Creative Hands Home Services

As far as I remember it went well. I think they came out pretty quickly. They ended up working for 4 hours with 2 people. It didn't really work that effectively.

unknown

Everything went very well.  Gary, was on time and listened to my concerns so he could better address them .  I've used Creative <br />  Hands on several occasions over the last ten years for everything from a bathroom remodel, book shelves, painting, deck refinishing, so many projects! Trustworthy, knowledgeable and a pleasure to do business with. Creative Hands is the way to go! Garry is a pro at what he does- NOT a handyman by night, he's been in this business for many years. <br />

About average.  This was a part of a Handyman "Big Deal" and was clearly a marketing tools to drum up new business for Creative Hands. I did not have major projects to add on. I felt forgotten.  To date, Creative Hands still owes me a few hours of work but its been so long, I've forgotten the details.  The workers even forgot a power tool which I tried to coordinate the return but they weren't interested.  They were just too busy for me.  I will say the work that was done was done well.   I would not use this company for small jobs....they are clearly organized for major renovations. <br />

It went okay.  The work was completed at a rental property.  He wasn’t as thorough as I would have liked.  The work was done okay but the professionalism was lacking.

He was superb.  He just worked so well and did a beautiful job.  He did everything I asked him to do.

We bought a big deal from Angie's List and returned it after Garry explained that he had not authorized the big deal but since we had bought the deal, Garry agreed to honor the price for the bathroom remodel. His team showed up to start work a few weeks (or maybe months, I can't recall) later and the whole bath remodel took 3 or 4 weeks. <br /> The good stuff: <br /> -The area around the bathtub was tiled and the quality of that work was excellent.  <br /> -Another bonus was when Garry realized that our toilet had an unusual rough-in size and he called all around town and found a company that had a toilet that would meet our needs in stock. This saved us from the time and expense of having a toilet special ordered. <br /> -Lastly, and I think this one is huge, about 14 months after our remodel, our downstairs neighbors called to complain of a leak that seemed to be coming from our toilet. I asked our building maintenance guy about it and he suggested that when we added the additional flooring in the bathroom perhaps we didn't have enough wax rings under the toilet to seal the connection. I called Garry to see if his team could come out and fix it and he came out himself to do the repair a few days later at no charge. I really appreciate that he stood behind the work his team did. <br /> The not so good stuff: <br /> -We had planned to have a new bathtub installed and therefore the bathtub was used as a storage space during the remodel and it got pretty beat up. When it came time to remove the old tub the team realized that the plumbing was not easily accessible (we live in a condo) so instead they would refinish our current tub. Since the tub had gotten pretty beat up during the remodel the final result wasn't as nice as it could have been. Also, the refinish has started to chip so it's not as durable as a new tub would have been. <br /> -Another down side was that there were some spots on the wall that were missed when it came time to paint. They had been puttied but the fellow forgot to sand and repaint them. Since they were partially covered by cabinets we didn't realize this right away. <br /> -The floor tiles seem to not quite hit the wall in a few spots so there are gaps between the baseboard and the floor. <br /> Overall the bathroom looks new and clean so I'm happy. <br />

Two handymen came to perform a variety of odd jobs inside the house.  One of them was eager to get the job done right and he ended up redoing some of the work that the second had done incorrectly.  So, in the end, the work got done but it required careful oversight.  I would be willing to hire the first handyman again, but not the second. <br />

They were quick and efficient. It was reasonably priced and I got several different items done.

Jobs were done properly (over several trips). <br />

.Overall, the services performed were great. I was pleased with the jobs and would not hesitate to hire the company again.

unknown

I had him out to do small jobs around the home and everything went really well. They did a great job and I would use them in the future.

Interior painting was performed, but it was not until the painting was completed did I observe that dust and fibers were mixed into the paint. Apparently the wood services were not cleaned prior to being painted. I contracted for additional repairs and painting. The company's employee was significantly below professional standards. To my surprise the employee was immediately fired. The owner continued the work but never finished the carpentry even though he had purchased the required items. He repeatedly promised to finish the job, but he never returned. However I was billed for the balanced due and required to pay by Paypal. I explained to the company that I do not have Paypal account. Never heard from the company again. <br /> <br />

Barnes impressed us when he quickly returned our phone call & came to our house.  He immediately began to repair a wooden gate which was not closing properly.  We scheduled him to perform more small projects for us.  I bought 2 AL Big Deals. Once we "prepaid" for projects, he wasn't returning phone calls in a timely manner.  His emails promised he would call us or he was out of town or too busy...... <br /> When my husband was in ill health for many months.......  I was too busy and stressed to deal with our deck. I did not pester him <br /> every other day.   In addition, Mr. Barnes was/is not easy to contact  whether it is by phone or email. The deck "contract" he emailed to us contained several errors.  Details for the deck railing & banister were not provided .  Materials to be used were not listed. The date he signed the "contact" was 2010 not the current year.  --  very  unprofessional.  His "contracts" do not contain the basic information needed to know what you will get, how long it will take,will the work have any warranty, etc. <br /> Why can't our money be refunded by AL? Recently,  I rated  Mr. Barnes'  business with C;s & D's to give him the benefit of the doubt..  What incentive is there for him to perform work in a timely manner and at a reasonable price?  . Yes, he may acknowledge receipt of a phone call or email message quickly but there is no action taken for weeks.   Before my Big Deals expired, I left voice-mail messages for him in Sept., Oct. & Dec.  2011)  I do not feel he make any effort to perform the work before they expired.  Why did he raise the price by over $700?  If he didn't want the job, he should have refunded all of our money without playing games. <br /> Finally, Mr. Barnes agreed to refund our remaining funds from Big Deals-- but  <strong>only after we paid him another $90 </strong>(2012). This was to pay for his time spent  pricing materials for the railing/bannister on our 12'x5' composite deck, his labor costs and drawings illustrating different designs . <br />   Please note, Mr. Barnes <strong>never sent us any documentation</strong> & he refused to refund our remaining Big Deal money unless we gave him $90 more! <br />

I feel lukewarm about the experience. He did not finish everything that I asked him to.  I had given him a list before hand, including caulking.  The grout he put in was actually a different color and I had matching grout that he could have used instead.  He did the front corner of the bath, but did not do the rear corner.  I had cabinets that weren't closing properly, and he skipped one of them. At the end he said he did everything, but he missed some things.

They arrived on time.  They got right to work fixing the things I asked them to do.  The work on the deck required one of the men to leave for a while to get some quick-set concrete, but other than that they had everything they needed on hand.  They did a good job and left everything clean.  I feel that I got a good value and I would use them again.  <br />

Called Garry to schedule date and time, initial issue on distance to travel to the job. Garry arrived all work was perfromed very well, offered to paint the replaced trim on both windows. <br /> <br />

Mr. Barnes did the demolition on the bathroom and then got started on the additional work for which we gave him the $2,500 deposit.  From this point on basically everything done was done wrong and / or very very poorly.  Framing was crooked and not securely attached.  Drywall work looked like it was done by my 11 year old daughter and some of her friends, holes, sloppy seems, tons of mud, cut short etc...  Electrical work left exposed wires and was not run properly.  Plumbing was not vented correctly nor was it run correctly or glued together appropriately.  Vent work that was done was not attached correctly.   We have a new general contractor, plumber and electrician who laughed when they saw the work that Mr. Barnes company had done.  They can testify to the condition of the work if necessary.  <br /> <br /> We gave Mr. Barnes a chance to correct the problems but things were not improving and Mr. Barnes was not inclined to correct things to our satisfaction so we told him not to come back and that we were going to get someone else to do the work and that we wanted a refund.  <br /> <br /> The new contractors had to pull out basically everything that Mr. Barnes had done and start over.  The only thing of real value that Mr. Barnes company did was the demolition.  By Mr. Barnes's estimate the demolition and hauling fee was $963.  Mr. Barnes claimed that he had done $5,000 of work, we had already paid him $2,500 and paid Angie's List $5,500, total of $8.000 so he said he he would refund us $3,000 and keep the rest.  We wanted a refund of $6,000.   Since we emailed this offer Mr. Barnes has not been returning our phone calls or replying to our emails and has not refunded any money to us so we decided to go the Anglie's List Complaint Resolution route.  <br /> <br /> Some specific problems with the work performed by Mr. Barnes and his team are as follows: <br /> <br /> 1) Door moving and install   <br /> * The door is not configured for 2x3 framing (like we have) but rather for 2x4 framing.  It is of no use to us and Garry wasted his time purchasing and installing it.     <br /> * Exterior drywall hacked up in the hallway in the process of installing door which was totally unnecessary; homeowners incurring extra cost for repair <br /> <br /> 2) New copper water lines    <br /> * Copper water lines were installed backwards   <br /> * Sink plumbing was never relocated despite multiple reminders from homeowner.  Direction was given to center the fixtures on the vanity wall.   <br /> <br /> 3) Plumbing drains, venting and hvac  <br /> * Existing venting was torn out and destroyed the flanges in the process  <br /> *Only partial installation and even that small amount was not done correctly.  He taped but did not screw joints together. * *Plumbing was woefully not to code:  > Tub drain not vented > 1 1/2 " line instead of 2" line from trap to drain > sink and tub drains met head-on (this would cause back-up)> Not all pvc joints glued > Vent pipe not at proper height> Work not indicative of professional plumber <br /> <br /> 4) Dryer electrical line  <br /> * Dryer was not wired properly.  Should have used a 3-wire configuration.  Configuration should not have tied the to ground  <br /> * None of the electrical work was properly protected with metal plating (even though homeowner requested such)  <br /> * Washing machine power tied to an outlet without any knowledge of what was already on that outlet  <br /> * Work area was left in unsafe condition in regards to all electrical work including existing laundry room (no cover plate placed over exposed outlet, spliced wire, exposed outlets)   <br /> * First floor ceiling/walls cut up to route dryer line from existing laundry to new laundry room.  Should have dropped the wire down an exposed chase which gives access to the basement with no need to cut walls and could have made home-run for new dryer.  <br /> * The installation of the dryer line caused unnecessary disruption to the existing laundry room.  The dryer outlet was moved upstairs.  Several days later the dryer was inexplicably moved upstairs into the construction zone but there was no dryer ventilation installed, the flooring was not down, the plumbing was not done.  This caused weeks of separation of washer from dryer.  The dryer and outlet should never have been relocated until the laundry room was complete. Hole cut out for venting was not placed correctly despite drawing provided by owner. <br /> <br /> 5) Wall framing  <br /> *  Wobbly walls. The long wall was not secured properly to both the ceiling and the floor.  Only a single nail in the floor and in the ceiling a screw that did not enter wood (between joists).   <br /> * The short wall was initially constructed without properly removing corner bead and drywall on the existing butted wall.  The taping and spackling was subpar to say the least.  The repair job was only slightly better but still not acceptable <br /> * The short wall had a vertical stud that was cut short; the short wall was not plumb with the existing butted wall. Shoddy work. <br /> * Warped studs were used in internal framing on vanity/closet wall <br /> * The bathtub wall was framed at 29" for a 30" tub.   A width of at least 35" was shown in a drawing provided by the owner <br /> <br /> 6) Drywall and hardiboard   <br /> * The drywall was cut 3" short would not support base board installation; this had to be pointed out and explained by the homeowner before the contractor understood the issue. <br /> * All drywall work was subpar and clearly was not the work of an experienced drywall crew (messy seams, holes). <br /> * Drywall was not glued to studs as is the convention to prevent screw pops <br /> * Hardiboard installation was begun before the bath tub was installed and was not done corretly <br />      * The first piece of hardiboard should have been installed at the flange of the tub..not the ceiling. <br />      * Hardi-board was taped with paper tape and regular drywall mud.  Contrator should have used fiberglass tape and thinset per the manufacturers instructions <br /> <br /> 7) Subfloor <br />  * A minimal and insufficient effort was made to level the very uneven subfloor and the contractor installed the subfloor with the grain running in the incorrect direction.  The contractor did not know/understand that the grain should be run perpendicular to floor joists for maximum strength, especially for tile installations. <br /> <br /> 8) General Comments <br /> The construction project was chaotic and unstructured.  Tasks were tackled randomly, done poorly, and contrary to convention. Contractor never directly acknowledged problems even though they were quite clearly pointed out.  In most cases he claimed that was the way he's been doing it for 20 years.

I got a special deal for them from Angie's List. I don't have much to say about them. I was satisfied with what they did.

They were prepared for what I needed them to do. They did a god job. They sent out three men to do the job. I emailed them with what I wanted done but had added to that when they arrived. They were punctual and willing to do what I asked and were prepared to work. They were very professional.

The only thing wrong was that they had a deal going on and I think they were too successful.  A lot of people called and they over-scheduled.  I’m not going to look at places that have the deals anymore.  They don’t have enough people and they’re rushed because there’s too much work.  The work they did was fine but they had to come back another day; they were just too rushed. They just needed to have more people.  They seemed overwhelmed. I wasn't entirely happy with it.  I'm sure they were swamped; they were just rushed.  Their ability and professionalism was fine.

Quite well

I found Garry and his team to be very professional and polite and I am pleased with the results.  (Overall, I would have given them an A- but the system wouldn't let me. ) <br /> <br /> Garry and his team did a complete bathroom renovation and for a small bathroom (5X7) there was a lot of work that needed to be completed.  Garry was good about offering suggestions on fixtures and tiles and was able to find the perfect floor tile in the size I wanted.  He was also willing to pick up items at Home Depot when having so much stuff delivered to my apartment was not a good option. He also maintained his own punch list and ensured that everything on his list and mine was completed.  During the project there was a leak into my downstairs neighbor?s apartment. Upon discovery, Garry contacted her immediately and handled the situation quickly and to her satisfaction as well. <br /> <br /> The project took longer than the original timeline and there were some unanticipated repairs after the tile came down and status of the shower pipes was identified.  Garry was great about answering any questions I had when I was home while the project was going on, but it was sometimes more challenging to get updates on the status of the project over email or by phone. <br /> <br />  I am happy with my new bathroom and would use Creative Hands Home Services again.

We purchased a super deal for a full bathroom -- and ended up doing the other upstairs bathroom and downstairs powder room as well-- We are so happy with the end result. When we first tried to get started with the project there was quite a backlog as many people had purchased the deal... however, it was worth the wait.  Mr. Barnes has able to find some great vanities, cupboards and mirror medicine chests to fit in with our old deco bathrooms <br /> The painting and detail work is superb. <br /> We've updated the bathrooms with new sinks and toilets (and will be saving a lot of water now) but have retained the historic tilework! that was a major concern to keep the deco look of floor and wall tiles. It looks absolutely fabulous. <br /> Mr Barnes and his crew are most friendly and thorough. The project took a bit longer than expected but worth the wait. <br /> We now have 3 beautiful bathrooms with electric and plumbing updated to today's standards, while retaining the historic deco look. <br /> <br /> and now we are scheduling work for kitchen and other work on the house. <br /> Takes time but worth the wait <br />