Mark Warner Custom Woodworking

Delightful garden and superb wines.

A handyman who wasn’t so handy.
We wanted to replace our kitchen cabinet doors and hardware as well as the drawers and drawer fronts using European style hinges, slides and hardware, but without the time, mess and expense of demolition or workmen constantly in the house. Mark Warner was recommended by a handyman who I had used before. Mark come over soon after I called him, a nice, easy going guy who understood what we wanted and how it should be accomplished. I particularly emphasized to Mark that the main problem we wanted to avoid was wobbly doors that began to rub together or go off center due to loose screws, which had plagued our old doors. He assured us that that would not happen with his doors. The other thing we wanted to avoid was disruption in the house, so we were delighted when he said that he would build the door fronts in his woodworking shop and his finish guy would do the spraying in his shop. Then the installation would take only a few days.
Mark measured and he came up with a price ($ 5,200), which seemed fair compared to the kitchen specialist firms. But a while later he said oops, he had failed to count the doors correctly, and I then agreed to a new price ($ 5,600 + $ 200 to install our handles). However, what I failed to notice is that the contact did not use the word «guarantee» anywhere. Mark and his finish guy then came over with color samples, and we agreed on the finish. A few days later they came back with a finished sample of the door material (MDF) and we okayed it. Mark then retreated to his workshop to make the doors and drawers, and even sent us a progress picture.
But because the finish guy was slow and had problems with slow-​drying finishes, the install date kept drifting ahead, though not grievously so. At least there was no disruption in the house.
They finally came over with the finished work, which looked great, and Mark began installing it on Feb. 20. That went a little slowly, but mainly because Mark had to work with old cabinets with differing thicknesses and so had to mix and match hinges for the doors and improvise solutions, which he seemed good at. The installation was completed on Feb. 29 and looked great, exactly what we wanted. I handed Mark the final payment check the same day.
Except for delays, building and finishing went well, as did installation. But on Feb. 25, before installation was even completed, I noticed that some hinge screws were loose and the doors beginning to wobble. I emailed Mark about this: «…one of the most important things in this project is to insure that we won’t have the same hard to adjust/​sagging door problem we had with the old hinges.» Mark said no problem, he would «tighten down» the screws. I had also noticed that one of the doors had an obvious ding in it, which I pointed out to Mark. He shrugged that off.
At this point we were in and out of the country for several weeks, during which time the kitchen doors were not used at all. After we returned in May, I checked the hinges, only to find several hinge screws loose and doors wobbling. I emailed Mark on May 23 to remind him about the magnetic latch and to also ask him to check on those loose screws. A week later he emailed back that the «only fix we had discussed was installing a magnetic catch on the tall pantry door. Since everything was in working order when I left the job, anything going forward would have to be a change order and I’d have to charge you.» He wanted $ 100 for two hours. Meanwhile, while closing a door, one hinge popped completely off, leaving the door hanging in space by one hinge. The screws were nowhere to be found.
I emailed Mark again on June 5 that I didn’t understand why he didn’t guarantee his work, even for a few weeks, as professionals do. «Do you really want to leave an unhappy customer when a few screws and an hour of your time could fix it?» It is June 21 and I have not heard back from Mark. Several doors are wobbling, and that hinge still is unattached to one door, leaving it unusable.