AIK Restoration & Repair

Had a few projects for this company; they were due between 1 and 3 today, so I stayed home waiting for them. It’s now 5:30 pm and they haven’t shown up or called. Looks like he does great work when he shows up, but I’m apparently far from the only one who’s sat around waiting for a guy who doesn’t arrive or communicate.
Update: I discovered he left me a voice mail at 4:30 (thanks, Samsung phone, for not showing a missed call or his call in the call log) saying he couldn’t make it but would be willing to reschedule. That would have been 1.5 hours after it was obvious to him that he’d missed the agreed-​on window. Not good, if not quite as bad as my original post indicated.

My partner and I have been seeking help from Howard for a number of projects since purchasing out home in 2014, and Howard has been able to fix every problem that we have thrown at him. Not only does he repair/​replace an issues that we have, but he explains exactly what he is doing and will show you have you can make simple repairs in the future.

I would not recommend this guy.

Update: Howard was having health issues and disappeared for a while. His work is great. I am updating the review to reflect the work quality and that he finally came through and finished all our projects. though I hope robin and Howard become more proactive with customer communication.

Would like to say good things, they seem like nice people, but the guy didn’t do anything right on the light fixtures that weren’t working. The man came for an estimate, said he had to order a transformer after checking to make sure other fixtures had the right bulbs, left with a promise to return shortly, then billed but said nothing about the transformer and that the fixtures needed twenty watt bulbs (but those had been checked already and had twenty watt bulbs!) and, in short, without any of the lights he came to fix ever working. Didn’t respond to texts and emails with an explanation, but the office withdrew the invoice at my protest, saying they’d get back to me. Never did. Big waste of time and energy.

We had a small electrical related job that had to be done immediately. I called an electrician recommended by a friend who wanted $ 350 for the «emergency» job. I decided to try other options and called Howard. He was extremely friendly from the outset and understood the issues right away. He went to our place that night to take a look at the issues, and was back first thing the next morning with supplies and got the job done. He communicated with me every step of the way, even sending photos of his work once he was done. He quoted me an excellent price and stuck to his word, saving us almost $ 200! He is extremely trustworthy and did not take advantage of our desperation to overcharge us. I would use Howard again in a heartbeat.

Howard came to my home to do an estimate of the work I needed done and granted one project was complicated with a broken oval window in my bedroom surrounded by several layers of window molding that needed to be removed to get to the window. The other projects were normal handyman stuff. He said he could do everything no problem. He would check on suppliers and get back to me with an estimate the following week. After repeated calls and emails I finally gave up. I wasted 2 months trying to chase down this guy. First waiting for him to come do the estimate and then trying to get a response from him about the doing the work. I have no idea about his work, but his customer service is terrible. I don’t recommend you contact him at all. Anyone that can’t just drop an email or return a phone message from a potential customer can’t be doing the qualify kind of work you want done in your home.

Been trying to get an estimate but no one cals or emails back. What a waste of my time. I wish I could find someone who is responsive. So far every contractor on Unilocal is pathetic.

Came out to give an estimate for several projects, then completely vanished. No longer responded to phone calls or emails, and never provided the estimate. So, uh… guess he doesn’t want to work on my house. Unfortunately between the time it took to get him out here for the estimate (he was a no-​show for the first appointment) and the time I spent trying to track him down to actually GET that estimate, I wasted a full month.
Kimberly F., if it helps at all, AIK’s address on Angie’s List is 2936 W. Fitch.

Our condo association was in need of new light fixtures in the condo halls. After getting Howard’s name from Everyblock, we contacted him and were delighted that he could do the installation. He was good about responding to us and was very professional. He was also reasonably priced. Although we only used him for the electrical work, we will contact him for other jobs.

A friend recommended Howard to take a look at a plumbing problem in my old Rogers Park condo. I live out of state and have a tenant in the unit and the tub was backing up. Howard came out twice in one week to fix the issue. In the end it was a larger building problem and the management company took over. But Howard was responsive and reliable, not to mention reasonable. I will be calling him again when other issues arise for my vintage condo. Thanks Howard!

Pros: Super nice guy, does very good work, affordable compared with other similar handyman services in the city.
Con: Not very organized. You’ll get an appointment window, not a time (even if you’re the first appointment of the day), and even that’s more of a suggestion. And if he happens to be running late, you may or may not get notified. It can be hard to get in touch with him; the voicemail box is often full and responses to emails are sporadic.
If you have a flexible schedule and a project that isn’t on a tight deadline, I highly recommend Howard and his work. Unfortunately, I have a lot going on and can’t accommodate the laissez-​faire approach to service.

My wife and I bought and old house with a rental unit. I travel for work and we have two soon to be three active kids.
Howard has been a life saver from frozen pipes, water heaters, door locks, toilets, lights etc. he’s knowledgeable, responsive and honest (recently walked me through fixing my garbage disposal on the phone NO CHARGE!!)
He helps me buy back my time with projects I don’t want to do. He maybe a Handyman but I would say life saver:). Thanks Howard.

I asked for Howard to put a TV up on a wall. He guided me through the whole process, from knowing which mount to buy, to the best height to put it at. A few weeks in, and I’m not regretting taking his advice at all (I originally wanted it higher, but he advised against it, very good advice indeed). Howard is incredibly friendly, professional, and affordable. If there’s anything else I need, I’m definitely calling him first.
Pro tip: if he gives you advice, take it! Definitely worth listening to.

We heart Howard. Enough said. He rewired most of our house so we can now use a blow dryer on the second floor and make toast in the kitchen in the morning. Because of Howard we are able to stay cool in the summer with window units instead of blowing a fuse.
He did his initial work for us around four years ago and is still around (unlike some contractors that seem to disappear when you look for them again) not making fun of us our lack of home repair acumen. If only he worked on bungalow tile roofs !

Hey, guys, made a Unilocal review just to rate Howard. So, get this, I needed someone to come Saturday morning. I searched Fri night, and after emailing his assistant (Robin), he was at my place at 8 15 am… on a Saturday mind u. Anyway, did a great job. If u can afford him, don’t look at elsewhere. Professional, good-​hearted, and knowledgeable.

Howard needs to be given a firm budget. I hired him during the christmas season and tasked him with a few jobs while i was out of town. When i got home he had accomplished very little and had already gone through the retainer. He also said he was going to come over and work on several occasions and failed to appear. I don’t appreciate being stood up by someone i’m paying.
He’s good with electrical work and cheaper than hiring an electrician to come out but i wouldn’t use him for anything else.

Thank you Howard and Robin for being very professional and actually doing what you promise. I had been trying to get some work done recently, (I just moved into my condo) and the other handyman service that was recommended to me continually blew me off. I gave them three chances just to schedule something. Anyway, I found Howard based on the Unilocal reviews and couldn’t be more pleased. He came to hang my TV on a Friday night! Robin called to keep me updated on arrival times, and I had the pleasure of meeting his daughter. The entire family are kind, decent people that are rare in the service industry. I have plenty of other jobs to schedule and trust me, Howard will be the one I call. He tells you upfront the cost and time frame and actually sticks to it!!! Call Howard for all of your handyman jobs. You won’t regret it.

Howard (Owner & Operator) has done a lot of work for me personally and my café. He’s got every tool you can possibly imagine, and he’s a fabulous handyman — doing work for demo to plumbing to electrical and more. He’s extremely knowledgeable and friendly to work with. His prices are also totally reasonable for the level of skill he brings to the table. Highly recommended.

To start, this is my first review on Unilocal,and also the first time I have ever felt compelled to write one. Now onto the story…
So my doorbell at my condo had been broken for about 2 weeks. I figured it was something small and easy to fix, but since I am not a handyman what so-​ever I had to call different electricians to get a quote. I got everything from «$ 200 flat rate, $ 120 hr, one hr minimum» AHHHH. I didn’t wanna pay out the a@% for a problem I knew would take five min to fix. Then I found Howard on Craiglist. He told me he had seen this problem before and I should be an easy fix. His hourly rate was $ 50 which was quite alright with me, compared to the other extremely pricey electricians in this town.
So long story short… he came over, fixed my doorbell in about 2 minutes. Since he was done so quickly he even offered to take a look at any other electrical problems I had in the house, and probably saved me another couple hundred dollars by doing so.
I would not only recommend Howard, I would say you are stupid for going anywhere else!