Dan the Handyman
About us
Owner operated in business since 1985. Takes price in customer service and providing timely and reliable service. Passionate handyman ready to serve you. Charges a flat rate and no extra charge for after hours service.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Elctrical, cermaic tile, concrete and any other handyman services, custom painting, plumbing, refinsh of wood floors, tile floors, welding and iron services
Amenities
Emergency Services
Yes
Free Estimates
Yes
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 76% | ||
| 8% | ||
| 4% | ||
| 8% | ||
| 4% |
Dan is capable of pretty good work, but I didn't get much of it. What I did get were a lot of headaches along the way. In retrospect, the job was just too big for this guy and his attention span. If you have to use Dan, by all means make sure it's something you can do in just one day. He built some closets for us and in the process did a real bang-up job on our laminate "wood" floors. The hardest part working with Dan is getting him to finish anything. He will feed you all kinds of excuses if he even responds at all. I shouldn't have kept bugging him to finish and just let him go, but when various parts of a job are incomplete it's no fun looking for someone else either.
In the end, I got a lot of half-a** work. The best work that was done was the electrical and that way by his electrician buddy. Dan cut corners by not finishing the drywall or painting parts of the insides of the closets which he later claimed I said not to worry about. The funny thing is, the whole time he is working he is disparaging the fictional Mexican worker that must have done the lousy work that preceded his. When it was he who did lousy work and ironically it was an excellent Mexican handyman that we hired to fix it all after he was done.
It's also worth noting that this guy is very unstable. He clearly has problems with authority and pretty much the maturity of a 15 year old boy. He can be funny and charming at times and I often found myself feeling sorry for him upon hearing some of his stories. I'm sorry it didn't work out because I was starting to like the guy until he showed his true moody and unreasonable self. The work speaks for itself though and it was sub-par. I can still hear his voice in my head going "You're gonna love my work!" and "Look at my reviews on Angies List!". At least now I can laugh about it all.
He works an 8 hour day for $250 - no fractions thereof, which is fine since we have so much stuff to do. After one cancellation by both us and then him, he and his son came over and gave a good day's work. While no one job was fully completed (i.e. baseboards installed but not caulked or painted, holes patched but not sanded, etc.) we were looking forward to having them back asap to continue. We asked if he could come back the following Saturday and he said he was already booked, so we scheduled him for the Saturday after that. He was supposed to arrive at 9am (no, he can't come any earlier, ever) but he didn't show up. I had called the night before to confirm, and then texted Sat am both before 9am and then again at 915. No answer. When I then called to find out where he was, he told me he was on another job that needed him to come in, and said that it was *my fault* for not having reminded him about this job sooner (although we had scheduled him two weeks earlier)!
I run high end construction jobs, and because of that I don't have the time or the energy (much to my wife's chagrin) to do smaller jobs around the house. Nor do I have the time to run Daniel's business for him -- he should be the one confirming with us. The way a person acts as a businessman (as well as a "handyman") is what creates trust and repeat business on bigger and bigger projects. Being a professional means minding your own schedule and not blaming your clients when you make mistakes. In this business it's equally as important as the quality of actual workmanship. Unfortunately I cannot recommend Daniel -- while his one day of work was decent, it wasn't great and his lack of organization was very disappointing.
I gave Dan a key to the gate so he could work on days when I might not be here. He started around Thanksgiving & ended on 2/18/15 when he demanded more money which I was unable to give him, having already paid him $8750 in all. He worked sporadically during this time as there was occasional rain & the holidays intervened. Things began going downhill 5 wks after the deck repair when I asked him (on 1/20/15) to remove some trash created by that repair & his placement there of rain gutters he removed from the house. The trash was mostly wood & I was concerned because I live in a fire area & the local Fire Dept flies over by helicopter to monitor such things & will impose a hefty fine if you create a fire hazard, especially since we are under drought conditions. Dan responded to my request by becoming agitated & surly, accusing me of "pressuring" him. He wanted to wait until the contract was finished. We talked about cutting & putting the lumber in the black trash bin & he eventually agreed he would do it by the following week. It was not put in the bin & picked up until 2/10/15.
On 1/21/15 , the day after I asked him to remove the trash, he left a little "gift" for me. When I went outside, I noticed he had propped up some heavy iron bars (parts of scaffolding?) against my living room windows before he left for the day. I did not appreciate this, living in earthquke country, where the slightest aftershock would have resulted in those heavy bars breaking my windows. I immediately took the bars down & put them on the ground. All this because I asked him to remove his trash, which is a normal part of a job, or so I thought. After this incident, he did not work for 5 days in a row.
Around 2/16/15, Dan brought some panels he planned to use to cover the patio ceiling. The problem was that they were brown, not white as I had requested. He took them back & got white. He put up about 8 of them & within close to 2 hours after he left, they were "wavy" & starting to sag. When he came back the next day, I asked him to take them down & return the unused ones. He grumbled about the time, gas, & restocking fees. I called Home Depot & Lowe's, 2 places he used & they said they do not charge restocking fees unless the goods being returned were custom built items. He would not have had to return anything if he had gotten the right materials in the first place. The 2nd set of panels he returned were clearly marked "for indoor use only," a fact I discovered after he left.
He subsequently removed most of the equipment he had left here. He refused to take his second pile of trash away & told me I'd have to pay him more. He wants to be paid for his full contract but has not completed the work. There are many other things I could say, but I think what is here is pretty typical of the interaction with this vendor. He rarely notified me when he was coming to work nor did he notify me when he was here, common courtesies that most repair people extend to their customers. He is very friendly and shakes hands a lot in the beginning, verbally assuring you he is a good guy & will not cheat or lie to you. He's gotten a lot of good reviews but I suspect it is because most of the jobs are small & he does not have to deal with the customer very long or with the problems that can come up with a longer-term project.
The quality of the work he completed looks good. However, the willingness to negotiate issues that come up is apparently beyond him. He wants everything his way & handles conflict by shouting, not letting you get a word in edgewise, & then not showing up for awhile. I was very happy when I met him & hoped I had found the handyman I have been seeking for years. Unfortunately, it did not work out that way. On 3/13/15 he notified me by a telephone message that he is filing a small claims court case against me, all the while telling me what a lousy person I am....
Dan is as close to a concierge service supplier as I have ever found. He is honest and has always met his promises to me or other contractors that I have had working on my property. I can unreservedly recommend him for the kinds of work that he advertises. I have tried him in every field that he says he is qualified to handle.
The hinges on one of my doors were pulling out of the door frame.
I contacted Daniel to see if he could handle this job because it was so small. He said that he could, and we set an appointment for Tuesday afternoon.
Daniel arrived as scheduled, did the job in a flash and left.
He was friendly, professional and thorough.
And the price was terrific!
Licensing
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