Ideal Handyman

In the end, Mario did not do any work for me. Like other reviewers, I found Mario to be very pleasant and knowledgeable, but unreliable. He confused the date for our estimate appointment, but did come the second time as agreed. During that appointment (Tuesday) he gave a very reasonable price for the work. I explained that this was time-​sensitive as I have an appraisal scheduled, and asked if he was available this coming weekend, Saturday or Sunday, and he said he was available either day. Since my husband and I both work outside our home, that was important, so I said I’d like to hire him for the weekend and would call or txt later to confirm the date and time. When I txt’d (Wednesday) to confirm for Saturday, I did not receive a response. I followed up on Thursday, and he replied saying he would call me later as he was busy — understandable, but he did not call me later. I called him Friday and he said he wasn’t available Saturday but could do it Sunday. I said that was fine and asked what time he’d like to start. Because of his part-​time job, he could only get to my house by 11:30 am, but he said his son could start earlier. I said great, let me know what time his son would arrive. He never called or txt’d with a time, and when Sunday came and went, I had not heard from him or his son. I did not reach out to him to find out his excuse (not worth my time), but called another handyman instead. If you have a time-​sensitive project, I would not rely on Mario to get it done!

It’s unfortunate to have to post such a low review because Mario is a nice guy, but as another recent review has said he is unreliable. In fact, he missed our initial estimate appointment, when I called he said he’d fallen asleep and came over just before dusk. During the estimate he seemed knowledgeable about my problem (a fence post which had taken on a bad lean) and gave me options. After considering other offers I called and made an appointment for the following Monday. The next day he called me and asked if he could stop over that day because he’d double booked Monday but had an opening that day. I said I could make it work and went home on my lunch hour to let him in the gate, then proceeded to work from home. My mistake was that I was that I didn’t pull myself away from work when he was done and before he left, I shouldn’t have let him go before inspecting his work because not a half hour later my neighbor who shares the fence complained that the post which had been leaning into her yard now was 2 inches off center towards my yard. I went out to check and it was in fact visibly off, I called Mario and he admitted that he «forgot his level, but thought it was close enough». I said it wasn’t and he agreed to come over that weekend to fix it. I didn’t hear anything Saturday and Sunday afternoon I called and asked when he would be coming. He said he would come over in an hour. This is the one time he actually showed up on time and brought his son, so I thought we were good to go, except 10 minutes later he was knocking on the door to tell me he didn’t have the proper tools to fix the problem. I don’t understand how if he knew exactly what the problem was and was fixing his own work he could come over unprepared? Anyway, he said he just had to run home and would be back in 20 minutes. Over an hour later I called because it was getting dark and he acted like he was flustered, offered no information on why he didn’t come back and said he could stop by tomorrow afternoon. I explained that he had wasted too much of my time and that I wanted a refund, he eventually agreed to refund me what he charged minus parts… that was 2 weeks ago and haven’t seen or heard anything. I’m looking into my options with the city of El Cerrito and am considering small claims court.
I will see if I can post pictures ASAP

Mario seemed nice enough at first but then showed him to be quite unreliable. He wasn’t able to keep three appointments with me. When I called to confront him, he provided many excuses (e.g., his truck broke down, his phone was sent to Los Angeles, he accidentally hit his son’s car, etc). It was frustrating to have my much needed house repairs to be delayed over a week. The worst was when I found out that he initially low-​balled an estimate for me then lied later that he didn’t agree to include material costs. He asked me to pay for materials upfront bc he didn’t even have a credit card. This is not the professional service that I was looking for, although he charges $ 45/​hr. I clearly remember asking him if it included materials but alas I didn’t get the estimate on paper. I guess Mario’s word isn’t worth much.

Called Mario because of the other good Unilocal reviews and we were very glad we did.
Expertly painted our kitchen and master bath quickly and efficiently for a very good price. He and his son also moved an ungainly heavy piece of furniture for us.
Can’t wait to call him to do so many other jobs around our place.

Mario is the quality, honest and trustworthy handyman you want. I appreciate him being very responsive, prompt and being knowledgeable to help me get the work done. I recommend him and will call him again!!!

Mario was very helpful getting us settled into our new house. He patched a hole with stucco that was opened up by city inspectors, he ran a snake through our washing machine pipe after I flooded the kitchen, he also cut out some space in our pantry so we could stack our washer and dryer. His son helped with stacking the appliances and they were both very thorough, working patiently until everything was very sturdy and level. I also had him come by to take care of the front lawn. I think you will find yourself surprised by how many tasks he is willing and able to carry out! He is very easy going and a pleasure to be around.

Had a leaky garbage disposal unit and a dead electrical outlet that needed to be repaired. Mario came by and resolved both issues. He showed up on time as he said he would. Even went to Home Depot with me to get the right parts to fix the problem. I would request his service next time something in the house needs fixing.

My handy person is booked up until the sun stops shinning, so I called Mario, hoping to find a professional, reliable, friendly/​somewhat friendly person to get my home ready for renters. First, Mario is probably a nice guy, but professional? He could do better.
Me calling Mario for the first time…
Mario: Hello
Me: Hello
Mario: who is this?
Me: I’m sorry, is this a business I’m calling?
Mario: yes
Me; Uh, I’m looking for a handy person. Did I call the right number?
Mario: Yes
Me: So… who am I speaking to?
Mario: Mario, sir
Me: Sir? (ummmm…last I checked I still have a vagina)
Okay, so I expected «Hello, Ideal Handyman» or Hello, Mario speaking, may I help you.” Something along those lines. Well, maybe he’s lousy on the phone but great at his job, so I set up an appointment and he arrives on time. Mario promises me an estimate at 1pm, but I don’t hear from him all day. Didn’t hear from him the day after so I called. He answers his phone:
Mario: Hello
Me: Is this Mario?
Mario: Yes
Me: (Sigh)
Mario says he’s sorry because he’s been busy and forgot, or something like that.
For me, it’s a done deal. I’ve already done that trust the nice, unreliable person before and it has NEVER worked out. I’ve found that reliability and professionalism usually work best for me.
Mario, if you’re reading this, do your business a favor and answer your phone «Hello, Ideal Handyman» or something along those lines. I cannot tell you how awkward it is to not know who the hell you’re calling. And, sometimes it’s okay to be so busy you forget to followup on your promise, but it’s not okay when you forget potential new clients. Had it been me I would have responded «I messed
can i make it up to you? You would have had my business, but I don’t really think it mattered to you, one way or another.
.

Mario is great. He installed some light fixtures, did some touch up painting and installed some closet hooks. Quick and an overall nice guy. I’d use him again.

Mario Rivas and his son, Jessie rock!!! I must state Mario’s workmanship is beautiful!
Jessie helped his Dad, Mario demo the fireplace tile, the floor tile, and cut the Travertine for both while Mario removed my front door, sanded it, and stained my door with two staining coats which took over two days completing!
The third day was installing the remaining Travertine, T-​Molding, and caulking for the fireplace and garage access; re-​installing the floor baseboards and caulking for the garage access.
The fourth day was cleaning up the construction at my home-​as if no work was done; my house is spotless and über-​clean! Thank you, Mario and Jessie!
BTW: I’ll be calling you around March 2014 for installing a sprinkler system for my upper retaining wall and installing my fruit trees as discussed; after that, I’ll save my money hiring you to renovate my sad kitchen and bathrooms!

My experience working with Mario has been very similar to the previous reviewers: he is a knowledgeable, patient handyman who keeps at it until the job is done. He has replaced several light fixtures, done some outside painting and minor wood repair, and finally won the battle with my sticky front door. We’ve been very happy with his work and appreciate the multiple trips he made to accommodate our schedules. We’ll be calling him again as we work our way down the list of home projects that don’t seem to be fixing themselves!

Mario helped us fix a poorly assembled rickety second-​hand bed that we got from a local garage sale. He is definitely very experienced and is super nice.

I needed to paint a room and move some furniture across town and was given Mario’s info by a friend — Never used handyman services before, so I was leery about calling a stranger to come to my house to do things. Mario though is licensed, bonded & insured. He called me ahead of time to double-​check the job I needed doing to make sure he had all the tools needed and was very patient with my barrage of questions. He arrived right on time and was extremely thoughtful, friendly and professional and made me comfortable right away.
I don’t have much wiggle room financially, (like NONE.) so it was really refreshing too that he was clear about the time it would take to complete the room and the move and settled with me on a very reasonable price ahead of time with no hidden fees or charges.
The work was awesome. I’ve seen paint jobs done by «professionals» before, which about half the time make me wish I had just done it myself, but my room looks great for not much more than I would’ve paid had I bought all the materials and set out on my own. I’m never doing my own painting again.
I’m looking around my house now at all the things I’ve wanted to replace and update but always felt too home-​improvement-​tarded to manage. Will definitely be calling him again.