. The quality of the work is excellent.

work was performed promptly, everything was cleaned up each day. There were a few changes of direction along the way, but mostly those were due to changing requirements on my side or things discovered in the process. There were no surprise charges, and requirements changes by me were me with a positive attitude. We repaired a big bay window, and generally improved the quality of the windows and framing.

Like previous reviewers mentioned, it may take awhile to get in with Tim, but he's very responsive about quotes and questions as you prepare for scheduling a project. A few unexpected hiccups happened during our projects and Tim was able to handle them. He has good suggestions for things you may not have thought about or upgrades/changes you might not have considered. That was really helpful to us as first time home owners considering different materials and projects for increasing our home value over the next several years.

Tim and his team were excellent to work with. Punctual, professional, and extremely responsive, they certainly went the extra mile to deliver great service & great results. We couldn't be more pleased with our mini-kitchen remodel. Tim was very detail oriented, a problem solver, clean, and respectable (both of our time and space). He also brought fresh ideas to the table, many of which we implemented. We are very thankful we stumbled upon him on Angie's List.

Tim provided an estimate and has had good follow up as we've had a few questions. We have scheduled with him to have him complete the job.

Everything turned out well given the difficulties of the project. Tim was punctual and friendly, did a quality job in all respects, and was really good at using cost-effective methods to complete the work.

The overall experience was great! Tim was a true professional. He had great communication with me, he kept me posted on his progress and any repairs that were needed which was on minor issue. My bathroom looks amazing. I was able to get what I wanted to put in my bathroom and Tim did a great job installing everything. I will be using him again when I remodel my kitchen.

The estimate was broken down into labor and maintenance. Tim answered our questions on the estimates both before and during the project. The start time each day flexed between 9AM and 11AM each day. At the end each day Tim cleaned the room. He accomodated requests to keep the demolition and drywall dust under control. Some materials were missed. -- a couple runs to the store were needed to make selections for bath fixtures. Estimated end date was April 2nd. The actual end date was March 27th. We are quite happy with Tim's service and wouldn't hesitate using 2nd Life again for remodeling and plumbing work.

Tim was responsive to our needs. We had him come out 2x for an estimate because we changed our plans. Tim was agreeable to make the changes. We got a detailed estimate so we knew exactly what to expect. We choose Tim over some contractors who had more employees and said they would use higher end distributors to ensure the quality of their work. I wanted a contractor to do a good job but with Menards, Home Depot products. Tim was very reasonably priced and with less expensive products I got a great job for a reasonable price. I am sure that the bigger construction companies could have had the job done sooner as they have several employees but they also have to pay those employees and that costs more money. Tim did the job for half the price. Tim was honest and hard working and creative when we needed it. He constructed a wall of cabinets for us. Again it was cheaper to have him cut them to our specifics. He was able to suggest ideas when we were at a loss at some points in the construction. I would recommend Tim highly and would not hesitate to use him again.

The problem for me was that it was a very small job and it was hard to find someone to take it on. The proprietor was very accommodating about the small job and let me know that he was happy to take care of it if I could wait for some other larger jobs to be completed. That was fine for me, but might not be for others, so I noted the punctuality here as a bit lower than the rest of the rating. The work was very well done, completed quickly once work started, and we were very happy with the price.

Tim has done a number of repair and remodeling jobs for us over the past few years. He did a major remodeling of a bathroom on our second floor, installed a new kitchen floor, rigged up water and electricity hookups for 2econd floor washer and dryer, installed new windows, etc. He is very reasonably priced and does excellent work He is exceptionally helpful in providing advice about alternative ways of doing things. He also has a really good sense of design. I'd recommend him without reservations

way, He finished in three days. He was wonderful to work with and was highly professional. He made construction recommendations that made the project better and that I wouldn't have even thought about. I've scheduled Tim to do another job in early spring 2014.

Tim did an awesome job, looks great. Just a little difficult to get ahold of at times (via email) but he does great work, very friendly, and very reasonably priced. Would definitely use him again if the timing worked out.

Tim was great! We were very satisfied with the quality of his work, his thoroughness and the overall finished product. I think Tim would be the first to admit that he somewhat underestimated the scope of the project, but he kept us informed along the way, so there were no surprises when we received our final invoice. I would definitely consider Tim for my next home improvement project!

Timothy Marek and his son were wonderful! I had had other contractors look at my sinking porch and all they wanted to do was shim the decking boards so it looked level. I didn't want that--I wanted it done right. When Tim came out to give me an estimate, he listened to all my concerns and agreed that the right way (which was more labor intensive and complicated) was the only way to treat my old house. Tim gave me the estimate in October of 2012, and even though it took him a while to schedule the work, I am very happy with the results. Even though the timeline was long, Tim couldn't work on the porch during the winter because of the work involved (painting, digging and filling postholes with concrete, etc.) By the time Wisconsin thawed out, we scheduled the work for April 2013, but then WE had to delay the work. Tim honored the original estimate even though WE altered the timeline. We had to wait until October 2013 for finacial reasons. On October 1st, we sent in our deposit for the supplies, and Tim got to work the following week. Tim and his son were here everyday, bright and early, and guided us through the entire process. He let us know exactly what he was doing, and why so that I knew everything was being done properly. When some of the porch decking was not up to his standards, he returned the wood and got the quality pieces he expected. His original estimate was $6500.00 (because we thought we would have to remove the concrete steps) and we budgeted an extra twenty percent because you never know what will come up with a house that is eighty-four years old. When it came time to review the bill, it was almost $2000.00 less than we expected because he didn't have to remove the concrete stairs and build wooden ones and the price of the porch decking went down. We were pleasantly surprised. Our porch looks wonderful--our old lady of a house is looking pretty again. I'm pretty handy, but if there is anything that I didn't feel I could handle, I would definitely use 2nd Life Home Repair and Remodeling Services, LLC. Thank you so much, Tim.

Tim and his helper showed up when they said they would. They brought all of the materials that they needed. They were polite and left the work site very clean. All of the work was done correctly and the results are exactly what I wanted. I thought that his price was very fair. I would hire Tim again for any repair/remodeling jobs that I have.

Very well. Tim was prompt in appointments and easy to work with. He answered all our questions quickly, listened to our general wants, and provided a number of options to choose from. The estimate was well itemized allowing us to better choose a provider. We will be using 2nd Life for this project starting in March.

After a colleague of mine suggested I might try a handyman he had contracted to fix his porch steps, I contacted Mr. Marek. Mr. Marek looked our jobs over in a pleasant manner and reported that he could indeed do interior painting of vaulted ceiling, repair and prime plaster in a few spots in the bedrooms and foyer, replace a toilet in the bathroom, and straighten a 2-car garage and replace the 2 doors with a single door.He also promised to repair a few slats of exterior siding. What he ended up doing, he did well. Unfortunately he over-promised and was unable to set a new toilet. He apologized and said we should call professional plumbers. We did because we had renters moving in within days and had no alternative. He also said that he could fix a leaning 2-car garage and replace the door openings with a new door. He later said that he could only replace the single doors with new single doors because he was only one man and that a 2-car garage door was beyond his physical capacity. After the toilet problem, we decided to contact two professional contracting companies, including J.D. Griffiths. Griffiths' carpenter was surprised to hear this; he said they always hang similar 2-car garage doors with only one carpenter. Furthermore, they concurred with the second contractor that straightening an old garage was a very bad idea. Both said that since the garage was over 50 years old and had been taking in water for some time, it was highly likely that the metal anchors in the footings were compromised due to rust. When we received this advice, we cancelled the straightening with Mr. Marek we had originally requested. He seemed relieved. We contracted another company to build a new garage for us. Their work was excellent, by the way. In the end, Mr. Marek also failed to repair the exterior siding. Later, I spoke with my colleague (who had originally suggested 2nd Life Home Repair) and he said that Mr. Marek had yet to do the porch work that he had promised almost a year before. Although Mr. Marek is a nice man, as a professional, his work was uneven and he said he could do work that in the end we had to have done by others.

Everything went well. Showed up on time. Good communication. Appears to have done a good, clean work and did a few additional small tasks like hanging a cabinet and placed a short run of baseboard for no extra charge.