We contacted Leo's Handyman Services as we had small cracks forming in our ceiling of our garage in…read morethe drywall seams where the tape was.
We contacted Leo via Yelp, and received a response a short time later. Shortly afterwards, Leo came out to our home. He assessed the work, took some pictures and said his specialist can do the job, no problem. That should have been our first warning that Leo himself was not doing the work/repair and did not bring his specialist along for the initial review. He said, I'm an engineer and don't do that sort of work, but no problem he can do it, he'll make it look good, he's a specialist!
We talked about how important it was to have our garage cabinets, tools, area where we have shoes and some outdoor furniture stored in the garage covered with plastic and that our newly done epoxy floor would need to be covered from the debris and dust. Leo said that they usually only cover the floor where the work would be done, his reply was it's a garage. We stressed in our conversation and also outlined in our response via text that it was important that it's covered if we hired him for the job. He agreed that it would be done.
Later that evening he sent a message with the quote but did not send a contract or scope of work with his quote detailing the work (that should have been another red flag). So I responded with a message that specifically outlined our expectations of the job and what was to be done. He replied, yes everything outlined would be done.
He then messaged me that his specialist would be at our home that following Thursday, which we agreed. Wednesday came around and Leo messaged us that his specialist was at another job previously and that he was doing such a great job, the client asked him to stay another day to do more work. He asked if he can come to us on Monday, we said no problem. He said he'd be there in the am on Monday, but would message us with the time frame on Sunday. Sunday came and Leo texted us indicating Simon will arrive around noon, ok no problem.
Monday came and Simon showed up at 1pm, he brought his ladder, a drop cloth and only covered the door leading from the garage to our kitchen with plastic, and covered nothing else that we spoke of. After putting that up, Simon told my husband he needed to get some supplies and would be back in 20 minutes. Like what, why did he not come prepared in the first place. The job was straight forward, remove old tape, replace tape, add dry wall/mud, texture and paint (which we supplied the paint). Anyway, Simon left and came back an hour later, not 20 minutes. After returning he worked another 20 minutes and knocked on our door telling us he needed more supplies and would be back in 20 minutes????? He left and came back 20 minutes later.
By now it's 3pm, he finished up around 6pm. When we went out to look at the work, it was a mess! He put drywall mud over the tape and used a textured paint roller to texture the areas that were done. We asked why he did not allow for the mud to dry then sand and texture and paint when it was all the way dried? He looked at us perplexed, and said texture spray is expensive and that his textured roller brush gave it a sprayed look. We said that, this is not what we agreed to and that 2 cans of texture spray would have covered it and cost around $20. He literally put tape, drywall mud and painted without allowing properly drying in between each process. The areas he did are noticeable. See photo.
I then asked where was all the plastic to cover the areas we discussed with Leo, he could not answer. He spoke very little English so communication was difficult and very frustrating. We advised him he needs to clean up as everything was covered in drywall dust. He ran a shop vacuum for a few minutes and wiped a few areas down and left. Everything was covered in white dust, Everything!
I tried to call Leo, but he did not take my call. So I texted him saying that Simon did not do what we discussed. In addition the work done looks worse than it did when the ceiling was cracking. The areas are lumpy and it's an eyesore.
Leo finally responded that he and Simon agreed to do it the way he did it as it was more cost effective for them. Leo or Simon at no time never contacted us to change any part of what was agreed. He decided to cut corners without advising us otherwise. His word were they made the decision as it was just a garage. We understand that it would not look 100% the same, but he didn't even try to make it look even half way better.
He said what can we do to make it right? To be honest, we just wanted he and his specialist gone. They literally fked up our ceiling and now we'll have to pay someone to fix it. We would not let him touch anything around our home with a 10ft pole.
Shame on you Leo for taking our money and leaving us with shoddy work!
I would think twice before hiring Leo's Handyman Services ! If we could give zero stars we would!
