I needed to have some various repairs done to my condo unit and chose HandiCo because of the number of highly-rated reviews on Yelp. My circumstance is a bit different because I never got to see the work firsthand because I live out of town, having moved from Chicago in 2008.
I should preface this review by saying that I definitely have trust issues having had gone through the ringer from a horrific tenant experience (the a**hole never paid a dime in rent in the 2+ years that he lived there, made all kinds of damage to the unit - which is why I needed to hire a repairman - in order to prove in court that the place was "unlivable", and cost me six figures in lost rent, damages, and legal fees).
That being said, the experience was good but not perfect. First, the good: Demond, the person who was appointed the job, came on time and seemed very respectable. The work that he did was good, according to my real estate agent who assessed it afterwords. My gripe is that the line of communication and management of expectations was very sub-par. My agent told Demond to call him when he was done so he can look at the work and give an informal sign-off. This was important not only to make sure that all the work that was to be performed was done but so that I knew exactly how long he had been working in the unit. Instead, he left without telling anyone. At $88 an hour, I don't think it's unfair to get some kind of indication of how long he was there. Most people would have a hard time simply taking the word of a stranger. Also, I had made arrangements to have the materials he needed on site when he arrived. The invoice included about $75 in materials with no explanation of what those materials were and why they were needed. After several email communications over 3 weeks with various people, I was finally given the answers I needed. But to be fair, the costs were legitimate; I just wished that I was told up front instead of having to go through a wild goose chase. Also, I wasn't told about the 30% warranty markup on materials beforehand which I think should have been clear on the outset. Caroline, the office manager, definitely assuaged my frustration and put me at ease by making sure that I was billed fairly. Demond had gone to a Home Depot about 5 miles away instead of the Ace Hardware that was a 5-minute walk from the building to get a part that he thought would be at Home Depot but wasn't, so she made up for it by reducing the billed time by a half hour. If it weren't for her, I'd probably give a three- instead of 4-star rating.
In the end, I think they did a good job overall. I would have been more impressed if the communication was better, but I still consider them a respectable company whom I may consider hiring again in the future. read more