This company is NOT Recommended. While promoting a BBB rating of A on various sites, their actual rating is a B. On a personal note, I can appreciate people can't work for free these days. It's tough - but any company who offers a one-year guarantee for their work should not be charging for problems with existing work (new work, yes - but work that they originally did? Absolutely not). We have used Around the Home handyman services, owned by Norm Richter (also listed as Norman Richter) for two separate pieces of work: roofing and flooring. The roofing job was done extremely well and on budget. After the flooring work, we will never use them again. The flooring job was a mixed bag. We were originally quoted about $1600 for a kitchen and mudroom renovation. Since we were paying by the hour, it was expected to go higher. The final tally was over $3000. Originally expected to take 3-4 days, it was over a week. Time was ADDED to the bill that was never received until we forced the issue as noted below. The initial tiling looked great - but had some problems that were evident 3 days after the job was completed. This is where the problems began. There was a crack in one of the tiles and several holes in grout around the floor. The biggest problem however is the supposed one year guarantee. FOUR months after we initially called and reported the problem, Norm finally came around to fix things, saw and reviewed the problems with the tiles and grout. The next day, they only fixed the tile (and replaced another) but did not correct the grout problems, blaming us. Keep in mind this was FOUR months after we tried to get them to come in. Subsequent follow-ups was that he couldn't do the work for free (even though it was part of the original work) and that we should have used an insurance company's tilers to fix the grout that was caused by his work. He then subsequently blamed our floor. I wish they had told us up front that they could NOT do the job properly. Needless to say, I would NOT recommend them for any flooring work read more

============================================ The job: So I needed a plumber on short notice to install 2 toilets on the 2nd floor bedroom (1 in the ensuite and 1 in the other bathroom). The search: I google "plumber" "BBB" and have a list of plumbers to install a couple of toilets. This name came with A+ rating, didn't look too much into it as I was at work, so I called looking for availability and pricing. The installation was 1 DXV Lyndon 2 pc dual-flush elongated and 1 American Standard Boulevard dual flush elongated He confirmed and said it should be about 2 hrs (which is the standard) as the house is fairly new. The contact: I called on Feb 21st, Plumber mentioned over the phone, the price is $167 for the 1st 1h1/2 and then $67 per h after that. I got quoted 85/h 99/h /120h from others (so the quote was in the norm). The context: Having called previously other companies the week before, the normal fees were (from 80 to 120) + Labour (around 2hrs) + Parts. We had a one piece installed in the powder room a few years ago (installation was 40min. Total is expected to average 150-300 for BOTH. The beginning: Feb 22 12:25 Plumber called about to get the parts for the plumbing job (keep this part in mind). Told him I would meet him at my house. And we agreed I would help him to dispose of the old toilets. I already took 1 of the new toilet upstairs, so he can start to work on that. 13:00 The Installation: Got home and the contractor doesn't look at the manual Plumber emptied the 1st tank and remove the toilet. I help to take it out. Put down wax ring Put down toilet w my help Use wrong bolts to secure the bowl Put on tank NOW need bolt to attach the water tank End up removing the toilet with my help (waste of time) Try to remove the old connector (fail) - he also DID NOT GET A WATER CONNECTOR, but he was supposed to get the material BEFORE. I go get some tools (couldn't find the right ratchet and socket) I go downstairs to look for the ratchet and 1/2in socket while he removes the OTHER TOILET. I come back upstairs Plumber empty the tank of the 2nd toilet - the ensuite Water is in shopvac (and on the floor) He has to throw out the water (I said put it in the bathtub) **Somehow he went to the other TOILET (So I told him there is a tub where he was but it was too late, I had water all over my hard wood)** **Emergency wipes with a box of Lysol ** I help Plumber Take out 2nd toilet (plumber had back pain, had to ask my dad to take it to the curb) Plumber goes back to the install the 1st toilet (guess toilet) Gave him a ratchet (wrong size), so he continues with the tool which came with the toilet. I go in the basement again to look for right ratchet Heard loud noise from upstairs: BOOM Ran upstairs to find out he has drop the BRAND new toilet on the ceramic tiles Toilet is down and a bit damaged (2 dents) ** At this point, I wasn't sure if I wanted to let him finish. But since he did remove the other toilet and we are having guesses, we needed at least one functioning toilet upstairs. I told him he could leave and I'll call him back. He said I'm good, I figured it now, so we should be good do it again faster. ** Still cannot take out old connectors. Plumber Goes to hardware store to get connectors he was supposed to get earlier. I Found ratchet and 1/2 socket Plumber Managed to take out the old water connector Plumber Put back toilet down with my help Plumber Try to put the toilet sit (fail) Plumber Took off toilet sit He did not figured it out Put back toilet sit But the black hinges are showing (I give him white cap cover) Took of the toilet sit again ** Asked him to just leave it, but he insisted that he want to make sure to finish the job ** Put it back on, put on white caps Found out 2 gel looking plastic that goes under the white caps Took off toilet sit AGAIN Put the plastic + white caps Forgot to put side cap Finally, put the side cap ** I told him we'll need to talk about the billing because that went sideways. ** 17:18 Invoicing ====================================================================== I asked the plumber to follow me, I have to go to the bank and we'll talk about your fees, because that is not how it's supposed to go. Plumber responded, I'll email you the invoice, it's going to be 555$. I told him he took 5hours to install a toilet which he damaged. We get to the bank (argue a bit - nothing hostile). Plumber said he'll make me a deal (Took off $50 of the bill). I did not want to escalate this, I gave him $500 and told him I'll follow up. He offered to come back and install the other toilet "FREE of charge" because he wants to be fair. I told him he damaged my toilet which I will have to replace and he took 5-7 times more time to do the install. read more

Bad experience all around. They were hired to redo our basement ceiling. Although the lights would have to be off for them to do the work they showed up with no work lights. Instead of going and getting some they "borrowed" (without asking) a lamp we had stored away. When they used it they sat it on a shelf and managed to burn the shelf above. No, they didn't tell us about this. Tradesmen can be a bit rough speaking but Norm (the owner) is worse than any I've run into. He yells, he screams, he swears mostly at his workers. We're convinced his workers must be relatives because no one else would take that abuse. You don't want to be around when Norm's working. Part way through the job, without warning, Norm decided the fixed price job was a pay-by-the-hour plus materials job. (When she signed the contract he actually had the gall to say to my wife "and the best part is you'll never pay more than that".) He tried to bill us for the partially completed job at about 3 times his estimate demanding payment before he would continue. We wouldn't give in to this and had to hire someone else to finish the work. read more

I would give him zero stars if I could. NO SKILLS A job that was suppose to take 3 days ended up taking 6 days, not because of complications of the job, but because Norm lacks any skills, abilities or knowledge in home renovations. Sadly, even with the extra time the final product was just terrible; not only was his work dirty and ugly to look at, the quality of his work was very poor. Some major workmanship issues included: 1. He used a poor grout mixture and it started cracking after 1 day. 2. He cut tiles incorrectly and even the tiles he didn't cut were misaligned beyond anything acceptable; this is all because he lacks any skills and abilities in tiling. 3. We told him to stop the plumbing work he was hired to do because he damaged all the plumbing items we purchased (sinks, faucets, etc), and he damaged the pipes in the house too. We had to hire a professional plumber to fix the damages. Be warned, he will take on any renovation job you offer him even though he has zero knowledge to do the job. And if it's a job he needs new tools for, he will try and charge you for them; he actually tried to charge us for the diamond tipped blades he bought! VERY UNPROFESSIONAL It was never agreed or even mentioned that there would be 2 people working the job, however on the first day he shows up with another guy who turned out to be just as bad as Norm in terms of skills and abilities. They would argue all day by shouting at each other, swearing and being very rude and explicit both in the house in front of us and outside the house. The unprofessional attitude would get worse if we asked any questions; a simple comment like "why are the tiles crooked" would result in his dumb answer of "that's the style nowadays" or a question about how much longer the job would take he would get angry and reply "don't bother me when I'm working" and "who's the boss here". CROOKED CONTRACTOR When it came time to pay, he presented us with an invoice with an absurd amount. Rather than providing a detailed and itemized list of hours, materials, etc, he simply rambled on about his work. A simple task such as "removing a light fixture" would be detailed in 5 or 6 steps (remove screw, pull fixture from wall, unplug black and white wires, etc). When asked to show us receipts for the materials he purchased, he refused and to this day we have yet to see any receipts that validate the costs he was charging us (see the note above about paying for tools). Further to this, he claimed him and his worker had worked 12+ hour days, when in reality they barely put in full 8 hour days. Many of which Norm would disappear for lunch leaving his worker alone. Because of all these issues, we asked him to come over to discuss the invoice. We had prepared a list of deficiencies and pointed out the discrepancies. After about 20 minutes of unproductive talking, he got frustrated, simply got up, told us to F-off and left. Eventually the issue was settled by mediation, and in the end he didn't get what he was asking for. There are many more issues that came up, but based on what I have written I hope that my headache and time wasted having to deal with Norm and his sorry company should be enough of a warning to others. Avoid him at all costs, because not only does he lack any viable ability to renovate, he has no place running a business or dealing with people. read more