Practical Home Services Reviews
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By Kyle L.November 20, 2023Repair drywall, add trim$895
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By Kathryn A.July 5, 2023
A neighbor on Nextdoor, referred Nathanael to me.She has used Practical Home Services several times in the past as had several of her friends and family. I’m doing a pretty much whole house updating of my 30+ year old home in Olympia. The bathrooms are already updated, and my kitchen only needs having the solid cherry cabinet fronts refinished after 25 years of use, and granite counters refreshed, else in addition to all new flooring, electrical and painting, a few modest structural changes.
Not only has Nathanael’s personal work been excellent, but he’s found me great sub contractors. He’s saved me money at every stage of work, while maintaining the highest quality materials. If you are a reasonable client, you’ll find Nathanael a dream to work with. At 77 and a widow, I’m remodeling for myself, but also with the knowledge that I may have to sell in 5-7 years. Though not a designer, he has a good eye for what will make my home easier to sell when the time comes. Shar, the office manager is highly efficient and responsive to inquiries.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him.
Regrettably, my experience with this contractor was not only negative but his office manager even abusively attacked me for even noting I am a vulnerable 70-year-old woman who had to spend hours cleaning up after the contractor who left piles of drywall all over the job site but also the porch, breezeway, across and all over the patio, down the sidewalk onto and all over the public sidewalk and all over the street surrounding his truck. I texted them the photos of that horrific mess and there was not even an apology, but he made a smart alec comment. It took me hours to clean up all that drywall. I had simply noted my age as an elderly woman whose torn shoulder was exacerbated by all that cleaning. Her response was to add insult to injury by attacking me for even noting my elder vulnerability and then she had the temerity to falsely attribute blame on me! She said, "I would never use my age as an excuse to accuse."
Beyond shoddy work that I was forced to hire another drywaller to repair at a cost of another $900, this contractor, Nathaniel, had asked me about what supplies I had already purchased. I showed him and he said I didn't need all of it so should return it. I said that I would and I planned to return them. Unbeknownst to me at that time but I later learned from the subsequent contractor--the supplies I'd purchased were the actual "professional drywall" supplies that were needed. He advised me that the premixed (small tub) of mud was not the best especially when trying to clean up a prior bad job and that professionals wouldn't ordinarily use that. And he said the two cans of spray texture (which by the way left practically NO texture), he said professional drywallers would not choose to use! Moreover, he was shocked when I told him that Nathaniel took all the supplies that I myself had planned to return for a refund to MY credit card, and rather than refund my credit card he used it for his own purchases. The new drywaller said my purchases in total would have far exceeded the costs for a small container of mud, 2 cans of spray texture, and the cheap and wrong outlet that he had selected. Furthermore, he said Nathaniel should rightly have installed, per code, a GFI outlet as the electrical was less than a foot from the water supply. So, he had to go buy the proper safe and according to code GFI outlet. Moreover, he submitted all the receipts to me so I knew exactly the cost of supplies.
Not only did the Practical Home Services contractor fail to return my refund to my credit card as all previous contractors have when they returned supplies purchased on my card, but he and his office manager added more insult to injury by actually charging me an additional $50 for him to return supplies! You can't make this stuff up!
As noted, I had to pay another contractor $900 to clean up the wreck he left me--with an untaped ceiling and walls. The office manager claimed she would refund me the billed cost for the trim that he did not install and the $50 they added for him taking my supplies, which he failed to refund to my credit card but not the $142.19 refund that he kept. They claim that the small container of mud, 2 cans of texture, an incorrect unsafe outlet (not GFI), and plastic flange equaled my minimal $142.19 refund (which didn't even include the taxes I'd paid). I received no itemized billing of supplies. However, the drywaller who repaired Nathaniel's drywall mess said no way the small container of mud, spray texture, the wrong unsafe outlet, and a plastic flange equaled what my refund would have been. As an elderly woman I feel utterly victimized, so I absolutely would never recommend this contractor or his abusive office manager. I requested a full $895 refund.