Cole Hardware Home Repair

I wanted to have some locksmith work done on my front door (to repair the damage done by another locksmith who did an incomplete job) and a Facebook friend recommended Cole Hardware Home Repair. Since Cole Hardware is in my neighborhood I was already familiar with their store, but I wasn’t award they offered a service like this.
It worked out well: not only was the original work completed to my satisfaction, but a few other issues which bothered me for a long time were also fixed. The extra work drove the cost over the initial estimate, which I expected.
Only two gripes: I purchased a new lock (these typically come with two keys) and asked for five keys total, and I paid for both the lock and the keys that came with it … and the locksmith didn’t clean up after himself. Neither of these are big problems, and I haven’t bothered to pursue these issues with Cole Hardware because they are, basically, tiny minor issues. I would absolutely invite them back to help with other home projects.

I should preface this by saying that I LOVE the actual store. I’ve written a review on the Mission Street store in Bernal and highly highly recommend them. I’ve used the repair referral twice (a locksmith and a handyman). The locksmith talked really fast and the bill was a lot more than he had initially quoted me (like $ 400 more). When I contacted the referral service about this they were apologetic and offered me a $ 100 store credit which made me feel better about things. The locksmith called me and was SUPER defensive about things. B/​c of the responsiveness of the referral service and their gesture I thought I’d try it again…
Second time I needed a handyman who was a train wreck. We agreed upon hourly (big mistake on my part) and he padded his hours and charged me for materials that he sent me out to the store to purchase. He did a shoddy job and after 3 or 4 days I had had enough. He literally doubled his hours in his invoice and when I pointed out that he didn’t work on one of the days he tried to bill for 6 hours he agreed to only be charged for the hours that I had jotted down. Beyond that he had my wife helping him (he had her holding equipment for him and even tried to get her to use a saw for him while he did something else).
Without hesitation I recommend going into a Cole Hardware store and buying things. The staff is great. I just question the quality of the people (or at least some of based on who I was routed towards) that the referral service utilizes.

I had a not so great experience with the first handyman they sent out. However, when they learned about what happened and how much it upset me, Cole Hardware’s top guy reached out directly to rectify the situation. They sent someone else in to fix the problem, on their dime. No questions, no argument, no nonsense — just fixed it for me.
This was completely unexpected, and I was really impressed. I can see why they have been in business for a long time.

I have known the owner of this establishment for years on a professional basis as a supplier, not as a customer. I always knew this establishment’s reputation was as solid as its owner, who I have always known to be a class act. This evening, we truly saw why.
Tess and Thomas were our angels. Our front door lock fell apart. Although we also have a gate, we hadn’t had a key for the gate in years so at 6pm, when we discovered the problem, we were faced with overpriced locksmiths who couldn’t solve the problem– even at a premium– or leaving our home insecure with a toddler. My husband rushed to Cole in the midnight hour right before they closed. Upon hearing our situation, Tess and Thomas stayed OVER AN EXTRA HOUR AFTER CLOSING just to help us and found a solution that locksmiths hadn’t considered.
What a testimonial to not just this organization’s human resources’ skills and knowledge, but to their incredible customer service– going far beyond anything one would expect so satisfy a customer’s need.
Although we live a neighborhood laden with hardware stores, we’re driving to Cole from now on. WE learned a valuable lesson we’d like to pass on… If you think you are saving time by going to a local store and end up being mis-​informed about parts and having to make multiple trips and request refunds, do yourself a favor and drive to Cole on Cole Street. You’ll end up saving time and money, and you will be really happy to spend your money in their store.
A class act, good and qualified people throughout the tiers of the organization.

Larry from Cole Hardware was rude and unhelpful. He wanted to refer me to ONLY people he wanted to refer me to. I was hoping and looking for a person that Cole Hardware had referred me to in the past. He had his agenda… like he’s getting a kick back or something. I called both people he gave me and could not understand either of them over the phone. Sorry I can’t deal with someone coming to my home to do work for me if I can’t communicate with them. Larry was very unhelpful.

I was looking for resources to repair a double-​pane window with moisture in between the panes. I saw Cole’s referral service and gave it a try, figuring it’d be a few days or a week (if at all) before I heard anything. Within a few hours, Larry had provided several resources. Very much appreciated!

We used the referral service a few weeks ago. We were given an arborist
David Shamanik. David was terrific! He came out with a helper and worked the whole day pruning our huge Fig Tree, Lady Banks Rose, Wisteria, Bougainvilla and a few other plants. It had been years since we had a real Gardener come and work in our yard. There was a lot to do, but David and his helper got it done and even took away all of the debris. Our garden has not looked this good in years!
David is an extremely hard working, knowledgeable arborist. We will be calling him again!
Thanks Larry!

Thank you, Larry and Cole Valley Hardware for help referring Michael G. for my Dry Wall project. Michael G. was on time, courteous, and very reasonable. We were able to finish up the project in the projected time, and he was nice enough to give a lesson on how to install dry wall. I would definitely use this referral service again on future projects.

This is a great idea and I appreciate Cole Hardware trying to refer us to local professionals. Larry Karp is very good in responding to the initial request and following up to see how things went. However, I think getting a good professional is hit or miss.
Cole Hardware should better screen the professionals they refer. Cole Hardware referred me to a carpenter. Although he called to say he was going to be late, he arrived much later than when he said he would be at my home. When the carpenter finally appeared, he didn’t have a tape measure, a pencil, or even a business card. He told me that he would call me with an estimate, but I never heard from him again. This carpenter was a joke and unfortunately his behavior made me not want to use the service again.

Larry is terrific in helping me find contractors for the myriad of projects here at work. Not only does he have people to recommend, he also helps brainstorm possible solutions. All of the people he has sent so far have been very professional.

Great Store and Great Reviews. These guys made reviews, then Larry sent a card for a review and called to MAKE SURE everything went OK. Great service!

What a great service. Why fiddle around with Craigslist, ServiceMagic, or the phone book? Why pay for Angie’s List?! Larry and team at Cole Hardware’s home repair referral service offer up referrals to some of the best, affordable, and reliable tradesman/​handyman in the area. Larry always keeps his referrals up-​to-​date. If a repair person does sub-​standard work and does not «make it right» or is constantly late, Cole strikes them from the list. Larry will often spot check with a client to see if the referral worked out. Cole’s service is also always fast to respond to all requests. If you call during office hours, you usually have a referral within hours. If you call after hours, you will get a referral the next day. [and if you email after hours, you might even get it that evening… :) ]
Cole Hardware’s home repair referral service has been my go-​to place to find quality tradesman in SF for the last 3 years. This is a great service for anyone who owns a home or operates rental property in SF.

Okay seriously? They charged me money ($ 100?) to send someone out who basically said that my house would fall down and that we’d have to remove a wall which is smack up against the neighbors and that I was looking at, oh, I don’t remember how much because it was so high as to be absurd, $ 50,000? $ 100,000. Fast forward 5 years. My house has not fallen down and we resloved the problem for so much less that, once again, I can’t remember, $ 3,000?

The serviceperson, Larry, was as helpful as could be – offering to call repair companies on my behalf, without my asking him to do it, and then actually following up. As I was dealing with a difficult problem and a landlord in disarray, this was a real comfort. Service standards are well up to those in the hardware store on Cole (at Parnassus & Carl), which is unique in my experience for taking care of customers’ needs. These people have helped a newcomer feel welcome in the neighborhood.

Not impressed! I’ve had work done by 2 referrals and in one case the contractor has been an absolute nightmare (incredibly shoddy work), and in the other case the vendor was a borderline psychopath who called me at 6 am the morning after finishing a job, demanding payment after failing to provide me with the invoice he’d promised. There’s more to that story but I won’t get into it!
I’ve talked to 2 – 3 other recommended contractors, and it didn’t leave me with a lot of confidence. In one case we received a $ 100K quote for a major job that we didn’t end up pursuing… Months later the same contractor was referred to me for something minor, and claims that he «forgot» to send me a secondary quote for the major job and the price could be as low as $ 45K… If I just complete that major $ 45K job, my minor problem will be fixed. Seems a bit sketchy!
I love Cole Hardware, and this service has potential… But at this point I have zero confidence in it. I’ve never been called for feedback on my experience with anyone they sent out.

This service is a gold mine, especially if you don’t come from a family that includes contractors, carpenters or plumbers. They referred us to very professional, reputable vendors, and we are so pleased with the results. We never would have found the contractor we used on our own. The contractors we did attempt to contact directly didn’t usually show up. But using this service creates a valuable relationship chain and accountability that we really appreciated.
To me, this is just another way that Cole Hardware is beating the odds (and beating Home Depot) by providing savvy solutions to their community. Go mom and pops!!!

I got a quick response and the vendor they referred called me to follow up when I hadn’t called. He was very flexible and came on a Saturday to do the job. I was having some bedroom furniture refinished/​touched up. He came right on time, took 1 hr. like he said he would and only charged $ 60 when other furniture places were quoting $ 300 – 400 and not resonding to emails. Excellent service! Will use again.

I’ve used them three times.
The furniture refinishing guy criticized my small table (well _​I_​like it!). He returned it in very good shape but complained about how hard it was to repair. I gave him another table at that time. He claimed he’d finish it to be impervious to water and my grandkids (none yet that I know of) would have the same finish. Water from a Christmas tree ruined it, however. Then he wanted to charge two round trips even though he was here only three times, not four.
The handrail refinisher did a good enough job but tried charging me significantly more than his original hourly rate until I reminded him of his hourly quote.
The garage-​door guy was excellent and had to custom make a spring. Very fast and attentive.

Just tried this referral service. I will report back and adjust rating if necessary when we have results.
4-​stars for having this referral service.
Update: The response was very fast but I wound up not using the vendor that was referred — no reason in particular. I can’t give 5-​stars but not due to anything bad that was done by this referral service. I would highly suggest using it if you have no one to turn to for something. Just be sure to complain to the referral service if you have a bad experience with one of their referrals.

If you ever need anything done on your house or apartment, from simple handyman work to a large roofing project, I’d highly recommed using Cole Hardware’s referral service program. You can either call (it’s extension 3), or fill out a simple form online, and in no time at all someone will get back to you with a great «Cole-​approved» recommendation.
Having used some good and some bad contractors in the past, a service like this is fantastic because Cole, in a sense, is putting their stamp of approval on whom they refer out. You have a good feeling that you’ll get good and honest work done, at a fair price as well. Highly recommended.