Altamont Roofing Designs

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• By Anonymous

  October 17, 2014

  Bedroom Doors

  $550

  1 day

  Not a Skilled Craftsman

  I schedule an appointment with John Torre from "Altamont Roof Repairs" and "John's Roof Repairs" to install 4 new bedroom door's in my Martinez home. I found his Ad on Craigslist as an experienced Handyman. He is friendly on the phone, he quoted me $55 per hour with an estimate of 5-6 Hours labor. I chose him because of his claimed experience with "Pre hung doors", which according to John, are more expensive to purchase but easier to install. He instructed me to buy the door panels which he would pick-up.

  The morning of my appointment is where EVERYTHING went wrong. He arrived an hour late but got straight to work. What I immediately found was an incompetency in timely work. I don't know if he was deliberately taking advantage of the hourly pay, or plain slow at doing skilled carpentry, but John took 4 hours just to install one door panel. I was extremely frustrated, but I couldn't call off the remaining work because his assistant removed the trim off the remaining door frames. The original door trim, were reused and I told John I would have picked up new trim if he had advised me that there would be damage. He responded with "I was just told to mount doors, you're supposed to buy the parts." WRONG, what I specifically asked for was to replace my older doors with updated 6-panel doors. I have no idea what parts to buy and what was included in the process. As a professional John should have explained the process and what he needed me to supply. He didn't even come equipped with calking or spackle. He had to borrow some from me, which luckily I had on hand.

  The original door handles were modern and to be transferred to the new panels. John bent the strike plates trying to pry them off the old door and couldn't figure out how to remove the door handles. Pissed off, I tell him to leave it and I taught myself in 5 minutes how to properly remove one. Fast forward the entire day, 10 HOURS LATER, John finally mounts the 4th door panel. Very sloppy work, paint chunks around every door, uncovered nail holes, some trim edges with calking and some without. A 1/2" dent in my dry wall, 6 feet away from the door. Scuffs on my hardwood floor. No door handles installed on any of the doors. One door trim, had a 4" chunk broken off and lost. He made a poor attempt to cover up it up without telling me, by rubbing white calking over it.

  At the end of the day, John wants a $550 check and $25 to dump the old doors. I agree to pay his full price, but express my dissatisfaction with the incomplete job, house damage and under estimate of labor. John responds, not with an apology or explanation. He responds that he paid $20/hour to his assistant and that they didn't take a lunch break. He tells me that I should have known to buy door trim and that he didn't charge me to pick-up the door panels from home depot. I'm baffled at this point. He obviously is looking to make a buck and THAT'S IT. What happened to "ALL WORK IS ALWAYS GUARANTEED . . ..."??? I hand him a check and he leaves my house in worse shape than when he arrived.

  I will admit, my mistake was not doing my proper research to pick a qualified handyman with knowledge to do efficient work and handle himself professionally. I should have asked for referral and not just look at his nicely written Ad. John won't save you money, his inexperience will cost you 2x-3x more in cost and time. My advice, if you do pick him for work. 1. Get a firm flat rate estimate. 2. Set clear terms of exactly what you want, don't assume that basic things like calking and spackle are supplied. 3. Specify that everything in your home is to remain exactly as it was when he arrive and that he will repair any incurred damages. Message me if you want photos, I have plenty.

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