Joel and his crew built us a rustic screened in porch, a pavilion, and completed several interior renovations to our cabin. The project was executed with exceptional craftsmanship and attention to detail. Joel doesn't cut corners ~ he puts his full effort into ensuring the highest quality of work. The porch turned out beautifully and perfectly captured our vision. Joel is a highly skilled carpenter who adapts seamlessly as a project evolves, making thoughtful adjustments along the way. Of course, the real star of the team is Jubilee, his loyal companion~she's got the good looks in the family, and without her, we doubt the project would have turned out quite as well! If you hire Joel, expect master-level carpentry, honesty and integrity ~ a rare combination in today's world of contractors. read more

The Fly Fishing Contractor - Jubilee and Ollie - General Contractors Near Me

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My parents have a small summer camp in the Adirondacks. We contacted Joel to update the 1970s kitchen countertop and sink. He took care of everything. Very accomodating. Results: High-quality work, professional-looking, affordable price, reliable, and easy to communicate with. We'll definitely reach out to Joel first with any additional needs we have for camp! Thanks so much! Martin S. read more

I am updating my review based on how the work that Joel performed has failed. I am now going to need to completely re-do the plaster area and replace some tiles due to his shoddy workmanship. His behavior and demeanor when a customer is displeased with his work speaks for itself. I have issues with the quality of his work and the manner in which he treated me via email, phone and in person. As a result of this lengthy and bizarre back and forth, he has called me mentally ill and lots of other crazy things. If anyone is contemplating hiring him and would like to see how he treats customers, feel free to contact me and I'll show you the emails. For anyone else, I just wish I never would have had him done any work for us. He made a mess and did irreparable damage to some tile. I will be forced to pay more than he was paid to fix it and forced to find someone to deal with it, which is unfortunate. I use yelp to prevent situations like this and I think people reading can come to their own conclusions. Joel flaked several times and created a massive headache for me because he refused to follow directions. I was specific in how I wanted it done and he refused to listen. That is why he gets a negative review. I usually reserve one star reviews for people who are particularly disrespectful. He is and continues to go after me personally and attack my design credentials and personality. I would avoid this person like the plague. I will be posting photos of his shoddy workmanship in the next few days. You can judge for yourself. Sadly, he isn't licensed so there isn't any recourse like the CSLB or any other entity. See the photos for the brackets he drilled directly into the brand new tile, even though he was directed to either drill through the grout lines or just outside the tile to avoid cracking the tiles. He ignored me. He used joint compound instead of using a piece of molding or quarter round and it cracked and got all over the brand new cabinets. He was hired to fill the gap between the wall and the newly fabricated cabinets. Interestingly he claims that no design work was done and that all the kitchen was there originally, but neglected to mention the reason he was hired was to fill a gap correctly between the new cabinets (designed by me) and the wall from 1932. You can judge for yourself but I would recommend hiring someone who doesn't make excuses when he refuses to follow directions, and then lies and makes insane accusations about people to cover his tracks. Beware. read more

The Fly Fishing Contractor - Drilled directly into brand new tile. It will crack over time and I asked him specifically NOT to drill into the tile. - General Contractors Near Me

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We wanted to build a bookshelf from floor to ceiling and wrapping over our fireplace, and we wanted to do it with antique crates. The first carpenter we consulted thought we were crazy, and we were starting to lose confidence in the whole thing. Enter Joel. He immediately bought into our idea and brought it to life with inspired decisions about layout, color, and practicality. He has an excellent sense of style and design. He's also just a really cool person to have around, and we enjoyed hanging out with him while the job was happening. He and Soto brought a great sense of professionalism to ironing out the visual loose ends of this project and making sure that we were happy with the final product. We also especially appreciated his integrity in offering an honest and detailed quote, including an explicit breakdown of the materials. We felt that we could really trust him. And most of all, we are so happy with the bookshelf! read more

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Joel came to do a full bathroom remodel in our home, joel is easy to talk to and has a great personality, you can tell he really puts his customers needs first, the finished product was more than we could have imagined, he did a fantastic job. read more

We hired Joel to build us a built-in bookshop in our house and he was great. He was very thorough and helped us through the process because we weren't sure exactly how we wanted it to look. He is an expert wood worker and really took his time to make sure our bookshelf looked perfect. I would recommend Joel for any home improvement project. read more

The Fly Fishing Contractor - Built-in wood bookshelf that Joel made for us. - General Contractors Near Me

Joel built two bookcases for us- one floor to ceiling unit and one bannister bookcase that replaced our ugly, wobbly bannister. We love the work he did! We called him back soon after to hang some large paintings along the staircase wall. I am posting photos of both jobs. He did a great job. Thanks, Joel! read more

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Joel was awesome!!! He was working on our neighbor's house, asked him if he could take a look at our outside faucet. We had been calling plumbers for a few weeks and NO ONE came. He fixed it within a hour! THANK YOU AGAIN!. read more

I currently live in San Francisco and remotely manage a rental property in Los Angeles, so dealing with repairs and maintenance is often challenging (I basically pretend to my friends that I can do a bunch of repairs, but make the excuse that I'm too far away so have to find someone else to do the work since I'm basically useless at any work that doesn't involve spreadsheets). Joel is awesome - I had a couple of repair and maintenance issues come up as staggered request over a couple of weeks, and Joel was always extremely responsive and helpful in addressing my needs. Via phone, email, and text message, I was always kept in the loop in terms of the timing of his visits and the status of the work. He helped me with a variety of tasks, including the following: - Patch and painting of walls/ceilings - Replacement of closet tracks - Installation of kitchen disposal - Repair of leaking kitchen pipe He also provided some advice and guidance on the cost and need of other larger jobs, and guarantees his work as well. Thanks Joel! read more

I have recommended this company on many occasions. In short my customers say nothing but good things about his work. I am also a handyman, my only wish in Los Angeles is that they need to realize that anyone who offers quality is in high demand and cannot please the whole town. Keep up the great work. I love hearing about tradesmen who take great pride in what they do. This is one of them Thank you read more

I found Joel on Yelp b/c there were a few things needing to be fixed at my "new" old house. He came out on a Sunday, caulked my shower, fixed a cupboard hinge, a door that wouldn't close, and a door that wouldn't open. I think it took him only 40 minutes (or less) to do everything. I came to find the shower still leaked out water tho, so emailed Joel about this and he came out to fix the problem. Now there's no leak! Joel is professional, efficient, and quite pleasant. I believe his prices are reasonable too. I will call Joel again for any future work I need on my house. read more

I had Joel install crown molding in multiple rooms and am very happy with his work. I typically do my own work in my home, as I am very particular, but crown is something I don't mess with. Joel is friendly and reliable and very fair with what he charges. Will definitely be using him again with upcoming projects! More photos to come when rooms are finished. read more

The Fly Fishing Contractor - General Contractors Near Me

Joel is da man! Great guy, reasonable prices, great work! He redid the kitchen in my rental house, and it now looks awesome. He was also very good at keeping me in the loop as to what was happening...which is key, as I live in Denver, and I was updating a kitchen near Venice and La Brea. If I could give him ten stars I would! read more

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Joel offers very fair prices compare to other people who I have called. He also does a great job and he is very patient! He did not rush at all when he was helping me. He'd rather get his job done properly than rushing to other customers. I am so glad that I found him and defs will call him again when I need a handyman. Also, I'd like to recommend him to friends too. Lastly I want to mention something about the issues that some people are having which they find hard to get on hold of him. I mean maybe he could not get back to right away but he always tries to get back to you whenever he has time. We have to understand that his job is not like an office type of job, he is always over at his clients house or going to different places. But he defs makes an effort to get back to you. Worth recommending ! A good guy and a good handyman! read more

I found Joel on Yelp. We just moved to a very old house and Joel replaced a GFCI outlet, fixed our garage door opener and programmed new remotes, installed our washer/dryer, sealed holes in our foundation vents and unstuck painted-shut cabinets. His rates were very fair which is important to me. I mentioned that one of our cats was missing and he spent time helping me look for the cat. (It reappeared a few hours later.) A few days after Joel installed our old washer/dryer we used it for the first time here and thought we smelled gas. Joel rushed right over to check it out- turned out it was just some leftover trapped gas that didn't ignite but I really appreciate that he rushed over to make sure everything was okay. I'm currently making a list of other things we need done to hire him again! Like most handyman, Joel is very busy and sometimes hard to get a hold of - you might have to e-mail him a few times, but when you actually book him and have him at your house you have his full attention and expertise. read more

I am a professional organizer and this was the first time I had used a handyman to complete a job. Joel was great, offering me a fair price and completing the job even though it took twice as long as I anticipated. He handled unforeseen issues with ease and was very flexible. As a new business he even offered me tips/tricks on dealing with clients and was always very friendly and open. I definitely recommend The Fly Fishing Handyman and will be using him again in the future!! read more

The Fly Fishing Contractor - General Contractors Near Me

Joel came over to fix a sprinkler and he was great. Thorough, friendly, funny, bright, and very easy going. He would obviously be a great help for all sorts of little issues that could pop up. Glad we found someone we can rely for this kind of job. He clearly enjoys problem solving and has experience with different areas. I hope to employ him until someone tries to get him on one of those home improvement shows. read more

Getting married my bachelor pad is now our rental property (that's how it goes fellas 50/50 lol...). Tenants needed fan in bathroom checked out. But of course I use Yelp to help me find the right contractor at the right price. Rest is history, came across Joel "The Fly Fishing Handyman" exchanged some emails and he did the work right as fast as humanly possible. He got the job because he gave the best quote. Other reviews are accurate Joel is great. Ended up completing the job for less than quote---#winning! read more

Joel of Fly fishing Handyman is a efficient, friendly and talented chap. We had some minor and more major issues with our 90 year old building, he took care of all of them with good humour, swift actions and elegant solutions. I will be using Joel more this summer as projects pop up. His skill set can easily handle the varied and sometimes tricky curves this building can throw. We are lucky to have found him. read more

The Fly Fishing Handyman (Joel) is a fantastic dude! I highly recommend him. He came to fix our broken door frame - and did so quickly, efficiently, and affordably. His demeanor was friendly, honest, and peaceful. My bf and I were really happy with the job he did. Plus, I saw on his website that he majored in English Lit when he was in college and noticed that he specializes in making beautiful bookshelves. I myself am a bibliophile and was an English LIt major, so I think that is so lovely! You've got to love a book-loving, bookshelf-making local handyman! read more

Fantastic. A real professional. We needed an installation of three hanging lights in our hallway. Joel came in and installed them properly and professionally. They look great, they work flawlessly and he could not be more fair with the pricing. He is an honest handyman who will charge you a great price for the work that he does. He does not attempt to bite off more than he can chew, and he makes sure that he does it right. Could not recommend him more. read more

Joel was great! He managed to beat the quotes from other handymen in the area and helped me with a rush-job. On top of everything, he was friendly and fast! Highly recommended!!! read more

We needed someone to disassemble, transport, then reassemble a playhouse for our son. He did this so efficiently and definitely knew what he was doing, and I truly appreciated his professionalism. We will definitely keep his number for future projects and I highly recommend his services! read more

The Fly Fishing Contractor - Playhouse that was disassembled and reassembled by joel - General Contractors Near Me

Joel was professional, responsive, and provided high quality work. He installed a bathroom mirror and medicine cabinet for me. The bathroom mirror required drywall and electrical work and he executed it flawlessly. I was having him work on it while remote and there was a slight adjustment to the height that I wanted him to do. He came back to fix the height free of charge. Highly recommended. read more

Joel did the job and installed two doors for me. And I'm satisfied with the end result. He's also a friendly guy. Only a couple of things bothered me. He occasionally asked if I had a certain tool. Not inherently a big deal, but I would prefer he fetch and use his own. When he left he ended up taking one of my tools he borrowed which I presumed was an accident. To his credit he brought it back a couple days later after I notified him. But even if it were an accident that's objectionable in itself. That kind of carelessness is a no-bueno for me. On that note he didn't clean up to my satisfaction the messes that were unavoidably created. Leaving no messes is an ethic that I think is par for the course for a handyman job. He left my porch covered in wood dust/shavings from the door he worked on, and I found what appeared to be base molding and a couple pieces of discarded drywall on my driveway which I've no way of accounting for other than by saying these objects were from his truck (I recall he had to temporarily place many of the truck's contents on the driveway in order to access what he needed). Before I hired Joel the price he quoted was $190 to install the two doors. A relative of mine had already installed one of them but I figured Joel would need to do some modifications to her work because it still wasn't closing properly. It turned out she did it well and all he had to do was readjust the door stop - he didn't even have to do any of the work involved in actually installing one of the doors (she had routed grooves for the hinges and planed and sanded it in key places to get it to hang and fit). I was pleasantly surprised by this, and wondered if he'd lower the price at all - even if only by (say) $10 as a token of recognition of the fact that he had notably less to do than the job description might have led him to think, and/or as a reputation-building gesture if you will. I didn't express this curiosity to him; I merely asked if the price was still $190 when he finished and he clearly said yes. I ended up handing him what had been up to that point a total of $200 in $100 bills. I realized only after he had left the job finished that he never gave me the $10 change. It wasn't something I cared enough to fuss about on its own. I just figured I'd be less likely to call on him again. read more

Just called Joel yesterday after reading his good reviews here. He did not disappoint. I was lucky that he happened to be in the area, but came over right away and patched up the walls in my apartment. I'm moving out and had to have it done by today. He was very professional and kind. He left the plaster of Paris, since I did pay for it, and explained how I could do it in the future. I would definitely use him again!! read more

He's good if you can get him to show up. He is not very responsive. He doesn't respond to emails or phone calls, and when you ask him about it he always says "Oh I thought I responded to that". After the first time he came out to help us with a job I was so happy because he was nice and polite and did good work. I thought we had found our elusive handyman, finally. But alas, it turns out that he is as flakey as most others in this field. We have tried to get him out several more times for various jobs in our house but he never calls back. Last time I spoke with him he said he would call in a few days to let me know when he could come, but well, never heard back. Will have to start my handyman search again. read more

I think the following will speak for itself. Called and spoke to him Monday November 2nd about a list of things that I needed done, one of which was crucial to the health and safety of my dog who had injured herself. He seemed nice and understanding and asked that I email him a list of the items we discussed which I did the same day including pictures. 2 days later on Wednesday he responds and says he'd like to come to 'take a look at the work in the next few days'. I email him still in the morning on Wednesday with days and times for the upcoming Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I don't hear from him Wednesday afternoon or all day Thursday, so I follow up with an email Thursday night at 8:35pm. He finally responds Friday morning asking to come 11:00am on Saturday. I rearrange my Saturday to accommodate that. Then on Saturday after 10:00am, less than one hour before the appointment, he emails me that he can't come due to a car theft issue with his girlfriend's car and the need to pick up her car at the impound. I didn't notice that email until 11:45. He couldn't take one sec to call? Anyway his email says he will call me 'later' and that it 'may' have to move to tomorrow, which would be Sunday. As this is important to me and he has such glowing reviews here, I leave Sunday open so he can figure out a time. I never heard from him the whole weekend. Whatever excuse he now has, it's pretty obvious that he should have told me when I called a week earlier that he didn't have the bandwidth or wasn't interested in the work instead of stringing me along for a week without any care for my time (especially on a weekend) or my needs. This type of unprofessionalism is unacceptable and I don't care how good his work is. Whatever emergencies he will claim, to not pick up the phone and even call once is ridiculous. As I've stated In previous reviews of one or two others that have done similar things, if you are this unprofessional before you get the job, then It's usually a reflection of the work or communication on the job. Obviously previously glowing Yelp reviews aren't a reflection of the experience one will get in the here and now. Now back to Yelp or Angie's List for a new search. I've wasted enough time. Update 9/9 (Monday) I edited the above to be more specific to his personal problem around the theft of his girlfriend's car, as he contacted me and questioned the accuracy of that event. Regardless and similar to what a couple of others have stated, to wait until a review to respond doesn't lesson the impact it had on my schedule over the weekend or 4+ days it took to set an appointment that wasn't kept. Though he tried to set another appointment, I didn't feel comfortable with how that call went as I'm not going to change my review when it is completely a fact based chronological documentation of events that I have via email other than me detailing all of what went on with his personal emergency with his girlfriend. I will raise the review a star for calling back (after my review finally even though he said he would Saturday afternoon), but I'm not comfortable at all with how this went. read more

Joel did great work mounting a grab bar in the ceramic tile in my shower, and installing two hanging lamps in my bedroom. The job took much longer than he estimated, because of problems drilling into the tile. But I don't blame him for that and it change what he charged me. He did great work, and I had a great time talking with him. I'd use Joel again in a heartbeat. read more

Solid work from Joel! Did a great meticulous job installing three blinds in my new home up in pasadena along with plenty of advice. A genuine reliable guy you can trust being harder to find nowadays. read more

Joel did an excellent job building one of our backyard gates. Although it took a little longer than expected, it was well worth the price and wait. He was very friendly and provide some recommendations on color scheme. The gate looks awesome - we will definitely be calling on him again! read more

If you're looking for a true craftsman Joel is your handyman. I called Joel to help me build a fence and small deck just before he left for vacation. I gave him a deposit and later thought I might never see this guy again. Sure enough, he showed up when he said he would and busted his butt to get the job done on time. I changed my design mid build and Joel rolled with it and saved me money. The end result is beautiful. I'll hire Joel again and again. There are a few mixed reviews on his Yelp and I get that you can't please everyone, but he is a damn good carpenter - can't take that away from him. read more

This is overdue. Joel is definitely one-of-a-kind! My husband, myself AND my two dogs Rex& Yogi just adore him. He built a bookshelf for us that looks amazing... we're really happy with the way it came out and everyone in this household really likes having Joel around. He's very easy to work with and pays great attention to details and I could tell he is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to his work, which I love and appreciate the diligence and commitment. We have a couple more projects we'd love to hire him back for and my dogs are totally missing him so hopefully we'll be seeing Joel again soon! read more

Joel was awesome. Very friendly, professional, and trustworthy. I had some large, heavy artwork I wanted to hang on a brick wall and he did a fantastic job. He also helped me with some complex wiring on some new light switches and a few other jobs. I'd highly recommend Joel for any type of contracting/handyman work. I just hope he doesn't get so busy that he won't have time to help me out in the future. read more

Joel was great. He was flexible time-wise and did a really nice job on a bunch of different things (installing an RO system and garbage disposal, re-hanging some things my husband and I tried to do on our own, installing a shower head). I will definitely use him again! read more

I emailed Joel regarding a quote and he responded immediately. I was looking forward to getting estimate from him. Was very disappointed to learn he charges a $45 consultation fee. . In all fairness he does apply the fee to work if you end up using him. I have to say I originally gave him 1 star, but I was impressed with how he followed up on my comments and really tried to come up with solution so I just had to upgrade! read more

Joel was superb across the board: he got back to me right away, his work was high-quality, and his services were extremely reasonably-priced. Plus, he's a good and honest dude (and my dog loved him). I would strongly recommend him to friends and family. read more

WHAT A GREAT EXPERIENCE, AND VALUE ADD TO MY HOME. Joel leads a busy team, which speaks to his skill and workmanship - his services are in demand. When gave me his start date, he honored it and preformed marvelous work building a very strong storage shelf for my garage. Like most quality products out there, it was not inexpensive, and yet a great value. I highly recommend Joel and hope to procure his handyman services again. Thank you fly fishing handyman! read more

Joel was fair and decent, did a great job, and I would definitely recommend him to others and call him again. After getting stood up by two other handymen, I made an appointment with Joel who came over and did tons of things for us when we moved--assembled a bunch of furniture, put up shelves and wall-mounted books shelves, installed baby gates, etc. At first I thought the price he quoted me was a bit on the high side, but I went with it out of desperation anyway because I really wanted to get the nursery ready and had had such bad luck with other, lower quoting guys. Although I think some of the quotes for individual projects (e.g., $40 for hanging a nursery mobile) were on the high side (if I weren't too pregnant to stand on a stool, I would have hung the mobile myself), if you consider the total quote relative to the total number of projects and labors hours spent, it was actually a very reasonable quote from the start (as I had underestimated the amount of time the other projects could take). He stands by his work. About an hour after he left, a bracket he had installed came loose (not because of any wrongdoing on his part but of our strange wall), and Joel came out the very next morning (a Saturday, by the way) and fixed it quickly. Weeks later, and it is still holding like a charm. As I still had not unpacked my drill and had a small shelf to install, he installed it for me and was not even going to charge us for repairing the bracket or installing the shelf. We insisted, but we really had to push the check on him. Great handyman! read more

Great Handyman! Came in and fixed everything quickly & right the first time! Fixed my track on my bathroom window and my bathroom door! This guy is swift! He is going to be our go to handyman from now on!!! Highly recommended! read more