Rafik Home Improvement

He did a fantastic job. He was timely, polite, and completed the job effectively and with good workmanship. Later on, when I needed another job done, he walked me through a much simpler (and cheaper) solution that I thought would be needed.

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He charged me $1000.00 to do the work and the roof provider that I have now said that the work that Rafik Home Improvement did do was very poor.

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He was very slow in getting back to me. So no need to use him.

It went well and he did good work.  I think when he came in he was a little direct so he comes in and says pretty much this was wrong and this was done wrong and that sort of thing with installation with the thought that he was trying to get a lot more work from me but at the end I had a chat with him and he was all good and he did a good job.  The quality of the work was good.  He was fairly efficient in getting it done.  He explained things as he was doing it.  He can be direct and tell people what he thinks but he can do it in a softer manner but not sweet toning it but instead of telling all the work done in your house wasn’t done well just say, “Hey! Look you may want to think about it” and my wife tells me all the time that it’s all in the delivery.  In the end I had a nice conversation but in the beginning a little taken aback by him saying that they put a wrong tile on the shower and I was not going to replace everything but just tell me how you are going to help me.  He was good.  The price was good and his regular prices were very good.  He was a little tough to communicate at the beginning.  He called me when he was running late.

They were great, the job went very well. They did charge me extra because the job was much more complicated than anticipated, but I do not remember the total price over and above the $ 90 deal. They did a good job and explained everything that needed to be done and their workmanship was good. They were quite professional and timely in their work; they were prompt  except for a rescheduling once.

Rafik was great.  He showed up on time.  He understood the job and explained the procedure and how long it would take.
He was clean and careful.

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It was difficult to get in touch with him. He did not call within the specified amount of time and I had to go through Angie List customer service because he did not call for almost a week. The work he did was good and in general I liked him and his work, but the biggest issue I had was that Raffik did not bring a ladder and had to go home during rush hour to get one and he charged me for the time it took.

Painted the bathroom

It was an Angie's List Big Deal that I purchased. It turned out good though we had a few hiccups. He told me he would call on a Monday and he ended up being an hour late in coming to my house so I told him I cannot wait for him so we had to reschedule. It was not very convenient for me. I rescheduled to a Wednesday and that day he was an hour early. Again, it was not convenient. I had to leave him in my house for 40 minutes on his own while I was taking my kids to school but he did a good job. It was a little laborious in the logistics, the booking, him coming, him being late, and him being early the next time because he didn't want to be late. I had also called about this deal specifically because when I bought it it said it would be a 3-hour service and when I called Rafik, he said it's actually 2 hours because he needed to travel. I called back Angie's List and said to let me know if I understood it wrongly and the lady said she didn't see anything about traveling time. The day that he walked in, I told him he's there for 3 hours but he said he's there for 2-2 1/2 hours for whatever needed to be done. He ended up staying for 3 hours because that's really what I wanted because that was what I had bought but if I hadn't been a little pushy, he would have left after 2 hours. He was a nice guy, he did a good job, he was clean, he was pleasant but with the initial contact and booking, I thought this was not going to work out. He explained on a Wednesday that he had a car problem which he didn't share with me on a Monday. I called him and asked him what's going on because he is an hour late and I asked him if he was nearby. He said he's going to be there probably in half an hour so I told him not to come because it wasn't going to work out that morning that was why we rescheduled. There were no extra charges. He did a good job, it was clean, and it was what I had in mind. It all worked out in the end. In the beginning I was a little bothered.

Removed some drywall to check for mold from water damage.  Replaced wall and patched and then painted the entire room.  He also laid a self leveling floor for us in our unfinished basement bathroom.

He did not ask enough questions and made a few mistakes.

He made very quick work of the list and I was very pleased with the quality.
I do think he was swamped with the coupon deals as our initial try at setting up an appt led to him saying he needed to callback and he didnt. but we did eventually work out the time, he even managed to show up a day early (he called to ask if he could which worked out great for me).

For 3 tables (TV table, side table, and coffee table) from Walmart, it took for Rafik Home Improvement 7 hours to assemble them. I don't know if that's the average time but I think it's too much. However, Rafik is a professional person. His work is neat and clean. This deal included the TRIP TIME from his place to my home (i.e. Round trip) which was not mentioned in the deal. I'm not sure if this unclarity was from Angie's List or Rafik Home Improvement but I didn't like it this way.

It turned out well. The man who came out was very competent. He managed to do the work and left everything in good shape. In previous years, I have had a local handyman whom we know and the charge of the man from Rafik Home Improvement was about half the amount that he charges. I think that his price was probably low and fair. I just do not know what prices people charge for such service so I do not know whether it was high or low. He was an hour or so late but he did try to call me and could not get me.

It was an Angie's List Big Deal that I purchased. He was fine. There were 2 or 3 little simple projects; there were no hard projects. There were no problems. He did the jobs very competently.

I feel a little sidelined- my focus was to have the inside rims of 5 basement windows painted and my basement vacuumed ? I may be underestimating as I don?t have the expertise-however,    I send Rafik and email with pictures attached before he came over ? he emailed me back (see attached 2nd email) and confirmed that he would be able to do the job.  When he arrived he told me that each widow would take 3 hrs. ? then he said the windows have to be replaced and the two most important ones would cost me $1000 and will do it for $850.  I told him that this year I could not afford it in my budget?I told him I already bought the paint for $30.00 and paid Angies list $99.00- he proceeded to do just one window for 3 hours?..
 
If I had known this I would have been better off to purchase your big deal for $199 two painters for a day!  I did have other handy man jobs in mind but was shocked by Rafik?s assessment

Scheduling was a bit difficult at first, because he apparently had a lot of responses to the Big Deal.
We were able to touch base by phone after several weeks, to arrange a time for him to come see the various
projects.  He was then sick the day we had first scheduled the work, but came the next Monday.
Rafik works very diligently and efficiently. He had organized the various jobs to allow work on one thing while 
what he had just done on another was drying, etc.  He checked in with us on a few things, when the original plan discussed
could not be followed (e.g., studs were not where first thought in the wall for the mirror).  He does things with cost
to customer in mind, without sacrificing quality.  Very thoughtful, and seems very experienced and knowledgable. 
Everything looks nicely done, and we're pleased.  
He was quite neat, although he apologized for "the mess" (i.e., a little plaster dust on the floor beneath the 
mirror area, and a little sawdust near the threshold work).   No big deal, and I thought quite neat for the amount of
work.  
We have asked him to provide an estimate for a larger project for next summer.

This review is for two projects.
Project one: I was happy with the results, it was done clean and nice during the two day period. Rafik removed rotten parts from the bathroom wall and partially ceiling and used compound to fill in the space and partially replaces the finishing on the wall. On day two he came back to put extra compound and finish the job. He said that I heed to buy paint that covers yellow stains, a special brush that will give a "bumpy" finish to match the rest of the ceiling, and also buy new shower rod holders since the old ones were covered with rust. It took me a while to find a paint that did not smell but the rods were not available at the store and neither that "special" brush. I brought back just the paint and the new threshold that I wanted him to replace after he was done with the bathroom.
I helped him to re-attach the shower rod and it took a very long while because he did not measure it correctly and one of the bases had to be removed from the ceiling and moved about 2 inches so the rod that goes all around will close.
He started to replace the threshold and I went to the bathroom to see the finished work. I saw that from the initial rod re-attachment there was a imprint in the wet compound and I asked him to cover it up. When he was done with the threshold, he put more compound to cover the hole from where the base was place initially.
I felt that he was very tried and it was affecting the quality of work in the bedroom where he put crews around the window wood because it became loose. He used wide screws and one of the wood boards around the window cracked. He told me to put whote caulk around it to cover it up. Also, he used black screws on the while finish and it was now pretty. When he left, I put caulk on those black spots so they were not an eye sore any more. When I looked at the rod attachment after he left, I saw that the base was not even and I could not do much about it because I did not have a power tool myself, besides, I was afraid that once one screw removed, there would be a large hole and to make a hole right next to it may not be a good idea and it may not hold the rod and the curtain. Now the curtain covers it a little but it is still an eye sore when I see it. It is off by 1/5 of an inch tilted and it should be a 90% angle. But there is nothing can be really done to change it without causing more damage and the paint around it a dark color that would be hard to find.
I asked him to cover the long opening around the closet door and the wall. I had boards of wood available at home. He found what he needed and crewed the boards around the door. When he left, I saw that next to the board that he screwed in was still a n opening, enough for a mice to squeeze in. I tried to unscrew the board but without a power tool it was impossible. I called him to ask if he could fix it, but after a few attempts, I had a friend to put caulk all over it so it was covered. It took a while to do it and it was messy.

The threshold was moving a little when you step on it but I got used to it. Now it became loose and a hazard and I called Rafik twice to redo that. He said the problem was not the threshold but my house that was old. Well, the old threshold was ugly but was not moving and was not a hazard. Now I regret I replaced it.
Going back to the water damage repair. I called Rafik and asked when he is coming to paint the area. He kept telling me he was very buy and finally came. After he looked at the ceiling, he said that he had to charge me extra to paint it. I was shocked. I asked why did he send me to home depot to buy the paint if he was not going to paint it and after some arguments, he left but came back with the ladder and began to paint it. He did not use a drop close. When he was done, he told me to clean the floor from the paint drops and I had to scrub some of them from the floor and from the toilet seat. It was not bad, but if I knew he would not cover anything, I would cover it myself. But he was in a bad mood and the energy was not good around him and I did not want to be in the bathroom while he was painting.

When the threshold became a hazard I called him and he asked why I did not tell him about it when he was here. I said that at that time, it was still attached and now, there is an opening between the floor and the threshold. He keeps telling me that he will call when he is not busy but I don't know if he will do it or not. By the way, I paid a $100 cash for the three hours of the job apard from the water damage project. He said that he can not give me a receipt for it and I don't know why.  Maybe because I was supposed to buy it through Angies list and not pay him directly? Now I regret that I did not go through the Angies list because the quality turned out to be lousy and I don't have protection.

Rafik did a nice job.