We initially hired this company to finish the demolition in our basement. It should have been a bigger red flag that it wasn't on Homestars, nor was there a FB page or website with testimonials or reviews. But, the demo went well and we were happy with the communication so we hired them for the rest which included framing (mostly ceiling), drywall, plumbing hook up, flooring and baseboards/casings. We contracted our own HVAC and Electrical. We supplied all the materials ourselves except for the framing lumber and drywall. The framing progressed slowly (about 1.5 weeks) but with 2 guys and 800 sq. ft., understandable. The drywall person that was contracted did awesome work which is the reason for any rating at all. As the work progressed we pointed out a few things along the way such as the barn door being hung crookedly and they were fixed. A few times the owner (doing the work with 1 other guy) suggested coming by to make sure we were on the same page which we thought was great. We even arranged with our housesitter that he could continue working while we were away for 1 week.
Things started to go sideways when we wanted to expand the scope of work to include installing newel posts and a new tread on the main floor stairs and upstairs. Once again this included some drywall work which was great. We consulted with the owner a few times and showed some pictures to make sure what we wanted to do was within his abilities and the response was yup no problem. We came home one day to find he had installed 3/4 inch plywood for the new stair tread (see photo). It sloped from front to back and created a tripping hazard with the first rise being 6 1/2 inches and the next rise being 8 3/8 inches. We let him know this was not good and he said I'll come by. When he arrived, he immediately started bellowing about being done with our project and how he couldn't believe how he had to have "3 hour conversations" about simple things. Not once before had he mentioned being frustrated with the level of communication. When we asked if he had measured or leveled the new tread he yelled "why would I? I just replaced what was there. Your home was built in 1942, what do you expect?" Our home was built in 1976 but more to the point it was not like that before and even if it had been, he clearly didn't care about doing the job properly. And that was eventually obvious with the rest of his work. When we replaced the 3/4 inch plywood tread with 2x12, we discovered that the plywood had been "secured" with 1 screw and 12 bradnails with a bunch of old carpet thrown in there - and he had confirmed that was not a temporary fix too.
That evening we agreed what he would finish up (mostly we just wanted the drywall work done) and he agreed he would not charge us for the mdf type material on the risers - something he later denied. Following that we let him know that we would not be having him back to finish the baseboards and other trim in the basement. He had previously suggesting holding back $1000 of the final payment until the baseboards were done and that is what we held back which he agreed to.
Once he received our final payment, he sent us a verbally abusive email in response to other deficiencies we had listed. For example, the bathroom door now sits too high above the floor and one side of the jamb does not meet the floor. His response (in writing) to that was "What is it, a 1/4 or 1/2 inch above the floor? How will you ever sleep at night?? That's normal!" If he had bothered to measure, the door is 1 1/4 inches above the floor, not normal and the jamb gap at the bottom will not be covered with trim. We've since had a professional contractor in to look at doing our stairs work and there is a veritable laundry list of shoddy, amateur work.
Bottom Line: Hire A Handy Guy's excuses why poor quality work should be accepted are appalling, he resents client communication and when questioned he becomes verbally abusive. Do not recommend.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $13,000.00