This was the single worst experience i've ever had having someone do work for me. From beginning to…read moreend it was a complete mess.
The SHORT: Stay away from this guy, Unprofessional, Rude, Unfinished work, Billed over twice the labor that it actually took, Poor communication. I dont see how he can sustain any kind of business with how he treated us. I feel nobody should go through this and would encourage anyone reading this to choose a different handyman/contractor.
The LONG:
I reached out to him for a quote to replace some exterior window trim, 30sqft of linoleum, and swap out two exhuast fan motors. Pretty simple. He provided a quote which was for 16 hours, my wife had told him to do worst case scenario and the estimate was hourly so we thought nothing of it. He shows up almost an hour after he said he would on the first day (he said 9am, got there 10am), we discuss work he'll be doing briefly, he mentioned the floor in the bathroom would take less time and save some money if it ends up him just putting it over the existing floor, great. He had left for what i assume was lunch and to pick up some supplies? 2 hours later he returned, and performed a couple more hours of work for a total of about 4 hours at our home on day one. He returns the next day, works for about an hour then goes for another "lunch"/supply run? about an hour and half later he returns, and finishes up the window trim outside which he only had to replace 3 pieces. He was onsite at our home for a total of 3 hours on day 2 and said he was finished.
He was only at our house a total of 7 hours, if you include his "lunch/supply" trips that would be a total of around 10 hours, which is overly generous since its a contractors job to know what materials they need and have them when they come onsite, unforseen stuff comes up sure, but to have none of what was needed before the job? He didnt have to replace any MDF in the bathroom as he laid the flooring over the existing. Also i've never paid someone hourly to eat lunch offsite....
I was at work but my wife was home, he demanded the total that was on the estimate of $1343.52 from my wife and she was shocked and mentioned he didnt do 16 hours of work, he says some rude things and tells her there is a big disconnect if she thinks all he did was 7 hours of work.....so being home by herself and being intimidated by a man demanding to be paid before he left, she felt the best route would be pay him so he would leave our home. NOT happy with how that played out.
I call him up right after my wife explains what happened, i was shocked as well since he quoted us 16 hours and we had conversations about the bathroom cutting down on labor...so it was understood we only pay for the work he does, why would we pay 16 hours of labor if he was only onsite at our home 7 hours? Also the estimate included materials he didnt need or buy (MDF subfloor). He claimed he doesnt charge hourly but per day since we are in Anacortes and he is in Coupeville, so he charges for drive time and the full day no matter what. REALLY!? This is news to me and was never mentioned NOR did his estimate reflect or state that, it clearly shows QTY. 16 for labor, why would anyone assume he charges an entire day regardless? I told him i was not happy and didnt feel we should be charged the full amount on the original ESTIMATE....After about an hour of talking in circles i was exhausted and trying to be professional and civil, he said he needed to think about it and would get back to me....
I go outside to check his "handy" work....part of the trim didnt get caulked and none of it was painted....I had left paint for him as he asked before I went back to work from lunch. I message him and send him pictures, he claimed there wasnt enough time to paint since the caulking had to dry, he acknowledged the caulking was missed and should have been done...after more back and forth and rude comments by him, i was so done with everything i told him to refund me what he thought was fair and leave it at that, i told him i feel like we got ripped off, he didnt communicate well nor did his billing reflect the actual work he did, he agreed to refund $200.....Fast forward....it took him almost a month to send the check. He included a note saying "find another handyman" and "you get what you pay for"....and on the check he wrote "unrealistic expectations" in the "For" area. WOW, what a piece of work, can you get any less professional or childish?
So all in all, we paid him $1143.52 to replace 3 pieces of window trim, glue down 30sqft of linoleum, and swap out 2 exchaust fan motors, which took him 7 hours of actual labor. Not only that, but he didnt caulk the window trim on one side, and didnt paint it. So I had to do that myself.
