J B's Handy Service

They worked efficiently. Quality work.

Very good job

Prompt, efficient, cordial professional.

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Jeff and Wayne were punctual. Careful, trustworthy, professional and thorough. These are skilled craftsmen who genuinely care about their work product and their customers.

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Couldn't have been any better...2 days from start to finish.  Very professional.  They did a great job with the fence and a great job with the cleanup too.  I will use them again.  AA++

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Excellent. Arrived when promised. Did work when scheduled. Price exactly as quoted .Excellent workmanship.

We recently bought a house, and wanted to extend the fence that was already in place.  We got quotes from 3 different companies and J.B's Handy Service was the best by a long shot.  Once we decided to go with them, they were quick to get the job started.  It took about 4 days to finish the job (it was a large area) and they did a wonderful job.  My husband and I are very particular about quality and making sure projects are done correctly.  Jeff (the owner) was very understanding, answering all of our questions and making sure that all of our concerns were addressed correctly.  We are very pleased and know if we have any problems at all, that Jeff is just a phone call away.  Would definitely recommend him and will probably be using him for future projects around the house.

I received a quote within 24 hours. After many days of rain, he showed up with a small army and completed the job in one day.

I had visited my elderly father on 03/09/14 and noticed he had quite a bit of rotten wood around his house.  Some of the boards were falling off and the gutters were hanging down.  When I got home (200 miles away), I searched Angies List for someone to give me an estimate on the work.  Needless to say, I was quite nervous about employing someone to do the work with me being so far away and not being able to be there.  I sent a message through Angies List to JB's Handy Service on a Sunday afternoon.  That night, Jeff called me and I explained what needed to be done.  He said he would stop by my Dad's house the next day and let me know.  When he arrived, he called me and we went over everything while on the phone and he walked around the house.  He gave me an estimate that night and I gave him the go ahead to proceed with the work.   He started the next day and called me at least twice a day every day he and his crew were there to give me an update on what was going on.  I drove down to my Dad's house on Friday 0/14/14 to inspect what they had done and pay him and was amazed at how good a job they did.  I would HIGHLY recommend this company for work.

I hate posting negative reviews but if Angies List is to work then these reports need to be done.  From what I see so far it seems most of the customers with negative experiences don't seem to post them which doesn't give an accurate rating. 
Mr Burnham was the 4th or 5th person that I had called for an estimate and he impressed me enough that I was looking for a reason to hire him.  He seemed to have the experience, a good Facebook page showing some projects and he seemed to be a straight-shooter.  
Most of the issues that I was not happy with seem to stem from inexperience from his people (as he didn't do the work himself) and from trying to save a few dollars by not using as much of the materials as was needed to do a good job.
To start, I wanted 3 separate estimates. One for rotted fascia repair.  One for porch ceiling replacement. One for a simple wooden deck off of the back of the house.  When I finally got the estimate, which took longer than I was told, it was one page with the fascia and ceiling combined as one job at one price. And nothing on the deck.  That should have been my first clue.  But I really thought that I wanted him to do the job so I called and offered him the job and was told he would be able to start in about 2 weeks. My only request was that he give us a couple of days (2 days) notice before starting.  There were things we wanted to move just before they started work.  2 weeks later at 7:30 PM on Sunday night I get a text message that "we will be there to start at 8 AM in the morning".  My second clue.  I called back and told him that I was expecting the 2 days notice that I requested.  We agreed on his starting the following Wednesday morning.
Wednesday morning comes and it seems that the "we" doing the work is going to be his son, T.J. and a helper.  I expected Mr. Burnham would be working or at least supervising but that was not the case.  Without going into a lot of detail, the fascia work ended up being "ok" after I pointed out some things to T.J. and a couple of calls to Mr Burnham.  I don't think that it would have turned out as well if they had not taken as many days as they did which gave us time to look over the work as it was being done and before it was finished.
The porch ceiling.  T.J. was expecting Mr Burnham to handle the porch ceiling but again he left it up to T.J. and his helper.  Where do I start?  It looks as if T.J. needs more experience and supervision before he is left alone on a job.  The FUBAR job on the ceiling had multiple issues.  
First, instead of starting with full width pieces on the part of the ceiling that is above the front door where the most traffic is, they started in the farthermost part of the porch from the front door. That resulted in an off-center joint above the area in front of the door. That would have been OK if T.J. had cut the plywood correctly.  When cutting plywood with a circular saw you cut from the front. If you cut from the back, as was done in this case, the teeth coming out of the front will splinter the wood. Because of this, I not only have an offset joint above the door, the joint is splintered an inch or so on either side of the joint making it VERY visible.  After complaining, someone did come back to touch it up but I saw very little difference. They either tried to fill in the splintered area with paint or caulk and then paint.  The same with screw heads. instead of being flush or below the wood surface many were above the surface of the wood and just painted over.  Sticking out like a sore thumb.  Again, I saw very little improvement after they came back the second time as there were still screw heads showing.
Even though they started at the far end of the porch on one side they also ended on the same end but in the other corner of that end.  How do I know?  Because they ended up using a small piece approximately 6" x 8" that sticks out even more than the screw heads did.  This could have been avoided by cutting the preceding pieces slightly shorter, then this piece would have been longer.  As small as this piece is, it must be screwed only into the existing sheetrock, not into any wood.  In fact, I was expecting the sheetrock to be removed and furring strips put up to attach the plywood to.  I don't think that was done.
As I mentioned at the beginning of my review, I think most of the reason that the work was substandard was because of inexperience (i.e., not knowing which side to cut the plywood) and trying to save money by not using enough of the materials to make it look right. One or two more sheets of plywood would have meant bigger pieces, fewer joints and a more professional look instead of the jigsaw puzzle that I ended up with.

Follow-up:
***  I agree with part of the providers response. Yes,I did hire the wrong guy.  And, yes, I should have done it myself. ***

Did a great job.  They came out several different times to replace the damaged sheetrock, tape, mud, texture, paint, etc.  Repainted the entire ceiling to ensure everything matched.  Would never know it had been damaged.

Prompt service, best estimate out of 3 contractors.  Creative and cost effective solutions to repairs on pillars.  Very kind and helpful not only to us but our neighbors as well.  He noticed my elderly neighbor trying to trim a branch and he walked over to do it for her.  She could not thank him enough.  He did not expect anything in return for that good deed.

Couldn't have been better.  Fence is beautiful.  Work was done on time and on budget.  Everyone very responsive and considerate and performed above what was expected.

.From start of receiving an estimate to finished job it was indeed a pleasure of dealing with a professional. Both projects were completed in a timely fashion dead on the estimate. I would recommend Jeff for any and all projects.

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