Mr. Handyman of S Orange/Westfield/Scotch Plains & Metuchen — Local services in Springfield

LONG REVIEW, READ IT ALL!! We have used Mr. Handyman's service a few times, each time the service was poorer than the time before. We continued to use them for their reasonable pricing and professionalism but this last service was completely unacceptable. We were having pictures of our house done to be posted for its sale and we had a scheduled service for scrapping peeling paint & painting of our front porch, 3 half pillars. rails and steps along with staining our back deck. The job was supposed to be completed in 1 full day. I sent 12 detailed pictures to the number that had requested them from their company. The technician showed up on a Friday an hour and a half late, left to get paint (not stain) and returned over an hour later, half finished the porch and left. He did not complete the deck, or the porch and did not communicate that he was leaving. He just left. He was at the house "working" for 7 hours. (We were charged for 7.25 hours, he wasn't at the house for over an hour of it) 2 days later (on Sunday) the owner, Ron called and said that the technician told him he needed more time to complete the work. Ok, fine he needed more time. I reminded him that our pictures were on Thursday and he said he would send out a different technician to complete the unfinished work of the first technician and complete the stain on the deck also. Tuesday comes, the technician is professional and completes the work the first one didn't (after having to go get materials because none were left to finish the job) and also get the stain for the deck. He got both projects completed. After he left, I went out to see how it looked and noticed that the deck had large spots of stain missing, the slots between the wood had not been done and other contractors working inside the house questioned if they had finished the work. That was embarrassing! He left the stain behind so I went out for over an hour working on spots that were obvious until I realized that was ridiculous, I was paying for this. We called back again and spoke to Matt, the ops manager. He said the second technician would be back the next day. He finished the job that we asked. Overall, they charged us over $2,000 for the INCOMPLETE, SLOPPY work that took 3 days over the course of a week instead of the initial 1 and when we complained about the awful work they took off $166. The work is already fading and separating. DISGUSTING. That is UNACCEPTABLE and I highly recommend that you look elsewhere for your services. I found a phenomenal contractor that was fairly priced and has done a 10x better job in 1/3 of the time. If you want his number,...

If you're looking for help with a project big or small, we can't recommend Mr. Handyman enough! In particular, James K. is AMAZING and does excellent work.

We recently moved into a new house, and had previously used Mr. Handyman for two small jobs: re-attaching the kitchen sink that had separated from the counter, and installing a new mailbox/mailbox post after it was destroyed by another contractor who backed into it. The Handymen we had used previously were so professional and good, we decided to use Mr. Handyman for another set of larger jobs.

For this larger project, we needed help both inside and outside the house. Our list included (in part!): banisters installed in numerous places around the house (basement to first floor, first to second floor, and on the deck stairs), rotten steps replaced on the back porch, the basement staircase enclosed (it was completely open to the basement when we purchased the house), repairs performed to our bluestone front steps, and patching to some hairline cracks in the basement foundation.

Ron, the owner of this Mr. Handyman, walked through our house with us and took careful notes regarding the work we wanted performed. Based on the fact that we needed work done on our bluestone steps and the basement foundation, Ron said he would send James K., the mason at Mr. Handyman, to perform our job.

James was an amazing, dedicated worker, and we could not be happier with the final products. James enjoyed explaining exactly what he was doing at each step of the project. Over the course of the multi-day work, James regularly stayed late to complete work. James did an excellent job matching the paint and stain colors that were in use in various parts of our house, and the new banisters in particular look as though they have always been in our home.

We are so pleased with the work James did- we are confident that the excellent workmanship on these numerous jobs will last a lifetime. James is a talented and creative worker, and obviously takes great pride in his craft.

Call Mr. Handyman and tell them that you'd like to work with James- you will be happy to have him on the job!

Thanks Mr. Handyman, and a huge THANK YOU...

Description of work: Replace an existing ceiling fan with a new Hunter fan. Simple job - no changes in switches or wiring. Pre-assembled base, with previous fan already removed by residence owner.

We are very unhappy with the price charged for this simple service and unfortunately will not be using Mr. Handyman of South Orange for any future jobs or recommending them for use with any of our neighbors. We have used this company before for several projects, including garage door opener, hanging a cabinet, and hanging another ceiling fan in another bedroom. We were considering them for other small renovation items in our bathrooms but do not want to be charged a fortune for those jobs. This simple project that should have taken a professional no more than an hour was extended to 2 hours at a rate that we feel is totally unreasonable. After calling the company to get more information and voice our concerns, we were offered a $54 credit on the next service which would still make this simple job cost over $225 - to hang a ceiling fan with existing wiring. That's nonsense... and it is still unacceptable. The reasoning provided by the company for the 2 hours it took was that the assembly of the base appeared incorrect, but there really isn't much in the way of parts to the base... Therefore, we do not accept this explanation. We feel that a fair price for this type of simple job would be no more than $175 - TOPS. Therefore, we will not be using this company or recommending them to any of our friends and neighbors. It should be noted that the individuals at the company are professional, responsive, and courteous - it's just that their pricing is totally unreasonable and out of whack. It's too bad really because it's hard to find a good handyman.

• Services Performed: Yes • Cost: $276 • Work Completed...