Done to Spec Handyman & Contracting Services

I hired Ryan and his crew at Done to Spec to help complete some improvements and maintenance to my condo before renting it. They were great, on time, very professional, clean and are just straight forward people doing good work. This was by far the BEST experience I have ever had with a handyman/​contracting service, I think more in their industry would be wise to take notes from them. They bring a lot of value for a fair price, I am glad to have a customer focused service like this in our community.

I’m normally not someone who writes these but I do use them as an input to making a decision as to whether or not to go with a business. This is why I feel it’s vital to give people thinking about using this contractor our experience so they are able to make an informed decision.
We had what I would call a fairly large remodel on our house that we purchased recently. Things like, move laundry room from downstairs to upstairs, updates to all rooms to include scrape ceilings, install can lighting, painting, remodel second full bathroom, etc. We decided to contract with Jacob and his business based on a reference from our realtor. For the first few weeks, things were going along according to plan. Then we ran in to «challenges». Jacob’s business started to take on too many jobs going at the same time so he needed to hire a sub to come and do the work on our house. So while the sub came in and did the work, Jacob went MIA. The sub wasn’t who we hired for our house. We hired Jacob. He wouldn’t stop by at the start of the day to line up the work, and didn’t come by at the end of the day to check on work that was performed. He also wouldn’t check in with us, his client, to see if we had any questions, concerns, issues that needed his attention. Not what I would describe as delivering quality customer service.
So that was the first issue we came across. When it came to doing the bathroom, we were told it would take about 1 week. It took 3! Big no no for us!
Once work was getting «completed», we noticed a lot of details that were missed/​overlooked. Things like the can lighting not being flush against the ceiling. screws that were lose and needed to be tightened, holes that were left open and needed to be patched, calking that needed to be finished, basically, the detailed finish work was not done! The point here is that we had to speak to the sub, who then had to get in touch with Jacob, who was not timely with responding because he was over committed with other jobs. When we went directly to Jacob, it would be day’s before hearing anything back. We didn’t know if/​when someone would be showing up at the house on Monday morning. We didn’t know when all the finish work would get done. Basically, left us with a lot of uncertainty and frustration. Even as recently as a week ago when we tried to run speaker wire through the «piping» that Jacob installed in the walls for our theater system, we couldn’t do it because the wire would get jammed in the pipe. Sent Jacob a message to come back and look at it, fix it, and haven’t heard a word back. Not even to say he got our message and would try to find time within the next week to stop by. Nothing!
Bottom line is this, if want a toilet, sink, or some small job done that doesn’t need any detailed finish work, Jacob is your guy. When he’s on site he’s nice, professional, has a good sense of humor, and his price is fair. If you’re looking to do a significant job that needs attention to detail, quality assurance, lots of management oversight and interaction with you, the client, look elsewhere.
UPDATED ⁴⁄₁₈:
I have updated my rating based on a follow up from the owner of Done To Spec, Ryan. Ryan contacted me recently and asked about the job that was done at our house. Specifically, what needed to be done to correct some of the things that didn’t meet our expectations. He was very professional and listened without questioning or challenging our comments. After our conversation, Ryan scheduled time to personally come back and fix the things that were on our list. I believe this shows a genuine concern towards customer satisfaction. Albeit, it was almost a year later, the point is that he made the effort, and for that, I think it justifies an update from my original original posting.
Thank you Ryan for making good on the work you did. We’ll certainly consider Done to Spec for any future jobs we need to have done to the house.