Bedford Home Improvement

Great people, great work, great price.

This was a small interior painting project. Estimate from owner that the one painter he sent could complete in 10 days. Actual completion took 21 days from start, with the painter taking off 3 days for a head cold. The painter was extremely slow, faced physical limitations, did not work full days and took numerous breaks. Quality was excellent as expected from a professional painter and would rate 5 stars. However, the lack of timely completion, non-existent planning on how to complete, extremely poor communications, and professional and personal conduct while in our house was absolutely unacceptable. All of these I would rate as 0 stars, leading to my overall rating of 1 star.

Over this past Spring/Summer (2022), we used Bedford Home Improvement for a variety of projects - including a new roof, exterior painting, exterior carpentry work, and interior roof carpentry work in preparation for solar panels. We could not be happier with the quality of work and materials that Bruce used for our projects, in addition to his teams' superior professionalism. Any workmen we encountered during our time having his team on our property were pleasant, clean, and extremely accommodating - for example, I have two young sons who take naps throughout the day. As one can imagine the noise would be bothersome, and his team had no qualms about either pausing the work and moving to another project, or another part of the house to work on until they could resume. Bruce is an old-school, honest, hard working contractor. There were many times (particularly with the carpentry work) where he had given us a quote, and the job ended up costing less than what he had told us. It would have been easy for him to not let us know about the cost discrepancy, but he chose to be truthful and transparent, lowering the cost of the project. He also gave us ample time post projects to survey the work and if we had any issues (we had extremely minor things we wanted changed), he sent his team out to make the changes before final payment was due. I feel extremely comfortable reaching out to Bruce should any of the work his team completed go awry, and sure that he would come and make it right. We are currently awaiting some materials to finish an exterior shingle project (supply chain issues) - and I have absolute confidence that the moment those materials are available Bruce will put us on his schedule and complete the job for a reasonable price and time frame. We are very happy with Bedford Home Improvement and will be using them in the future for all of our home projects.

I’ll start by saying, I am extremely particular and have high expectations when I hire someone to do a job. Bedford Home Improvement exceeded all of my expectations when they painted the outside of my home. We purchased the home and the color, a light brown with dark brown trim, was very dated. But I saw the potential when we bought the house, and dreamed of painting the house dark to update it. Bruce was involved from the start, giving me all the information about the process and products his team would use. He helped me to feel confident in my design decisions. This was a big project for us, as we were “making over” the house and completely changing the color. Bruce and his team were very skilled and professional. There wasn’t a question they could not answer. I had a lot. They were patient too, as I had them try out samples, changed my mind, changed it again. We also had repairs done prior to painting, and the craftsmanship is outstanding, every detail paid attention to. In the end, the house looks like it belongs in a magazine and the whole family is extremely happy. When friends and family drove up the driveway and saw it for the first time the reaction was always “wow”! I will call Bedford Home Improvement first for any job I can get them to do for us. They made painting our home easy, and even fun. I trusted Bruce and his team to do an amazing job, and they did! I highly recommend them. Hands down the best contractor experience I’ve had to date.

I am so grateful to have received a referral from my neighbor to Bedford Home Improvement (BHI). I saw Bruce and his work crews as they completed projects for three homes in my neighborhood. Each neighbor has great things to say about Bruce and his team. Now I do, too. My less than stellar experiences with other contractors had me dreading the process of soliciting quotes and managing a contractor as the project would proceed. My experience with BHI has reset my expectations regarding how easy it can be to have a project quoted and completed. I needed exterior paint and many carpentry repairs. When I purchased my home, I knew that there was a lot of maintenance that was deferred by the prior owner some of which caused water damage. Bruce walked around the property and suggested several solutions for the issues that my home had. He understood where I wanted to be in terms of my budget, so he provided multiple options - good, better, and best. He offered recommendations for each problem based on my sensitivity to price and how strongly I felt about not having the issue return. In some high-moisture areas we replaced wood with PVC. In other areas, pressure treated wood was acceptable. I definitely feel as though I got the best custom tailored solution at the best possible price. Bruce was on-site regularly. Not that he needed to be because his team knew what needed to be done and remained focused to the end. All of my requests were guilt-free comfortable conversations regarding multiple paint color samples, material options, shutters on, shutters off, and adjustments if I did not like the way something looked. Bruce made the entire process easy. I love the high-quality detail work that was done, such as custom garage molding, dentil, unique window eyebrow trim and trim blocking. My wife and I are so happy with the results.

Some say it's about customer service. But I would say that it is the experience that keeps people coming back and telling others. We had the house painted and roofed. Not only did he gently help us select a better roof color to match the new paint color (WOW IT POPS BTW), but he went the extra step to paint the gable end above the roof line just to make sure no one walked on or accidently spilt paint on the new roof below. Wouldn't have thought of that. But definitely a nice precautionary element. One thing for sure you could tell that their work was worth putting their name on it. You never felt like they were just here to slap on paint. They spent lots of time and gave extra care to making sure their product would last. There were a few tough areas. Rather than cover it up, they took the extra time to prepare the surface. They even said they would warranty their work for 5 years. Well today, I got to see that in action. I had a few spots that needed touch up. They took the time to examine the entire house and properly sand down, prime and paint areas that I didn't even notice. Wood is a funny thing. And they had told me up front to expect a few areas that might need attention. What a pleasure to work with. Never a cause to question their sincerity. Give Bruce a call. He has great people on his team. Fun, personable, honest, diligent, and a pleasure to work with. You can tell how important it is to them to make sure you know they treated your home like they would treat their own. Well done Bruce and team.

Bedford Home Improvement has earned repeat business and is my go-to for exterior painting and carpentry services. The team’s speed and workmanship met/exceeded expectation. The contractor was careful to track and contain costs and provided daily picture updates. Full endorsement and I will go to them first for all exterior and interior craftsman work.

My mother and I hired Bruce Randel/Bedford Home Improvement to perform exterior refurbishment on our family home, which included repainting and repairing the exterior + rebuilding a failing deck. We had also made tentative plans to continue with interior carpentry and painting once colder months set in. In the beginning, Bruce was responsive and advised my mother he would be on-site early on for QA or available via phone to ensure her wishes/objectives were being met. He was also thorough in explaining the choices we had for painting. As time went on, the narrative changed dramatically, which prompted us to write this review. He started to disappear for weeks at a time with little to no communication other than he was ill. If he was on site, it was typically no more than 30 minutes and mostly to ask for additional money. (Our typical experience is paying 1/2 the job total upfront as a deposit and the balance upon completion of the work.) Trash was frequently left strewn about the property with little regard to keeping it clean. In all fairness to him, he did help with other tasks that weren't specifically in the contract, but he was also compensated for this. What was most disappointing was finding loose utility blades outside on the property, which is hazardous to anyone, let alone my young daughter who visits the property frequently. Paint was dripped on the paver stone walkway and not cleaned up. Ceiling clapboard on the porch is coming undone. All of this was mentioned to Bruce with little to no action taken to rectify it. For the deck installation, my mother was clear on wanting Timbertech. We mutually agreed on using a high-quality product that would last for many decades. It felt like Bruce was attempting to dissuade her from using this brand. At best, he was trying to save her some money, which was his answer. In retrospect, it appeared he had little to no experience with installing this product and did not want to lose the bid, so he attempted to steer her towards conventional materials he understood better. He then told her she needed to take the measurements/headcount of the deck boards so they could order materials. My mother emphasized she was not comfortable doing this and concerned a mistake could be made, and politely requested that Bruce do it. What followed was an endless amount of back and forth over inability to get over there, and who would get the materials. Bruce had also asked her to go with him several times to sit down with someone at the Lowes Pro Desk but she was confused as to why she needed to be there if he had the measurements. Ultimately nothing was done since Bruce had stopped responding to our inquiries. He has not been on-site or reached out for at least 3 months. To be clear, my mother and I reached out to him several times to try and reconcile before deciding to write this. Bruce made no effort to respond or proactively ask for the opportunity to make it right. So when our hands are forced, this is the last bit of leverage we have: to try and educate others in the hope that you do not relive our experience. The best thing I can say about Bruce is that he is a strong starter. I imagine he has been a decent contractor to others given that he has other higher reviews, which almost makes you wonder if you have lived the same reality. You second guess yourself and ask if you are judging him too harshly. Even if that's true, what I cannot understand is how you think it is ok to not show up to your jobsite for weeks on end, and then be made to feel that you are the one who is being unreasonable. If you feel this review is subjective, that's fair to think that. Everyone's experience is clearly different. If you want to hire Bruce and his company, go ahead and do it. But think twice before you do. We ignored some of the more obvious yellow/red flags and we paid the price.

Good guys... had one guy that painted 1400sqft. He paid attention to detail, took about 12 days, ceilings and walls, extra special attention to the protection of non-painted property.

I was told by the owner Bruce that he would be on-site for the entire job to supervise his employees, yet on the day of the install subcontractors showed up and the owner was only here for 30 minutes. The sub-contractor was in a hurry to complete the job in one day, they did not replace some of the plywood that the contract stated they would. Now some of the shingles are lifting and the owner is not returning any of my calls, texts, or e-mails for the last several months. Now, I am suing them in small claims court. Bob B.

We have a very old home that needs a lot of prep work before painting. Very important to us to have this done and Bedford Home Improvement is doing that. Bruce not only is knowledgeable in his profession, uses top-notch products, has reliable employees, but also communicates with his customers. So far Bruce has done everything he has promised to do. Looking forward to seeing the finished look on this old home.

Try to get in touch with Bruce Randel from Bedford Home Improvement regarding leak from the roof that he installed in August 2020 that is supposed to be under warranty for 10 years. Call and left message several time and email but never hear back. Not sure this company is still around. Will update this rating / message when I ever hear back or

Very professional and Commutative throughout the process. Bruce's crew did a beautiful job on our roof in a timely manner. Highly recommend Bedford Home Improvement.

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I was happy with the work he did and if I was not happy they would follow up and take care of it.