Freeman Custom Builders & Handyman

After working with Mr. Freeman to complete a total re-coating of our flat roof, as well as metal flashing over the parapet walls, I repeatedly called and left messages about a couple areas of concern. The flashing did not appear to fully cover the masonry in certain areas; other areas were bent out and not flush with the walls, even when there appeared to be fasteners meant to hold the flashing in place. My concern was that both situations would allow water and rain easier access to the wood and masonry beneath. Additionally, we experienced a recurring leak in our bedroom AFTER the roof was repaired.

After working with Mr. Freeman to complete a total re-coating of our flat roof, as well as metal flashing over the parapet walls, I repeatedly called and left messages about a couple areas of concern. The flashing did not appear to fully cover the masonry in certain areas; other areas were bent out and not flush with the walls, even when there appeared to be fasteners meant to hold the flashing in place. My concern was that both situations would allow water and rain easier access to the wood and masonry beneath. Additionally, we experienced a recurring leak in our bedroom AFTER the roof was repaired.

I had some loose metal that was very dangerous if it had broken off. Mr Freeman was near by and was able to come reattach the metal. It was really cold but that didn't stop him from reattaching the loose portions. I was really grateful for the emergency work.

Very well! Joe and his team are amazing to work with and would highly reccomend for the jobs he completed for us. They are hardworking, easy going, prompt and take pride in what they do!

Not a single one of our messages were returned. The only time I was able to get Mr. Freeman on the phone was when the bedroom leak occurred and I called him at 5am to alert him to the problem. Probably due to the early hour, Mr. Freeman answered his phone and indicated he would come out to inspect the problem, though this follow-up was never accomplished. After leaving another series of messages, asking for some kind of call-back, even if only to indicate the he would not or could not perform the work, we've never heard another word back, neither from him, nor his office manager, Laura. The caller ID on my phone did not show any missed calls from either his cell number or their office number, and no voicemails were received. Not a single attempt at communication with us was made. This is quite concerning behavior from any contractor, but especially so in this instance considering that our roof repair includes a 50-year warranty. It's unclear how that warranty may be affected if the original workman (Mr. Freeman) makes himself unavailable to follow-up on the quality of his work. Updated: 03/06/2019 While having some work done on the roof, it was brought to our attention that the 50-year roof coating applied by Mr. Freeman only two years ago is failing. As you can see if the pictures, the coating is cracked, peeling, and completely lifting up in some areas. exposing the previously coated surface of roof. We reached out to Mr. Freeman and sent him the same pictures via text, which he did confirm receipt of. He indicated that he would contact his suppliers to inquire as to why the coating was failing so soon into its life. Unfortunately, as with before, Mr. Freeman has never followed up on his work. After sending him the pictures, we attempted to further contact him on 2/19, 2/21, and 2/26...messages left every time and not a single callback to follow up. The roof surface is now in worse condition than before Mr. Freeman re-coated it and we'll now need to pay (again) to have the roof repaired. Mr. Freeman either was ignorant to the true durability of the roof coating he sold us, or he was willfully negligent and misleading. Either way, he has no business working on a roof, as it is clearly beyond the scope of his abilities. Further, it's unfortunate that Mr. Freeman doesn't believe in following up with his past work when it's been amply exhibited that the work he did was sub-par and failing. We have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and we recommend you avoid hiring Mr. Freeman at all costs.

It was good.

That was good. I'd give them an A for everything. There were no additional fees. He did a pretty good job. He was a good carpenter.

Went well. Very happy with results. Joe is courteous and professional.

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Initially everything was going well. The work is hourly so Joe brought two workmen including himself intending to quickly get the project done and keep costs down. First day, the drywall was sanded and some mudding applied to correct low or unfinished joints. The new cabinets and counter were installed, as well as flooring, wood baseboard and trim. Drywall work was still rough, but second day I expected a final mudding and sanding to smooth everything out. On the second day, Joe left his two workmen to finish up while he was elsewhere. I was at work and returned at the end of the day, while they were finishing up. Even as I saw them applying the last primer to the walls I could see that the roughness in the drywall was still present. I let them finish and clean up their work space, which was very dirty with drywall dust everywhere (even though they hung protections, they were not consistent in keeping them in place), paint spills and drywall mud. Clean up was haphazard at best, but I understood that they were attempting to save me money by getting wrapped up. When I had a first opportunity to see the entire space, I noted several areas of poor drywall workmanship to Joe, some tool damage on the countertop, and knife damage to flooring tiles where cutting and fitting slipped. There were several other small defects in the work which I wrote down into a list and sent to Joe the next day. I withheld 25% of the second day's payment given how much needed correction, and Joe acknowledged the principle places of defect were the result of his crew. I had a good experience so far, and fully expected Joe to follow up on his promise to return to complete the work. What followed was two months of back and forth e-mails, un-returned calls, unacknowledged texts, and one empty promise to return to finish the work. Joe had suffered a work injury on another job during our project, so I gave him some slack on timing. We finally meet up 4 weeks after the work, and appeared to reach some agreement on the scope of corrections, but Joe never returned to complete the work in part because we were not in agreement how much I would pay of the withheld monies once work was completed. Not all deficiencies could be corrected without deducting the cost of replacing damaged materials from the total owed. This unwillingness to return to correct deficient work is unfortunate because Joe's crew did some genuinely fine work, they were pleasant to work with, but simply appeared to rush the second day and/or lacked the skill to do the work correctly or be careful in general, missing details and damage obvious to anyone else. This left me with a badly finished space, replacing his work, and was effectively unusable for months afterward. Four months later, with a final text to Joe that I would be moving on, I used the withheld money to hire two other contractors to finish what Joe's crew started. I will end up spending more than his remaining contract to complete what Freeman Contracting started. Like others, Joe started well, but finished badly. I cannot recommend them at any level of service, workmanship or professionalism.

UPDATE 9/28/16: We are currently having to sue Freeman in small claims court (for the cost of a plumber to fix the hole he made) due to him misrepresenting himself, puncturing a hole in our bathtub plumbing, and refusing to mediate through Angie's List. We were unable to use our shower for one month before we had to hire a professional plumber out of our own pocket. Freeman has dodged multiple attempts to serve him papers. We also had to pay out of pocket to have a new garage door installed, and the professional garage door installer said that Freeman had installed it improperly. Would not recommend hiring Freeman. The initial work went well. They were able to schedule me just a few days out, and even took an evening call to set everything up. Not everything finished on the first day, a Monday, so Joe came back out the next day (Tuesday) to wrap up. All was done well. But later on the second day, after Joe left, the chain came off the garage door opener. It had apparently not been tightened enough. Joe returned the next day to fix it and it was good enough until Sunday (but not used Thursday or Friday). Then the chain fell off again and did not appear to have been tightened enough. I called Joe back on Sunday, not expecting a call back on Sunday but assuming I would hear back Monday morning. I didn't. I also called during the day on Monday, and the call went straight to voicemail. I left a message which was not returned. On Monday evening I used the drain for the first time, since after Joe removed the old drain hardware I installed new using a screw-in kit (no drilling or nails; this matters) and it had needed time to dry. As soon as I ran water through it, water dripped down into the unfinished storage room below. Upon investigation, I found that the drain pipe had been punctured when Joe removed the old drain hardware and there was about a 1/8" hole in my drain pipe! I emailed photos to his email as well as the main Freeman Custom Builders email. Also, on Monday, I found that one of the doors that Joe adjusted so it could freely open and close was sticking and hitting the door jamb again. On Tuesday, today, I have called several times, leaving a message twice, and not been able to reach anyone and my email has not been answered. I can understand being busy, but this is not professional. It is as though they went on vacation but left no voicemail message or out-of-office voicemail. Based on my initial experience, I would happily hire Freeman Custom Builders again and was very satisfied with the work performed and Mr. Freeman's professionalism. However, the problems that have mounted since Sunday and the total inability to reach anyone has definitely changed my perception of them. Unless resolved soon, as in I hear from someone today or at the latest tomorrow morning and steps are taken to make this right, no, I will not be hiring them again.  It is very disappointing as all had gone so well up to this point. UPDATE 7/7/16: Ten days later, they have still not made it right, and have evaded all attempts at communication. They typically wait two days, then give some evasive answer as to why they won't come out. For this reason, I'm changing their grade from a D to an F.

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-I purchased the 8 hour deal on angies list for a carpenter on March 28. I did not receive a call to schedule me so I finally reached out to them thru the AL app. on March 31, they texted back asking if they could come by and look at the project to bid it. After a lot of confusion they realized I already purchased the 8 hr deal so they didn't have to look at the job but would put me on the schedule, for April 15. At the time the carpenter was to arrive, the office called and said their carpenter quit, but they had another guy who could do the job on the following Friday the 22, at 9m. The guy showed up at 920, looked at the job, gave me his personal business card which was a little unprofessional. Immediately, he spent the next 30 minutes outside taking a call from his insurance company about his truck. He finally came back in and announced that he needed to go to lowes because he didn't have a saw blade. He also did not have a chop saw or a miter saw- not very equipped for a carpenter. He was gone another hour and a half. He then worked for a while. The owner Joe and another guy came over in the afternoon to check on him. I told him he was struggling and needed help. Joe said, oh no don't tell me that. Then both of them went up and checked on him . They took him back outside for another 15 -20 min break... Then they left he came back in and worked another hour. They must have left money for other guys w him because not too much longer and another guy shows up looking for him. So he leaves again to go to his car for another 15min with this guy to pay him. At this point I'm really worried wondering if anything is going to b done. Next thing I know, he's cleaning up , driving down the street throwing trash out his window on the way out. I called Joe - pretty upset at this point because there were giant black footprints all over my brand new carpet - he didn't even bring a drop cloth with him, he pulled up and broke a new marble threshold in half which was just laid, along with a few tiles. The very little work that got done was in a pathetic, manner. It actually looks worse than when the guy started. I called and left a message for Joe after he left. No response. I still had no response and left a message again on the 27th. Finally, Joe came over and looked at the job, agreed it was poor work, agreed to replace the carpet and comeback to fix the job personally next week. When I didn't get a date I called and the lady in the office and she said he couldn't do it this week, they would do it next week on the May 17. But he would not be replacing the carpet. I asked what happened he had taken the name of carpet, place I purchased it and measurements - what had changed? She said she didn't know she just does what Mr freeman tells her to do. But not to worry, I would be happy. He is very good and he would make sure I was happy. So this morning at 9 he was to show up. At 930 I called him. He said he thought his office would have called. He can't set up his saws in the weather. I have a porch, but he didn't even have the courtesy to call me and communicate. And now it's 940 pm and the office never called to reschedule. At this point just refund my money and pay my damages. Big waste of $400...and still waiting on a resolution.

Workman showed up late and took almost two days to install the doors. Back door was okay. Front door had a gap at the bottom and didn't close correctly. When the owner contacted me to see if everything had been completed I told him yes, but that I was not happy with the work performed. He subsequently came to look at the work and said that he would need to re-install the front door. On the day that was supposed to be done, I was informed that his "number one carpenter" would be doing the work. Upon completion of the work, there was no gap at the bottom. The finish work, however was very sloppy. I have had to correct some of what was done. The first workman had just started working for the company. The second one had worked for the company for two weeks. This was not what I was hoping to get after the company had gotten "A" ratings on Angie's List.

I did not wish to provide this review because I do not like to say anything if I cannot provide a positive review. However, I believe I am entitled to a refund of my $139, and I cannot get Angie's List to intervene without posting a review. Freeman has said that they will not refund any monies. I bought an Angie's List coupon for handyman service from this company. The provider arrived about an hour late (but did let me know he was going to be late). I showed him a minor drip in one of my faucets, which he said he could repair. Before he began, the faucet was working properly except for the minor drip. An hour later, he had taken the faucet apart, and we no longer could get any water out of the faucet. The faucet was completely broken, and he had no idea how to fix it. He tried repeatedly to call his boss, and we tried repeatedly to call the company. No response. Af about two hours, the provider said he did not know how to fix the faucet and wanted to proceed to work on other items on our handyman list. We declined, and told him we did not want him to work on other items. He said he was not charging us for the time he had been at our home. (Subsequently, we had to call a plumber, who said the equipment had been taken apart and reassembled improperly, breaking the faucet. We are ordering a new one.) The company (Freeman) called us back a little later. A woman told us that we would not be getting a refund because Angie's List said no refund was due because the worker had shown up at our home. I tried to explain the damage that had been caused, but the woman would not listen.  <br> <br> <br> <br>

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Joe was nice and friendly. Some projects he did very well - curtain rod, grout. Some not so great - light switches installed upside down, the replaced piston on our front door starting ripping out within the month. 

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I am very disappointed with Freeman Custom Builders & Handyman because they failed to do any work of kind or character. From the initial contact I should have known there would be a problem because I purchased the service on 03/08/2016, but had to wait an entire month with them cancelling and rescheduling the appointment, only to have them come out and take my window frame to have the broken glass replaced, and then never return or call.  <br /> <br /> I called the company several times with no success. When I finally was able to reach the owner, Mr. Freeman on 04/08/2016, he advised me that he had no idea what happened to his Worker, that he ?possibly was dead.? I asked if he could tell me where they had taken my window frame to get it repaired because I would go and get it myself. He claimed that he had no idea where his worker had taken it, but he would try to find out and let me know. Unfortunately I have not heard anything from them since. <br /> <br /> I want my window frame returned, and my $279.00 paid to them returned.

It did go all that well. He often did not show up when he said he would, each day the work site was a complete mess, I found trash left on the deck and in my bushes, and when I asked him to leave a bill so I could send him the money (since I was not going to be home at that time), he threatened a lien on my house. Enough said.

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