Rick Vacula

My house in the Tampa area had not been worked on, other than maintenance for over 20 years.  The moldings, doors and cabinets were all original to this 1983 house.  I initially hired a contractor who was recommended by my realtor.  This guy renovated the master bathroom and was an artist.  A few months later we had him renovate the family room.  Although he was not exactly Mr. Hyde, he was not the same guy who did work for me a few months prior.  He and I parted ways (as a side note he also parted ways with my realtor who had used him for years). I then began my Angie's List search for a new contractor.  Rick was not the cheapest, nor the most expensive.  However what impressed me was his knowledge and confidence.  I first had him renovate the guest bedroom. He enlarged it by demoing the sheetrock wall and taking the space from an existing adjacent closet.  He removed the popcorn from the ceiling, enlarged the existing closet opening, customized it with shelves and drawers, installed a double closet door as well as a new door to the bedroom with hardware, created a new access point to the attic and installed travertine on the floor and molding around the doors and floors.  He did a great job.  I then had him perform a similar renovation to the master bedroom.  Same thing.  Great job.  Very consistent.  Very nice guy.  Very professional.  Always in a good mood.  Pleasure to deal with.  Very honest. He had complete access to my house while we were at work.  I then hired him to renovate the guest bathroom, kitchen and living/dining room area and repair some mistakes made by his predecessor.  This was a big job.  As noted above, he demoed the existing kitchen to include the walls which separated it from the living room and the ceiling, created a cathedral ceiling, installed the kitchen cabinets, the moldings for the cabinets, a professional grade range hood through the ceiling, the sink and plumbing fixtures, travertine backsplash, removed the popcorn from the ceiling in the existing living room, installed travertine floors, base molding, customized two closets together with the installation of doors and hardware, compete demo of the bathroom, raised the ceiling of the bathroom, installation of jacuzzi tub, bathroom cabinets and travertine floors and walls. I was last at the house in mid December when the work was still ongoing.  He was doing once again a great job and I promised Rick that i would write this review when he finished in January.  Well, between work and family it seemed that I never had the time.  I am now back in the Tampa area for the first time since last December and let me tell you, it looks better than the pictures!  So I found the time and have written a well deserved review.  

Outstanding! Excellent! Extremely professional.! He went out of his way and is a pretty incredible guy! Tremendous and Incredible in every respect! I truly cant say enough about him. He is very good at what he does

unknown

He pulled out old shower, tub, 2 sinks, toilet, replaced lighting, put wood flooring in new closet area. Tiled and built from scrath 2 headed shower tub with 2 seats, 4 storage areas, glass doors, moved plumbing. Lots of work took about 15 days. We have hirted him to do our other bathroom in the hallway he is very busy and has bookings 3 months but well worth the wait. Expert craftsman and very talented.

They were very good. The price was really good and they were punctual. The time and the cost involved to the work ended up being more than the initial expectations, but they still stuck to the original price that they gave.

He was great: Timely, responsive, communicative, professional, high-quaity work, reasonable price, good to work with, I'd definitely use him again and I'd definitely recommend him to others. He was also great with the pets and he cleaned up after himself.

I had Rick come to do the work. He arrived on time, performed the work well and finished in a timely fashion. His work included moving furniture out of two rooms, ripping out carpet in two rooms, laying new laminate floor in those two room. Replacing the baseboards and painting them. Also painting 5 doors on the short hall way. He also regrouted the bathtub surround, but did not regrout all the way up. Replaced old leaky out door hose bibs. In the kitchen he removed all the lower cherry cabinet doors and drawer fronts, matched the needed stain, sanded all down and refinished. The kitchen cabinets look brand new with no scratches or dents anymore. I am very pleased with the projects.

Rick was wonderful. he was on time and works fast. he helped me with suggestions as to where i might like the placement of my new tools (toys!). He made sure everything was perfect and showed me how to work the compressor. the correct hardware was not included with some of these tools so Rick had to make 3 trips to the hardware store to make sure everything was perfect. I will be happy to use him again.

Overall all went well. He always kept in conact and worked the entire time he was on the property. I actually never observed him take a break. Was very efficien and cleaned aftreer each day. I would not hesitate in using Rick again. I highly recommend him. He is one you can trust. Very polite as well.

I find Rick responsive returns my calls, gets the necessary material and does the requested job. He has fixed electric, plumbing and carpentry as well as repaired sliding glass doors but the most amazing job he did for me was to install a great swing for my grand children. He installed a heavy duty cable between TWO trees and then hung the swing on the cable. He is qualified for most trepairs around the home .

I was very satisfied. He is coming back next week. I am very happy with him. I spent $300 and there is another $200 to come. He is prompt and he does what he says he is going to do. He comes when he says he will. He is a good worker and he does a good job. He is very professional.

Rick came out and did a great job. Very personable and paid a lot of attention to detail. His price was extremely reasonable as well. If you need some work done around your home, call Rick for sure.

Rick came to the house, looked at the jobs I needed and sent me an estimate on email. He began work a few days later. He removed and installed new six inch rain gutters on one side of the house, installed new lights in the garage and on the gazebo, cleaned out old caulk and regrouted the floor of the shower, repaired a crack in the ceiling by boxing in a lintel and added decorative fluting . He also changed out a strainer in the kitchen sink, fixed a leaky faucet in the bath and hung a picture and a shawdow box. The job took longer than he expected as he had to look for six inch gutters to complete the job, which he did. He is competent and has his own tools to perform the jobs plus I trust him to leave him in the house while he is working.

I first contacted Rick about the various small projects to determine his professional abilities. He was top notch. Then he and I sat down and discussed the dock and decks. He took my ideas, drew up plans for what the new added deck would look like and how it would tie into the present deck. He and his son showed up, started the tear out. Discovered more joists would need replacing due to rot and safety. We discussed added costs for the removal of rotted sub structure. They worked from mid February till mid March. I gave them a key to the backgate for acess even if I was not home. When the work was completed, they cleaned up wonderfully, taking with them the rotted tear out and all nails, metal and scrape wood. Rick and his son are courteous, respectful and professional. Even my neighbor came over to get acquainted with Rick and told me what a nice man he was. I will be using them for future home repairs or replacements.