One Handy Man

I hired David to resand a butcher block countertop, move a light switch about three feet away down the wall and to install a couple of IKEA cabinets. He is an incredibly nice guy and very pleasant to deal with … polite, shows up when he says he will, etc. That said, when you ask someone for an estimate on pretty basic work, you expect the bill to bear some relationship to the estimate.
For me (single mom … no one to hand a ‘honey-​do’ list to) the estimate lets me know whether or not I can afford to do the work in the first place … and I count on it. So I can tell you I was pretty upset when, somehow, «sand and oil kitchen counter: 2 – 4 hours» (on the estimate) became «sand kitchen counter: 12 man hours» (on the bill). Without the counter even getting oiled (I had to do it) or caulked into place (I’ll have to hire someone else for that). Huh? His response when I asked about the difference: «I did not keep track of what task took how long» because that «wouldn’t be practical.» I’m just billing you for my time. Double-​huh? I thought the whole reason you had someone come to your house, look at a situation, and tell you how long it would take them to deal with it, then put it in writing for you was so you could rely on it.
The IKEA cabinet install and light switch move weren’t exactly portraits of efficiency, either (he’d forgotten that IKEA stuff requires assembling when he gave his estimate so, again, the amount of time estimated vs. billed were unbelievably out of proportion to one another). So many things were done, then redone because of bad planning (but billed for on how much time it took to do, undo, then do it again). One example: the guy he had working with him installed/​screwed in all the slide out drawers in two sets of cabinets only to realize that he didn’t account for putting on the hinges for the doors … so had to take the drawers out, put the doors on and then install the drawers again. Then did the same thing installing waste cans under the sink («oh sorry … forgot we needed to get under there for putting on a cabinet face!» … unistall, then reinstall) And that’s just the stuff I saw on the day I stayed to see what the heck was up … who knows what happened the days I wasn’t there. He knew it was a bit ridiculous too, so – to his credit — he discounted his hourly rate a bit to account for his IKEA learning curve.
At the end of the day, the quality of the work he did is fine … not fabulous, not awful. The cabinets are installed solidly and level. The problem is just in the amount of time he bills for doing it (10 hours billed for a job a professional electrician said would take 45 mins? ouch!) I’m just chalking the experience up to a lesson learned: going forward I only hire people with multiple stellar ratings on Unilocal.And I wouldn’t say don’t use him … just that, if you do, I’d consider asking him to work on a project (rather than an hourly) basis.
UPDATE: ok, maybe not such a nice guy. I guess after he realized I gave him a bad review on Unilocal,he tried to ‘revoke’ the discount for his inefficiency and sent me a series of indignant emails insisting he was entitled to his full hourly rate for every hour of his time, even if that time exceeded the estimate by 4−6x’s for some projects AND even if the time was spent doing, undoing, and redoing the same work. Pretty ridiculous.

I have used the services of One Handy Man for painting (and associated prep) which was done very quickly and professionally and assorted «odd jobs» for my two investment properties, with excellent results. The various jobs which included bathroom ventilation, and misc. carpentry work were executed in a professional and timely fashion. I also always felt as if I received good value for my money. David was nice and came when he said he would, listened to what I needed and then made helpful suggestions of how the work could be done best and gave me a couple options regarding cost, something I appreciated. After using him for this work, I decided to hire him to do some exterior painting which is where his work shined even more. The work was done fast and professionally. I am now planning on hiring him to paint most of the interior of my own home, something I’ve been meaning to do forever, but due to running my own business, never seem to have the time to do.