The Remodel Guy

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He did an excellent job and gave a fair price.

l called Guy at the last minute as I had tried to re-organize four closets in a home I had just bought. Unfortunately I didn't have a big enough drill to do the job and the shelves with heavier loads began to come loose. In addition, I couldn't dismantle the make-shift irrigation system that the previous owners had put in and more water was shooting out of the junction of the hose and spigot than was coming out of the other end of the hose.
Guy was on vacation, but called me back within 36 hours. Even though he was planning on taking the day off, he came by and helped me after he arrived home. He fixed the mess I had made in my closet and systematically tackled the list of things I needed done in an organized manner. The list was long and I didn't need to repeat instructions as he remembered every detail of what I wanted and made no mistakes. He was neat, easy to work with, and the work was professional.
This is the second time I've used Guy. I also asked him to lay a vapor barrier in my crawl space for me. The home inspector I used when buying the home came back, as part of our contract, to make sure the vapor barrier had been installed correctly. He found no fault, and believe me, this was a really tough job as there was little space to work in. I've been down in the crawl space a couple of times since Guy laid the vapor barrier and I honestly don't know how he did. But I am pleased.

Before anything else, Guy and I had discussed all the home improvements that I wanted done before I could rent out the house. We both worked out the pricing for each project and kept in touch in the beginning. Guy provided me with updates and sent me pictures throughout his work. It looked like it was coming along nicely, but I realized pictures do not do justice. I came back to Portland from Hawaii October 4th and saw the house in person for the first time after the renovation and I was in shocked to see that most everything was unfinished and was not professionally done. Guy cuts corners and skipped a lot of the prep work. He never texturized before he painted. He said he fixed the bad job on the ceiling and the wall after the wall was knocked down, but it was done horribly. You can see the the big patched area on the ceiling, but it was not sanded enough and texturized to match the rest of the house. When I did mention this to Guy, he responded by saying, "Well you did not tell me to texturize it" I could not believe the reponse I got from him. He is a contractor who's supposed to already know this. I shouldn't have to spell everything out for him. Just like when I told him to fix the paint on top of the fireplace, obviously the sides needed it too. When I ask to fix a certain area, I expect that you would look at the whole picture and do everything that needs to be done with it and to do it right. I was not around to point out every little detail that needed to be done and I trusted that Guy would have the common sense to perform the job. I felt like he was more focused on the amount and time we estimated for each project and it totally reflected on the quality of his work. I told him that I was willing to pay more if the job took longer, but it is his job to let me know. Instead, a lot of the work was half assed done. He was supposed to replace the trim around the main bath but he only did the sides. One of thes sides did not even come all the way to the tiles, there was a 5 inch gap. He was supposed to paint the whole garage door after realizing that the paint he used did not match with the rest of the color, but he just left certain areas painted and never finished it. He did a horrible job on the sheetrock inside the garage. There's holes and tears all over and the tapes were coming off. He did not even bother cleaning up after his work in the garage. He did not put back the outlet covers for the light switches and trims around the door. This should all just be commom courtesy after you've worked on it. The trim around the stairs still needed to be painted. The blinds in the master bedroom was never cut to fit. He did a lousy job on caulking the toilet. He was supposed to refinish my tub, but it was not done correctly. You can still see the old color, there's scatches all over the bottom, there was a big drip mark that had dried out and he did not scrape rough areas before refinishing the tub. After I told him that I would report him if he did not come back to fix his work, he started trying to work with me by offering back half of the cost for the tub ($100) since he felt like this was the only work he messed up on. I thought, why should I pay $100 for his mistake? Clearly the tub needs to be refinished again. The only thing he did a good job on was tiling the master bath. I'm sure he spent a lot of time working on my house but I shouldn't have to be responsible for his own mistake. His work should be guaranteed. I paid him every week for the 3 weeks that he worked on my house. Looking back, I shouldn't have paid him the last check yet since I was going to be back in town in 2 weeks anyways. But he was not going to keep going without geting paid first so I just had to trust him. I figured the sooner I get this renovation done, the sooner I would get renters. After I sent him the last check, Guy stopped communicating with me and never even gave me a final report. After I came back, I tried to get a hold of him but he just ignored my phone calls and emails. When I told him that I would report him if he does not come back to the house and fix his work, that's when he started to respond. He said that everything is done, but it is NOT and it was not done right. I have pictures of the work he did to prove all this. I eventually received a $200 check but it is still not enough to fix the damage he has done. It's costing me more time and money. I even had to extend my flight to take care of my house myself since it's hard for me to trust anyone anymore to do the work for me. I am very disappointed with my experience with this contractor. I learned that you can never trust anyone to do the job to your standards and that you should always be present to supervise the work that they do for you because you never know what you'd get.

I spent about $250 on that service. He came and gave me an estimate and came over when he said he would and did work. It was a leak that was coming through the wall that he never got fixed. I called him to see if he could come and figure something else out. He made two appointments and never showed up and it got to a point where he wouldn't even return my calls. It was a really bad experience with him. I thought that I was going to be really happy with him because he showed up on time to give me the estimate and to do the work. He did a nice job, but he fixed what it had been leaked on and not the leak. The work he did was good work, but it wasn't what needed to be done.

My interaction with him was very good. He does good work. He is dependable, businesslike, and professional.

I recently moved into a new home and the existing toilets needed replacing. I purchased 3 new Toto 1-piece toilets as replacements. Guy was sensitive about keeping all clean/dry; placing blankets and towels on the floors of each bathroom and wiping-up when done. He also took care to insure no floor/wall bumps or scratches when removing/installing each toilet. The project was performed in ~ 3 hours. This installation cost was 1/2 of what my plumber would have charged. And Guy even hauled away the old toilets taking them to a local recycle company!

When discussing the project with Guy, I had requested a quick-turn installation as my family was in-process of moving into our new residence; plus were coordinating the work to align with a painters schedule. Guy was very flexible offering to work the weekend to complete the project. He was very familiar with crown molding selections and found an exact match to existing molding already in the home. He started the project on a Friday, bringing all needed equipment with him (inclusive of table/miter saw) plus purchased/delivered the molding. He measured and cut everything within 5 hours on that first day; which left ample time for the painter to spray paint ahead of hanging the molding. Guy returned at 8am Saturday and worked diligently to install the crown molding, finishing at 8PM that night. His cuts were seamless and all molding fit tight around the corners. End result was FABULOUS! I am so appreciative of Guy's workmanship and flexibility to install all so timely. Guy is a contractor whom is trustworthy, skilled in his trade, and one who provides quality work for a fair price.

Phoned Guy Mael directly to discuss the project. He promptly scheduled a time to meet to evaluate the project and take needed measurements. Within 2 days he sent a estimate along with timelines (both start and length to complete). Guy started the work when committed and surprised me with results on the first day by having nearly 1/2 of the platform up. This wasn't an easy job a Guy had to work around boxes and other items in the garage; but he kept all tidy and organized. Guy's product in outcome was exceptional ...he uses quality products -- lumber, accessories, etc; and does not rush the job. He is also creative and quite customer oriented. It was a pleasure having Guy manage this project. I'm leveraging his services further on other projects around my house.

It all went very well. The fence was done as promised, including correcting previous mistakes in location and construction. All was done on time. The apartment was readied for new tenants in a timely manner. All the work was done as promised and good quality. The business processes were clear and transparent. The charge was per hour, plus material. We had an estimate in advance and clear understandable bills.