Don Roach Home Repair

Had a few cracks and dings on basement ceiling.  Chip fixed the cracks and painted the ceiling.  Also repaired drywall in front hallway of my building.  Chip also replaced 4 blinds in the basement at my request.  Chip showed up everyday on time and spent a lot of time making sure the repairs were done correctly.  He does meticulous work.

My request for him to hang the new blinds for me was at the last minute but he still accommodated me.

I am so happy with Chip's work that I have requested quotes for additional work that I need done at my home.  

We have hired Don several times now and are always very pleased with the results. All the work was done in a timely fashion and with great attention to details. We  appreciate how carefully the work space is prepped and later cleaned upon completion of the project. Don is friendly, professional, provides good advice and a pleasure to work with.

Don did a great job.  The cost of the job was the same as the estimate he gave.  \Easy to get in touch with and he was very personable.  Will definitely use him again!

Chip did an outstanding job and is a pleasant guy to work with. His work is of high quality and the cost was quite fair (significantly less than our second estimate). He made sure we were pleased with the results, and we are thrilled.

.

Great. Chip was very easy to have in our house. He went out of his way to work around our babies nap schedule!

Excellent work, kept the work area clean. Delivered on time and on budget.

As I said, Don came over the first thing on Wednesday, within 24 hours of my call. He made sure that the part that had dropped down the drain was not causing a problem. He was done within 30 minutes, cleaned up, and left me with some references for additional contractors that I had asked him for. No charge, he said! That's a good deal!

Chip and his helper, Kenny, did an excellent job. I'm really happy with the work. I usually have to worry about all the details, but I didn't have to with Chip because he paid attention to all the details. He was very responsive, and I trusted him with my house. I don't think my original 1930's arched wooden front door had been stained for a long, long time, so it really needed a lot of work. Chip really took a lot of care with it, and did a great job, and it looks so much better now. This winter had caused my fence gate to raise up and became impossible to open and use which was a huge hassle. Chip came up with an idea to repair it without causing damage to the fence, and it's working even better than before. I'll definitely call Chip again in the future, and my neighbor already hired him to stain her front door.

Cost includes labor and materials.
We've used Chip in the past, and as before, all went well. We had to change some of what we wanted with the original contact. It's an old building and it was going to prove too difficult/expensive to do a crown molding. It also wound up that the prep took longer and we needed more paint than originally anticipated, also because of how long it had been since the rooms were painted. Chip made all adjustments, in both cost and materials, with grace and good humor. He finished a day earlier than anticipated, coming in on a Saturday to do so.

Chip went to my condo and did a visual assessment and estimate of the issues my tenant had reported: trouble with two light switches, a leaking kitchen counter around the sink, and a detached cabinet. He did an excellent job and was very helpful with my condo repairs. He was pleasant to work with and was willing to coordinate with my tenant to find a time that was convenient to her. I look forward to hiring him again.

We could not be happier! They really helped us out in the beginning when we were first trying to figure out what was wrong and then guided us through the process when we were facing major ($12,000+) worth of sewer repair with the plumbing company. They are punctual, honest, knowledgeable, do high quality work, and are very reasonably priced. I would highly recommend them!

Why can't all service people by like Don? When I called, he called me back. Within TWO hours. Other service people have taken up to three or more days to return calls; many don't return calls at all. For each service I requested, he did research on his own before giving me an estimate of charges. For the change of locks, the price wound up being slightly higher than his estimate. He called to tell me that, and asked my permission to go ahead with the new total. Honesty--what a concept, right? And then...he did exactly what he promised he would do each time I hired him: Snaked my tub, changed and installed my locks and fixed my windows.

Don is also very personable and easy to talk to. He knows how to explain things in a way that's easy to understand, not and quot;Contractor-Speak.and quot; His rates were also not just competitive, but the most reasonable rates I found in my own research. I will not only hire Don for future work, I will go to him for references for people who perform services he doesn't. My guess is he knows people who are as competent, honest and friendly as he is in the business. I trust him, like his work...and I like him!

his destruction went to another unit and knocked out the electric to the first floor back unit. I was livid to say the least, and his answer was, "oh, well, I have a union electrician, you can call him." Well, now I had to pay for his services and then again for another persons services as well? Plus he was not going to give me anything off on the paint job and did not return the paint to me, which I had paid for! I have the receipts!! He leaves the area in which he is working unclean, with his fingerprints all over the work area, not even attempting to wipe down the area in which he worked, and always had to run out to ensure to pick up his "daughter from school" or some other excuse, so whether he arrived at 10:00 am or later he had to leave by 2:00 pm. Doesn't leave much time to get your work done.

It wasn't a large job but it was done so well and especially great because we were in a time crunch and Don was willing to complete what we needed done all on the same day. He does an excellent job, neat and professional.

Great service, great attitude, great guy. Can fix anything, but will honestly tell you if not. CLEAN, tidy, respectful. Most importantly,
Don will treat female clients with respect, will not talk down to them, will always be informative without sounding condescending... and if you're the lady ordering up the work (or writing the check!) he won't turn around and ask the little lady for the man of the house. It was refreshing working with Don to get all those irksome details attended to around my home; he painted the kitchen, fixed some doors, repaired some cabinets, and just generally made the house work again!

We are in a 3 unit condo building built in 1929. The front door was in disrepair and was showing signs of wood rot. Chip sanded, stained and sealed the front/back of the door and it now looks like a completely different door. We also needed the gates on the side of the building (front and back) replaced. Chip redid the gates.
When we started the process, Chip was quick to respond to our inquiry calls, showed up on time and provided written bids and proposals. He stayed within budget and helped us work with colors etc. When there were a few glitches down the road with the gate hinges, Chip immediately came back and made the adjustments.
I would highly recommend anyone using Chip. He's professional and does great work.

Very well. The front door, his first job, is still in excellent shape. The rest of his jobs are holding up well.

Don showed up on time and on the date specified when he gave me the estimate for work. Was impressed with all work done well -- so much so that I hired him back for another 1/2-day the following week. Would definitely recommend him as a great handyman. Hard to find someone to do painting, electrical, carpentry and plumbing -- all well and everything is working great. When he was leaving, mentioned that if I had any problems with anything -- showerhead dripping, etc. -- to just give him a call and he'd be back to fix. Haven't had to do a call back on anything -- but nice to know that there's folks out there that stand behind their work/guarantee same. Would definitely recommend him as a top-notch handyman...and would definitely give him a call the next time I need someone with his talents.

I will use his services when ever needed. I feel quite happy and secure knowing I have help!

It was kind of expensive $75.00 for literally 10 minutes to tack on the gutter, but we didn't have time or resources to do it ourselves.

He was very honest about what needed to be done. He went and got the supplies, came right back and did it. It seems to have solved the problem. He didn't try to tell us we needed to tear down a wall.

We had gotten an estimate from another handyman, but the price was high ($85/95 hour) and he kept getting distracted by phone calls as he walked round seeing what needed to be done. He sent a sub-contractor to see about the drainpipe, but we never heard back from either about the cost of that job. We try to get service people within 5 miles of us; Chip wound up being in our neighborhood. He came, saw the work which needed to be done, and could fit us in the next week. He was a bit late and I had to leave before the work was completed, but felt very comfortable leaving him. We had him back to do the drainpipe about a month later. The cost was more than reasonable, as it included having to go out to the suburbs for the pipe, as it was oversize. Everything looks good, the backstairs where the pipe had been leaking are now ice free, and everywhere he worked was cleaned up well. I am thrilled that we have found a good handyman so close to home and so easy to work with.

Chip (Don) took the time needed to do the jobs properly. He methods were more time consuming than others, but the result was extremely good.

The door and the frame were very weathered, and in places the veneer was coming off. It took a week of daily work to do. He used safe practices - the work area was protected with tarps, there was zero dust or other evidence of the job after it was complete.

The door now looks as if it had aged gracefully and had been carefully maintained for that hundred years.

2nd job was patching cement on the front stoop in front of the door. This job was done to the same high standard.

Before and after photos of the door are available, feel free to contact me through angieslist, or as a reference through Don Roach Home Repair, I will gladly give a personal reference by the phone or email.

All jobs have been done excellently, if not superbly, as in the case of my storm windows. The windows had been in pretty sorry shape. They were quite old and not of a standard size so to completely remake them would have been rather expensive. Chip was able to work with the remaining wood frame and panes and revitalize them. He rebuilt the wood - on one window a whole corner was practically gone - and attached braces where needed. They ended up looking practically brand new, beautifully painted and still matching the vintage of my house.

Most recently, I awoke one Saturday morning to discover my water heater had stopped working and was leaking. I called Chip for advice. He gave me a mini lesson on water heaters and said that mine most probably needed to be replaced. (I knew mine was old but when we checked it, it turns out it was nearly 40 years old!) He was busy that day with other jobs and couldn't help me till the next day, Sunday. He had replaced many water heaters before and because of my previous experience with his attention and care to high quality work I trusted him to do this job and I was willing to wait. In the meantime my job was to find a new water heater, which I was happy to do. Chip gave me advice on good brands and what capacity I would need for my uses, etc. and where to look. By the time Chip came over the next day I had picked out my new water heater from doing online research. We checked that it was in stock at a local Home Depot. We went and picked it up in Chip's truck, came back and he went to town. This job took several hours as the old water heater needed to be drained and removed and the new one installed in all it's detail involving gas and water lines. The $895.00 figure above breaks down to $655.00 for the water heater, and $240.00 Chip's fee.

General comments: When I have called him and if I needed to leave a message, he has always gotten back to me in a timely manner. His estimates have always been spot on and he’s always given me a full accounting of his materials costs and receipts. He has always shown up when agreed upon and he always cleans up any debris or mess from the work. He cares about doing good work and it shows. Me being an owner of an old house that has a fair amount of maintenance and repair issues, I feel I can rely on Chip to give me good advice about these things. He will tell me if and how much experience he has had with a particular issue and if something is not within his realm of expertise he'll say so. I always feel he's honest and upfront.

I’ve been trying to think of any down sides to working with Chip to present a more balanced review but I can’t think of any. On my side, while I try not to be underfoot or annoying, but just for my own education, I like to observe what's being done and learn how things work. Chip good-naturedly accommodates me and answers my questions. I think he thinks it's a good idea for a home owner to understand how their home works.

In addition to all of the above, Chip is also just a pleasure to work with because he is very personable. He couldn’t be easier to work with or more professional in the quality and care he puts into his work. Thank you, Chip! And, Thank you, Angie's list!