David Brown Handyman Service

I was referred to David «Ed» Brown by a friend whom had hired him in the past for her home. He did a great job and I was quite impressed. So I tried to contact him to set up an appointment.
8÷24÷13 — I tried to leave him a voice mail message but it was full. So I sent him an email. 5 days later, I had to send another email. I think it took a 3^rd email to get him to respond. I set up an appointment and he came to my home. He explained he is a one man shop and that his son helps him. That is fine as I prefer a more personal experience over something so important. He bragged on over 30 years in his trade. Perfect.
«Ed» seemed a very nice man whom was enthusiastic about working with wood. We are redoing our kitchen cabinets. He did not bring anything with him to show his other completed jobs and does not have a website. He showed me a few small photos on his cell phone about a vintage SF house he was helping restore. My husband was getting impatient that there was nothing else to show for 30+ years.
We reviewed what my vision for my kitchen was. This is all new to me so I was unfamiliar with any other types of woods. «Ed» promised to bring by some wood scrap samples he had at home to help us both along. We asked for an estimate with a breakdown so we could see what our options were. He hmmmed and hawwwed a bit then simply said $ 10K. I asked if he would be willing to give me a proper estimate, in writing, with a breakdown for his figures. He agreed and promised that he would have a true estimate to me in a couple of days along with some wood samples.
9÷22÷13 — I emailed «Ed» because I had not heard back from him. No estimate and no wood samples and it had been 2 – 3 weeks since his initial visit.
10÷1÷13 — «Ed» emailed back, apologizing for the delay, and with a promise he would contact me in a day or two with some wood samples.
10÷30÷13 — Still no estimate or wood samples, I emailed him again and asked if he was even interested in our project. I explained I was going to contact other companies as I believe I had been more than patient.
11÷17÷13 — «Ed» emailed back, finally. «Sorry I took so long to get back to you I needed to finish one job witch I did. If it not to late I would like to do the job. If it is too late maby the next one.»
11÷18÷13 — I responded and asked for a quote just to build a single lower cabinet we had discussed earlier. He responded he would do that. I realize I may look like an idiot about now, but I was still willing to hang in there and give him one more chance. Everyone deserves a second chance.
I never heard from David «Ed» Brown again.
In all my years on Unilocal,I have never left a 1 star review before. This is my first and it is well deserved. I would have given ½ star if that was an option. This man never once contacted me on his own. I now look back and realize I wasted a couple of months where I could have worked with a REAL contractor. And the fact he even asked to work on «the next one» shows he is very much out of touch with reality.
My first clue should have been that his California State Contractors License was expired.

David did a great job on our kitchen remodel.
He also opened up a load-​bearing wall, in a way that we were very pleased with. The other contractors wanted to place a support beam under the existing ceiling joists to support them. David temporarily supported the ceiling and then cut back the joists and installed a beam (with hangers) in plane with the bottom of the ceiling. The result was a clean look, and you can never tell there is a supporting beam there. We were very pleased.
Since then, he has fixed our bathroom ceiling vent, routed an AC vent for us, repaired our gutters, and fixed some electrical issues we had.
He seems to know every field of construction, and cares a lot about the quality of work he produces. He’s also good to talk to about the possible solutions for a given problem. Happy I found him!

David Brown has been working at my home for about three years installing weather stripping on a door, caulking tile, installing light fixtures in my entry hall and a dimmer switch in my kitchen, repaired a chandelier in my kitchen which needed to be soldered and much more. David is reliable, consistent, extremely conscientious, trustworthy and honest. David’s prices are more than fair, and he is very pleasant to work with. He will take a task and run with it until completed to his and his client’s satisfaction.

David just completed two projects in our house: one was the replacement of the wood siding on front of our house; the second one was related to plumbing.
Both jobs started and completed on schedule.
David is a no non-​sense type of guy: He says what he does and he does what he says. For the first project, we conducted a comparison with four other contractors; David had the best price and was nice to work with.
We recommend David and will call him again son for more repairs around and inside the house.