Bay State Handyman Plus

I have an old sliding glass door that I needed fixed as it was difficult to open & close. The owner Al got someone out next day, which was a great start. It went downhill from there. The guy that showed up was very nice but not very prepared. He spent most of the day driving around shopping to find new wheels & a handle for my door. He had to keep calling his boss, but showed up with a dead cell phone so had to borrow my phone at least a half dozen times. He finally found some parts, but struggled to fix the door. In the end, he had to call Al to come to my house to help him finish the job. The handle on the outside & the inside are totally different; one is a black metal & the other a light wood finish, so it looks kind of ghetto. The worker that was initially sent over told Al I requested a handle I could lock from the outside. Al was extremely nice about this, offered to order one & come back the following Friday to install it. When the following Friday afternoon came I got a call from Al who cancelled our appointment, saying he couldn’t find the part in store & had to order it online & that he would give me a call. I completely understood this because as I said, the door is old & I’m sure it’s not easy to find parts for it. Ten days later, I still hadn’t heard anything so called him back. My calls went to voicemail so I called from another number & magically, Al picked up. He told me he hadn’t ordered the part, but that he would do it «today or tomorrow.» A week later I still haven’t heard from him. I called back today and after 2 rings my call went to voicemail. I left a message & requested an honest answer as to whether this is going to get done or not. I do not expect to hear back from this guy. I do not understand why if he was not going to order & install the part that he would tell me he would & just continually blow me off. This guy clearly doesn’t understand that good word of mouth leads to referrals & that small jobs can lead to big jobs. He’ll tell you what you want to hear, but then leave you hanging for weeks on end. To summarize: the door now opens & closes but it looks kind of ghetto & I did not get parts that will allow me to lock the door from the outside. He told me for weeks that he would order the part & then never called & appears to be avoiding me. If you have a small job or something rather old to be fixed, go elsewhere. This was more of a headache than anything. Personally, I’d much rather have been told that they would not or could not do it, than to be lead on for weeks. Had I known I’d be chasing this guy for a simple call back for weeks, I would have just hired someone else.

We needed electrical work, repainting, floor sanding/​polishing, and a variety of smaller tasks done before we could move into a condo. Too big a job for a typical handyman (especially the electrical, which required load rebalancing, chargers, and outlets), too small to interest most contractors.
Bay State Handyman Plus, however, came with no obligation or charge, gave a reasonable itemized estimate (which proved accurate for every section except the electrical, when they came in under the estimate), and did everything WELL in just three days (with three people). They worked incredibly hard and intelligently, showing up early and working without stopping. It took a few weeks to book them during the summer high season, but they were always pleasant and efficient.

I had a few shingles that blew off the peak of my roof (and could see the sky from my attic). Bay State was one of the very few people I called (out of 20 or so I called) that answered right away and was able to schedule something the same week — I got times from other contractors that were from a few weeks to a few months out. They got someone to come out and look at it the following day.
I didn’t actually use them because the people redoing a house across the street from me offered to fix it for me, but they’ll definitely be the first person I call next time!