Can Do Ken & Son

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• By Daniel

  October 18, 2018

  drywall repair

  $120

  Ken was great! I hired him to put up a towel rack that had been yanked out of the wall and left a giant hole in the drywall and ruined the paint. He was willing to accommodate my work hours and arrived at the agreed time. He showed me a step by step of what he was doing as he did it. He was very kind and polite and I have already booked him for another job! Would recommend.

• By a user in Latrobe

  June 3, 2018

  Install 60 feet of cyclone fence (I had fencing)

  I would never under any circumstances recommend CAN DO KEN & SON (Kenneth Snead Sr) do a job for me. First of all he never shows up on time and has every excuse in the book. He works out of his car, a real old, old car and calls himself a contractor. He is without a doubt a liar, phony, thief and smooth talking con artist. The work he does is not bad if he ever would complete it. He is determined to buy the materials for the job and the figures he quotes you are twice as much as they cost. I am on a fixed income and a senior widow and feel I was really taken advantage of, Mr. Snead failed to give me back the amount I overpaid him for the materials and would'nt show me receipt. I called Lowe's where he claimed he purchased the material. They quoted me $80 for what he supposedly purchased for me, I gave him $150, which he said it cost and he kept $120 as he said that would cover the extra work he was doing for me when he never even completed the job. I was referred to him by Home Advisors. Why are they referred by these companies when they have such poor reviews and complaints and what do we, the victims, do in a situation of this type? I'm still waiting for Mr. Snead to finish my job. Where do I go from here? I would rather never see this man's face again but I would still like the job I hired him for to be completed. I don't even give him a one star rating.

• By a user in Philadelphia

  February 18, 2018

  Kitchen remodel

  $700

  I wish I had seen this review from four months ago before deciding to hire Ken in Feb. 2018 to build some shelves into the space above my kitchen cabinets in my center-city Philadelphia apartment. Unfortunately, he had completed some projects for my aunt (who works from home in the same high rise as me), and she was satisfied with his work, so I hired him without researching further.

  The first time Kenneth came over to assess my project, he arrived one hour late, even though he was traveling on foot from only a few blocks away. He told me that he had gotten lost and that his phone had died, so he was unable to use its GPS. I chalked it up as a fluke even though I live in a well-known high rise on the southernmost edge of a happenin' park. 'Maybe he's from out of town', I thought. Turns out this vagabond status doesn't coincide with being reliable as a contractor.

  When I corresponded by e-mail with him to decide on a price, he called me to tease me for "playing contractor" by negotiating in favor of a lower price. Unfortunately, I failed to recognize this as an immediate red flag and decided to PAY HIM UPFRONT FOR HIS REQUESTED HALF COST OF LABOR PLUS MATERIALS fee before he had ever touched the project. The rest of the story is essentially him holding me hostage for that $700, and then not receiving the rest of the fee because he decided to go on vacation for 3 weeks before the project was finished. He "doesn't work on anyone's clock but his own," is one of his favorite catchphrases.

  First he cancels our supplies drop-off appointment but it's okay because he gives an appropriate warning. He then arrives on-time for day one of prep work, works (and also opts for several breaks to sit next to me on my couch chatting even though I am trying to rest before work) for the few hours we'd planned and before leaving states that he wants to raise the decided-upon price by $250 (for "unforseens") I whittle down this down to $100 but feel resentful since I thought we'd initially budgeted for all of the unforseens. He ultimately leaves, calls me back (wasting yet more of my rest-time before work), and states that he'll be back the next day and will probably finish the project-- ***He does not specify an arrival time***.

  I go to bed early and wake up at 5am to an 11pm text stating that he plans to arrive between 9 and 10am the next day, for a full day of work, after which the project should be fully complete. I reply that he should come closer to 10am than 9, since I'll be meeting my colleague for breakfast. He says ok. I text him upon my 10am home arrival to let him know that I'm ready for him to head my way with his materials, which I assumed by then he would have already obtained. He texts back 15 minutes later that he is leaving for Home Depot. One hour passes and I do not hear from him. I text him, no response. I call him. "I can't work like this," he informs me. "I don't work on anybody's clock"; "Nothing is up", "Nothing is happening". He does not want to give me any information or a time estimate and then explains to me that he is in a cab and so ****HE DOES NOT KNOW WHEN HE IS GOING TO ARRIVE FOR OUR APPOINTMENT****. He simply has no idea, no rough itinerary, doesn't want to tell me what he needs to accomplish before he heads over; he tells me that I am wasting my energy and his own by contacting him with a scheduling inquiry.

  I don't want to bother him again because at this point I am fearing loss of $700 due to the tone of that conversation. So I wait 2.5 more hours and still hear nothing from him. "Any updates?", I text him, followed by "should we cancel for today?". No reply. I call him and ****HIS CELL IS OFF!!!!!!!!!!**** I redial continuously, in complete horror that surely I've just flushed $700 down the toilet.

  At 3pm he texts me that he is in my lobby and that his phone had died. I'm clearly upset and ask him how his day is going. "A typical day," he replies; "You just have no idea what happens *behind the scenes*." When he comes up to complete the work, he asks me if I'm going to be "salty" the whole time. At this point I have completely lost my mind so I tell him to complete the project and then we can have a conversation. Unfortunately he then proceeds to complete only 3.75 hours of work *AND THEN HE LEAVES*, stating that he can't do anything else that day due to my building's noise ordinance. (If he had arrived on time, this would not have been an issue.)

  He asks me when I'm available again for him to complete the project and I tell him that I'm not sure, since I work per diem and can't afford to lose another 5 hours anytime soon. I tell him to give me a few days to relax since he still has not offered an explanation for his lateness and he continues to inform me that I am unreasonably upset and am "wasting" both of our energies. I tell him that I am busy through next Tuesday, and we can discuss our schedules after that.

  So guess what he does. He texts me on SUNDAY stating that if we do not finish the project TOMORROW (on Monday, and I'm working), then he will be out of town for the subsequent 2-3 weeks so I'll just have to wait until he returns to let him finish the project.

  It seems he left about as much work uncompleted on the project as could reasonably cost me the remainder of my budget. While I have no problem interviewing and hiring another contractor, I feel that it is a severe pain and inconvenience to have had my kitchen out of commission for longer than expected. Ken could easily have avoided these lapses in satisfaction had he arrived on time and completed our project as we had initially discussed.

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• By a user in Pittsburgh

  November 28, 2017

  bathroom remodel

  $4,000

  RE: Kenneth S-B Snead Sr. D.B.A Can Do Ken and Son
  Contractor ID# 119902

  The work to be done was to drywall and/or finish the walls and ceiling in an approximately 5 foot by 7.5 foot bathroom, install a glue on wall panel system in the shower area, and install two grab bars in the shower area. In addition the contractor is to install a tile floor. I was to provide finish materials, which I had on hand, and the contractor was to provide rough materials.

  We also agreed separately, verbally, that he was to install a sink and vanity, medicine cabinet, two other wall cabinets, and a toilet. The contractor was to begin on Saturday November 19,2016, and complete the work within 5 to 7 work days. He actually began Sunday, November 20, when he worked a half day, and Wednesday evening, the day before Thanksgiving, when he worked about 3 hours. The contractor apparently works weekends and evenings but does not seem to follow any particular schedule as far as time of the day.

  The contractor made several appointments, in excess of 10, many for which he did not show. For those few that he did show he was several hours late.

  Note that I was available daily from the original agreed starting date of November 19, 2016, a Saturday, up to and including Sunday, November 27th. Had he completed the work in the original time frame I would have been available without missing any work myself. After that I was available only in the evenings, Fridays, and weekends until the last two weeks in December, which I took off work for Christmas guests. I had expected the work to be completed long before they (6 in all) arrived. Since the work was not done, I did tell him that he could work with them here, but he continued to set up appointments and then not show for them.

  Also note that I told the contractor at the beginning that I have company coming for all December beginning the middle of December. My son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter would be coming in from Sweden, my daughter-in-law’s mother would be coming from Canada, and my daughter and her mother were coming from Florida. Due to the contractor’s failure to perform within any reasonable time frame, and in fact not completing the project, all of us had to use a master bathroom, which meant going through the bedroom to use the bathroom and shower.

  On December 19th he abandoned the uncompleted job. I am sure of the date because he called his crew off while they were painting the walls, and I had the plumber scheduled for the next day. Had he completed the painting we could have used the bathroom at least partially but it is all taped up with the sink covered with plastic drop cloth.

  I formally dismissed him during the first week of January. We came to a dollar settlement for the work he actually did.

  The contractor had a string of excuses, any individual one which, if valid, might justify an occasional delay; however, taken all together they are preposterous. It is a simple matter of unbusinesslike and downright inexcusable irresponsibility.

  I would recommend that no one, under any circumstances, engage this contractor. However, the work he did do is competent. He is very personable and a smooth talker, so if he does convince you to engage him, have written time frames with dollar penalties for non-performance without regard to fault or excuse. In addition he asks for half down; don’t give him a penny until the work is satisfactorily completed.

  As there are many conscientious contractors who do good work, and do it completely and on time, you will be much better to seek them out rather than even contact this contractor. Why take the chance that you will be subject to the grief and stress he put me through regardless of any dollar penalties. My guests and I accommodated, as we had another bathroom, but we shouldn’t have to. My needs were made clear to him at the beginning and he took the work and a down payment.

  Remodeling is always stressful, but this has been truly a horrible experience. I reached a settlement for the work performed but only because I wanted this man out of my life.

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