UNCLE JOHN'S HANDYMAN SERVICE

.

should've saved the money and done it ourselves - I had hoped that by hiring someone else to make the repair that it would look seamless and blend into the existing paint and texture. instead, you could still see the drywall tape and the paint doesn't match. definitely will never hire again.

I had a horrible experience with Uncle John's Handyman service. So here’s the negative review hoping it spares someone else. The second estimate was for $8,000 and they took two weeks to get back to me. The total cost ended up being over 15,000 dollars! Almost double the original estimate including the installation of the vanity, toilet and concrete wall repair; all of which didn’t get accomplished. What did get accomplished looked horrible or had to be redone or covered up. I am extremely unhappy with the job that was done. I shouldn’t pay 58 dollars an hour to get amateur work. I was ok with the demolition and plumbing but frustrated that it was taking so many weeks. However I assumed that construction would go smoothly because the contractor was building off of his own walls; unfortunately I was wrong. I liked the contractor, but I can’t afford to pay that much over the estimate for no good reason, especially for substandard work. We had to redo the plumbing ourselves for the vanity drain because it was 6” too short for the vanity drawer. Walls that were built from scratch are crooked. The flooring was: cut terribly - I’m going to have to do molding to cover it up It’s noticeably crooked in comparison with the tub. There are also bubbles in it There’s a gap between segments and both doorways, They also cut too far away from the tub and toilet so that has to be masked. They damaged my countertop when moving the dishwasher to install an icemaker supply line. They damaged the paint in the bedroom while repairing one of the bathroom walls The tile was: Crooked. Ungrouted/Uncaulked on tub/tile seem. Shallow grout application needs to be redone or filled in. Cracking in grout the first week without exposure to water. Problem with hours were: They charged me starting at 8:00 am regardless of when the contractor got there - once it took till 9:30 am to get onsite. I can’t afford to pay for so many freebie hours, especially in a month-long project. They charge for trips to the store. However, they make no effort to minimize trips and passed the cost on to me! I counted 13 separate trips across town and many times they didn’t have the right supplies because proper measurements and planning weren’t done. I bought the vanity, tub, tile, floor, and accessories and brought them onsite, because I didn’t want them to have any more excuses to go to the store. The first bill was 15hrs over what was actually worked even if you exclude the imaginary hours of work going to a store and getting to the work site. I talked with the owner and he said if I had overpaid that amount would be taken off of the final bill. After this concern was raised I asked for another estimate to get us back on track but they never made time. Those 15 hours were still on the final bill and my complaint was dismissed. Estimated at 8,000 and 105 hours of labor, our project took 194 hours. In all fairness, we ran into some complications with a cracked cast iron drain and a rotten wall that needed to be replaced. A generous estimate would be 30 hours for that extra work and this is assuming we get done with the bathroom which of course at 194 we’re still not done. ...Which comes to 60 hours of waste at 58 dollars an hour and that’s not including those imaginary work hours. This amounts to $3,480 which I want refunded. Unfinished work I called Monday morning of what would have been week six and informed the owner that the tub wasn’t functioning, the handle to the faucet was stuck on cold/lukewarm, and that the drain was incorrectly installed for the vanity. He strung me along all week until I got fed up with it and had IC Restorations come on Friday and fix the big stuff. The handle and electrical work they fixed in an hour, cut into the brand new walls and patched and mudded them, and rewired my breaker box. They did 10x better work, 10x faster, and 10x cheaper. Once I saw a real team working I realized the extent to which I had been ripped off. I was way too understanding. It was a huge mistake for Uncle John’s to blow me off and not come back and fix their work. I paid at the end of week 5 for what I thought was a sloppy job, but I wouldn’t have paid at all if I knew the thing didn’t work. I also never received a final bill or invoice as promised.

• Work was sloppy.  Damaged wall and grout in tile.  Was supposed to remove a small tree also, but was unable to give me any idea when it could be hauled away, so that job was "scratched".   I contacted Uncle John to voice complaints about this work, but message was never acknowledged. 
•  I would like this review published, but do not use my real name.

unknown

unknown

His equipment was to heavy for him to carry. So I had to help load and unload equipment. I had to hand him stuff while we was up on the ladder.I had to help assemble. He still charged me an arm and a leg.

Original job was to power wash and then stain fence.Service provider arrived unprepared for job. He did not have power washer to complete job. Returned on following day and power washed house and fence. Chemical sprayer broke during job and no spare equipment available. He had to leave and go purchase another sprayer. He was able to complete most of job, then power washer ran out of gas. He did not have enough gas to complete what would be a relatively small job. He did not have a gas can to refill power washer. He had to leave job and go get more gas. Service provider stated he would return the next day to begin staining. Could not begin due to inclement weather,this I understood. However, there was no communication for 4-5 days. We finally had to call him to get a work status and confirm original price which was unclear. He quoted us an hourly labor rate of $44/hour and stated it would take 1 day to complete.Upon speaking with him, his labor rates and hours were not consistent with time spent on job. He did not inform us that there would be an additional charge for chemicals and equipment rental. These areas were never discussed. We did have expectation that someone who does this type of work regularly should not need to rent a power washer. Also, we could have provided the same chemicals he purchased to clean had we known he was not equipped with these products, we had same chemicals in our garage. Contractor was very pleasant and amicable both in person and with negotiations for final price which was more in line with original verbal quote. But,due to all the confusion and inability of contractor to provide written estimate or final invoice once job completed, our confidence in him was tenuous at best. We had to negotiate a reasonable price with him for work completed. We opted to not have contractor complete staining of our fence, due to lack of communication,responsiveness, and professionalism. We were not confident work would be completed in a timely nor professional manner based off experience with power washing.

Great - it's still standing

John is always very thorough and professional, highly recommended.

He was referred to me by my mother. He kept me posted if he was running late & visa versa. Kept his prices reasonable.

He was very punctual and did very good work. We plan to have him back to do more work before we refinance the house.

He is very efficient and professional. He is very knowlegeable and communicates well.

He was recommended by my mother as he'd done some work for her. I needed someone to quickly install new kitchen lighting. (The large old fixture was already removed.) He was able to come and do the work w/o much notice so I REALLY appreciated that. I had other lighting and ceiling fan repairs and replacements that also needed to be done and he came back on a later date to complete the other work. He also replaced a kitchen disposal for me. He was pleasant and easy to work with. I didn't get estimates but I trust that his prices were reasonable. I do plan to have him back to do other misc repairs. He also made suggestions regarding some other work that I need to have done in the future to the ceiling of a covered deck. I will most likely ask him to do the work when I decide to get it repaired. I did have to clean up after his work with sheet rock, etc. but I prefer to do that myself when possible rather than pay someone more for the time it takes to do so.

John's fine. I give him B's which is "Good." There's nothing wrong with good. I think people expect too much for too little money. Of course that would be great for the customer, but it's not particularly realistic.

I've had other estimates, a couple less, but generally more than John.

He is indeed moving to Florida, as soon as he can retire.

Uncle John was recommended by friends. He seemed to be friendly and knowledgeable, I had a few small repairs, which he estimated at about $170 for no more than 4 hours of work. He did not give me a written estimate but for the small amount and given that my friends have been using him on a regular basis and considered him honest, I trusted him and not asked for one. He showed up on time. He couldn't install weather stripping in two doors because they were sort of special order, so he finished all works in about a hour and a half. He also answered several phone talks, and talked for at least 15 minutes. Another half hour was spent in estimating a possible future project (which should be free, according to his advertising). But I can grant that 1/2 hr in saying that he started working for me when he also went to the store to get material. So, for about 2 hour works, weather stripping, which was not used, hence returned, and a dimer, I was charged $220. He did not provide receipt of itemized amount. For the larger work that I asked him to estimate, he talked about $1,200. I asked then to send me a written copy of the estimate and also a copy of the receipt for the works done. Two days later I emailed him with the same request. A week has passed and I haven't received a written estimate nor the receipt yet. The work he did was fine, but was very simple stuff. However, he did not clean up at all. For the larger project that I asked him to estimate (powerwashing, repainting and fixing deck, stairs, and rail), I wasn't particularly impressed with his possible expertise. Mostly, any professional worker should provide written estimates, and mostly itemized receipt. My friends confirmed that he does not provide receipts too, which makes me wonder about him paying his taxes. My "D" for professionalism and prices regards this aspect, no written estimate and no receipt. I'll call him tomorrow and I'll update this review if there's anything new. In the meantime, I got different estimates and it seemed I found cheaper prices with better professionalism and expertise.

His visit was over a year ago, and I don't remember everything we asked him about, but I remember he suggested using velcro to re-attach a bathroom ceiling fan cover when we could not figure out how to do it. He couldn't figure it out either. Months later, our electrician figured it out in less than a minute. I just wasn't impressed with his area of expertise. He seemed to suggest shortcuts and didn't project himself as a person who was committed to doing the best job possible. I hear he's planning to move out of state as soon as his house sells. Advice - try someone else.

John arrived at the scheduled time and got right to work. He installed a programmable thermostat and was to replace a bathroom fan. He found that the fan just needed to be repaired which reduced my cost considerably. He was very honest and he will be the first I will call for all future handyman needs.